Winter felt numb. That was the only way to describe it. Numb.

She was standing in the courtyard outside, and she wasn't alone. Standing to her left was Weiss, standing to her right was Whitley, and standing right behind them was Jacques, his hands placed on her shoulders. Winter was almost grateful for that, since she felt that she would have fallen over if he hadn't been steadying her. Surrounding them was the entire staff from the Schnee household. Every servant, maid, chef, cleaner, and so on and so forth.

As per Mother's request, Jacques had called them all to gather in the courtyard for the second time this month. Though they tried to stay quiet, a few of them couldn't help but whisper and murmur to each other. Why were they here again? What was this all about?

As Winter's eyes scanned the crowd, she could feel her heart grow sick with dread. No matter where she looked, neither Klein nor Mother were anywhere to be seen.

She heard a small whimper to her right and looked down to see Whitley on the verge of tears. Winter couldn't blame him. Not only was he the youngest, but he had likely never seen the type of violence that Mother had just inflicted on Klein. Even the occasional slaps from their father were nowhere near as horrific to witness. But before Winter could comfort him - he was still her brother, after all - Jacques roughly smacked the back of the boy's head.

"Don't cry," he said gruffly. "Believe me, you don't want Mother to see you cry."

Winter wanted nothing more than to smack her father in the face for that, but then, the whole courtyard went silent. Winter turned to face the entrance to the manor and saw Mother walking out, looking just as calm and pristine as ever. To her horror, she saw Mother dragging Klein behind her. The butler's face was still bloody and almost unrecognizable, and his wrists and ankles were tied together with rope. Everyone else gasped and screamed in shock when they saw Klein in such a brutal condition. Ignoring their cries, Mother kept walking through the crowd until she was in the middle of the courtyard, right in front of the fountain.

Once she knew she had gotten everyone's attention, Mother dropped Klein to the ground and faced the crowd with an eerie smile. Klein made no move to try and escape.

"I apologize for pulling you all from your duties," she spoke, "but I'm afraid that something quite… serious has happened tonight." She grabbed Klein by the head and held him up with one arm so that everyone could see, a feat that must've required incredible strength on her part. "This man tried to kill me. He snuck poison into my drink. If I had not smelled the poison, I would not be standing here and speaking to you right now."

Mother let go of Klein, causing him to fall and crumple to the ground like a broken doll, groaning in pain. "This… is unacceptable. I will not tolerate such behavior under my roof. He thought he could get away with his despicable crime. But I'm too crafty for him." She then lowered herself down to Klein's level by squatting and held up his face, forcing him to look straight into her dark, empty eyes. "I believe you owe me an apology, Klein," she said to him, keeping her voice down to a whisper so that only he could hear her. "All you have to do is tell me how sorry you are, and I might let you live. But I make no promises."

Klein stared at her with his one good eye, since his other eye was bleeding and swollen shut. Then, out of spite and defiance, he spat right into Mother's face, hitting her with a big glob of blood and saliva. Mother did not react out of anger or disgust. Instead, her smile grew just a tiny bit. "...You've made your choice, dear," she said. Then, to everyone's shock, she picked Klein up, threw him onto the stone edge of the fountain, and pushed his head down, completely submerging his head in the water. Everyone screamed, and some even fainted, but not a single one of them made any move to come forward and intervene. Almost none of them.

"NO!," screamed Weiss, running forward. "Weiss, get back here this instant!," yelled Jacques. "Weiss, no!," Winter hollered. Ignoring both of them, Weiss squeezed herself through the crowd, her small size making it easy. Eventually, she was out of the crowd and only a few feet from Mother. "Mother, stop!," she pleaded, running towards her. Mother turned towards her with that same awful smile on her face, and with no hesitation, she lashed out and backhanded Weiss so hard that she immediately blacked out and fell backwards, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Klein was struggling to free himself, but Mother's grip on his head held firm, no matter how hard he tried to escape. He thrashed around, but to no avail, and the water in the fountain slowly became red from his blood. The bubbles popping up to the surface became less frequent as time passed. Eventually, Klein's movements began to slow down…

… Until finally, he was completely still. Mother pulled him from the water and tossed him to the ground. The butler's face had lost all its former color. His eyes were bulging from his skull, and his mouth was wide open, forever frozen into a terrifying, silent scream.

Klein was dead. Like Jacques, he had crossed Mother… and paid for it dearly.

Mother let out a forced giggle and faced the crowd. "Goodness… that was quite an event, wasn't it?," she said lightheartedly. She received no answer. Everyone was too shocked by what they had witnessed. Not just because they watched a man being drowned right in front of them, but because of what it entailed. As bad as their living and working conditions were before, none of them had to worry about getting killed by some deranged lunatic.

But this… this changed everything for them.

Just one mistake… one slip-up… and someday, they could end up like Klein.

"Weiss!," cried Winter, running out of the crowd. She knelt down beside her sister and quickly checked for a pulse. "Don't worry, Winter. Your sister will be fine," Mother "assured" her. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she woke up with a nasty headache. I suggest you put her to bed when you get back inside. The poor little thing will need the rest."

Winter looked up at her with a scathing, hate-filled glare. Mother stared back. Winter quickly looked away, picked up Weiss, and carried her off to the manor. "Oh, as for the rest of you," said Mother, addressing the staff. "You're all dismissed. Sweet dreams."

The entire crowd slowly walked back into the manor, each of them heading straight to their quarters. They wanted to go right to sleep and pretend this never happened. Despite what Mother said, none of them were going to have any sweet dreams anytime soon.

Soon, the only two people left in the courtyard were Mother and Jacques, three if you counted Klein's drowned corpse. Mother smiled at Jacques, then walked past him towards the manor, intent on finishing her dinner. As she passed him, however, Jacques said something that made her pause. "What did you say, dear?," she asked, stopping in her tracks.

"...You wanted this to happen, didn't you?," said Jacques, his voice sounding empty and hollow. "That's why you… did that to Weiss in front of Klein. You wanted to anger him, provoke him. You knew he was going to act out and do something about it… so you would catch him in the act. You would have a reason to dispose of him…" He looked back at her with sad and tired eyes. "I'm right, aren't I?" Mother did not look back at him. After a few moments of silence… she continued walking towards the manor, leaving Jacques all on his own. The once proud CEO of the SDC looked up at the sky, searching for answers. There were none to be found.

"What do I do?," he whispered shakily. "My Oum, what the hell do I do?"