Sins of Love - Chapter 49. (Patreon)

Silverstein Palace, Florence, Italy.
Wednesday, June 1st, 2022.

In a room dimly lit in violet hue, she sat half-laying on the couch, going through a file on her tablet. The gravity of the situation that the documents highlighted failed to bring any change in her expressions. She read through the information and put down the tablet when she sensed someone approaching her room.

Her heart skipped a beat in hope, but as soon as she saw the conflicted look on the girl’s face, she put aside her worry and smiled.

“Nera…” She invitingly called out the girl with a nickname that only she used.

“Anna,” Karen approached the couch and sat by Arianna’s side, “there’s been no news from Arkaya.”

It was the 10th day since they lost contact with everyone on Arkaya.

“Hexis has no information either.” Arianna nodded and informed her back.

The two of them remained silent for a few minutes. In these few minutes, they steadied their nerves and took comfort in the immediate presence of each other. Their sisterhood was special. Together, they had faced a lot worse than the present. There was nothing in the world that could shake their faith in the light of their lives, their brother, their husband, the man who ruled their heart and lives.

“Come,” Arianna got up from the couch and grabbed Karen’s hand.

The clock in the dining room hit 2 pm, and all the girls in the Palace were on their seats. To the maids, it was the first time they had found the Palace so lonesome. Never before had so many of the family members been away at the same time. The last few days were accompanied by a haunting feeling of desolation, creeping in with every passing day.

Keira, Ilsa, Ella, Maira, and Isha were at Arkaya with Shazan. Helen, Marilyn, and Mary were at the House of Scarlet Letters. Everyone knew about the current situation, but Arianna refused them when Marilyn decided to come back to the Palace as soon as she had heard about the last news of Arkaya. Of course, Marilyn only knew that the situation was tense, but how grave it was, no one informed her about it.

Arianna looked at everyone at the table as she sat at Shazan’s place. Karen sat on her left, and the seat on her right remained unoccupied. Her eyes glanced at the somber expressions of everyone on the table and she smiled lightly.

“We have not received any news yet.” She informed them, not keeping them under a lie.

The sadness reflected on the faces of the twins deepened. Ever since they were brought to the Silverstein Palace, their sole responsibility was to look after little Roselyn. The little Princess was on a trip, to who knows where, with Renesme and Serafina. Shazan was not at home, and they had little to no work to do. Their hearts were growing heavier.

Asaya worriedly looked at Arianna, but seeing the smile on her face, she stopped herself from voicing any questions. Kaiya was faring better than the rest as she had only been with the family for a little over a month. It was not that her heart was not aching to see Shazan, she was worried, but she found the situation not as abnormal as everyone else realized it to be.

“Mina,” Lena, the Head-Maid of Silverstein Palace, took a deep breath and called out to one of the twins. “Help me serve the food.” She knew her job, and she was capable and headstrong as ever.

Her order helped in diverting the twins' attention, and even though she had not asked Nina to help out too, the little maid got up and helped serving food to everyone with her twin.

“How was your Language Class?” Karen smiled at Kaiya and asked.

“Spanish is easier than I thought it would be.” The girl with the platinum white hair answered with a light smile. “Joanna makes it fun and easy.” She then gratefully looked at the maid that was in charge of her Language classes.

“How’s she doing?” Arianna asked Joanna.

“She grasped the basics easily. It was a good thing that she was well-versed in English. She does not have a lot of trouble with grammar and sentence building, but she fumbles a little when it comes to conversations. It will take two to three weeks before she can start conversing in elementary Spanish…..” Joanna gave a detailed progress report of Kaiya. “She’s a good learner.”

Even as they ate their lunch, the tension in the room didn’t lessen. Lena tried her best to engage Mina and Nina in conversations, but the sadness in their voices ached everyone’s heart. There was this ‘void’ that weighed on all of their minds, making their hearts restless.

Arianna knew that words could no longer make things better, and so she remained silent and did not waste any comforting words.

‘Beep beep…’

“What is it?” She asked as she looked at the smartwatch on Karen’s wrist.

“It’s Alka.” Karen frowned when she read the message she received from the acting Guardian of the Silverstein Palace. She briefly glanced at Kaiya, but then returned to finish her lunch.

“Is everything okay?” Joanna couldn’t help but ask.

“Mhm..” She nodded. “It is just an unexpected guest.”

“Who?” Mina curiously asked.

“Kaizuki Kou.” She replied unemotionally.

Kaiya’s hand shivered at the name and the spoon dropped down, spilling the soup on the table.

“Did you give him permission to enter?” Arianna smiled at Karen, ignoring the trembling of Kaiya.

“No,” She replied with a smile. “He will have to wait for me to finish my lunch. The people that came as his guards are all Azeros. Five, and all new faces. I have sent a search and scan on them to Hexis.”

“Mhm…” Arianna nodded to her and finished her lunch without any haste.

An hour later, outside the Palace building, in the Royal Courtyard, stood a woman dressed in a silver cloak, bearing the emblem of the Moon Clan. Her name was Alka, and she was acting in place for Ezio.

