(From Carmila)
Sir Uther and Madame Igraine were the only members of the Cygnus clan when I was born. They had the titles of baron and baroness, and both were descendants from families that had been very powerful in the past, Sir Uther was even said to be related to the royal family, but it wasn't completely certain. At that moment, however, they lived pretty modest lives, they didn't even own any land aside from their countryside mansion. They were still respected among society, the lord worked as a judge, and the Madame was the royal palace's librarian. They also only had one attendant, my mother, who they treated almost like family rather than an employee.
They had tried to have kids on their own for quite a long time, but it seemed to be impossible for them. That's probably the reason why they treated me more like I was their granddaughter when I was a baby, and even up to when I was a kid. It was actually the Madame who helped my mother choose my name.
—She always loved the name Carmila —Mother once told me—, I think she told me it meant Orchard or Garden.
This meant a lot for me, since the Madame really loved her greenhouse, and she spent hours taking care of all the flowers and plants that she grew there, as well as those surrounding the mansion. Eventually Mother had to stop them from spoiling me, and set some boundaries between us. People would start spreading rumors about the Lord if he treated the daughter of her attendant as his own, I don't think I need to explain why. It was a bit painful at first, but I think it ended up being for the best. At least while there were other people, I had to act professionally, call them by their titles and show respect. That kind of stuck with me, though, and I started to feel weird calling them by their names even when we were alone.
Still, I wanted to repay the kindness they have shown to us, so I looked for a job as soon as I was old enough. I wanted to gain as much experience as I could, to be the perfect attendant for them. Thanks to their recommendations, I managed to get hired at the house of a colleague of the Lord. He had a higher noble rank, and he had a lot of attendants that performed their duties impeccably. The years I spent there were invaluable for me.
When I was fifteen, a miracle happened back at the Cygnus home; the Madame had gotten pregnant. Arthur was born healthy, and was loved by his parents with all of their hearts. Sadly, he didn't have them for much time. They were already in the winter of their lives when they had him, the Madame died when he was only eight years old, and the Lord got to see him reach twelve. At that point, I returned to the Cygnus estate to help him and my own mother.
I had met Arthur several times before, but that was the first time I really spent time with him. If I had to describe him in just one word, it would be ambitious. Whatever he desired, he would obtain it, though not as a spoiled kid would. He was smart and cunning, and even before he could be considered an adult, he was already opening his way as an entrepreneur and businessman. He became associated with a fellow rising merchant, Christopher Snyder, and they went to start several lucrative businesses. They even went as far as to establish new trading routes with far away countries, bringing exotic products that we had only heard rumors from.
The estate looked full of life once again, he had hired many new employees, Nora and Gabby among them, and he put me in charge of all of them. Mother was allowed to retire and live there, until she too passed away. She was buried alongside Arthur's parents.
I have to admit I was extremely surprised when he announced that he was going to marry the heiress of the Dragonroot clan. We all have heard the rumors about her and her family. They were said to be direct descendants of Lilith herself, each with the power to topple a nation on their own. A walking calamity. Of the Madame herself, I have heard she was a recluse, only coming out of her lair when the Queen herself called for her. Those that have heard her voice said her words were like poison, and everyone who gazed at her eyes was frozen in fear. And she didn't even bow for her majesty or show any manner of respect towards her. Such a prideful lady could only bring troubles to the young Lord.
—You worry too much, Carmila —Arthur told me when I expressed my concerns—, she is a friend of Chris, and he says she is completely harmless. Rumors are only that, rumors. There are people who even believe she is a literal fire breathing lizard who learnt how to mimic humans. Isn't that absurd? Why would a dragon do that? Is utter nonsense. Judge people by their actions with your own eyes, is what Father used to say, right?
—Y-yes, I get that, but...
—Besides, she is quite attractive, isn't she? I like that ice cold princess appearance she has.
—Would it be really fine? She will be in charge of all of the estate's management —I said, trying to return the conversation to a practical approach.
The young lord scratched his chin.
—I do not think she is even interested in those kinds of matters, would you mind continuing to oversee it instead? That would give you more peace of mind?
—Y-yes? I mean, that would be very unusual. What would your parents say if they heard about it?
—They'll say I'm pretty resourceful, and that there is no one else who they would trust the management of their properties than you —Arthur said, while winking.
I was still not convinced, but if it was the young Lord's wish I had no right to dispute it. I got the chance to meet Lady Dragonroot a few weeks after that, but the first impression only reinforced my belief that she was quite a suspicious person. She was wearing a black dress, with a black veil covering her face. It looked elegant, but perhaps a bit too morbid for the first time one visits her future husband's home. I might have not thought too much of it, if she hadn't come from the piers by being carried by a massive crocodile-like humanoid. Everyone was terrified, except our Lord, who was amused by her entrance.
—Good morning, Sir Cygnus, I recognize your soul —she said without a sign of emotion, once she was put in the ground.
—No need to be so formal, this isn't the first time we met —Arthur replied—, this is Carmila, she is the head maid, and I consider her part of the family. Anything that you need, you can ask her.
—...Understood. I will be in your care —she replied, drawing an empty smile on her face.
—L-likewise...
She was barely taller than me, but it gave me the impression that she was always looking down on everyone. And just like the rumors said, the air around her felt heavy. She was clearly not a normal person. I didn't notice that another person had come with them until the Lord and her went inside of the house, and the beastman returned to the piers.
