Prologue
The sound of metal door sliding and opening deafened her ears, followed with a sound of heavy metalic boots approaching.
The Duke of Fortress of Meropide stood before the redheaded woman whose arms were bound in straitjacket, ankles shackled together. She was the talk of Fontaine, quickly making herself a headline on the front page of Steambird. It had been decades since Fontaine saw such a cold blood murder case. Wriothesley was both surprised that the said mad murderer didn't look like a typical criminal. She seemed sane, in fact. Compared to his tall and muscular figure, she was much smaller, and within those chains, she looked even smaller. Fragile even. He internally applauded her for scaring even the guards of the prison.
The woman sent a glance at the warden of the prison, a half crazy look in her eyes. The corner of Wriothesley's lip upturned slightly. He guessed it was true that the prettiest ones often times were the most rotten of them all. She might not look like it, but the fact that Iudex Neuvillette put an emphasis on her being received and put into a max containment in his fortress was a sure giveaway that this woman, though not look like it, was a sort of criminal that needed much of his supervision.
"Hm. Freya, isn't it?"
The woman looked at anything but him and proceeded to ignore whatever he said. Her head tilted to one side, as if appraising her new home with her green eyes. The Duke opened his right palm.
"Your Grace," a guard put a file in his open hand with a slight bow of his head, and the Duke took it without tearing his cold silver eyes away from her form, then looked away just to casually read the file. "Let's see... Refusing arrest, destroying a couple dozen gardemeks," he hummed and rubbed his chin, "...after killing a distinguished philanthropist in cold blood with fifty six stabs on face and body. Why?" he asked with mild curiosity.
Having no response from her, except for the empty yet rather challenging gaze she gave him, the Duke chuckled and casually closed the file in his hand. Without looking, he gave the file back to his guard. "Well, in any case, welcome to the Fortress of Meropide. I am Duke Wriothesley, your administrative warden and the very person who runs this place. Consider yourself special, since it is rare that I myself gave you the proper welcome at the behest of Iudex Neuvillette. You may consider this an honor, truly. I'd love to give you a tour, but seems that you're not in the mood and I don't want to waste my precious time. Soon you'll learn that everything and everyone in this place is under my watch and must submit to the rules lest they must answer to me. Perhaps then, you might find this a good place as any to find redemption and start fresh. A second chance, if you will. You'll find me being kinder than anyone up there at the overworld," The Duke recounted unenthusiastically as if he was forced to teach a boring history lesson.
Another silence.
"Hm. Good chat. A month in solitary confinement ought to cool you off," he said with a cold smile and waved two fingers to his guards who dragged her away.
***
"I had the time to reflect on what I did and what you said, Your Grace. I have accepted my sentence," the red head with a pair of half lidded green eyes said with an incredibly soft, almost meek voice despite the underlying message behind her words. That she regretted nothing.
Wriothesley looked down at the woman who was still shackled to the floor, his expression gave away nothing, his shoulders relaxed as they always do. He snickered, his eyes were icy cool. "Very well. Then let me do the honor of finally giving you a proper tour, as promised."
The Duke glanced at his Head Nurse, and the sweet melusine nodded. "Release her," commanded the Duke, the order were directed at the guards, who unlike the usual, took their sweet time following their Duke's instruction. Something about the woman scared the guards. Wriothesley need only moved his eyeballs to the wary guards.
"Yes, Your Grace!" they exclaimed in unison, as if being jolted awake by the shards of ice in his eyes.
A light scoff escaped Wriothesley when he saw just how tense his guards were upon undoing the criminal's shackle. The woman, unfortunately did not try to attack them, or him, and denied the Duke the excuse to exercise a good match.
"Good girl."
The woman visibly flinched, and the black haired man only raised his brows before turning his back to her and began, "Let's head to the Cafetaria, where everyone is guaranteed a welfare meal once a day, so no one goes hungry. Then I'll tell you all about the only and most valuable currency in this place. Mora is of no worth here. If you want to get by, you have to work like everyone else to earn coupons..."
***
Wriothesley had been waiting for the past six months for her to start cracking. To start anything to warrant him into throwing her back into the solitary confinement, just as Neuvillette suggested, but she disappoint. In fact, she was one of the most hardworking prisoner; dilligent and mostly kept to herself.
He waited some more.
One Year since her arrival.
Nothing changed.
Two years since her arrival.
