Two hours ago.
The moonlight shines at the highest point in the sky above the Whittlee house; it's about midnight.
Usually the house is lively at these times due to the young children of the Viscount always promoting luxurious events with drinks and women, but today, the commotion is different: everyone is agitated due to the condition of Emilio and his severely injured children.
"Move on, you trash!"
"Faster, work faster!"
"The Viscount can't wait, do it now!!"
The foremen of the mansion push the servants to the limit, making them go up and down the stairs carrying buckets of clean water and bringing dirty clothes from the upper floor. The servants can't use the elevator and are punished if they spill a drop of blood on the floor.
As things go on inside the house, one of the guards goes out the back door and walks towards a wooden building at the back of the house.
The place looks like an old barn, clearly different from Emilio's luxurious mansion. But now that building is empty since the servants are all working in the house.
The guard circles the barn and comes to an old stone well. He quickly starts pulling the rope hard, and soon, the bucket arrives with something other than water, a little girl with a simple appearance and black hair.
"Ah?! Jaxon?" She seems frightened, weak, cold, and hungry, and of course, she is drenched.
"Come on, Hanna, the punishment is over; your Grace needs everyone," Jaxon, a tall and rude middle-aged man, grabs Hanna's thin arm and starts dragging her into the house.
"Ahh! Alright, alright..." Hanna struggles to stand, but her legs are too weak from the time spent trapped in the well, clinging to the bucket to avoid drowning.
"Damn you, Hanna!" Jaxon becomes furious as the girl stumbles and kicks her to the ground.
"Arrgh!" She spits out a mouthful of blood while trying to get up and raises a hand in a plea for mercy. "I know, I know!"
"You useless thing!" Jaxon grabs Hanna by the hair and forces her to stand before dragging her into the house.
The other guards in the garden and at the door who witness this scene only smirk mockingly. None there feels pity for the poor girl, just as they feel none for the other servants, even though those guards are also commoners.
Hanna has been through this several times, but it's impossible to get used to such treatment, and all that's left in her life is hatred and pain.
As she is dragged like an animal, she can only imagine everyone around her dead, 'Please, my goddess, help me! Send your wrath upon these bastards! Send your Heavenly Avenger to give them what they deserve!'
Seeing the fall of the Whittlees is the only reason for Hanna to cling to her life. But that is just a dream, a dark wish the girl knows could not be fulfilled.
'Why? Why am I being punished like this? Did I sin against the Gods in another life? Maybe this is because of my parents? But they died a long time ago... and I'm still here, being tortured by these damned people!'
Hanna searches for a reason for her situation, but there is no specific cause, just the natural order of the world: the weak serve the strong.
Jaxon drags the girl through the first floor of the house until they reach the door that leads to the underground laundry room. "Do your job, Hanna, or you'll go back to the well!" The man speaks in a sadistic tone and throws the girl down the stairs.
*Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud*
"AH!!!" She rolls down the stairs, her fragile bones hitting each step until she lands face-first on the cold floor.
"Hanna!" A middle-aged woman quickly runs to help the poor girl up. "Oh dear, they have no mercy, not even for a child like you."
"I'm okay," Hanna says that but her blood trickles from a cut on her forehead, her body weaker than ever, her stomach empty for days, and her mind on the brink.
"What a sin..." The woman's eyes fill with tears as she cleans the blood from Hanna's forehead and tears a piece of her own dress to bandage the girl's head. "You have no one, poor child..."
Hanna lets the woman tend to her wound, but her eyes quickly are drawn to blood-stained luxurious clothes in the laundry tubs. "Those clothes... are they Emerson's and Esmond's?" A dark, evil glint appears in the girl's eyes, her lips curling into a smile for the first time in her life.
"Yeah..." The woman glances at the bloodied clothes, "Don't ask me what happened, but it seems the young masters are injured, and even the..."
"Edgar??" Hanna's eyes glow even more intensely as she sees blood-stained sheets in one of the laundry tubs. "Did someone hurt that sadistic son of a bitch?!"
"Don't talk like that, girl!" The woman quickly pulls Hanna's ear gently. "If our Masters hear that, they'll really kill you!"
"Do you think I care?" Hanna responds in a cold tone, and the woman sees the emptiness in her eyes.
In this moment, Hanna's response reveals her growing disconnect from fear and the dire situation she's endured. It signifies a potential turning point where the downtrodden might find the courage to resist or break free, fueled by the misfortunes of their oppressors.
"Then why haven't you killed yourself yet? You want to live, girl; we all do," the woman speaks in a gentle tone.
"I only know one way to bring her peace..." Arthur grabs one of his daggers, "The same peace that I only felt as Liam when the end came..."
Hanna sees the glint of the bloodied blade, and her smile grows even wider. "Please, help me... I don't want to suffer anymore... I just needed them to pay for everything they did to me..."
"I will ensure that every last one of them has a painful death," Arthur remarks as he extends his free hand to the girl.
"Thank you!" Hanna accepts Arthur's help and stands up; due to the height difference, she has to look up at his handsome face, which warms her broken heart.
Arthur turns Hanna's body, standing behind her, then he gently embraces her and places his blade on her neck. "Close your eyes... after this, there will be no more pain... you will finally have peace."
"Mm," Hanna feels good for the first time in many years, and her heart is filled with gratitude. She places her hands on his arm gently. "Will we meet after this? Maybe alongside the goddess?"
"I doubt it," Arthur responds coldly.
"I wish, though..."
"Why?" He becomes curious.
"To thank you properly, of course!" She quickly speaks in an expectant tone.
"You don't need to thank me for this,"
"But I want to! After all, you're freeing me..."
"I see..." A gleam emerges in Arthur's eyes, not a murderous gleam but a curious one. "Who knows?"
"The goddess, she knows everything, hehehe..." Hanna giggles.
"The goddess, huh?" Arthur has read about the ancient gods of the Eldoria culture in Aria's books, but those seem like just myths.
"I hope you find her..." He comments sarcastically and then cuts the girl's throat with a swift and lethal movement.
Hanna only feels the cold of Arthur's blade before her mind just blacks out. All the pain and anger in her heart disappeared as if it were just a dream that had ended...
And now Hanna's mind wanders in a sea of emptiness.
But for some reason, she still feels her own consciousness.
'Is this the end?'
'Not really.' A feminine, mysterious, and elusive voice appears in her mind.
'What?'
'It doesn't have to be the end if you don't want it to be...'
'Who's there?'
'Didn't you want to see me, dear?'
'Goddess? Is it really you?'
'Yes, my child,'
'Thank you, Goddess! Thank you so much!!'
'You're welcome, dear...'
'But... what happens now?'
'It depends... how about a second chance?'
'A second chance?'
'Yeah... I thought you might want it... maybe a chance to meet your Heavenly Avenger again...'
'Really? I wish I could see him again somehow...'
'That's good, child... so it will be.'