The silence was unbearable.
It wasn’t the normal kind of silence I had known for most of my life.
Not the quiet silence of empty hallways or the lonely silence of eating breakfast alone.
Not even the peaceful silence of watching the stars from my bedroom window.
This silence felt different.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
As though the entire world had suddenly stopped moving.
The wind still blew through the forest while the leaves still rustled softly overhead.
Far away I could hear birds returning to their nests before nightfall.
Yet sohow none of those sounds seed real anymore.
All I could hear was my own heartbeat and which second feeling longer than the last.
My stomach twisted painfully.
My hands felt cold.
The excitent and happiness I had felt only monts ago were gone completely.
Because for the first ti since eting Charles, he wasn’t smiling at .
Not warmly at least, but instead he simply stood there looking at .
Watching.
And every second that passed without him saying anything made the fear inside my chest grow larger.
I wanted him to say sothing.
Anything.
Anything was better than this silence.
Then finally—
"I know."
My breath caught in my throat.
"What?"
"I know."
His voice was calm.
Far too calm.
"I know you’re Lillith Nightbane."
For a mont I simply stared at him and sothing unexpected happened in my mind.
Hope.
A small spark of hope suddenly appeared inside .
If he really knew who I was all along.
Maybe—
Maybe none of it had been fake.
Maybe Charles really was different and he could beco my genuine friend.
The thought made my chest tighten.
For the briefest mont I felt happier than I had ever been.
Then Charles spoke again.
"Do you want to know mine?"
I blinked.
"What?"
"My na."
His expression remained unreadable.
"My real na."
A strange feeling settled into my stomach.
Why would he lie?
Why would he need to?
Slowly, I nodded.
Charles looked away toward the setting sun.
"My na is Charles."
There was a brief pause.
"Charles Heath."
I frowned slightly as I searched my mories.
Nothing had co up no noble family,
famous knight or rchant ca up.
Eventually I quietly spoke.
"I’ve never heard that na before."
The mont the words left my mouth, the silence returned.
Longer this ti.
Much longer.
Charles lowered his head and for a few monts neither of us moved, but then I heard it.
A laugh.
Small at first.
Almost quiet.
I blinked in confusion as I watched Charles’s shoulders tremble.
The laugh ca again but slightly louder this ti.
Then louder, and louder.
Within seconds it transford into sothing completely different.
A hysterical sound.
A broken sound.
The kind of laugh that didn’t sound happy at all.
My heart imdiately began pounding.
"Charles...?"
He continued laughing.
His body shaking.
His head lowered.
The sound echoed through the cliffside while the last rays of sunlight illuminated his face.
For the first ti after eting him—
I was scared.
I instinctively took a step backwards but suddenly my foot slipped slightly on loose stone.
A frightened squeak escaped my small mouth.
I looked down and saw that the cliff edge was directly behind .
My balance wavered for a terrifying second before I managed to steady myself again.
When I looked back up, Charles was staring at .
The laughter had stopped.
Yet sohow that frightened even more.
Because the expression he wore now was completely unfamiliar.
It wasn’t the smile of the boy who had played tag with .
Or the smile of the boy who taught catch.
Or the smile of the boy I thought was my friend.
His grin felt wrong.
Cold.
"Charles..."
My voice trembled.
"You’re scaring ."
The grin on his face widened before he finally broke the silence as he spoke.
"You really are worse than the rumors."
My eyes widened.
The words struck like a physical blow.
"W-What?"
The warmth inside my chest shattered instantly.
I felt tears beginning to form.
"No..."
I shook my head desperately.
"No, that’s not true."
The grin remained.
Unmoving.
My vision started blurring.
"Why are you saying those things?"
My voice cracked.
"Why are you acting like this?"
The tears finally began falling.
Everything had been perfect.
Everything.
I thought I finally had a friend.
I thought sobody had accepted .
I thought—
Charles suddenly stopped smiling.
The change was so abrupt that it stunned .
For the first ti since the laughter began, his expression beca completely serious.
And sohow that was worse.
Much worse.
Because there wasn’t any anger in his eyes.
Only hatred.
Pure hatred.
Slowly, he looked directly into my eyes.
Then asked a single question.
"Do you know who my parents were?"
I opened my mouth.
Nothing ca out.
Charles nodded as though he had expected that answer.
Of course he had.
Then he took a step forward.
"Let ask a different question."
Another step.
"Do you know why I’m in an orphanage?"
Another.
"Lillith Nightbane."
The na sounded poisonous coming from his mouth.
My entire body trembled.
Then Charles smiled.
Not the warm smile I knew.
Not the smile I had spent days chasing.
Sothing darker.
Sothing broken.
And with that smile still on his face, he quietly spoke.
"Only sobody truly evil could forget the nas of the people she killed."
*******
I froze.
For several seconds I genuinely couldn’t process what I had just heard.
The world around seed to blur.
Everything suddenly felt so incredibly distant from .
"N-No..."
My voice barely ca out as Charles simply stared at .
"N-No way..."
I shook my head weakly.
My mind desperately searched for so explanation.
So misunderstanding or mistake.
Anything.
Charles looked at for a long mont before finally speaking again.
Unlike before, his voice was calm, accompanied by a dull emotionless expression.
And that frightened more than his laughter had.
"My mother worked in the Nightbane Manor."