People were still wary of her, but Sigewinne had taken interest in her. The Duke cautioned the kind melusine about the redhead, which wasn't heeded very much. On his walk past the Cafetaria, Wriothesley sent an unfeeling yet cool gaze at the redhead, an indirect warning to tread carefully while she was in the presence of the melusine. She looked back at him and gave him a barely perceivable nod, her expression unreadable while Sigewinne continued talking to her cheerfully while explaining about her work in the Infirmary.
Three Years since her arrival.
By this time around, most people who once wary around her had pretty much gotten used to her presence and thought nothing of her. The Duke seemed so as well, but unbeknownst to most people he oversaw, he never quite let down his guard. Not for her, not for any other convict in the Fortress of Meropide. It was after all, his ultimate job as the warden of the underworld.
Four Years since her arrival.
The Duke unceremoniously made his way towards the infirmary where Sigewinne was stationed as Head Nurse. He pulled a chair and putting his boots up on a table, casually folding his arms. A pair of soft steps entered his ears and he spared a glance to the redhead as she came in, with a tray of Sigewinne's colorful potions that he knew all too well to taste nasty.
Perhaps, the nasty potions were also a part of punishments for the convicts and everyone that belonged in this metallic underwater settlement people call fortress.
"Your Grace," she greeted with her meek, almost sleepy voice the moment she saw him lounging at the Infirmary. Her head bowed slightly.
"Freya," he responded with a curt nod.
"Sigewinne told me that you wounded the runner up champion of the Pankration Ring, far worse than what you described," Freya said with her usual empty expression.
The Duke of the Fortress of Meropide let out a scoff, and a handsome smirk that was slightly imbued with pride graced the masculine plane of his face. He opened his palm as he spoke, "I am merely doing my duty as the warden and teach him a lesson. Such is my job; a responsible owner must sometimes teach their dog to heel and know its place."
That bastard convict wouldn't dare try any rebellion against him ever again, thought Wriothesley with an internal scoff.
Despite the lack of change on her expression and her tone, "Dogs," she said slowly, as her voice always was, "So that's what all of us are to you," she commented while she neatly and carefully placed the potions vial on the racking cabinet, as if her words were just a mere commentary on some boring Pankration match.
Yet that response and her easy acceptance of her conclusion didn't sit well with him despite his maintained indifference. It was like a dull ice stalagmite, piercing into his stomach. But the Duke, as graceful and as unbothered as usual (or at least that was how he always presented himself), only gave her a small, almost flirtatious smile, "Boris is a different breed. I can't say the same for everyone else. Take you, for an example. A role model prisoner who managed to earn my sweet Head Nurse's heart. You're far too pretty to be a dog."
He never once saw her smile in the past four years, but when she did at the moment, there was a sense of satisfaction that spread across his chest.
"How about a lap dog?" she asked flatly, and he raised a brow.
It took his brain a while to compute that the quiet convict was actually attempting a joke with him.
"Lap dogs are usually pretty. I'm thinking..." the woman put the empty tray on the round table in front of her, her expression was empty as usual, except for her pondering gaze, "...Pomeranians."
"Hm," he smiled, "Pomeranians are indeed bred to be a fluffy lap dog. But when they snap they bite," commented the Duke casually.
"I will not bite the hand that feeds me, if that's what you're wondering," she answered, again with that detached tone and expression of hers.
To her surprise, Wriothesley let out a graceful laugh. The sound gained her attention, and became a source of confusion on her part. Then, as she took a clean cotton pad and wet it with alcohol, she shook her head. "Forgive me. I... don't get out much. I didn't mean that to still be funny. I am actually quite serious."
Still with a smirk on his face, the Duke nodded, "You don't get out much, clearly. Though it's surprising, considering that since you work here alongside Sigewinne, you would have been exposed to social interactions with wounded criminals."
"I usually don't talk when I work, and most people don't bother talking to me," she said slowly, then her green eyes trailed to a fresh cut to his sharp cheekbone. "Sigewinne tasked me to handle your cuts while she deals with Boris'. Do I have your permission, Your Grace?" she asked since the Duke usually came to Sigewinne so she could patch him up after his 'enthusiastic exercises'.
"Huh. I get to be spared an earful from Sigewinne while at it then. A first," he nodded.
After the warden gave his approval, Freya stepped closer to him, almost warily, and for the first time her nostrils caught a hint of bergamot, mixed with rustic tang of blood and the Duke's natural masculine scent. It was a confusing mix of scent, yet perfectly suited the respected Duke of the Fortress of Meropide himself.
"This might sting a bit, Your Grace," she cautioned quietly.
