DEVIANT

Leevi

Ten years ago.

“Grandpa!”  Emmy shouted as she cried out.  A group of 100 soldiers brought her dead Grandfather back from defending the borders from invaders.  

“Grandpa!”  Emmy shouted once again as they laid him in front of her.  They all knelt and bowed at their dead General.  

Emmy’s maid, Leevi, tries to pull Emmy back, but in Emmy’s grief, she was able to pull away from Leevi and hug her dead Grandfather’s cold body.  The blood has been wash away, but the body was stiff and cold.  

“Don’t leave me!”  Emmy cried out.  “If you leave, who will watch over me?  Who will take care of me?  Who will stand up for me?  Who will help me?”  

Emmy shook her Grandfather’s body back and forth, as if to wake him.  As if he was just sleeping and not dead.  

“You promised me you would come back!”  Emmy cried out.  “You promised me you be with me!  You promised!”  

Leevi could only stand back and cry silent tears as well.  She had grown up with the Young Miss Emmy and served her since Emmy was five years old.  

Emmy was born out of wedlock, ashamed of Emmy’s existence, her mother commited suicide days after Emmy was born.  Bringing shame upon the great General Light’s name and reputation, Emmy’s mother could only kill herself to keep Emmy alive.  

General Light could not raise a hand against Emmy.  She was innocent.  Who her father was, General Light did not know.  His daughter never told him who the father was.  Just that he was someone mysterious and powerful.  That their love was fleeting and a lie.  She believed in those lies and gave herself to him, but in the end he left her with nothing, but empty promises and pregnant.  

General Light stared down at the brown hair, green eyed baby and his heart melted.  Her eyes that stared back was deep and soulful as if she recognized him the moment she saw him.  

Until Emmy was five, General Light doted on her and stayed with her everyday.  Raising her and loving her the best that he could.  He was no longer a young man, nor did he have the help of his beloved wife to help him.  She had long passed away due to illness and it was only him and his granddaughter left.  

When war broke out, he was summoned by the King to defend the borders.  He had to leave his Emmy behind to be raised by servants while he protected the country.  

Ten years he was away fighting a war.  Ten years, Emmy turned 15, but she still kept her Grandfather’s promises close to her heart.  She would write to him constantly.  About herself, her days, her education.  And in return, he would write short messages back about the weather, fighting, and what he ate that day.  

Now that the old General Light is dead, Leevi would no longer have any protection from outsiders who wants to steal everything that General Light owned.  His clansmen would come claim his riches, his home, his honor as their own and no one would be here to protect Emmy and her well being.  

Leevi was just a couple of years older than Emmy, but because she was born a commoner, she knew the realities of the real world.  She would need to quickly find employment.  

Leevi did not cry for General Light.  Nor did she cry for Emmy.  She cried for herself.  For now, her future was as uncertain as Emmy’s.  

-----

After the funeral, what Leevi predicted happened.  The General wasn’t even fully buried in the ancestral ground yet and a fight broke out between the clansmen.  General Light’s half brother, Minister Greenwood, claimed to be Emmy’s guardian, claiming everything that belonged to General Light.  While General Light’s half sister, Lady Hughes, claimed she was the rightful guardian of Emmy.  

Emmy was too sad and too innocent to know that the people who she never seen before, the people who claimed to be her family and cared for her, were nothing but packs of wolves come to seal everything from her.  

No one, not even a servant warned her to the ill intentions of her maternal Half Uncle and Half Aunt.  While Emmy grieved in her rooms, General Light’s fortune was broken in half and stolen away from her.  Not a single servant came to serve her as they too, took what little valuables left from the General’s house and left.  

The next day, Leevi woke Emmy up and helped her get ready.  

“Young Miss.”  Leevi said as she combed Emmy’s hair.  “You must greet General Light one last time.  It is tradition.”  

Emmy nodded her head in understanding.  It was a custom to have the most closest relative give one last greeting the next day after the burial.  

Leevi placed the face veil over Emmy and lead her out of Emmy’s courtyard and to the ancestral grounds.  There were incense, candles and fruit already at the altar that was built in front of the tombstone.   

Emmy’s weak body kowtowed three times as she cried even harder.  Next to her Leevi kowtowed as well, giving her last goodbyes.  

“General Light,”  Leevi said as she did not rise up from her last kowtow.  “You saved this servant when this servant had nothing.  Over the years this servant served Young Miss.  Forgive this servant for this servant’s transgressions.”  

As if General Light’s angry soul came back, a gust of wind blew so hard, the incense and candles were put out and the bowl of fruit turned over.  

“Grandpa!”  Emmy shouted as she quickly stood up.  It was a bad omen.  She knew it.  Her Grandpa was angry.  

From behind Emmy, she did not know that there were three men waiting for her to stand up.  Suddenly there was a rope tied around Emmy and a gag was wrapped around her mouth.  A black bag was pulled over her face.  

She couldn’t scream or fight back.  All could do was struggle, but they have already lifted her onto their shoulders, like a sack of potatoes and left the ancestral grounds.  

“Leevi.”  Emmy tried to say between the cloth around her mouth.  However it came out muffled.  All she could hear before everything went dark was the quiet words that chilled her to the bone.

“Here’s your pay!  Now leave, dog, and never come back!”  The man said.