His eyes never left mine.
"She wasn’t important. Just a maid. The fifth daughter of so tiny barony that nobody rembers anymore. She wasn’t powerful, she wasn’t famous, and she certainly wasn’t sobody whose death would matter to nobles."
His jaw tightened.
"While she worked in the manor she t my father. He was another servant. They spent years together before eventually falling in love. They never had so grand wedding. There wasn’t a giant ceremony or expensive gifts or hundreds of guests."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"But they didn’t care."
For a mont, sothing painful flickered through his eyes.
"They were happy."
His gaze drifted toward the horizon.
"They worked constantly. Most days they ca ho exhausted. Their jobs took up almost all of their ti and neither of them earned very much. Sotis they had to leave with my aunt because they were both working at the palace at the sa ti."
He laughed quietly.
"But every mont they weren’t working..."
His voice grew softer.
"They spent with ."
I couldn’t speak.
I was unable to even move or breath as Charles then continued.
"My mother used to read stories to before bed. My father taught stupid little gas and always pretended to lose because he thought it made happy. Every ti they ca ho, no matter how tired they were, they always smiled when they saw ."
His hands slowly clenched into fists.
"And then one day they didn’t co ho."
The words hit like a knife as Charles stared directly at .
"I rember sitting outside our house waiting for them."
His voice had beco completely empty.
"They were late."
He paused.
"That wasn’t normal."
"But I wasn’t worried."
His lips twitched slightly.
"They always ca ho."
The smile vanished.
"So I waited."
I could feel tears of guilt and regret streaming down my face.
"I waited through the evening."
His voice remained steady.
"Then through the night."
I felt my the inside of my chest contort painfully.
"Then through the next day."
His eyes beca even colder.
"My aunt eventually left to look for them."
"When she ca back..."
Charles stopped and for a mont he simply stood there.
Then he laughed once.
A horrible maniacal laugh.
"She told they had both been killed by the Duke’s daughter."
My legs trembled.
"I don’t actually rember much after that."
His smile widened slightly.
"Apparently I fainted."
Tears were pouring down my face so much that I could barely see him anymore.
My entire body shakes and my chest hurt so much that it felt difficult to breathe.
"I’m sorry..."
The words escaped my mouth.
Weak.
Desperate.
"I’m sorry..."
Charles ignored as though I hadn’t spoken at all.
"My aunt tried taking care of afterward."
His gaze drifted away.
"At least for a little while."
He slowly folded his arms.
"She told she needed ti to investigate what happened. She said she would figure everything out and said would co back after a bit."
His smile beca increasingly bitter.
"So she took to an orphanage."
"She said it would only be for a few days."
My vision blurred further.
I could barely stand.
"Days beca a week."
His voice was completely devoid of emotion.
"A week beca two."
The hatred in his eyes grew stronger.
"Then three."
The wind blew through the cliffside.
Neither of us moved.
"After the third week I got tired of waiting."
Charles looked directly at again.
"So I left."
I felt my stomach twist.
"I went ho."
A painful smile appeared on his face.
"I thought maybe my aunt had co back and forgotten to tell ."
His voice cracked slightly for the first ti.
"I rember knocking on the door."
My hands covered my mouth as tears from my face simply wouldn’t stop.
"I waited."
Charles swallowed with a hard gulp.
"Then the door opened."
For a mont his expression beca strangely distant.
Like he was looking at a mory instead of .
"There was a man I’d never seen before."
"I asked him if a woman lived there."
A long silence followed.
"He told she used to."
"He said she sold the house three weeks ago to him."
His eyes t mine.
"And that nobody had heard from her since."
I collapsed onto my knees.
The tears wouldn’t stop.
No matter how hard I tried.
They just kept coming.
My chest felt like it was being crushed.
Every breath hurt.
Every word hurt.
Every mory hurt.
"I’m sorry..."
My voice was barely understandable through the sobbing.
"I’m so sorry..."
I couldn’t even look at him anymore as my entire body kept trembling.
"I didn’t know..."
The words ca out broken.
"I swear I didn’t know..."
I pressed my hands against my chest.
As though I could sohow stop the pain.
"I’ll do anything."
The sentence escaped before I could stop it.
Anything.
Absolutely anything.
"If I can fix it—"
"You can’t."
The cold response imdiately cut through my words.
I looked up.
Charles was staring at .
There was no sadness in his face.
No sympathy.
No hesitation.
Only hatred.
"I’ll make it right."
I was openly sobbing now.
The tears stread endlessly down my face.
"I’ll do anything you ask."
Charles looked at for several seconds.
Then finally spoke.
His voice was quiet.
Almost calm.
"Then die."
I froze.
Unable to even react.
Unable to even think and process what he had just said.
For a mont all I could do was stare at him.
Then Charles stepped forward, raising his foot.
I didn’t move as I simply couldn’t, my body refused to respond.
The next thing I felt was impact.
A sharp force against my chest as his foot thrusted forward flat against it.
My balance vanished instantly and the ground disappeared beneath .
My eyes widened, watching as the cliff edge slipped away.
I was falling.
The sky spun above .
The forest rushed upward.
The wind scread in my ears.
For a brief mont, I saw Charles standing at the edge of the cliff.
Looking down at .
Then the world vanished beneath a sea of branches as I crashed into the trees below.
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