Chapter 106: The name beneath the smile
The silence was unbearable.
It wasn’t the normal kind of silence I had known for most of my life.
Not the quiet silence of empty hallways or the lonely silence of eating breakfast alone.
Not even the peaceful silence of watching the stars from my bedroom window.
This silence felt different.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
As though the entire world had suddenly stopped moving.
The wind still blew through the forest while the leaves still rustled softly overhead.
Far away I could hear birds returning to their nests before nightfall.
Yet somehow none of those sounds seemed real anymore.
All I could hear was my own heartbeat and which second feeling longer than the last.
My stomach twisted painfully.
My hands felt cold.
The excitement and happiness I had felt only moments ago were gone completely.
Because for the first time since meeting Charles, he wasn’t smiling at me.
Not warmly at least, but instead he simply stood there looking at me.
Watching.
And every second that passed without him saying anything made the fear inside my chest grow larger.
I wanted him to say something.
Anything.
Anything was better than this silence.
Then finally—
"I know."
My breath caught in my throat.
"What?"
"I know."
His voice was calm.
Far too calm.
"I know you’re Lillith Nightbane."
For a moment I simply stared at him and something unexpected happened in my mind.
Hope.
A small spark of hope suddenly appeared inside me.
If he really knew who I was all along.
Maybe—
Maybe none of it had been fake.
Maybe Charles really was different and he could become my genuine friend.
The thought made my chest tighten.
For the briefest moment I felt happier than I had ever been.
Then Charles spoke again.
"Do you want to know mine?"
I blinked.
"What?"
"My name."
His expression remained unreadable.
"My real name."
A strange feeling settled into my stomach.
Why would he lie?
Why would he need to?
Slowly, I nodded.
Charles looked away toward the setting sun.
"My name is Charles."
There was a brief pause.
"Charles Heath."
I frowned slightly as I searched my memories.
Nothing had come up no noble family,
famous knight or merchant came up.
Eventually I quietly spoke.
"I’ve never heard that name before."
The moment the words left my mouth, the silence returned.
Longer this time.
Much longer.
Charles lowered his head and for a few moments neither of us moved, but then I heard it.
A laugh.
Small at first.
Almost quiet.
I blinked in confusion as I watched Charles’s shoulders tremble.
The laugh came again but slightly louder this time.
Then louder, and louder.
Within seconds it transformed into something completely different.
A hysterical sound.
A broken sound.
The kind of laugh that didn’t sound happy at all.
My heart immediately began pounding.
"Charles...?"
He continued laughing.
His body shaking.
His head lowered.
The sound echoed through the cliffside while the last rays of sunlight illuminated his face.
For the first time after meeting him—
I was scared.
I instinctively took a step backwards but suddenly my foot slipped slightly on loose stone.
A frightened squeak escaped my small mouth.
I looked down and saw that the cliff edge was directly behind me.
My balance wavered for a terrifying second before I managed to steady myself again.
When I looked back up, Charles was staring at me.
The laughter had stopped.
Yet somehow that frightened me even more.
Because the expression he wore now was completely unfamiliar.
It wasn’t the smile of the boy who had played tag with me.
Or the smile of the boy who taught me catch.
Or the smile of the boy I thought was my friend.
His grin felt wrong.
Cold.
"Charles..."
My voice trembled.
"You’re scaring me."
The grin on his face widened before he finally broke the silence as he spoke.
"You really are worse than the rumors."
My eyes widened.
The words struck me like a physical blow.
"W-What?"
The warmth inside my chest shattered instantly.
I felt tears beginning to form.
"No..."
I shook my head desperately.
"No, that’s not true."
The grin remained.
Unmoving.
My vision started blurring.
"Why are you saying those things?"
My voice cracked.
"Why are you acting like this?"
The tears finally began falling.
Everything had been perfect.
Everything.
I thought I finally had a friend.
I thought somebody had accepted me.
I thought—
Charles suddenly stopped smiling.
The change was so abrupt that it stunned me.
For the first time since the laughter began, his expression became completely serious.
And somehow that was worse.
Much worse.
Because there wasn’t any anger in his eyes.
Only hatred.
Pure hatred.
Slowly, he looked directly into my eyes.
Then asked a single question.
"Do you know who my parents were?"
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Charles nodded as though he had expected that answer.
Of course he had.
Then he took a step forward.
"Let me ask a different question."
Another step.
"Do you know why I’m in an orphanage?"
Another.
"Lillith Nightbane."
The name sounded poisonous coming from his mouth.
My entire body trembled.
Then Charles smiled.
Not the warm smile I knew.
Not the smile I had spent days chasing.
Something darker.
Something broken.
And with that smile still on his face, he quietly spoke.
"Only somebody truly evil could forget the names of the people she killed."
*******
I froze.
For several seconds I genuinely couldn’t process what I had just heard.
The world around me seemed to blur.
Everything suddenly felt so incredibly distant from me.
"N-No..."
My voice barely came out as Charles simply stared at me.
"N-No way..."
I shook my head weakly.
My mind desperately searched for some explanation.
Some misunderstanding or mistake.
Anything.
Charles looked at me for a long moment before finally speaking again.
Unlike before, his voice was calm, accompanied by a dull emotionless expression.
And that frightened me more than his laughter had.
"My mother worked in the Nightbane Manor."
