Defying Dialogue [Prologue]

A knock was heard on the door. Everyone's head turned to it, staring at it for a while. One of them squinted his eyes, eyeing the door suspiciously before someone opened it. A purple haired man wearing a butler suit appeared behind the door. One of the people inside scowled, one of them sighed after. Behind the purple haired man, there were two people—man and woman, holding hands, a smile plastered on their faces.

“I brought the guests,” the purple haired said to a blonde man inside the house.

The blonde man scowled silently, but then nodded anyway, thanking him. “Thank you, Gakupo. You are dismissed.” Gakupo nodded, and then left the room. A pair of blue eyes were watching him leave sadly, which is quickly interrupted by a harsh whisper beside her.

“Don't stare, Luka,” said a woman with short black hair harshly, glaring at the one named Luka. Luka clenched her fist, putting it against her chest as she said, “I apologize, mother.” The mother—Lola was her name—just ignored her. Lola walked toward her husband.

Leon, the blonde man from earlier, and seemed to be in his thirties, approached the guests, his mouth curved into a wide smile. “Al,” he greeted the guest, calling out to the man. He offered a hand-shake to Al, which Al gladly accepted to.

“Leon,” Al greeted back, accepting the hand-shake that Leon offered gladly. He smiled back.

Lola stood beside her husband, smiling at the green-haired woman that was standing beside Al. The green-haired smiled back, bowing slightly before saying, “long time no see, Lola.”

Lola laughed lightly, her hand covering her mouth. “Long time no see indeed, Sonika.” Then both of the women hugged for a short time.

Lola and Leon guided their guests to the living room, where Gakupo stood, putting four cup of teas on the mahogany table. There were also one of their children, namely Luka, sitting on one of the couch. Lola frowned, her face turned sour. “...Luka, please go elsewhere. Leon and I have guests, you don't need to interrupt,” she said, trying her best to be polite to her first daughter in front of their guests.

A small yelp escaped Luka's mouth. She turned her head to her parents and the guests, then stood up abruptly, bowing ninety-nine degrees. “I-I apologize, mother,” she said again, and then rushed to leave to living room.

Lola scowled, but then Leon nudged her in the hips, making her yelp like Luka did. He smiled at the guests, telling them to go and seat at the couch, as he leaned to Lola and pushed her toward the couch. “Look, I know you hate her—me too—but we're in front of Al and Sonika. We cannot act rude to our... child... in front of them,” he whispered to her ear, “understand?”

Lola gulped. She felt intimidated by Leon—and she always did. She nodded. “Yeah...”

“Good,” said Leon. The both of them sat at the couch across the couch that Al and Sonika sat onto, separated by a long mahogany table, served by teas made by the one and only Gakupo. The butler stood motionlessly beside the couch where Leon and Lola sat onto with his hands behind his back.

Leon started a conversation, “so, why were you here again?”

Al clasped his hands together, smiling widely from ear to ear. “Right!” he said enthusiastically. “I was thinking that, can I buy half of your gold mine, Leon?” Al asked, trying to be kind and polite as he can be so that he can get a yes as an answer. But Leon wasn't the type to be easily bribed.

Lola, being the co-owner of the mine, widened her eyes out of shock. She quickly glanced at Leon, who's the real owner, reacting to it. He was frowning, tapping his cheek with his hand lightly. It was a complete silence for a few minutes, leaving Leon himself to think.

Leon wasn't the type to just give up his things, so he would never give his things up, especially over just a friend who's not even that close to him. Al offered to buy it for two million Adroll*. This shocked Leon a bit, since two million is a quarter of all of Al's money. Leon isn't having money problems, so he doesn't need that much money at the moment. He still had so many in his hands. And so, he decided.

A warm and polite smile appeared on Leon's face, replacing the frown. He shook his head, surprising the couple in front of them. “No, I don't want to sell my gold mine. Even if it's just half or even a quarter.” The answer made Lola sighed in relief. He continued, “I do not accept the offer.”

Leon snickered seeing the twitch on both of the couple's face, especially Al. Al's family had been their rival—or friend—or both, since seven years ago. But they're close, they're kind, so they don't fight often. There are conflicts, but that never last long. Leon took a sip of the tea—it was Earl Grey. His favorite.

Al took a deep breath. Leon knew that Al wasn't the person to snap or to suddenly get angry, so he didn't have to worry about it. And he's right—instead of snapping, Al smiled. “Is that so,” he said calmly. He sounded like he was holding something back. Probably his anger, Leon suggested in his mind. “It's okay.”

Then they talked about anything that came first to their mind. The first one who talked was Sonika, bringing up their children who just married another noble across the world. It surprised Leon and Lola, since neither of their children had gotten married yet. Luka is in the age of marriage, but ever Leon and Lola asked her to marry someone, she always refused. Then there's their second daughter, who is in the age of marriage too. Her name was Miku. Miku was their favorite child, aside from their son, Len. But she refused to marry someone, because she hasn't found someone for her. There is their third daughter too, Rin, but she wasn't in the age of marriage, even though she seemed so excited for marriage. Their topic was changing from here to there, until Sonika, ironically the first one to brought up the conversation, interrupted.

The green-haired raised her hand, smiling politely at the owner of the mansion. “Um, may I please use the bathroom?”

Lola was the one to answer, “sure, of course.” She turned her head to Gakupo, who was still calmly standing there without a word, making it easy for people to forget that he was there. “Escort her to the bathroom,” Lola commanded.

“As you wish, Milady,” Gakupo answered politely, glancing at Sonika who was walking toward him. Her expression—she was disgusted. Gakupo let out a sigh. It was usual for him to get disgusted by people, so it was fine, he thought. Gakupo turned around to the direction where the guest bathroom is placed. “This way, miss,” he said as he started walking.

