Act 7 - Family

“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life” -

Richard Bach

Four years passed since the day that the young girl adopted her new persona as the youngest daughter of the Silverlake family. Despite her awkward beginning, Lily eventually took to it like a fish to water.

She could often be seen running around the house, trying to assist with whatever she can, a habit from her past. However, those that do not know about her past found her efforts endearing. Her new identity notwithstanding, they all saw her as a little girl that was a bit too mature for her age.

While the younger servants often permitted her to assist with their daily responsibilities whenever she asked, the older servants scolded her for not behaving according to her own station. However, though she would pout whenever she was scolded, she knew that they were doing it with the best of intentions, so she never allowed it to bother her.

The first few months of her new life was tough, though in a very different way from what she previously experienced. Jacob hired a long list of tutors to teach her different aspects of life in upper-class society. Every day, she had to study literature, mathematics, science, both social and physical, history, as well as learned how to play an instrument, learned how to dress properly for different occasions, and social etiquette.

Fortunately for Lily, her previous life, difficult as it maybe, already endowed her with most what she needed to learn. In combination with her natural abilities, she was able to meet Jacob’s standards within only a few months, much to his satisfaction.

When she became fully adjusted to hew new lifestyle, Jacob called her to his study to inform her that he would introduce her to Janus in a few days, and that the boy would also be moving in shortly after.

Lily remembered that the few days before she met Janus were some of the most nerve-wracking days of her life. She was worried about how he would react to her. She did not know whether Jacob had informed the young boy of her past, whether he would despise her, whether he would mistreat her because of it. Perhaps not only that, but she was also scared that he would hate her, because she was just an adopted daughter that Jacob brought back from out of nowhere.

Living in this place for a few months, Lily gradually understood what type of person Jacob is. He was confident, calculative, but most importantly straightforward. He always did exactly as he told her, never once breaking his promises. She understood that much from observing how the servants around the house treated her.

Not once did anyone amongst the servants treated her with disdain, just as Jacob had said. He erased her past completely, hid it from everyone, except for a select few within his deepest inner circles. As far as the world was concerned, the girl that she used to be died in the fire that night. However, knowing this did not assuaged her fear. Janus was Jacob’s own son, and in her mind, there was still a good chance that Jacob had explained everything to Janus.

The unknown scared her. She stayed up many nights wondering what would become of her if her meeting with Janus did not go well. Would Jacob kick her out of the house? Would she be immediately disowned though she had gotten used to this lifestyle? Lily was afraid, deeply afraid of what was to come.

The night before the meeting, Lily’s felt like she was walking on a tightrope. She paced back and forth inside her room, looking out the window at the moon, and then falling back down on her bed, hugging her pillow tight. She could not calm her nerves enough to fall asleep as her mind raced about, trying to figure out what to wear, what to say, and what to do when Janus arrived.

On the morning of the meeting, Lily, due to staying up late the night before, did not wake up until a female maid ran into her room, worried that something had happened to her, as she did not come down for breakfast. Drowsily, Lily crawled out of her bed, much to the relief of her maid, and got dressed. Eyes half-closed, she put on a yellow dress, decorated with many frills and laces, and made her way down.

When she saw Jacob smiling, waiting for her at the breakfast table, her eyes snapped wide-open. Realizing why he was there, as well as her own current messy appearance, she profusely apologized to him, much to the amusement of everyone else.

Watching her, Jacob only smiled and asked her to enjoy her breakfast, then told her that Janus would arrive roughly around noon before standing up and leaving. Hurriedly finishing her food, Lily ran as fast as her small feet would carry her back to her room to get ready for Janus’ arrival.

She tried on multiple different dresses only to settle on the one she is currently wearing. She asked her maid to do her hair only to fidget around in her seat, making it took twice as long as it normally would. Standing in front of her mirror, she practiced multiple ways of greeting Janus, from just running up and hugging him to a simple curtsy. However, despite all her attempts, nothing seemed to work in her eyes. To her, they were all just various degrees of cringe that gave her goosebumps. Locked in her room, she continued trying the first thing that came to her mind, until the doorbell rang, signaling Janus’ arrival.

