The World of Otome Games is Easy for a Starcraft Gamer

Chapter 10: Gilded Mask & Dress of Thorns

~No One's POV~

Many days have passed since the tragic incident. A black stain had been splattered on the reputation of the academy that day. They had lost 22 students to a monster that had hidden from the recent purge of the adventurers and gotten to their young boys and girls. Many noble houses mourned the loss of their children. A funeral had been held a week after the massacre, one that the young Baron Bartfort funded and personally attended along with the captured targets, Angelica, Olivia, and finally (Much to the surprise of Leon) Marie.

The rain is pouring above the building where the funeral is being held. Very fitting weather for this sorrow-filled day. The day of the funeral had now come and many people attended. From the families of those who perished to the staff of the school, even her majesty the Queen found time to come to this funeral. Laying before the crowd lay the 22 white coffins holding the remains of the dead students.

At the front of the group, their families openly cried for them. Mothers, fathers, siblings, cousins, uncles, and aunts, all grieved. Behind the families are the school staff and among them is the teacher who had been assigned to govern the entire class. She felt only sorrow and guilt for her failure as a teacher. Then finally there are the few academy students who decided to attend.

Like the others, they too grieved. Brad laid his head low, Chris tried his best not to openly cry, Brad tried to do the same but the tears slipped through as he clenched his fists, Jilk just continued to stare with a sad look, and Julius wallowed in left guilt. Next to Julius is Angelica who tried her best to comfort her fiance but none of them are working.

Besides the daughter of the duke is Olivia and she stared with teary eyes at the coffins. She didn't know any of them. Some of them may have even treated her badly. However, she still cried for them. Her kind heart just cares too much not to.

As for Leon? He stuck to the very edge of the crowd. He, like everyone else, wore black-colored clothing to the funeral, and the young man went with a cloak over a plain black suit. Beneath his hood, he looked towards the coffins and then at the grieving family with eyes filled with sadness. Seeing them all like that...made him wonder if his past family did the same for him. His mother and father surely would. Despite the lack of connection they had, he knew they still cared for him. As for his adopted sister? He had no idea.

Unknown to him, his sister did grieve. She was the most devastated when she heard the news. When it was time for his burial, she was the one who cried the most. When she lost him, it felt like she lost a part of herself. Despite all the differences they had, despite all the arguments and fights, she still loved him. He was her best friend. Beneath all those groans and protesting of his, he would always try his best to help her. So when she heard the news...the poor girl was traumatized.

This is why Marie did not dare look towards the front. It reminded her all too much of that day, too much of her suffering. Yet something inside her made her turn her head and she watched the grieving unfold before her. In an instant, the memories came rushing back. The sadness, the sorrow...the hate.

'Use the memory and all the pain within to fuel you. Let it feed the inferno. Use it as your motivation to achieve your goal.'

'Yes...I will. For my brother, for my unknown savior, for our lover's sacrifice, and our daughter. Nothing will stop me. Nothing shall stop us.'

Leon felt something with his psionics, something...dark. Raw and pure emotions of hate and sorrow. He could feel the same emotions coming from the people in the room. Sorrow for the fallen and hate for the monster who killed them. Yet this one was much more potent and somehow familiar...