The Forgotten Descendants

The Eldest's Melancholy

A few more years, Arius will be reminded about the incident and finally understood the anxious gazes of his parents at the moment.

***

He wished he never found the picture and letters. He wished his parents were there to stop him from entering their room that day. He wished that he and his twin weren't so nosy to snoop around their wardrobe.

He wished he never the truth about his lineage.

***

Arius peeked quietly into the room just outside the door. It was in the middle of the night and a few days have passed since he discovered what is hidden in the always locked part of wardrobe. His siblings were all in deep sleep when he suddenly woke up from his slumber. The truth is still shaking his core and he dreamed of bloody crowns, terrifying nooses and a pair of cold jeweled eyes so similar to his own. He decided to take a glass of water to calm down and hopefully to go back to sleep when he heard the sobs and sniffs from the main room.

There on the floor, his mother was kneeling with the letters and picture held closely against her chest. His father was right beside her, hugging and calming her. Both of them didn't notice his presence at all.

"What do we do now, Lucas? The kids...they shouldn't know about this. They shouldn't know that their mother is a traitor to the empire. How can I gaze into the boys' eyes anymore after this?" Amidst her sobs, Athanasia struggled to let out her words from her throat. Her tears falling freely from her eyes.

She succeeded in feigning her calm for these few days. Acting as if nothing had happened, much less the girls will notice the subtle tension between her mother and brothers. She treated her sons just like before despite their unusual silence about the matter. Thinking that they need some time to accept the truth that they are related to the one of the most powerful imperial family and the fact that their mother is actually a criminal in the run.

Truthfully, she was scared. She was afraid to see the disgust in her children's eyes. The same look imprinted in the eyes of the people who she helped before at her execution. She was anxious that if her family will turn their backs on her again and she knew if her sons ever decided to leave her, not even Lucas can comfort her this time.

"They shouldn't have the burden of knowing their mother's dark and unworthy past."

Lucas opened his mouth to answer but Arius left before hearing it. As he laid down on the bed, an arm covering his eyes, he struggled to contain the heat behind his eyes and the dark feeling that dangerously seeped into his chest towards the Obelia imperial family.

***

He wished he didn't hear the sorrow and pain in his mother's voice. He prayed numerous times that the hatred never settled in his heart to the empire that pushed Athanasia's self-esteem to the dirt that she entertained the thought of her own children betraying her. Because no matter who his mother is -a criminal, an imperial traitor, a princess, a whore, whatever- she should know that his love and loyalty will be hers no matter what happen.

He wished the desire to avenge his mother never appeared in his mind. The need to punish those who wronged and broke Athanasia into pieces of herself never planted itself in his very soul.

***

He was 16 when someone noticed the subtle darkness in his eyes. The burning hatred in his body. The flames of rage suppressed tightly in the depths of his mind, perfectly concealed by his ever friendly smiles.

His employer, Mr. Cadoc, was the one who reached out to him after the closing the bar. It was one of the nights when Emrys had to call in sick for having a cold, after playing around the rain carelessly with their sisters. At least, Attheia and Eva have the sense to wear their raincoats and umbrellas before diving into the rain. Arius decided that the saying of 'idiots can't catch a cold' was proven wrong when his twin started to flush from fever. He happily relayed his conclusion to Emrys and was rewarded with curses from his sick twin, which he simply laughed it off. Not in the least offended by the vulgar words.