Elias looked at the surrounding gloomily. He could not shake the feeling that something was amiss even when he should be happy. Something in his mind told him that he should run. But her hand on his arm felt enticing.
"Do you really want to marry me? I remember that you only wanted to marry a man with a rank higher than you?" he said again, firmer this time. "Why did you suddenly change your decision?"
Caldria's expression faltered. a thin crack spread across her porcelain-like smile before she forced it back into place. The soft golden hue of the garden flickered once more, like a candle in the wind.
The roses that had bloomed so brightly just moments ago dropped slightly, and the shadows stretched longer than they should in the late afternoon sun.
Elias looked around with petrified eyes but it felt more like his mind was playing a trick since everything went back to normal the next second.
"Elias, you have been injured recently. It is normal that you feel confused sometimes. Come, I will help you." she said, her voice breathy and seductive. "You are just tired, Elias. It must be the accident you have recently suffered. I understand sometimes the mind plays tricks on you. But everything is fine now. We are fine now. Come, I will take you to the physician."
He had an accident? Why could he not remember it? He closed his eyes and tried to put pressure on his memories. The last thing he remembered was working in the stables late at night when a worker had run toward him and told him the mistress was calling in her room with a suggestive look on his face.
He tried to remember after that as he was sure that was not his last memory. But everything was so blurry. What remained was the hatred for this woman.
"I hate you!" he said with a strange rage in his voice. "Tell me what happened to me and why did I hate you?"
Caldria flinched as if he had struck her. her eyes widening for just a moment before her face reassembled into warmth.
"That is not true," she whispered, stepping forward. "You are confused, Elias. Don't you remember? How have you loved me for a decade now?"
"But you do not!" He snapped. "You only lied to me so that you can use me over and over again. And I let you because I was desperate. And now you are here, pretending to be loving and caring. It confirms that this is not real."
He looked around the garden again strangely and pointed at the ground.
"There is no single decayed fallen leaf or insects." the girl frowned as if she did not understand what it meant. Looking at the confusion on their faces, he snickered. "Have you ever seen a garden this large without an insect or fallen leaves?"
"...." Cladria looked at him with a flickering gaze filled with venom. And this time, he was sure it was not his eyes playing tricks on him but the girl is strange. She did not even look human for some reason.
Lina tugged on his sleeve then, her voice filled with childish innocence. "Big brother, don't say things like that. We have changed our fate because of her. I do not want to return to that slum."
Elias looked at her, and for a terrifying second, almost believed her. The way she smiled, the joy dancing in her bright eyes, he had always wished her sister to be that happy. But then his gaze dropped to her feet.
She wasn't leaving footprints. Despite standing in the garden and running around there was no dirt on her legs.
"Elias!" she noticed him staring at her feet and her eyes flickered. "What are you.."
But before she could ask anything to hold him, he ran away and picked up a handful of muddy soil from the garden and then he smeared it on her feet.
Lina jumped away but it was still too late. The mud was smeared on her feet. Her eyes filled with dark and unfathomable hatred.
"What are you doing, Elias?" he heard the voice that could not even belong to a girl much less to his own sister.
"I was… I am sorry. Come, hug me sister." he extended his arms at her. She tilted her head and watched him.
With a smile she came closer but his gaze flickered to her feet again. Despite the mud, it did not leave footprints on the ground.
"What are you looking at Elias?" Cladria asked from behind. Her voice was strange too this time.
"Nothing!" he whispered, "did you not say that you want me back? Then could you buy the horse I have always liked, Corine, for me?" he asked in a testing voice. The girl titled her head and nodded.
"Of course, I can do anything for you." she nodded and looked at the guard behind her. "Bring the phony for him."
Lina clung to his arms and Cladria smiled at him brightly as they watched the guards leave and return in less than one minute. They were holding reins of a phony in their hands. Elias watched at the phony with a dark look in his eyes but sweat was already drenching his back. Corine had died long ago. That phony belonged to Cladria but she had killed it when she had fallen from it once.
She had blamed that phony had gone crazy and could harm others. So it would be better to kill her.
"Are you happy now, Elias?" the girl smiled softly, "we will do anything for your happiness. Now hold our hands and come with us." Elias gulped and turned to look at her, hiding the fear in his eyes.
"Where do you want me to go with you?" the girl gave a triumphant look to him. Her smile was so bright.
"Why? Do you not want to marry me? We will go to the ceremony. After that, you and I will live here forever. And no one would be able to separate us."
Lina nodded when he still did not move. Her grip on his hand was almost inhumane.
"Yes, brother. You would live with us forever in this beautiful place."