The Mistress of Shadows

Chapter-02

Aloisa looked down at the flowers in her hand, three lilies which were all that had bloomed in the small garden she was tending to nearby her house.

Her mother, Eliza's favorite flower was the only thing that made her smile even though it was just her lips turning upward a little. But the soil and the weather were not suitable for the kind of lilies mother liked.

Somehow, Aloisa had managed to tend to them carefully so that she could give them to her mother, Eliza.

Eliza….

She was a beauty when she was healthy which none could ever compare her to. Her mother's luscious brown hair swayed in the air and her hazel eyes that would make anyone take a second look at her.

But she became a shell of a woman she was during her illness.

Aloisa had always admired her mother and her beauty. Eliza was incomparable and that was why the Duke's wife came down to torment them often but stopped coming once Eliza fell ill.

No one was there to take care of Eliza except Aloisa.

Aloisa remembered the day she went to beg her father, the Duke of Everland to save her mother.

Two years had gone by since then.

It was her birthday today. Eighth birthday.

And she had come to pay her respects to her mother.

She placed the lilies on her mother's grave and closed her eyes.

Thank you for giving birth to me. I've done all I could to save you from your illness even though you were cold towards me. I've realized that you raised me thinking of it as your duty and didn't love me. You saw me as your biggest regret and I get it now. So, Mother, this will be the last time I will come to see you. I cannot live my life like this anymore. Rest well, mother.

Aloisa turned away from her mother's grave and moved towards her workplace.

It has been one year and six months since my mother had passed away. She had to be dragged away from Eliza's deathbed. At first, the six-year-old Aloisa couldn't understand that her mother passed away and she had continued taking care of her in a fit of insanity. The gardeners came to investigate when they smelled something foul from their home.

Aloisa couldn't grasp the feeling of her mother moving away. The duke's family was crueler than ever, his father even smiled at her during the funeral as if this was the happiest moment for him.

Aloisa's heart hardened that day…

There was no one for her in this lone world. Truly, and utterly alone.

She lived for the sake of living and existed like that for four months after her mother left her all alone. But she dragged herself outside one day when the Duke's aide came to retrieve her to the Duke's office.

Aloisa followed him lifelessly that day, knowing that nothing good would come from this meeting. It was a sunny day, and the flowers in the garden she had witnessed while passing through the garden.

Her entire world in the six years of her life could be summed up as her house, the garden, and the path to the Duke's office. That's all there was. That thought was what went through her mind the entire time she limped her way to the Duke's office.

Why?

Why was she giving up on her life for people who never valued her life?

Yet, it took a year to let go of her mother. It was relieving in fact, as if some burden had been lifted off her shoulders. That was why Aloisa had decided to let go of her mother who was only cold to her.

Aloisa didn't know how long she could live in this world as she was an illegitimate female. And also, a disabled person.

So, until then, she has to live for herself and see the world outside of this garden.

The Duke called her on that day to warn her if she wanted to stay in the Duke's mansion and continue having the budget allocated to her, she would undergo the classes for Awakening.

Awakening…

God!

How cruel the Duke was to send a seven-year-old to Awakening!

Why?

What wrong she had done to earn all this?

It was the Duke who had an affair with her mother, Eliza, and brought her here despite Eliza belonging to the enemy country. It was the Duke who got her mother pregnant. What wrong she had done?

Why was it her fault that she was born?

Awakening.

Everyone in the world knew about Awakening even Aloisa. Mother had taught her about this.

It was a class, a training that consisted of both physical and mental tests. To awaken the power, one was born with. Usually, the people of long-standing families inherited the same power but with different abilities.

Like the Zelene family had the power of water within them for generations but the way of controlling it and the extent of it varied. Also, not every member of Zelene has the power to control water.

And a new blood like her has the advantage of gaining a new ability that hasn't appeared in anyone yet.

However, Awakening classes are attended only by children who are above the age of ten. No one allows a child to attend them because their body and brain aren't fully developed yet.

But there were rare cases where children under ten awaken their powers naturally and have been considered geniuses.

Everyone in the class, who was all older than her looked at her with mockery and pity,

Aloisa with her weak leg, unable to even run was made into a laughing stock for the people. She was not physically capable of enduring the hellish training they put her through to discover the abilities she had.

Why?

Why was her father interested in finding her abilities?

He was the Duke of Everland, a war hero of this country, and was favored by the King. He had the largest number of commanding Knights and commended the navy of Nexyran.

Duke Felix had two sons and a daughter.

The eldest son, Alexis Zelene who was eleven years older had awakened his power of summoning water from nearby sources and making it into any shape he desired in the first class itself.

The second born, Tallia Zelene, nine years older had yet to attend the awakening class and was already showing progression with her connection to water.

The youngest son, Travis Zelene, seven years older plays around the mansion as if he owned everything.

The Duke Felix had three beautiful and promising children.

Then why?

Why did he want to know what powers she had?

Why did it matter?

Aloisa didn't know. Nor could she understand him.

Her mother, Eliza didn't have any powerful ability either as she had the power to grow any plant into a healthier one and she could generate seeds of the plants she had seen in her hand. That was how Aloisa had grown the lily plant which was planted by the seed collection from her mom's box of treasure.

But, Aloisa knew that she did not have a single collection with flowers or anything related to plants.

Nor did she have any strange feeling with the water as Tallia does.

She might even have some useless powers like the many commoners in the world like creating bubbles or having the ability to produce smoke. Or, she might have no powers at all like the forty percent of people in the world.