Amongst the staff the house, there were plenty of fanfares regarding the Jacob’s decision to let Janus live at this house. Many of the servants saw it as an opportunity. Being an only child, Janus was set to inherit the entire Silverlake family. Therefore, many of the staffs wanted to use this as a chance to leave a good impression on him, to secure their place in the future Silverlake household. When the doorbell rang, they all stopped what they were doing and made their way to the entrance to greet the new master of the house. Lily, for her part, unable to squeeze through the adult bodies blocking her way at the bottom of the stairwell, settled on hiding behind the legs of an old butler that she was friendly with.

When it was her turn to greet Janus, Lily was unsure what to do. Gripping the pant of her butler, she peeked her head out from behind to look at Janus’ face. To her surprise, unlike his dad, Janus had jet black hair that resembled the darkest night, his hazel eyes looked straight at her, beckoning her to come say hi.

Emerging from her hiding place, Lily stumbled toward Janus.

“Um…Hello…” she stuttered, “I’m Lily Silverjake…”

After realizing she messed up her greeting, Lily looked down at the ground, her small hands tightly gripped the hem of her dress, wanting to cry. She was afraid she would be scolded, afraid of him making fun of her, afraid that she would be kicked out of her house. However, before tears could fall from her eyes, a pair of arms wrapped around her body and hugged her.

“You’re Lily right? Dad told me a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“You’re not mad at me?” she nervously looked up at him.

“Don’t be silly, why would I be? You’re my only sister after all.” Janus said smiling.

Feeling his warmth, hearing his reassuring words, the tension that had taken over her melted away. She did not know what to say or do, and so, for the first time in her life that she could remember, she cried.

Flustered, not knowing what he did wrong, Janus could only look around, hoping for some advice. He held her tighter, his hand patting her head, profusely apologizing for whatever he did, but that only resulted in her crying louder. Giving up, Janus resolved himself to just stand there, letting her cry as much as she wanted and thinking about out how he could apologize later once she calmed down. The adult, smiles on their faces as they watched the two siblings, excused themselves to go back to their normal routines.

What Janus did not realize then was that Lily’s tears were not tears of sadness, but relief. The specter of her past that haunted her for so long disappeared with his words. Crying in his arms, she resolved herself to live this new life that she was given, to be the best sister that she could possibly be, to provide the same solace to Janus that the Silverlake provided to her.

Growing up alongside Janus, she soon discovered that Janus was completely unlike his dad, not only in his appearance, but his personality as well. While Jacob could be a realist in how he saw the world, Janus was more of an idealist, setting goals that seemed far out of reach. Janus was a try and true dreamer, in all sense of the word.

Often time, whenever he was free, Lily would watch him from the window as he acted out his fantasy in the backyard garden, screaming things like <Acceleration> and pretending to move at extremely fast speed. Other time, whenever he believed that no one was watching, Janus would come up with nonsensical chants, screaming out loud name of mythological creatures, trying to bring them into

When they were both finished with their lessons for the day, Janus would pull Lily into his games. He asked the maids to make them costume, dressing Lily up as a knight in golden armor, giving her names like the Knight of <>, while he wore the outfits of humanified monsters. They would pretend to throw spells at one another in the yard, unleashing powerful attack that could devastate the world only for it to end in a draw as they both collapsed, exhausted from playing.

It was a world that only they knew, that was only shared between them, their little “secret”. Lily loved every moment of it. To her, she was living out a childhood dream she never knew. Every day was tough, but fun, and she never wanted it to end.

At night, whenever she felt lonely, Lily would sneak out of her own room and into his. She crawled into his bed and lied down next to him, letting him read her stories from the countless ones in his collection until she fell asleep.

They were always stories of fantastical adventure, of knights going on journeys to save the world from evil, of sacrifices made for the greater goods, and of princesses getting their happily ever after. Those nights, whenever she closed her eyes, she dreamed of those adventures, of going on those journeys with her brother by her side. When the morning came, their servants would find her sleeping in Janus’ arm, his drools dripping on top of her head.

Those four years of living alongside Janus was like a dream, one she never wanted to wake up from. From time to time, Jacob would find time in his busy schedule to drop by the house and took them out for some fun, but for most of the year, it was just her and Janus, coming up with things they could do together to pass the time.

Eventually, despite her initial skepticism of Jacob’s proposal, Lily and Janus became closer than any blood-related siblings. She adored him with as much love as she could possibly have. On days when Janus had to attend school, she made sure to wake up before him, to bid him good day in her best appearance, and then making sure to be the first to welcome him when he returned home.