—I am Sophie, I have been working with Madame Dragonroot for a few years, but I'm still very inexperienced, so please take care of me —she said with a big smile.
—Ah, of course.
I obviously felt pity for that girl, I couldn't imagine how hard it had been to work under that person. I had been training the new recruit, Iridia, to take care of the Madame. Under normal conditions, that task would fall onto me, but since I would be in charge of the property's management, I needed someone to take care of her. Iridia seemed, at the moment, the perfect candidate. She had enough fortitude to deal with her, yet she didn't show open hostility towards her, like some of the other attendants had started to do. I also believed she would let me know if the Madame got into anything I needed to know of.
I started to send Iridia to take care of the Madame, while assigning more general work to Sophie, away from her. I thought she would appreciate not being around such a peculiar lady. She befriended some of the other attendants, and was moderately efficient on her work, but I found her constantly scurrying out of her duties to pay a visit to the Madame. On the other hand, the Madame would practically ignore Iridia's attempts to win her over, insisting on being attended by Sophie the next time.
The young Lord and the Madame got married very soon after that, though it was only through a political arrangement, neither seemed to be interested in a fancy wedding at church. The Lord, despite having received a proper religious education, was not a believer of Enki or any of the other gods. The Madame just didn't seem to care. But strangely enough, the few times I saw them actually having a conversation, it was often about mythologies.
—Arachne and Ariadne aren't the same person, though they have myths based that involve threads —I heard the Madame say once—, the first was a weaver, who was proud of her work and thought of herself as even better than the gods. She was challenged to a competition by the goddess Athena in an attempt to show her humility. Some records say she won, others that they were tied, but her work was so heretical that Athena turned her into a spider as punishment. Ariadne was a princess, who helped the hero Theseus defeat the monstrous Minotaurus by giving him a sword and a ball of thread.
—Oh ho, you are indeed very informed of the Minoan myths. Most retellings do mix those two stories, but I also heard those tales directly from someone from Tanagra. Say, where did you hear about it?
The Madame stood in silence for a few seconds.
—I must have read it in a book in our old library. Perhaps an ancestor traveled to those far lands.
—Ha! To think there was such knowledge hidden so close —Arthur said with a grin.
The young Lord often traveled to far away places due to his job, often staying away for months. At those times, the Madame would do barely more than read, eat, and sleep, she barely left her room. As I had planned, I sent Iridia to attend to her, but somehow she managed to call Sophie to her side instead. Perhaps she didn't trust us. And at that point, I didn't trust her either. I needed someone that was on my side near to her, and I thought Iridia was the perfect choice...
Once, I caught her exiting the Madame's room, apparently she had brought her tea, as she was still holding the tray. But she was very deep in thought, she didn't even notice me when I approached her.
—Iridia, is something wrong?
—Ah, no, it's... nothing —she said, but she still looked quite pensative—, well, I heard the Madame say something a bit weird.
—Something weird? What was it?
—I brought her a letter from the Lord. I think it said something about him traveling to the northern territories.
I frowned a bit. Those places had been a source of problem for our country since we had annexed them. Lots of people who didn't want to follow the laws lived there, since it was quite a remote place, hard to get in, and harder to get out. They were always at the border of a civil war, just waiting for a spark to initiate a conflict. I had warned the Lord to not go there before, but he insisted there were plenty of opportunities in that place. At the very last, I had convinced him to get some bodyguards with him.
—So what did she say? —I asked, not minding that she had apparently read the letter over the Madame's shoulder.
—She said that the Lord would not return...
—What?
—That's it, she literally said "he is not going to make it home", even though the letter said when he was planning to come back.
I didn't know what to say, I didn't want to accuse Iridia of having misheard the Madame, I wanted to trust her. I can't say I didn't suspect the Madame was planning something nefarious, that was my first thought, but it was something absolutely ridiculous.
But then... we got another letter. It was from an envoy of the royal family, who had been sent to investigate a whole town burning down to the ground. The town in which our Lord was staying. I kept reading the letter again and again, I recognized the words, but my brain refused to understand them all together.
"The town was raided by a group of bandits, most of the civilians managed to escape thanks to Lord Arthur Cygnus and his bodyguards staying behind. All the bodies recovered were burnt beyond recognition, no survivors were found."
—The Lord has died. Carmila, do all the necessary paperwork —the Madame said, looking away. Her tone was cold and emotionless as always.
—W-wha... —I blurted, when the content of the note finally clicked in my mind. I took a deep breath —Of course, Madame.
I excused myself and went to my room. I threw everything I had on my desk to the floor, and I practically tore my pillow to pieces. I spent several nights crying until I passed out. Arthur was... my little brother. We didn't share blood or status, but he was my family. To make things worse, I had to be the one to plan his funeral, because that... witch, decided to become even more of a shut it. She was almost unresponsive, only reacting when food was delivered to her, nodding sometimes when we talked to her, but otherwise completely ignoring us.
To my surprise, she did attend the ceremony, for once her black dress and veil was appropriate. She still just sat in a corner, completely unfazed. The casket was empty, since they couldn't tell which body belonged to Arthur, but she didn't even bother to pretend to be sad. I hated her, but I couldn't do anything about it. And I couldn't avoid suspecting she had something to do with Arthur's death. I needed to get rid of her, even if that meant the end of the Cygnus household. That was better than seeing it all become her property. But then... we got the notice that she was pregnant. She was carrying Arthur's baby...