2 A gift from heaven
A girl with beautiful blue hair of a tanzanite-like hue, suddenly appeared in the courtyard of the Lombardi mansion, almost as a miracle offered by the gods to a noble house that was not capable of fathering heirs.
One afternoon in the courtyard of the gigantic Lombardi mansion, a maid screamed in horror at finding a young girl passed out among the beautiful garden plants she cared for with affection every day without fail. The young woman's complexion was extremely pale, so it was not surprising that the maid mistook her for a corpse that, added to the numerous wounds on her body, simply did not give her the best presentation image.
The halls of the Lombardi mansion echoed with the loud cry of the maid, causing many of the servants of the Lombardi house to approach the windows of the mansion with curiosity.
—"Ahhhh! A corpse! Guards! Guards!" The desperate maid screamed at the top of her lungs as she covered her mouth with horror. "Somebody help me! Please!" In response to their repeated cries for help, the guard charged with protecting the Lombardi house finally appeared in the courtyard.
Guards advanced for the scream place in an organized, manner as they crossed the intricate paths of the property's gigantic courtyard. Walking the path from the entrance of the property to the site from which the screams came was a somewhat strenuous task since the front yard of the Lombardi property was incredibly large, which added to the numerous vines and decorative plants that had to be avoided to get there constituted a considerable effort.
—"What is it, Dacy?" The leader of the three guards who had attended the call asked with chivalry.
—"T-there, look over there." The maid was frightened, she had never seen a corpse before, so she simply did not know how to react to such an extraordinary situation.
The guard approached the alleged corpse and with extreme delicacy checked the young woman's pulse. This was nothing more than a standard procedure that gave him a big surprise. The guard's brown eyes opened like plates when he discovered that the young woman was not dead.
After a short mental process, he immediately reached out gracefully to give orders to his companions, who looked at him curiously as he checked out the girl lying in the middle of the decorative plants.
—"This young woman is still alive." The guard announced while checking on the girl. "Prepare a room, we cannot allow this to be known or the Duke's reputation to be affected." His companions immediately reacted and approached to help the guard carry the fainted woman.
Normally the guards would not treat with such care the body of a young girl of unknown origin who suddenly appeared fainted in the courtyard of the mansion. However, the young girl possessed exactly the same hair color as the Duke.
Of course, this meant nothing, but being a rare hair color, there was the possibility that the young woman was a relative of the Duke or in a more extreme case an illegitimate daughter that the Duke kept hidden for some unknown reason.
The guards and the maid rushed to a room and several maids were gathered along the way to tend to the young woman's wounds. The girl's condition was not particularly encouraging, for some reason she seemed to have come out of some kind of battle and her body featured several cuts on her delicate skin.
—"Where did this young woman come from?" One of the maids in charge of cleaning the girl's body whispered.
—"I don't know, but her hair color suggests that she is somehow related to Duke Lombardi" One of the three companions who accompanied the maid explained.
—"An illegitimate daughter perhaps?" Other servants ventured with a dangerous assumption.
—"There is no way, his Excellency the Duke is not that kind of gentleman" The last of them expressed her point of view without reservation.
— "Just do your job or we might have problems." At the warning of one of her companions, the maids limited themselves to cleaning the body of the girl as best as possible while the guards brought the Lords of the Lombardi house.
It was about fifteen minutes before the front door opened precipitously, the Duke had arrived with his wife in the room where the young woman was resting.
Only seconds passed before the lady of the house noticed the hair tone of the young woman and observed her husband with the accusation, squinting her eyes began to observe her husband with slight discomfort in her eyes.
—"Honey, who is this young woman?" Mrs.Lombardi was an extremely kind woman. However, when a woman feels betrayed her usual softness can change completely into a dangerous and chilling mood.
The Duke did not respond to his wife's demand but instead approached the bed where the young woman rested in disbelief.
—"This cannot be..." He comments with complete disbelief.
—"What do you mean?" Mrs. Lombardi slightly reduced her hostility at the sight of her husband's stupefied face.
