Chapter 1: ADREANNA

The moon shone brightly. Under the beautiful scene, the dark tree trunks and tall shadowed pines stretched like arrows up to the sky. Rustles and traces of light pass by as a bunch of people started swarming in while calling for someone. The deeper they went the louder their voice came out to be.

“Miss Adreanna!”

“Young Miss!!”

Among those people, a man stood in the distance. He was dressed in a luxurious nightgown as he nervously looked around. Even in his middle age, he stood out from the rest of the crowd. Right way, Duke Lucas screamed at them.

“Don’t idle around! Find her or your heads will fly off this instant! Find my daughter!!”

He looked around and also started searching for his daughter. His eyes were shaking, his lips were trembling nonstop and he wore a mix of despair and panic expression.

The maids, butlers, knights, and gardeners who heard his orders, took them as threats and quickened their strides as they screamed in chorus

while calling for Adreanna.

The night passed by quickly and the sun started to rise from the east.

The apparent panic and despair on the duke’s face were quite visible for everyone to see. He walked to and fro and then he suddenly grabbed one of the butler who was nearest to him and pulled him by the uniform.

“Why is there no news from my daughter? Huh?!” He pushed him away and pointed at everyone. This made them become wary and secretly took few steps back to prevent themselves from getting caught in the duke’s foul mood.

“How come there’s no news? Useless! Get out of my face!”

Everyone hurriedly took off. Looking at the Duke's expression, no one could calm him down. He acted like a maniac and screamed.

No parent would be sane if they suddenly woke up to find their 5 year old daughter missing.

The duke went back to the residence and immediately rode off to the palace to have an audience with the king.

“Your Highness, I apologize for coming without prior notice.”

“No-no, everything is fine Duke Lucas. What is your cause?”

The King curiously looked at the person in front of him curiously.

“Your Highness.. Please help me find my 5 year old daughter!” Duke Lucas knelt down and bowed his head as he explained the situation.

“Looking for your daughter is not a hard thing to do..” the King's eyes swept a glanced over the duke’s hair and continued, “ however, I must tell you that even though I have reigned over the kingdom for years, there are still places that my authority have yet to reach.”

The Duke didn’t care about anything else and thanked the king. “Helping me is already enough your highness. I dare not ask for more.”

The Leuttgen family have a special trait that runs in their family and that is that, all of them possess an unusual hair color, black.

Everyone who have the family blood running through their veins would undoubtedly be have a black hair. Although, there are cases of people around the kingdom who share the similar trait, only a few of them exist.

3 months went by and on a certain village on the side of the slum, a child about the age of 6 ran across the dirty old road.

Her unusual dirty uncombed black hair caught the eyes of the people walking nearby.

“Mother! I found us some food.” The child’s bright twinkling innocent amber eyes smiled towards the person she called mother.

This certain mother was clothed in rags, her hair was also black however, she was not proud of it. It was because of this hair that she was bullied and taken interest by hoodlums. It was because of this hair that she's in her current situation.

She stared at her daughter who was offering her food and smiled weakly, she didn’t have any time left. She slightly pushed the food to her daughter and lightly raised her hand indicating that she should eat it instead.

“Aria… I’m very sorry for everything.” Her voice became softer and softer. Aria who was eating suddenly heard her mother spoke and looked at her however, when she saw that she had her eyes closed so she shrugged it off and didn’t mind her as she continued eating.

Unbeknownst to Aria, her mother had already passed away.

A week had passed, the body had started giving out decomposing smell which was noticed by everyone else who lived in the area.

Many of them had already tried to persuade Aria that her mother had already passed away however, none was able to succeed.

There had been a lot of attempts in removing the corpse however, with Aria who kept throwing rocks at them, they eventually stopped.

Aria kept sitting beside her mother’s corpse and didn't move budge. She was afraid that the others would get rid of her mother if she leaves her spot.

She would keep both of her hands raised together and ask for alms from the people who were walking pass her.

Every now and then, someone would drop her coins and left over breads, and she would live off of those.

However, ever since her mother gave off smell, everyone avoided her and she hadn’t eaten anything for 2 days.

Unable to suppress her hunger, she waited 'till midnight.

Observing everyone around her and after a few minutes, she saw that everyone was already fast asleep. She then hesitantly left her spot and looked for food.

On her way back, she saw the empty spot, her mother’s body was nowhere to be found. She frantically rushed to the empty spot and looked around her. Everyone was giving her guilty and avoiding glances.

Although they took pity on the current situation of the kid, they cannot bear it anymore. The nobles who walk pass the slumps have decreased because of the rotten smell the corpse was giving and they also couldn’t stand the smell anymore.

‘It had to be done.’ Is what they all thought.

Aria ran towards the forest in alarm.

People dying in the slumps happen very often and very often those who die does not have any family members nor do they have any titles. Those who live in the slumps would have no choice but to get rid of the body by themselves by throwing those corpse off of a cliff they named, the Dead’s Valley.

Aria ran through the dense forest, having no shoes to protect her feet, it started to bleed. However, she didn’t care and continued to run harder. Branches would hook on her clothes and grasses with sharp edges would block her path but she didn’t care and would recklessly force her way out. This caused her clothes to have torn holes as areas in her body suffer from small cuts.

Seeing a glimpse of her mother’s body who was being carried by two men on top of the cliff, she paused and screamed, “Mother!” The carriers did not hear her and started swaying her mother’s body back and fro. Seeing their actions, Aria’s mood plummeted as she hastily ran towards them while screaming, “Stop! Please!”

Unfortunately, by the time she arrived at their location, Aria’s mother have already been thrown off. She pushed the guys who were blocking her way and knelt down on the edge of the cliff as she looked down only to see fog all over the place.

