I Wish To Die Peacefully

Chapter 10: Goodbye

AVA

Today marks the thirteenth day from my visit in the Krauser memorial grounds. Thinking back on it, that day had been quite full of events that sent me through sudden twists, turns and whirlpools of emotions that eventually led to an occurrence that I did not expect.

That night, I was summoned to the sitting room with all the three young masters waiting for me and they asked about my thoughts on the deceased Duke's will. I only had a few hours to think about it but after my trip to the memorial grounds, I made up my mind to accept the contents of the will. There was nothing disadvantageous on the terms and if I consider everything that I have suffered so far, it would be stupid to turn down a rare opportunity to start life over in the countryside with resources provided for free. My first goal was to get away from the duchy and I was being provided the aid to do so. It was the perfect offer to accomplish my first objective.

After listening to my answer, the young masters did not ask questions nor reacted in any way. I was dismissed after the young duke said that he would be making the preparations for the will to be carried out after my sixteenth birthday.

I found the words, actions and demeanors of the young masters as very uncharacteristic. They were quiet and spoke very short phrases and sentences. They seemed somewhat pensive and I recently discovered that even whenever I muster enough courage to look them in the eyes, they were the ones who evaded eye contact.

All of them seemed to be busy with their own jobs and duties that I barely saw them for the past two weeks. They eat their meals with me every once and a while, but apart from that, we were the same as always, just staying out of each other's way.

One thing had changed however, because for the days that all the three young masters were absent from the mansion, they had been sending me a lot of gifts as if trying to fill in their absence with material things. A lot of the presents were unwrapped not because I wanted to but because of Kathy and the other maids' curiosities.

Most of the boxes contained clothes; others had jewelries, hair accessories and shoes. They filled up so much space in the room that they had to be taken to a separate room. On other days, the gifts came in different forms, like food and sweets. They arrived with little notes from the young master who sent it, briefly asking for my welfare and writing that they sent the food to me hoping that I would be healthier.

I honestly do not know what they're trying to do. What was it that they want to accomplish by being nice to me after all this time? They knew completely that I would be gone in less than a month. Counting today, there's only fifteen more days before my departure. Perhaps, are they hoping for me to change my mind? Do they want me to stay or something? If they indeed want me to stay, for what reason would they want such a thing? Have they gone crazy or what? I just can't wrap my head around on what they're doing and it's making me frustrated.

Perhaps because I was in so much stress thinking about so many things, I met Yukina in my dream later at night. She had been watching my progress for the past weeks and I filled her in with the details that she had missed while peeking from my subconscious.

When I told her about my thoughts on how the young masters were currently treating me, she merely rolled her eyes.

"You know, it's a bit too late for them to be feeling the guilt. People are always like this. They act without thinking and when the consequences turn out to be unfavorable for them, they start regretting. The same can be said to what is happening to the Krauser brothers right now. However, even if we turn back time and go back to square one, I think that they'll do exactly like they did in the past. They were kids back then, immature brats who only prioritized themselves. They haven't changed much even now. They're only trying to redeem themselves to feel better about themselves," Yukina remarked.