THE FUNERAL

"Mistress... Mistress!" A call so loud that Felicia had woken up from her sleep. She lazily opened her head as her head throbbed like it had its own heartbeat, throbbing inside her skull. 

She lacked sleep because of that hideous dream that made her stay awake for hours, trying to calm herself and distract herself. 

"What is it?" She muffled, trying to push the pillow above her to use as a shield to her ears as it was getting loud. God, people are sleeping and yet someone else is trying to make a goddamn ruckus early this morning. 

"It's an unfortunate news." Olivia suddenly said as she removed the pillow above her head, making Felicia groan in frustration as she wanted to sleep more. Gosh, why do people want to disturb her? 

'God... What did I do to be punished like this?' she thought to herself as she then decided to groggily sit up on her bed, look at Olivia with her face screaming that she wasn't happy about her, interrupting her sleep. 

"What is it?" She asked Olivia, whose face remained serious yet somewhat... shocked. This made her curious, she looked like she was about to pee her dress but still had control over the flow. 

"I don't know how to tell you... But the Duke's mansion is currently under the stress of losing someone." Olivia mumbled, just enough for Felicia to hear what she said. This made her frown with curiosity bombarding her head, perplexed as to why she was acting strange. 

"What?" She asked once again. "Olivia, I don't want to ask repeatedly what happened." She even added, fiddling her toes as her anger started to pent up inside her. She was sleeping, she had the right to get mad. 

"Uhm..." She let out a hum, contemplating whether to tell her or not. "Well?" Felicia muttered, her hands on her waist, waiting for Olivia to answer as her patience was running out. 

"The Duchess... She's... Well, she's."

"She's back?" Just by mentioning the title of that woman, it seems that all of her sleepy behaviour had crawled back to her head, waking her up because of her being surprised over Tyren's coming back. 

"So my days of fun have finally ended, huh? To think that she's back... Damn, I haven't enjoyed it to the fullest." Felicia mentioned as she laid down, unconsciously teaching her head as she began to pull her hair from the scalp, stressed as she then began thinking and noticing that it had already been a month since her disappearance after the Duke kicked her out. 

And now that she's back, those days where she has to fight with that old lady will finally resurface and everything will turn back to normal, just like what it was before. Goodness, she has come back to run sack her damn mind. 

It seems that she's back to haunt terror into her once again. 

"She's back," Olivia informed, and then silence began to fill the room. However, it wasn't the typical silence where one has deeply fallen into a state of silence, but rather an awkward one, with a hint of terror in the atmosphere. 

There was something that Olivia had left out for her to wonder, making her contemplate the news of Tyren being back to seek revenge on her. There was something else about it. 

The way Olivia averts her eyes, and bites her lips as she fiddles with her fingers while her body slowly rocks back and forth, tells Felicia that this girl in front of her is lying and that something still adds to the news. 

That's not the only news that she has to brace herself. 

Just then, as she was about to ask Olivia to tell her the rest as the information was quite unclear and very dry and lacked more juicy parts, Olivia began to spout words which made her frozen, immobilized on her spot. 

"Tyren is dead."

—

Helena's cries filled the room as sorrow deep regret and lingered in the atmosphere. It has been days since Tyren was announced dead and most of the nobility has gone to offer their sympathy to them. 

Helena was, of course, crying over the loss of her own mother. She too, can feel the pain but at the same time, there was something that keeps on poking Felicia that Helena is secretly enjoying the reaction and sympathy coming from the guests, offering their hearts to Helena who continued to wallow. 

She was surrounded by a lot of people and Felicia could never know if it was because of the charm or they were just being sympathetic towards Helena who had lost her mother whom she had known since her childhood. 

"Is it bad that I kinda feel very happy? Now she knows how much it freaking hurts. Goodness me, I feel like I'm such an evil person.' She thought to herself once more as she stared into everyone who was busy, socializing and gossiping about the sudden death. 

After all, the Duchess was healthy a month ago but came back looking like a completely drained skeleton. Isn't it already suspicious knowing that the Madame would rather eat than starve?

It felt like a mystery towards Felicia who was deep in thought. If not for a light tap on her shoulder, she would've been buried under her wild imagination, overthinking whether this was somehow a murder or not. 

"Seems like something is troubling you." Someone called, making her look at the person who had tapped her shoulder. It was Liam who came to pay respect towards the late Duchess. 

"My heartfelt condolences to you and your family, Lady Felicia." He gave an apologetic look, sympathizing with Felicia when in fact, Felicia over here was feeling all giddy up knowing that the woman who would always cause her trouble was dead. 

"Thank you, young Master..." She smiled, giving him a sad smile when she was just covering her real expression. She just can't give someone a happy smile since there are too many eyes looking in their direction right now. 

"I really didn't expect this to happen... The Madame died... Too young as she still had a lot of time ahead." He even said, wanting Felicia to burst into laughter as he was telling her this in a serious tone. 

"Yes... She was a good mother... Too good to be true..." She commented as she turned her head to the side, using her handkerchief to wipe off the non-existent in her eye. Ha! In her dreams, she wouldn't cry for Tyren. 

As her eyes glanced over the crowd, her eyebrow unconsciously cocked upward, curious as to why they were giving her such dirty glances, it was as if they were looking at her like a damn devil out of the cage. 

'What new story am I about to hear next?' She questioned herself while looking back at Liam who was too eager, looking at her right in her face. He looks like he spaced out but no, he was looking quite intently at her. 

It's as if he had something behind his head that urges him to look at her with eyes that scream danger. Or is it just her overthinking about things?

"There you are..." Someone interrupted, making the two of them cut off their eyes staring into each other and looked at Alexander who approached her. "Alexander, is there something going on?" She asked. 

She's quite thankful that she had escaped from Liam's intense glare. It wasn't screaming like he was being mad at her or frustrated. But rather, it's something, the emotion in his eyes is cold but something is not just making it up. 

Like it's hard to describe what that was. 

"No... But I think you need to rest for a bit. You've been entertaining a lot of guests since this whole fiasco started. You look pale, are you sick? Don't worry... I will send you back to your room." Alexander asked, his palm touching her forehead, checking if her temperature was right. 

"You need... Resting, Felicia." Liam also said, worried sick as he tried to approach her but then stopped when he realized that he must have been acting like a creep towards her. 

"Liam... You look like you haven't gotten any sleep. Are you okay?" Alexander asked upon noticing Liam behind Felicia. Felicia then turned around to look at Liam and didn't notice that he had black eyebags around his eyes. 

So he lacks sleep too?

"I'm fine. I'm a bit caught up with my work but I'm doing well, actually. I just came here to offer my condolences and some flowers. It's still a shock that the Duchess has chosen to sleep eternally." Liam answered Alexander with a soft smile on his face, before looking at Felicia. 

"You should rest now, Lady. It's not good for ladies to stay up if they're feeling under the weather." Liam added, his smile didn't falter as it grew more while his irises turned big when he looked at her. 

"Yes, what he said is right, Felicia. You need to sleep. Tomorrow is the last day, we'll get to the end of this." Alexander mumbled, directing his hand to her waist. "Well then, I'll be leading her back to her room, Liam. I'll get back to you." Alexander stated but was soon stopped by Liam, shaking his head. 

"No, actually I'm also about to leave. Don't worry, take a rest, Felicia. I'll see the both of you tomorrow." He ended, bowing his head and left the two who were speechless with him. 

"Am I the only one thinking that Liam has changed?" Alexander asked towards Felicia who remained silent as her eyes followed Liam who exited the manor, squeezing through the crowd.

He did change.