Chapter I:

Echoing Silence

NOTE: I REPLACED THE PROLOGUE (that was previously published) WITH THIS CHAPTER. THIS IS THE FIRST PART OF THE STORY.

In the middle of the night, she opened her eyes, sensing the strange, heavy silence that hung in the room. Her vision was blurred when she looked around, her passive mind trying to recollect where she was. The lady's eyes first fell on the roof, which looked like it was sagging. The moonlight entered through ragged holes and the stars in the sky were peeping into the room through the thin openings. Thin lines of white light lay in perfect diagonals across the floor and rose in thin streaks of luminous threads all over the room. The room was not only unnaturally too quiet, but it was far too big as well, and the things in it were far too empty. The only movement, the only sound, the only life, was the faint beating of her heart.

In the unfamiliar surroundings, it took her a while to realize where she was and how she had gotten there. But once the girl remembered, she wished she were still asleep, as being awake meant inviting all the worries and baseless thoughts to occupy her mind.

She lay in the bed while watching the very clouds above dissolving, particle by particle, drop by drop, and transforming into thin flakes of snow. The lady then closed her eyes, leaving the dim moonlight to vanish, to be replaced by complete darkness in the hope that slumber would dissolve all the mountains of doubts, worries, pain, anger, fear, guilt and suffering. A long time passed, and sleep did not claim her, leaving her mind too muddled with thoughts, and she knew that there was only one way to clear them...

With her head bowed, she sucked in a lungful of air and released it. She slipped her legs from beneath the layers of blankets and let the cold chill of floor tile ice her bare feet. Not caring what she was wearing or bothering to wear slippers, she drifted past the empty bed while tying the belt of her night robe. As the dark haired girl walked through the empty hallways, a line of moonlight touched her face and the pure white light seemed to scan and measure her body in strict undulations. In the hall, slanting shafts of moonlight filtered through the sky and entered through the broken glass panes to make dreamy shapes on the walls. As the lady passed by, she seemed to cut off the luminous rays' contact from the walls, thereby separating it from its savior that prevented the moon's white radiance from further being lost by embracing it.

She stepped into the sitting room and opened its doors wide as if to announce her arrival to the night. The moon caught her fully beneath the winter's sky. The cold wrapped itself around the lady's face and hands, splashing around her wrists and ankles, slipping beneath the thin layers of her coverings to climb her bare legs, thereby stealing her warmth and pricking her skin with its naked touch.

She walked towards one side of the house where the grass sparkled with frost like fragments of broken glass. The moonlight was caught in nets of shadow beneath the bare trees that seemed to be lost in deep slumber. Silhouetted branches of the trees drooped in resignation, anticipating the weight of coming snows.

At the garden's end, the shadows flowed into thick webs that were scattered on the ground and continued to stream over the lake, where the freezing water held them as the struggling captives. The dark water lay beneath a cloud of mist that veiled it. The reflection of the stars and the clouds disguised the pond as a patch of the night sky.

The lady looked closely into the mirror of black waters and saw her own lost soul. She stood before the vision, her thoughts and emotions rising up to overwhelm her. The first snowflake of the night rocked gently down from the silver clouds. It caressed her cheek and melted there.

It was so silent and dead that she felt that she would be dissolved into the mist, floating in the solitary state of nature. She dipped her fingertips into the depths of the icy water and let the chill creep through her veins, wrinkling her skin upon contact and making it lose the sense of touch. She thought that her life couldn't get any stranger. She wanted to pretend and be in a hallucination that there was nothing wrong and she was no longer distressed. Her tragedy was over and she was finally able to breathe.

She continued to be dissolved in her thoughts when a voice distorted its flow, piercing through the still and silent winter mist.

"Jyuusan-hime!"

She turned towards the source of the sound, still recovering from the shock of being discovered despite the white fog concealing everything around her.

The light was too murky with the air being hazy, heavy, and thick with fog, mist, and snow. She stared harder at the source, and the next moment she saw a dim light invade the darkness and dissolve the blackness inside the house. As she walked closer, the light seemed to glow brighter. Suddenly, the dilapidated window creaked open, revealing a perplexed expression.

"What are you doing out there, giving the cold air a chance to make you sick?"

"Sorry to worry you, Shuurei-chan! I was distracted by the beauty of the icy, serene night, so I wanted to experience it."

"You are not even carrying a lantern! I actually feared you were a burglar taking advantage of the fact that Seiran isn't home. I only realised that it was you when I couldn't find you anywhere in the house."

"I didn't want to carry something that is only an imitation of daylight and gives the false feeling of being protected from the darkness," she said, more to herself than to Shuurei, gazing at the barren garden blanketed by frozen whiteness the whole time.

Looking at Shuurei's puzzled expression, she smiled and added, "Perhaps I should carry a lantern so that I can see my way better and also let others see their way."