“Hey, do you want to die!” One of the carriers angrily pulled her by her clothes and threw her back away from the edge of the cliff.

Aria stayed silent and woefully cried her heart out.

“Mother!” Her sobs, cries, and screams gained the pity of the carriers and they left her alone to give her a moment of time.

After a few hours, the cries stopped. Aria fell asleep due to exhaustion and hunger.

The sun shone brightly on Aria’s face and the warmth startled her awake. She stared at the edge of the cliff as she remembered her mother's words. After a few minutes, her tummy suddenly started growling out of control.

Embarrassed of the sound, she quickly stood up and limply walked out of the forest.

Staring at the familiar straightened road, she looked back at the forest and then walked her way to the slums.

****

In a luxurious carriage, Duke Lucas sat near the window. His former majestic figure has been totally destroyed by his gloomy and depressed expression. His beard grew and his hair looked like a messed up bird’s nest.

It has been almost 4 months since his daughter had gone missing. He had almost given up, when suddenly his eyes caught a glimpse of a black hair.

“Stop!” He frantically rushed out of the carriage and hastily walked back on the direction they came from. Not seeing another glimpse of the hair, he walked further.

His personal knight came up to him and curiously asked him, “Master, Is there something wrong?”

Duke Lucas excitedly called him closer and spoke, “Did- did you perhaps saw a black hair a while ago?” The knight looked at him awkwardly and thought, ‘Has master gone out of his mind?’ he kept a serious face and seriously answered, “I apologize but I have not seen anyone with a black hair.”

His answer disappointed Duke Lucas and he decided to look further in the alleyways. His personal knight sighed and ordered for the rest of the team to standby while he followed the Duke. After a few turns, Duke Lucas froze on his feet as he stared at a certain direction. The knight curiously followed his gaze and what he saw made him widen his eyes.

A child who was rummaging a garbage. It was unsure whether the child was a female or male however, she seemed to be at least at the age of 5. She was skinny as bone and her black messy hair covered her eyes and facial features. The knight glanced at the Duke who was still at daze.

“My daughter” He suddenly moved towards the child’s direction. The knight unable to disobey his master silently followed behind him.

****

Aria who was looking for a food to fill her stomach suddenly noticed a person approaching her. Aria stared at him for a few seconds when the person suddenly pulled her in a hug. His actions did not only shock Aria but it also shocked his personal knight.

“You, I finally found you.”

He couldn’t continue speaking but his embrace became tighter. His eyes were shaking, his lips were trembling nonstop, and his expression crossed over joy and relief.

“My daughter, I have finally found you, my Adreanna.” His voice cracked at he leaned his head on Aria's shoulder.

Aria’s body froze and her expression twisted between shock and disbelief. She pushed herself off the embrace and shouted.

“My name is not Adreanna!”

Her action pushed the Duke to the ground and the knight instinctively tried to unsheathe his sword when the duke glared at him.

The Duke who snapped out from his actions, looked back at Adreanna and calmly asked, “then what is your name?” Aria hesitated but eventually told him her name.

“My mother calls me Aria, so I am not Adreanna!”

Hearing the word ‘mother’, Duke Lucas lowered his gaze and asked, “Where is your mother?” Hearing the question asked by the person in front of her, she started to tremble and tears fell from her eyes.

“She’s dead.” After hearing what Aria said, the duke’s eyes gleamed and looked at the person in front of him.

Making up his mind he grabbed Aria's hands and help them together.

“Then do you want to be my daughter?” The knight who overheard their conversation widened his eyes and then tried to compose himself again right after.

Seeing Aria who didn’t reply, the duke made things more convincible.

“You see, my daughter is missing and she looks a lot like you, my wife will love you. Can you help us and be our daughter?”

Aria who was only 6 years old looked at the duke with pity and asked, “If I follow you, will I eat enough?”

The duke excitedly exclaimed, “Yes, Of course!”, he then continued, “you will also have another mother and have me as your father. You will also gain an older brother.”

Listening to the duke’s words, Aria’s eyes glistened. The duke who was the closest to her was suddenly startled by the pair of sparkling golden amber eyes.

‘My daughter’s eyes are hazel.’ He looked at the pair of eyes again and thought, ‘It doesn’t matter… No one will notice it anyway. The two colours are often confused with one another.’

“But if I go with you… will I be called Adreanna?”

“Yes…”

Aria lowered her eyes and pouted and after a few minutes, she smiled and said, “I will go with you.”

The duke smiled brightly and hugged her again, “Thank you.”

Aria smiled and pat his back and then spoke, “Hehe, your welcome father.”

Hearing the soft voice who called him father, his heart was engulfed in warmth.

Duke Lucas suddenly carried her which startled Aria.

“Ah!”

The duke laughed at her and he walked her towards the carriage. Looking at their master who was carrying a filthy beggar, the rest of the knights looked over at the personal knight who shook his head in reply.

'It is better if you don't know what happened.'

As soon as they got on the carriage, the horseman whipped the horse.

Feeling the vibrations under her, Aria who never had an experience of riding a carriage felt uncomfortable.

'The seat is very warm and ... bouncy.'

She then looked outside and then looked at the direction of the Dead’s Valley and thought, ‘Goodbye, Mother.’

During the whole journey, they both exchanged what happened to their lives and Duke Lucas also revealed his identity and the story about his daughter.

The carriage which had left the territory ran without rest.

Duke Lucas, who was seating in front of Aria noticed that she was feeling drowsy so he spoke, “If you’re tired you can sleep on the chair. I will wake you up when we reach the Dukedom.”

Aria who was dead tired followed his suggestion and slept like a log the whole entire journey.