Only, twenty percent of the world's population had strong powers and, in that five percent only had the strongest powers like Duke Felix, who had the power to control the tides of the sea or the ocean. That was why he ruled the navy world. And, Aloisa knew she was not lucky enough to have any strong powers.

So, why did Duke Felix want her to attend the Awakening classes?

Aloisa didn't know. Maybe, the Duke wanted her to suffer and go through humiliation and misery every day.

Aloisa still diligently absorbed the things taught to her even though she was not physically capable of many things.

Because, she wanted a better future, and above all, she hoped and prayed every day that her powers would be something that helped her to walk normally or something related to transport.

She had desperately begged her body to manifest something that would help her weak and pitiful self.

And, of course, fate was never kind to her as she manifested her powers last month, the youngest in the class to awaken her power.

A black dome…

Yes, her power was conjuring a black dome around her. It happened when she was just watching the archery practice when all of a sudden, a stray arrow came at her. She dodged in reflex despite seeing a black dome forming around her.

And, surprise, surprise…

The black dome didn't even defend her as the arrow went above her head passing through the black dome as if nothing was there.

And, the instructor was ecstatic as he was someone who enjoyed analyzing other people's powers.

So, he ordered the other students to aim at her albeit without much force, and a black dome formed around her most of the time with its intensity and size growing smaller every time.

And just like that, every time, the black dome did nothing to defend her or did it do anything else.

The instructor soon lost interest as it was useless just like her. Everybody in the class laughed at her.

Aloisa couldn't even run away in shame as she limped her way to her home. Of course, she had to meet the Duke on her way who was sporting a satisfied smile and a look of triumph on his face. She knew he was happy that she didn't have any powerful ability.

Why?

She had so many questions but she never received any answers.

She was grateful that her mother was allowed to be buried in the Mansion's graveyard despite the part allocated for servants of the duchy.

Not that it mattered anymore for Aloisa vowed to herself to not visit her mother's grave anymore. She refused to live the rest of her life following in the past memories and ruining her life for the mother who never cared or the Duke who pretended she didn't exist.

Aloisa walked her way towards the Mansion's library with the help of a walking stick.

Although her budget remained the same for her, she didn't use it to buy a proper walking stick. Because the wood she had picked up from the forest area of the duchy was polished by her to be her support was the twentieth one.

Tallia Zelene was as cruel as ever if not more, always pushing her walking stick away or ordering the servants to break it.

That was why she didn't waste the money. She was planning on saving the money without spending much. She hadn't brought any clothes as they would be messed with nor did she buy any accessories as none suited herself. The breakfast and dinner she ate with servants, none bothering why she was eating with them.

So, almost everything allocated to her was being kept away as savings just in case she had to run away somewhere.

One might wonder why was she going towards the library since she wasn't allowed in important places. It was because of the Duchess, the wife of Felix Zelene.

Tallia Zelene was angry that Aloisa was allowed to attend the Awakening classes while Tallia was not allowed even though she showed promise by connection with water at such a young age.

Tallia was stupider than she thought. Why couldn't she see that it was nothing but a lesson of humiliation for Aloisa?

So, she went and complained to her mother dearest, the duchess.

Aloisa was warned that she wouldn't be able to freeload in the duchy since her mother, Eliza, the mistress of the duke had passed away. The duchess had ordered her to work in the library and help out by being a servant of the library. To get a salary according to her work if she wanted money.

So, the duchess didn't know that there was a budget allocated to Aloisa.

Of course, the duchess didn't have a barest hint of good intentions towards her. She was ordered to work in the library since it was on the topmost floor of the mansion and Aloisa with her weak leg would be heaving for breath if she climbed it even once.

So, it was a cruel punishment that was disguised as work for her.

Not only that, there were only three workers assigned to the section she was assigned to and that part can only be accessed by a ladder.

Aloisa knew that everyone in this place wanted her to suffer. She climbed the stairs of the fifth floor, heaving for breath and struggling with her weak leg. It would take fifteen more minutes to reach the library and she stopped on the fifth floor to rest.

How cruel the world was!

Aloisa cursed her luck for having a useless ability as she had prayed and wished for an ability that allowed her or aided her in walking. At the very least, she hoped that she had the powers to defend herself so that she could protect her body if the abuse got severe. Even a healing ability would have been a blessing in her miserable life.

The maids and servants she came across were all snickering behind her back. She didn't let it bother her and climbed on the remaining stairs. She had started an hour before working time for she had to climb these many stairs.

Aloisa endured it knowing that the Duke and Duchess didn't care about her and that she was lucky enough to stay inside the duchy. She knew what awaited her in the world outside the duchy. If she wants to venture outside of this mansion, she has to be ready and has the ability to defend herself.

An illegitimate girl with a disability and an even more useless ability.

There was no place safer for her than this. She had witnessed how uncomfortable maids get when the male guests paid them unwanted attention and wandering hands.

So, Aloisa gritted her teeth and endured the humiliation of servants gathering to see her climbing up, more like dragging her body upward on the ladder with difficulty.

As soon as she reached the floor of books in ancient languages, Aloisa took a deep breath and let the smell of books calm her. She knew that there was no one here nor will anyone come here.

The two other servants assigned here were given other tasks in the mansion. And, she knew the Duchess wanted Aloisa to suffer alone, wanting to isolate Aloisa and make her feel hopeless.

Aloisa smiled knowing that the duchess failed to grasp her inner thoughts. Aloisa was in fact happy to be alone and in here, she loved it.

One of the reasons, Aloisa endured through the stairs was because of knowledge. No one knew that Aloisa could understand ancient languages….