The sun was masked by the dense dark clouds, limiting the light. The wind was not blowing, and the world was peacefully silent. The signs of rain were evident.

On a Steel table, inside the white patio, sat an old man, looking frail, and ancient. His dark eyes looked around as if he was looking for someone, and the guards who came with him stayed vigilant. They stood straight as if their spines were iron rods.

A gust of wind brushed past everyone, and suddenly, by the side of the lady in the silver cloak, stood a man who was hidden under a black cloak, bearing the emblem of the Silverstein Empire. The two of them lowered their heads in a bow, and Arianna walked out of the Palace together with Karen.

It was only after Arianna nodded at them and arrived on the patio that they stood straight again.

Karen unceremoniously took her seat without greeting anyone, and her hazel eyes scanned all the six guests. No cloak could hide the faces from her eyes.

“What brings you here?” Arianna straightforwardly asked the old man.

“You have grown up, girl.” Kaizuki smiled fearlessly, but even his old heart that had seen everything in the world could not bear the prestige and beauty of the girl before him. His eyes subconsciously lowered in respect and embarrassment. “A true Empress…” He appreciatively nodded.

His pleasantries brought no change in Arianna’s expression, and she did not repeat the question she had asked.

“Where’s Shazan?” Kaizuki saw that Arianna did not have any respect for him in her eyes, and his heavy heart ached once more for the mistakes he had made in his life.

“He’s busy and not present at the Palace,” Karen replied as she frowned at the old man.

The old man nodded and stayed silent for a couple of minutes. His eyes restless wandered here and there, but never daring to look at Arianna or Karen.

“Where’s Kaiya?” He finally asked with a heavy heart.

“She’s here,” Karen replied to him.

“May I…”

“No,” Karen shook her head even before the old man could finish his request. “She knows that you have come. If she wishes to see you, she will come here. We are not going to call her.”

The old man had not expected a direct refusal, and it took him a moment to let that sink in.

“Mr. Kaizuki.” Arianna looked at the old man. “If you are not going to answer my question, take your leave.” Her words were severe, and all of a sudden the atmosphere around them stagnated when a painful cry of one of the old man’s guards shook the courtyard.

The man dropped on his knees, grabbed his head with both his hands, seemingly adamant about crushing his brains just to let the pain go away. And miraculously, the pain disappeared. But it left behind an eternal fear in the back of the man’s mind.

“Keep your eyes lowered. Next time, the pain would haunt you to the afterlife.” Her words were brief and low, but the warning was loud and clear. She was not fond of men staring at her.

None of the guards dared to look at the Empress of Silverstein Palace again, and the one that had experienced her mental attack could not stop shivering even after he stood back on his feet.

Kaizuki realized that Arianna was not going to entertain him for long. And she was not welcoming his arrival at the Silvertein Empire.

“I cam here to see my daughter…”

“She does not want to hear you addressing her as your daughter.” Arianna smiled at him, and her blunt words cut deep in the old man’s heart. “Send your guards away if you do not fear for your life here.”

Her words reminded the old man of the times when he used to come to the Palace without a care for anything. In his memories echoed the laughter of the brave man named Rysar Silverstein. Rysar, who was his benefactor and a great friend.

A wave of embarrassment washed over him as he remembered that he had never before brought guards with him inside the Royal Courtyard. What was strange was that he had completely forgotten about this matter.

“Leave…” He waved his hand and gave a brief order to the men standing behind him.

Karen took notice of the brief hesitation the guards showed before leaving, and her brows frowned. Things were not as simple as they seemed. Had Arianna not scared them out of their wits, they would have requested to stay by his side, that of course, under the premise of loyal bodyguards. She was sure of it.

“Alka…” Arianna called out the name of the Lady standing behind her.

“Yes, my Lady.” Alka disappeared from her place without hearing the instruction. She already knew what Arianna wanted her to do.

The old man curiously looked at the man that stayed cloaked behind Arianna and Karen.

“I forgot to thank you for saving my life that day,” Kaizuki said to the man.

“He only follows Shazan’s orders. There is no need to thank him.” Arianna told him. “His name is Rysar. Shazan’s left-hand man.”

“The atmosphere of this place is as bright as I have ever remembered.” Kaizuki made an ironic remark, sank back in his seat after nodding to Rysar and Arianna, and then his eyes glanced briefly at Karen. “You are Karenera, Ezio’s daughter?”

“Yes,” Karen answered him with a little nod.

The old man hesitated, but then braved his heart to ask the question that was looming on his mind.

“How much time do I have left?” His voice was heavy, aged, but firm.

“Two years. Three, if your health doesn’t deteriorate at a faster rate.”

Karen had already analyzed the state of Kaizuki. And it was something Shazan had informed her about as well when he was in Japan.

“She’s not going to see me, is she?” He asked lamentingly. Knowing that he had little life left in him, his regrets hammered on his heart once more.