"Nothing I can't handle," he commented as he kept his icy eyes on her green ones, unblinking and as assured of himself, unlike most of other patients that almost always seemed uneasy being near her.
Wriothesley expected the same sting that would grace his face just as Sigewinne often gave him, but found himself rather surprised that her touch was unexpectedly soft like feather. The annoying pain was minimal compared to what he often had to endure when Sigewinne was treating him. Perhaps, all this time the melusine had on purposely let him feel more sting than necessary as a way to scold him for putting himself through rough exercises at the Pankration Ring.
Alternatively, there might be a certain gentleness in the mad murderous redhead that he failed to notice before. Perhaps this was her 'lap dog' mode when she doesn't snap.
Freya's emerald eyes fleeted back to his icy ones as if to check for any discomfort. He didn't flinch and remained relaxed, though his eyes were boring into her face as if trying to freeze the surface of her soul. The redhead usually had gotten used with people staring, but his Grace's silver gaze made her want to look away.
"All done," she announced almost lazily once she was happy with her work patching the Duke's cut.
She backed away to tidy up the table and gathered all the bloodied cotton pads to be disposed after treating him. He put his boots down on the floor and stood up before producing ten coupons and handed it to her. "You did a good job assimilating to this place."
He didn't have to, but Freya didn't dare oppose him. "Thank you, Your Grace," she replied flatly as she took the extra coupons as a tip.
The Duke was walking away from the Infirmary, but just as he reached the door, her soft voice beckoned him.
"Your Grace?"
He turned to look at her. Again, she presented him with a rare smile, one that was good in nature but with an underlying sadistic tinge to it, "Don't forget your smoothie."
His icy eyes trailed to the sickeningly purple colored potion set at the table where he sat before, and an annoyed sigh escaped him. He went past her and grabbed the potion, his wintry eyes on her. "Social Interaction 101. That coupons I gave you was me silently asking you to forgo Sigewinne's potion."
Another smile that looked innocent pulled at her lips, taking him by surprise. "In that case, next time I will not take the bribe," Freya said in her signature sleepy tone.
***
"La la, la la la la la..."
Sigewinne bounced around the Infirmary, humming a tune as her chubby melusine hand worked to crush some antibiotic herbs with her pestle and mortar.
"Morning, Head Nurse."
The sleepy voice that belonged to Freya lit up the gentle melusine's expression. She turned from her work and waved at her with small arms and a cheerful smile. "Good morning! -Oh!" the melusine gasped when she saw a scrape on Freya's elbow.
Sigewinne shook her head, her eyes drooped with concern. "What happened?" she asked, almost whining like a child.
"I fell," Freya answered in her usual meek tone.
"This is the fourth time you fell. This is not good at all," the melusine said while tugging at her arm to sit at the table while she inspected her cut.
"..."
"Did you really fall? Or did someone push you?"
"..."
"I'll go tell the Duke. A combat of any kind, no matter how small is prohibited outside the Pankration Ring."
Freya sighed. "No need. This is nothing but a scratch. I don't want to cause any more trouble."
Sigewinne sighed long as she dabbed some wet cotton on Freya's cut to disinfect it. "Okay, if you say so. How about you take a break today, Freya? You seem exhausted, so today I will personally make you a nutritious lunch!" Sigewinne beamed, a rainbow in this damp, dim metal fortress.
Freya sighed inwardly and nodded. "Okay."
***
"Thank you for letting me use the kitchen, Mr. Wosley," Sigewinne waved warmly to the Cafetaria Chef who chuckled good naturedly at the gentle melusine.
With a bounce in her steps, the Head Nurse went to the table where Freya sat quietly with an empty look in her eyes, as if she was lost in a daydream. "Your meal, prepared by yours truly!" announced Sigewinne enthusiastically.
Freya looked at a chunk of purple meat steak and a side of yellow and blue sauteed veggies that Sigewinne arranged neatly on a place. As per expected, it looked nasty, and she wondered how that over the years the melusine still couldn't grasp the knowledge that melusine's aesthetics were different compared to human's.
"Thank you for the trouble, Sigewinne," Freya said with a hand on
her chest.
Sigewinne beamed happily as she sat next to her. "No trouble at all!"
They began to eat together, with Freya minimally chewed and swallowed the food quietly while Sigewinne, being much more enthusiastic and expressive between the two, continued blabbering with excitement about the new Qingxin Flower research regarding its health benefits for humans that she couldn't wait to implement in the Fortress.