—"Yesterday I prayed to the gods asking them for an heir for our house, but I never thought this would happen"
The reason why the Duke had made such a request to the gods was that all of his children, were adopted children from other noble houses, all of these children had grown up and contrary to his initial desire, some of them causing him concern for their ambitious or depraved nature.
The Duke had three children, the problem lay in that he could not trust any, since, in his growth, many showed the nature of their original families, some squandered wealth too much or abused of the mansion's servants.
The Duke simply could not leave his home to such people and to worsen his concern the three adopted brothers had begun to fight among themselves for the right to succession.
—"A-are you saying that this young woman is the answer of the gods to your pleas?" Mrs. Lombardi could not believe such a convenient explanation so easily. However, it was an issue that would be answered as soon as the girl woke up.
As if responding to Lombardi lady pleas, the young woman began to regain consciousness, her features and figure were delicate and beautiful, as she rose to hold her forehead, exactly like someone suffering from a severe migraine.
The sleepy and confused young woman took a quick look around her only to be surprised by the number of people around her.
—"Who are you?" She asked shyly, the fear was clearly visible in her gaze as she huddled as much as she could against the back of the bed.
— "I am Duke Brohm Lombardi and this lady beside me is my wife, Mirelia Lombardi." The young woman observed them with suspicion and fear in her eyes. "Now, I would like to ask, what is your name, young lady?" The Duke's voice was kind and his manners impeccable.
—"I-I... I-I am..." The young woman made a superhuman effort to remember, she really struggled to the point that her head began to ache without getting an answer to her self-questioning.
Seeing the despair and confusion with which the young woman held her head in search of an answer, the Duke was completely convinced that his initial conjecture was correct.
—"Mirelia, this girl must be a gift from the gods. I'm sure." The Duke looked directly into his wife's eyes. " I don't have another explanation" The Duke whispered in his wife's ear as he watched the girl.
—"Can you swear that you have not been unfaithful to me and that this is not an act of that girl?" Mirelia was not an easy bone to gnaw, she simply could not accept such a convenient situation.
—"I never... Mmm, let's do one thing Mirelia" Duke Brohm had an idea while he was trying to explain himself to his wife.
—"I hear you." Mirelia observed her husband with curiosity.
—"No matter what I say, your suspicions will not be cleared so easily. However, I can prove that what I say is true in a fairly simple way."
—"How?"
—"Let the young lady stay in the mansion while she recovers. I'm sure time will naturally clear your doubts, what do you think?"
—"I guess I can't just throw this young woman out on the street, but if it turns out you betrayed me, I won't forgive you."
—"In that case, it is decided." The Duke approached one of the maids, after having received his wife's permission. "Dacy, I want you to take care of this young lady with the greatest possible dedication and let me know any need you may have."
—"As you wish, Your Excellency." The maid bowed.
—"Leave the young lady alone for now." The Duke directed everyone present outside the room so that the girl could organize her ideas without any pressure.
After removing everyone from the room, he ordered four of the guards to guard the door and windows of the room respectively and he also ordered them to be notified when the young woman calmed down and was able to speak.
—"Who are these people? Who am I? Why am I here?" The confused young woman seemed to be about to fall into madness, as she embraced her delicate body in anguish.
It was about ten minutes before the young woman finally calmed down, a more harmonious state helped her ideas to become clear and her memory refreshed enough to remember her origin.
—"I remember now... He said... he must get rid of those who had the blood of heroes when he killed my whole friends right in front of my eyes." The memories were not gratifying, on the contrary, they seemed to make the young woman extremely unhappy. Tears of frustration fell from her eyes as she remembered small fragments of her past. "I will make you pay for what you have done, Lain Thunder." Anger and bitterness were clearly visible in her eyes as she remembered an unpleasant face. After a while, the girl finally calmed down and only then allowed herself to think about the situation she was in. "I said I'd get revenge, but... where exactly am I?"