His eyes never left mine.
"She wasn’t important. Just a maid. The fifth daughter of some tiny barony that nobody remembers anymore. She wasn’t powerful, she wasn’t famous, and she certainly wasn’t somebody whose death would matter to nobles."
His jaw tightened.
"While she worked in the manor she met my father. He was another servant. They spent years together before eventually falling in love. They never had some grand wedding. There wasn’t a giant ceremony or expensive gifts or hundreds of guests."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"But they didn’t care."
For a moment, something painful flickered through his eyes.
"They were happy."
His gaze drifted toward the horizon.
"They worked constantly. Most days they came home exhausted. Their jobs took up almost all of their time and neither of them earned very much. Sometimes they had to leave me with my aunt because they were both working at the palace at the same time."
He laughed quietly.
"But every moment they weren’t working..."
His voice grew softer.
"They spent with me."
I couldn’t speak.
I was unable to even move or breath as Charles then continued.
"My mother used to read stories to me before bed. My father taught me stupid little games and always pretended to lose because he thought it made me happy. Every time they came home, no matter how tired they were, they always smiled when they saw me."
His hands slowly clenched into fists.
"And then one day they didn’t come home."
The words hit me like a knife as Charles stared directly at me.
"I remember sitting outside our house waiting for them."
His voice had become completely empty.
"They were late."
He paused.
"That wasn’t normal."
"But I wasn’t worried."
His lips twitched slightly.
"They always came home."
The smile vanished.
"So I waited."
I could feel tears of guilt and regret streaming down my face.
"I waited through the evening."
His voice remained steady.
"Then through the night."
I felt my the inside of my chest contort painfully.
"Then through the next day."
His eyes became even colder.
"My aunt eventually left to look for them."
"When she came back..."
Charles stopped and for a moment he simply stood there.
Then he laughed once.
A horrible maniacal laugh.
"She told me they had both been killed by the Duke’s daughter."
My legs trembled.
"I don’t actually remember much after that."
His smile widened slightly.
"Apparently I fainted."
Tears were pouring down my face so much that I could barely see him anymore.
My entire body shakes and my chest hurt so much that it felt difficult to breathe.
"I’m sorry..."
The words escaped my mouth.
Weak.
Desperate.
"I’m sorry..."
Charles ignored me as though I hadn’t spoken at all.
"My aunt tried taking care of me afterward."
His gaze drifted away.
"At least for a little while."
He slowly folded his arms.
"She told me she needed time to investigate what happened. She said she would figure everything out and said would come back after a bit."
His smile became increasingly bitter.
"So she took me to an orphanage."
"She said it would only be for a few days."
My vision blurred further.
I could barely stand.
"Days became a week."
His voice was completely devoid of emotion.
"A week became two."
The hatred in his eyes grew stronger.
"Then three."
The wind blew through the cliffside.
Neither of us moved.
"After the third week I got tired of waiting."
Charles looked directly at me again.
"So I left."
I felt my stomach twist.
"I went home."
A painful smile appeared on his face.
"I thought maybe my aunt had come back and forgotten to tell me."
His voice cracked slightly for the first time.
"I remember knocking on the door."
My hands covered my mouth as tears from my face simply wouldn’t stop.
"I waited."
Charles swallowed with a hard gulp.
"Then the door opened."
For a moment his expression became strangely distant.
Like he was looking at a memory instead of me.
"There was a man I’d never seen before."
"I asked him if a woman lived there."
A long silence followed.
"He told me she used to."
"He said she sold the house three weeks ago to him."
His eyes met mine.
"And that nobody had heard from her since."
I collapsed onto my knees.
The tears wouldn’t stop.
No matter how hard I tried.
They just kept coming.
My chest felt like it was being crushed.
Every breath hurt.
Every word hurt.
Every memory hurt.
"I’m sorry..."
My voice was barely understandable through the sobbing.
"I’m so sorry..."
I couldn’t even look at him anymore as my entire body kept trembling.
"I didn’t know..."
The words came out broken.
"I swear I didn’t know..."
I pressed my hands against my chest.
As though I could somehow stop the pain.
"I’ll do anything."
The sentence escaped before I could stop it.
Anything.
Absolutely anything.
"If I can fix it—"
"You can’t."
The cold response immediately cut through my words.
I looked up.
Charles was staring at me.
There was no sadness in his face.
No sympathy.
No hesitation.
Only hatred.
"I’ll make it right."
I was openly sobbing now.
The tears streamed endlessly down my face.
"I’ll do anything you ask."
Charles looked at me for several seconds.
Then finally spoke.
His voice was quiet.
Almost calm.
"Then die."
I froze.
Unable to even react.
Unable to even think and process what he had just said.
For a moment all I could do was stare at him.
Then Charles stepped forward, raising his foot.
I didn’t move as I simply couldn’t, my body refused to respond.
The next thing I felt was impact.
A sharp force against my chest as his foot thrusted forward flat against it.
My balance vanished instantly and the ground disappeared beneath me.
My eyes widened, watching as the cliff edge slipped away.
I was falling.
The sky spun above me.
The forest rushed upward.
The wind screamed in my ears.
For a brief moment, I saw Charles standing at the edge of the cliff.
Looking down at me.
Then the world vanished beneath a sea of branches as I crashed into the trees below.
