Clank.
The sound of porcelain meeting porcelain echoed softly through the upper hall. Ione lowered her teacup onto its saucer with the practiced precision of someone who had spent nine years learning the delicate choreography of nobility.
She stood alone on one of the higher floors of the Percy estate, before a tall window that overlooked the sprawling grounds below. From this vantage point, the mansion's luxurious gardens looked like a painting—perfect, pristine, utterly lifeless. Her expression was blank, empty as the overcast British sky above.
A wisp of vapor escaped from the teacup as she set it aside on the windowsill, curling upward like a departing spirit before dissolving into nothing.
Haaah.
She let out a relieved sigh, so quiet it was almost soundless.
Creak.
The door at the end of the hallway opened. Footsteps followed .. two sets, one heavier than the other. Voices drifted toward her, light with casual conversation.
"Haha! That would be quite amusing indeed!" Ralph's booming laugh echoed down the corridor of the Percy mansion.
The man beside him smiled softly, a toothpick balanced casually between his fingers. He was in his thirties, perhaps, with stark white hair that caught the pale light filtering through the mansion's windows. His suit was immaculate, tailored with the kind of precision that spoke of wealth
"Hm..."
The white-haired man's steps slowed. His eyes had found something—or rather, someone—standing motionless before the window ahead, her silhouette dark against the grey light streaming in from outside.
Ralph followed his gaze and his expression brightened immediately. "Ah, there you are!"
He quickened his pace, his footsteps growing louder against the polished wooden floor. "Ione, dear! Would you like to accompany me for some hunting today?"
Silence.
Ione's expression remained blank, her gaze fixed on something beyond the window something far away that only she could see. Her body was present, but her mind had wandered somewhere else entirely. Somewhere darker.
"Dear?" Ralph called again, his voice tinged with concern. "Dear..."
Just as he reached forward, his hand extending toward her shoulder to wake her
Grip.
The white-haired man's hand shot out, catching Ralph's wrist mere inches from Ione's shoulder. His movement was swift, almost too fast to follow, like a striking snake.
Ralph froze, startled. "What..."
"Waking someone up from a trance can be dangerous," the man said quietly, his voice calm and measured.
"Dangerous...?" Ralph's breath came out shaky, the word barely more than a whisper.
The white-haired man released Ralph's wrist slowly, deliberately, like he was handling something fragile. "Yes. Dangerous."
"Then... what should we do?" Ralph asked, his voice thick with worry as he looked at his daughter's still form.
"Nothing." The man said it so casually that it almost sounded dismissive. He slipped the toothpick back between his lips, rolling it from one side of his mouth to the other.
"Nothing?" Ralph repeated, confused and clearly frustrated by the answer.
"Yes. Nothing." The white-haired man's tone didn't change. "All we can do is wait. She'll naturally snap out of—"
Ione's gaze slid toward him.
Slowly.
Like a blade drawn from its sheath.
"?!"
The white-haired man's eyes widened. For just a fraction of a second, something flickered across his face—surprise, perhaps, or recognition. His eyes locked with hers, and in that moment, he felt it. The weight behind her gaze. The cold, calculating emptiness that shouldn't exist in a nine-year-old child.
A bead of sweat rolled down his temple.
Despite himself, a shaky smirk curled at the corner of his mouth.
" What kind of child... "
"Mr. Salford?" Ralph's voice cut through the moment. "Are you alright?"
Salford blinked and composed himself with practiced ease, his expression smoothing back into casual pleasantness. "I am quite alright, Mr. Percy. Baha! Don't mind me." He forced a light laugh, but his eyes remained sharp, watchful.
Ione turned fully now, her movements slow and deliberate. Her expression had returned to the carefully crafted mask of innocence she wore so well. "Father, was there something you needed me for?"
Ralph seemed to shake himself from his concern and brightened again. "Oh! That's right. I wanted you to accompany me for some hunting this morning, along with Mr. Salford here." He laughed, but the sound came out slightly awkward, strained.
Ione's eyes shifted to Salford. She held his gaze for just a moment—long enough for him to notice, long enough for the message to be received—then closed her eyes and smiled sweetly.
She bowed with perfect etiquette, the picture of a refined young lady. "I would be honored, Father."
It would be good practice, she thought to herself as she turned and began walking down the hall.
As they walked together through the corridors of the Percy estate—Ralph in the middle, Ione slightly ahead, and Salford trailing behind—the white-haired man's eyes never left the small figure in front of him.
Those kind of eyes... on a nine-year-old girl. Interesting.
A smirk pulled at his lips, genuine this time. Intrigued.
Ione's eyes slid to the side, catching his reflection in one of the gilded mirrors lining the hallway. She saw that smirk.
Hmm.
She scoffed quietly and faced forward, her footsteps never faltering.
The pale morning light streamed through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the polished floors as the three figures disappeared around the corner, heading toward whatever awaited them in the forest beyond the estate.