Sigewinne cut herself midspeech. "Your Grace!" she beamed and waved to someone far ahead.
Wriothesley made his way to their table with his confident yet unbothered strides, "There you are."
Just as always, the moment the Duke was nearby, the chatter in the area began to tone down. Some people shrunk with fear; some others with wariness, but all of them had one thing in common: respect for the Duke. Said Duke paid no mind to it and pulled a chair across from them.
"Your Grace, do you want to join our lunch? Let me get you your welfare meal and a cup of Earl Grey Tea, perhaps?" Sigewinne asked good naturedly.
"You're far too kind to me, my sweet Head Nurse," he let out a graceful chuckle, but upon noticing the nauseating look on Freya's plate, he added, "Could you tell Wosley to give me something from Mek Bran? I would like to surprise myself today by pulling a normal welfare meal. See what I got today."
"Of course, Your Grace."
The melusine hopped off the bench and skipped off to the kitchen of the Cafetaria. Clearly, Wriothesley added his last request to Sigewinne just to avoid getting the same meal that Freya had.
"Are you really going to eat that?" the black haired Duke asked almost mockingly when Sigewinne was out of earshot.
"It's the thought that counts," was Freya's curt, meek reply.
"You've grown a soft spot for my Head Nurse, I see," commented Wriothesley with a boyish smile.
"I want to keep her happy with me. Working as her assistant in the Infirmary earns me good coupons," Freya responded flatly with her detached expression.
"I see. Most astute consideration on your part." Before the conversation could continue, Sigewinne returned with his welfare meal and his tea.
"So what brings you here, Your Grace?" asked the melusine as soon as she sat back and continued eating her own meal. Her expression suddenly turned excited, eyes wide as she rubbed her melusine hands together in an adorable way, "Has my Qingxin orders came through?"
"That's why I came. Though, I'm afraid I have to be the bearer of bad news. The Guards discovered that someone had been smuggling weapons into supplies package in your herbs orders, therefore I must confiscate them for the time being for further investigation."
Sigewinne visibly wilted at the news, ears and eyes both droopy. "That is not good. Not good at all," she shook her head in concern, her ears flopping slightly.
The Duke hummed, "I suggest you to be on your guard, Sigewinne. If there is indeed another rebellion brewing in the Fortress, then their target would be to overthrow me, as usual. You might find yourself be dragged into all this, and Neuvillette might come and waterboard me if something were to happen to you," he said casually, opening his hands and shrugged, looking unbothered despite the highly concerning subject.
For a minute there, Freya felt as if she wasn't supposed to be there listening. In fact, such topic shouldn't have been discussed in an open area such as the Cafetaria... Should it?
Or maybe, the Duke did it on purpose.
"Wriothesley," Sigewinne said softly, her eyes big with concern and Freya just noticed how this was the first time she heard Sigewinne called the Duke by his name, "Will you be okay?"
The Duke let out an easy, graceful laugh and waved his hand, "Don't worry about me, my sweet melusine. Though you should probably prepare yourself for oncoming patients in the near future."
The last part, despite being said in such a casual manner, sounded more like a threat that immediately turned the atmosphere darker with dread, and the convicts having their lunch around us seemed to have quieted even further.
The Duke continued. "That being said," his voice dropped so that only us on the table could hear, his icy silver eyes were intent on the small Head Nurse, "Where is your Vision, Sigewinne?"
"Ah," Sigewinne put her hand on her chin, eyes floating to the roof as if to think, then answered, "I put it away for safekeeping."
"Hm? You might want to keep it with your person at all times. Just in case," Wriothesley sighed.
When the lunch was over and the Duke parted ways with us, Sigewinne turned to me. "Freya, may I ask for your help?" she shook her head sadly, "I know I told you that I am giving you a day off, but I actually misplaced my Vision, and I could use a hand looking for it. After all, you are taller than me and your arms are longer."
Freya blinked, "You... lied to Duke Wriothesley?"
She sighed defeatedly, shaking her head, "I just don't want him to worry."
They spent the next two hours scouring the Infirmary for her Vision, and found nothing. After a while watching Sigewinne worriedly turned her work space upside down, and after having connecting the dots, Freya sighed and concluded. "I think someone stole your Vision."
Sigewinne put both her hands in front of her in shock, as if to protect herself from an enemy, "No, no, that can't be!" she whined hopelessly. "There are thousands of people down in the Fortress."
"We can narrow down the thief list with the help of Patients Log. Let's put on our thinking cap."
***
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