"Why don't you get inside?" suggested Shuurei, noticing that the clothes Jyuusan wore did nothing to keep her warm. She was surprised the next moment when she saw the thirteenth princess of the Ran clan enter the room through the window instead of the door next to it.

"Err...I heard it doesn't snow in the Ran province," she said, covering her slight amazement that Jyuusan at times reminded her of Ryuuren.

"That's right," answered Jyuusan-hime, her eyes still hooked on the scenery in front of her.

It was the first time she had seen the frozen, tranquil precipitation of the dark clouds above that spoke of the coming storms in silence. The nature seemed to be intoxicated, lost in its distress and unable to carry its overburdened weight of the waters above. The thin white flakes shed from the skies above, irrespective of everything around.

"Why is that you are still awake? You must be exhausted after working the whole day," Jyuusan-hime asked, looking into her eyes.

Shuurei looked as though she was hunting for an answer.

"...Or is it that you are disturbed?" continued Jyuusan, feeling guilty as she knew that she was the cause for it.

"Huh? What would I be disturbed about? Err...um, I was making plans about the investigation that I have to start tomorrow, and so I wasn't sleeping."

Jyuusan sighed deeply. She could easily see through Shuurei's lie. She knew that Shuurei was spending sleepless nights, locking all her worries and sadness in her heart, as she was too humble to burden others with her worries.

"I know that you are troubled with a number of unanswered questions concerning what had happened," she whispered, shifting her gaze subconsciously towards the study table that had a bundle of papers over it.

"Nn..noo! It's not so."

"Were I in your position, my reaction would be worse. I appreciate your patience, but it is no good to keep things to yourself if they trouble you."

Shuurei couldn't utter a word in disagreement as she found no point in denying the fact. She would fail miserably in trying to prove that Jyuusan was wrong.

"The only way to getting rid of this frustration is to speak out," Jyuusan continued.

"It's not about being patient or frustrated at the lack of knowledge... It is just that I don't know how to react. Maybe all I need is some time. Ultimately, what matters to me the most is his happiness," whispered Shuurei truthfully.

"I guess you heard a few of those rumors."

From the moment the various assumptions for their sudden coupling found utterance, the rumors grew into almost a general belief.

"Yes, but they sound baseless," Shuurei replied, recollecting the recent one in which Seiran shared a long, shadowy relationship with Jyuusan-hime to get favors from Ran clan.

"Well, most of them are, but parts of them are facts," the blue eyed girl said in a casual tone.

"What do you mean?"

"Fate is not always in our hands. At times our destiny is chosen by others," whispered Jyuusan sadly while subconsciously leaning against the wall next to Shuurei's desk.

"So...is it true...?" Shuurei asked with a great uncertainty in her voice.

"...that Seiran did not choose this path by his own will? Was he forced by the Ran house?" Shuurei continued, wavering as though she dreaded the answer to her question, as that would introduce details that would be difficult to digest.

However, Shuurei couldn't stop the urge to ask, as it was a question that had been haunting her from the moment the suspicion arose in her mind. Her heart pounded faster and faster and her body stiffened, as she was possibly still unprepared for what she would soon hear. She was anxious and fearful to hear what was coming. She never asked this of Seiran as he seemed to be reluctant and uncomfortable to discuss anything regarding the marriage. The present situation was raw and Shuurei felt that it would be inappropriate to question him regarding his decision. She didn't know what answer she wanted to hear, what could satisfy her and put her mind at ease. She had never realized this, but maybe no answers would be welcoming to her ears. If Seiran was compelled to get into this relationship, it would be disturbing, as it meant that Seiran was sacrificing himself for the sake of others just as he had done throughout his life. If he married willingly, then...

'Forced? Is it the right word to use?' Jyuusan wondered.

Jyuusan-hime did not know about the details of what had happened and what had been discussed after the message that she would vacate the emperor's harem reached the palace. In the letter, her brothers also asked Seiran to take her in as his wife. Previously, she thought, or rather hoped, that he would refuse to agree to the triplets' demands. But...

"That holds half the truth," declared Jyuusan thoughtfully.

Shuurei was perplexed with the unexpected statement and asked, "Then what's the other half?"

"It's best and more appropriate if you ask him in person about that."

"But why was Seiran chosen? I mean, a princess of the Ran clan could get the hand of any man from any of the leading noble clans in marriage. So why just him?" asked Shuurei, impatience dominating over curiosity in her voice.

That confirmed Jyuusan's suspicion of Shuurei being unaware of Seiran's true identity.

Shuurei had resolved to remain silent untill Seiran was ready to answer everything, but she couldn't stop herself, not when she was so close to seeing the truth.

The next moment, the door of the room opened without being knocked, revealing the face of the last person Shuurei wanted to hear her say those words.

"Se..Seiran!"

Author's Note: Well, I think this chapter is pretty dry but I promise for a better chapter II. Sorry to kill you with excess of description, (combination of light and darkness) but I couldn't stop myself.

Let me know whatever you feel about this modified and beta-d version as that would help me a lot. Thank you!