Once, when Janus proposed that she attends school with him, that it would be no problem for her to sign-up, she wanted to say yes right away but hesitated. Lily knew that no matter how pretty she dressed up, no matter how much she disguised it, the scars from her past were still there, imprinted on her body. She was afraid of anyone outside of the Silverlake household seeing them, afraid that they would make fun of Janus for having a sister such as her.

Realizing that Lily was reluctant to attend school with him, Janus never brought the topic up again. He never asked her why, only accepted it as such, waiting for when she will be able to tell him herself; but the answer he waited for never came, and eventually, the topic was forgotten altogether.

Lily was grateful to Janus for never pressing her on it. She wanted to tell him, but she was too ashamed of who she was, what she had done. To her, it was a past better left forgotten, the less people that knew, the better. It was the one secret she wanted to take to her grave.

The sands of time continued to flow as the siblings spent their daily lives together. To them, each day was still memorable, filled to the brims with memories neither wanted to forget. Even into his teen, Janus never fully left his childhood behind, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Unbeknownst to his friends, hidden behind a secret door in his room, one that only Lily knew about, Janus’ collection of fantasy novels was rapidly growing.

The make-believe games they played when they were kids were still going on, only more elaborate than ever before. The setting became more detailed, the costumes more intricate; and the attack names that they came up with could fill an entire library.

Lily still remembered that day when Jacob rushed into her room with a new story he wanted to act out. He prepared an entire set of red armor for her, complete with a pair of wings that resembled flames. For himself, he stripped down to his underwear, and tacked fake scales to his body, pretending to be what he called a “dragonoid”, roaring about how he was the strongest in the world.

They assembled their servants in the garden and split them into equal numbers for each side. Lily’s side consisted of servants dressed as ghost while Janus servants were decked out in knight’s armor. The absurdity and contrast of the situation made Lily laughed, but Janus only puffed out his chest, proud of what he had done.

It was only a bit later that Lily found out that while she and Janus was role-playing in the garden, Jacob returned home earlier than expected and filmed the whole event from the mansion’s window. He would then go on to play that video any chance he gets at any major event, showing everyone how proud he was of his children, to the embarrassment of both Lily and Janus.

However, Lily’s dream ended abruptly on that day when Marcus Toiracsi, head of the Toiracsi family, launched an assassination attempt on Janus’ life.

Though the assassination of Janus’ failed and the culprit paid with his life, Janus remained in an unconscious state, lying in the Silverlake’s family hospital, confined to a bed, wires attached to his body to monitor his condition.

Sitting by his bed side, Lily could only gaze at the motionless body of her brother, her hands gripping his, praying that he would soon open his eyes. Every day since then, she would visit this hospital and sat by his side until the doctor forced her to go home.

Utilizing the Silverlake’s family connection, she consulted every physician the world over, hoping that someone would have a way to wake Janus up, but everyone betrayed her hope. Every night, without her brother by her side, she would cry herself to exhaustion before falling asleep only to repeat it again the next day.

Now, exhausted, she could only sit by his bedside in silence, listening to the monitoring machine beeping in the background, a noise that reassured her that at least, her brother was still alive.

She watched the video that Jacob filmed playing on the monitor at the foot of Janus’ bed, allowing herself to reminisce in the memories of what used to be. She would give anything to turn back the hands of time, to go back to that time when she could act out these silly games with her brother by her side.

“Miss,” a man dressed in black addressed her politely. “It’s time for us to go.”

Hearing his words, she nodded and gripped Janus’ hand in her one last time before letting go.

She stood up from his bedside, moved the red roses that she brought during her previous visit from the cabinet on one side of his bed to the other, and placed the brand-new irises in their place. If she was not here when he wakes up, she wanted him to at least see something beautiful when he finally opens his eyes.

With her task completed, she took one last look at Janus and gestured to the man to leave.

“I’ll be going now, big brother.” Lily said. “Don’t worry, it’s just for now. I’ll come back to visit you again tomorrow.”

Smiling, she left the room, carefully closing the door behind her as if not wanting to wake Janus from his sleep.

When the hospital room door closed tightly behind her, the smile on her face vanished, as if it never existed, her eyes glowed red with rage.

“Everything is ready to go miss.” The man said to her.

“Good. I want every single of those Toiracsi dog hunted down and brought before me. They’ll pay for what they did.” She instructed the man.

That day, the name that would go down in history as being synonymous with the most brutal murderer of this period, “The Red Valkyrie” was born.