On the way there, Gakupo looked back once in a while, making sure that Sonika doesn't run away. And every time he does that, Sonika scowled.

“Do you think that I am going to run?” Sonika asked harshly, but still trying to be polite.

Gakupo closed his eyes, answering, “yes.” A sigh followed.

In no time, they already arrived at the guest bathroom. Before Sonika went inside, she glanced at the butler who's standing quite far from the bathroom. She opened her mouth, whispering something that Gakupo didn't catch. But before he can ask what she was saying, she was already in the bathroom. Gakupo took a deep breath, and stand still, not moving an inch.

Minutes passed, but Sonika hasn't come out yet. Normal people would get irritated by now, but Gakupo is different. He's a butler, a trained butler. He had to be calm. He was still waiting for Sonika to get out of the bathroom. He didn't even hear the toilet flushing. He didn't even hear the door creaking, signing that it had been opened or something similar. Ten minutes had passed, but Sonika still hasn't come out. Gakupo started to get worried—not worried of her, but worried of the house. Of the family that he is serving.

Fifteen minutes passed. Gakupo started to think that it's taking too long. Girls are sometimes do something else in the bathroom, like putting up make ups or tidying up their hair or something alike. But that'd make noises, and until now, Gakupo doesn't hear any suspicious noises at all. And that was something that made it more suspicious, no sound at all.

Gakupo checked his wrist watch once again. Twenty minutes had passed. Gakupo was getting anxious by the fact that Sonika hasn't come out from the bathroom. He decided that he'd check her out in the bathroom. He was just checking, don't get him wrong, because if she disappeared, he'd be killed by Leon. Not serious.

He approached the bathroom's door and pushed it slightly. The bathroom was all white, from the wall and the tile floor and the bathtub, they're all white. He winched slightly, trying to find the green-haired figure from the door. But he found no one. His eyes widened, a small gasp escaped his mouth. There was no one in the bathroom, no green-haired figure at all. No Sonika, nothing.

“...Oh no,” he muttered to himself. “Don't tell me...”

Gakupo rushed to the living room, back to where Leon, Lola, and Al are. It took him just one minute to go there since he ran. At the living room, there they were, Leon and Al, but no Lola, laughing at each other's joke. He felt guilty that he had to change the mood, but he had to.

It seemed that his footsteps attracted their attention that both of them turned their heads to Gakupo. Al was the first one to talk, “where's my wife?” Al asked firmly, referring to Sonika. Gakupo ignored him politely by shaking his head. The butler walked toward Leon, who was staring at him sharply. Gakupo leaned down to his ear, whispering something.

Leon's eyes widened. “—What!?” This caught Al's attention. He repeated his question from before, “where's my wife?!”

This time, Gakupo answered. He turned his head to him, staring at Al in his eyes. “She's—“ But before Gakupo can finish his sentence, something interrupted him.

“AAAAHHH—!!”

A scream.

Every head turned to the direction where the scream came. It came from the fourth floor. Al's eyes widened hearing the scream, his fists clenching. “It's Sonika!” he shouted, and then without much talking again, he rushed toward the fourth floor. He was followed by Leon and Gakupo from behind.

It didn't take the three of them long to go to the fourth floor. At the end of the corridor, there were all of the family, standing in front of a wooden door with a warning carved on it. They were surrounding something that looked like a body. Al looked down to their feet. There was a pool of blood beneath them, making Al almost throw up. But what truly shocked him was the body that they were surrounding.

The body had scars on her arms and her dress was completely torn. There were also stab wounds on her stomach, and her right hand wasn't attached to her body. Her right eyes were gouged out, staring at the ceiling lifelessly.

Al's eyes widened once more, his teeth clenching as his body shaking. “SONIKA!” He shouted, approaching the lifeless body that were on the floor.

He crouched down, holding his wife's body. He can't fight back the tears on his eyes. He shook his wife's body violently, hoping her to wake up. “Sonika! Sonika, wake up!” he turned his head to the family behind him, his face looked so awful. “What did you do to her!? She's de—“ he stopped. His face which looked awful before, turned even more awful. He looked scared. Afraid. He didn't move an inch when he saw what is in each of the family—including the butler's—eyes.

Their eyes were red and lifeless. Leon and Lola's eyes weren't red—Leon's eyes were normally brown and Lola's eyes were normally black. Gakupo's eyes were normally purple too, the same color as his hair. He met their children too—Luka's eyes were supposed to be pink, Miku's eyes were supposed to be teal, and Len and Rin's eyes were supposed to be blue. But all of their eyes are red right now. Something wasn't right.

Al noticed that Len was holding a kitchen knife in his hand tightly as he glared at him. “Should I, father?” He asked to Leon in monotone. Leon answered, “yes.”

Then Len walked toward Al. He even walked inhumanly—he walked like a doll. Slowly, stops, slowly, stops, one step, stops, one step, stops. When he was in front of Al, he raised his knife, and stabbed Al's head. Blood spluttered out from his head before Al's body turned limp, and his body fell on top of Sonika's body. His eyes were still wide open even though he's now dead.

“What a beautiful scene,” Rin said, smiling sweetly. “A couple died together. It's like Romeo and Juliet!”

Leon let out a short sigh. He turned to Gakupo, saying, “you may clean this up. Incinerate the bodies, too.”

“Yes, my Lord,” Gakupo bowed down, and then he left to take some things to help him clean the bodies up.

All of them left after that, except Miku, the second daughter. She stared at the bodies calmly, her eyes were still dead. She was frowning, she seemed to think about something. Then, after a few minutes, Miku sighed, turned around, and left the bloody scene.