“Who knows.” Karen shrugged. “But there is something I am curious about. Why did you make him accept her as his family?” It was rare for Karen to show anger in her voice, but there were clear hints of anger in her question. “You are a clever old man, and you knew that it would hurt him if he laid eyes on her. She has taken after her aunt after all. You knew Janaira was a special existence in his heart. What did you want to achieve?”

Kaizuki frowned at her words and stayed silent for a while.

“I just wanted to keep her safe.” He was not sure why he had done that.

“From what?” Karen frowned.

Kaiya was living a normal life as a normal human being. No one other than Kaizuki and her foster parents knew about the truth. What kind of danger could she have been in?

“A parent’s intuition. Perhaps, it was because I knew I didn’t have much time to live. I felt relieved after Shazan accepted my request.” A light smile crept on his lips. “I had no ill intentions. I knew it would hurt him to lay his eyes on her. She would be a living reminder for him of Janaira, but he is not a weak person. He could handle it, and I know that he never mistreats innocents.” He sighed. “I wanted to keep my word to Rysar as well. I promised to marry my granddaughter to Shazan, but…” He took in a deep breath and sighed again. “And I felt the responsibility of making sure that the last Freston returns to where she belongs. All Frestons belong to the Silverstein Empire…”

“Not the ones that have voluntarily left the Empire.” Arianna’s words were directed at the woman that he had sinned with, the woman that bore Kaiya Freston. “Janaira, as the head of Freston Family, removed her name from the tree of ancestry after your son’s death.” She smiled here. “She had no right to keep the name Freston, and that means that Kaiya has no last name.”

Kaizuki cringed at the painful memories. It was clear to him that the Empress sitting in front of him was Lyanna’s little sister. She had not approved of Shazan keeping in touch with Kaizuki after that incident, and it was clear to him that Arianna did not approve of it as well. He sighed as a face emerged in his memories.

Alyssa Freston was not a name people in the Silverstein Palace remembered with fondness. She was 11 years older than Janaira, and she had chosen to leave the Empire when she turned sixteen. The only reason she had been allowed to leave was that she was involved with Kaizuki Minato, the youngest son of Kaizuki Kou. She was to be the old man’s daughter-in-law, but things turned out to be very different than expected.

Two years later, Kaizuki Minato was found dead in his apartment. He committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. No one knew the reason behind it, except for the people in the Silverstein Palace, Kaizuki Kou, and some guards who were silenced in the coming days.

The son caught his fiancée in bed with his father. Heartbroken by their betrayal, he tried his best to distance himself from the two of them. But in the end, the pain proved too much for him. He had loved her a little too much.

Arianna remembered the day they had received the news. Janaira was too innocent for the cruelty of this world. She could not even lift her head in front of everyone due to the shame her sister smeared the name of Freston with. It took all of Lyanna’s convincing that Alyssa’s actions were not hers that she finally managed to look at Shazan in the eyes.

“I take it that my daughter is not welcome here?” He asked.

“We never said that.” Karen smiled at him. “She has been accepted as a family member, and so this is her home. You do not need to concern yourself with her safety anymore.”

“Now, shall we get to the business?” Arianna sternly asked.

Kaizuki did not have the nerve to look her in the eyes. The Empress of the Silverstein Empire was clever beyond her years. And he was not going to insult her intelligence by dragging the main reason any more than he already had.

“I have convinced Yuuto to accept Shazan as his liege, and serve him as his King in the Order.”

“And he is not here to take his oath of fealty?” Karen frowned at his words.

“He is taking care of some business back home.” Kaizuki hesitantly replied.

There was silence after his words. He imploringly looked at Arianna. Her answer to his request mattered the most right now. Shazan would never do anything if Arianna called a ‘no’ for it.

Karen did not have a good feeling about his request. The boy in question was a Zeros with no history. And suddenly, he was the heir to the wealthiest family in Japan.

Shazan had made her check all information on the boy before he left for Japan to save Kaizuki. She found nothing on him. She even cross-checked the data with what Hexis provided them, but the boy had no background.

Kaizuki thought that Shazan trusted him, but he was mistaken on that part.

Her husband held no ill-intentions towards the old man, he even respected him a little, but the circle of his trusted did not have Kaizuki Kou in it. The offer Shazan had made to him those years ago was void now. She held back a scoff when she saw the plea in the eyes of the old man.

“My apologies, Mister Kaizuki.” Arianna lightly smiled. “Your heir refused the meet Shazan when he saved you, him and your family. He did not allow your granddaughters to meet him as well.” She reminded him of how they had treated her brother several weeks ago in Japan. “Shazan may have overlooked your folly, but I would not be his Empress if I let go of this disrespect.” Her eyes turned cold. “He is not even here to accept his liege. Surely, some business is more important to him than what you are supposedly here for on his behalf.

“We are not accepting Vassals now. And a man who disrespects my husband is not worthy of the honor.” Karen gave him a clear answer. 

Arianna stood up from her seat and turned around to leave. Karen silently followed after her.

“Farewell, Kaizuki.” She said. “The times are changing. Be safe.”

She left him with the famous words of the Silverstein Family.