Valerian Empire

119  Death of the Ghost (2)

Malphus had taken a seat on another headstone, leaning his back as he stared down at his mother's headstone in deep concentration. His once beautiful mother had breathed the last of her remaining time after giving birth to the second child.

Since his step-mother had appeared in their lives, their lies weren't the same and it had changed his father. Infidelity came to his father as a first nature, forgetting his own wife whom he once loved to be replaced by a younger woman for her beauty. Malphus had come to not only hate the new woman's existence but also his father.He might have been young but his memory was bright as the sun that shone up in the sky right now. The voices at the back of his head were clear. The screams and cries clouding his ears as he sat with his back against the unknown's tombstone of the time when he was small.

"What are you screaming about?!" his father yelled at his mother, "Be grateful that you are still allowed to live here and I haven't kicked you out!" His mother cried, her clothes tattered as she laid on the bed with tears that streamed down her cheeks.

Malphus hadn't known at that time but now that he thought about it, his hand which rested on the stone tightened, his jaw ticking in anger as his grey eyes continued to stare into the abyss.

Pulling out the cigar from his pocket, he lit it with a matchbox, unashamed to smoke in front of his dead mother's grave. His whole family was soiled, and though his father hadn't literally killed his mother, he had driven her to this state she was put in. In the coffin.Taking a long drag from the cigar, he puffed out the smoke. It was a habit he had picked recently, often smoking when his mind wandered off to the past.

There were plenty of times he had thought to leave this place but he couldn't. Not when his baby brother Silas was still here who was a naive child. He was the only reason that kept him here or he would have long gone but then where would he go? thought Malphus to himself. Though he didn't want any part in the family he was forced to adhere to the rules until he stayed here. To be the good and respectable child as his swine father expected from him and his younger brother. Sure, Silas liked to follow like the good child he was as he didn't know what the current Lord had done to their mother but that didn't mean he was going to follow every word that was asked from him.

"Brother Malphus!" on hearing his younger brother, Silas' overly excited voice which he didn't understand why he threw the cigar quickly down on the ground and stamped his boot on it. Pushing himself up, he turned around to see his brother walking up towards him, "You are here!"

"Where else would I be?"

Silas shrugged his shoulders, "You are always here," he muttered to look around, his nose scrunching at the faint smoke which lingered in the open air, "It smells of smoke."

"What are you doing here instead of studying with your governer. Don't you have class today?" Malphus asked looking at this younger brother who was shorter than him as he was yet to grow with puberty yet to hit the young boy.

"Ah, I shooed him away. I studied enough for the week and wanted to come spend time with you. What?"Silas questioned seeing Malphus give him a look, "What are you doing here? You are always here. Even your mother will be tired of seeing your face every day," he joked bringing a small tug on Malphus' expressionless face.

"You should show it too. I am sure if she's around she would appreciate it," Malphus' words were casual and though his face was looking away from his younger brother, he saw from the corner of his eye how his brother didn't bother to look at the grave he had been spending time with.

"I did. I am here now but I didn't know her. She's your mother," he heard the muttered words coming from his brother's lips and even though Malphus wanted to correct his siblings words he decided it was for the best now that he didn't know that they weren't stepbrothers who shared only the father but also shared the same mother who wasn't the second wife of the Lord of Mythweald.

By words and facts of others, Silas was the son of Ester but in the truth of what only Malphus and an old servant knew was that the younger boy was the son of the deceased wife of the Lord.

Silas shared attachment towards his elder brother following him like a puppy for his brother's attention but he held no emotional attachment to his own mother and that itself was sad in Malphus' eyes. Because to Silas, Ester was his mother who dotted was dotted by both his parents though not the same could be told in case of Malphus.

"Your mother wouldn't approve if she found out you hanging out here," Malphus commented as he made his move from the local cemetery, walking out to be followed by his younger brother hot on his trail.

"Mother wouldn't know," his younger brother answered and Malphus rolled his eyes again. The woman knew almost everything that happened in the land and to not know what her beloved child was doing, it would be wrong to think so. He usually kept a safe distance between him and Silas and though the boy was his own brother, it was better to keep him safe even if it meant he would have to undergo trouble himself.

"It is hard to believe she doesn't know that you are wasting your time here. Go back to the mansion, Silas. I have work to do," he dipped his hands into his trouser pockets.

"Are you going to the council?" asked Silas, eagerness evident in his voice. Compared to Malphus, who had a dull voice that lacked emotions and if it did it was filled with sarcasm, his younger brother looked much alive who resembled a rabbit.

"Yes, I need to send the papers which father wants it to be approved," he responded back and feeling the curious eyes on him, he decided to give out a little more information to feed the curiosity of his brother, "It is on the acquisition of the land that is situated near the border river of Mythweald and Valeria. There have been a recent dispute on which lord should acquire the land as it has been left unattended for years now."

"It should belong to us!" Silas exclaimed to get a light head chop from this elder brother, "Ow! What was that for."

"It doesn't belong to us, Silas. It belongs to the Valerian lord. Father is interested because..." he trailed wondering how to better word it out."

"Because?" Silas waited for his older brother to continue.

"Father is interested because Lord Alexander wants it under his name," it was the truth but the entire truth was that his step-mother had pushed his father to go ahead and acquire the land under their leadership.

What he didn't understand was why the woman was interested in this particular land?