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Prologue: Hellebore
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Her parents didn't know her anymore. There weren't many people who had that bad luck, so the girl expected it to be like that anyway. Her parents, her sisters, her closest cousins, they didn't know her. Not a little bit, nothing about her.
What could the girl do? There was nothing interesting to know. — On that night, when the Moon is present and when the stars carry their light, we are here to unite this couple who have been united by the Spirits of Love! She looked forward to the white marble altar decorated with a beautiful wine carpet and beautiful red carnations. A sigh came out silently from her lips as she passed the gloved fingertip over the lace of the dress. — Since the sun was present and the Moon became mother and guardian, we have all been blessed and embraced by your light and warmth! — the hand wrinkled by the priestess's age raised a crystal cup containing the red liquid of the ceremony. The butterflies surrounded the altar, doing a beautiful dance of love, surrounding the flowers and all who were present. One of nature's dancers landed on the girl's hand, opening and closing her lilac wings, a move so calm and quiet that it made the girl feel that maybe she and the butterfly were thinking the same thing. A small smile was made on her painted lips, the girl's eyes no longer wanted to observe the decorated altar or the guests she did not know half. It was just her and the butterfly. —... Then get up! —the girl raised her face quickly when the priestess's voice spoke again— Stand up to honor the couple who unite today in the maternal light of our great mother. The girl looked at the couple at the altar, looked like two monarchs, perhaps even models for paintings. Wearing traditional ceremonial robes, surrounded by red carnations and butterflies dancing around them celebrating love. She got up, letting the butterfly fly to her family and lowered her face already feeling the gaze of family members who knew her. They didn't know her, the girl was trying to mentalize that, no one really knew her. The musicians began to play the harps, the priestess continued to thank and celebrate for the love that was being made official there. The girl heard the noise of the camera, the murmurs of happiness of the parents of the bride and groom and also managed to hear all the thoughts about her. But they didn't know her, that's what really should matter. The hall after the wedding ceremony was a lively venue, some people danced happily, laughed loudly and drank wine. The girl looked at the newlyweds being courted with smiles and gifts, as well as the lengthy hugs of each one that went to their table. The bride looked beautiful, her face glowed like a full moon and the jewels and embroidery on the robe looked like the stars. The groom behaved like the Sun, the consort of the Moon, kept his face in a proud glow that you only saw at noon. The two formed a beautiful couple, this the girl could not deny. Even though she had no blood connection with the bride, she could see the illuminated smile and pure eyes as precious stones that her mother had. It wasn't something restricted to the girl, everyone in the salon knew that. If they didn't know, they'd understand at that moment. The girl took the glass of wine and took a sip while looking at another part of the hall. She saw the bride's sister dancing romantically in the middle of the dance floor, who had married almost two years before the bride. The girl decided she preferred to drink more wine while looking at the bride's sister and brother-in-law. People said their love was so strong that even after almost two years of marriage, the candle on the altar of the Twilight Spirit still burn strongly and you couldn't see a drop of wax fall. It made the mother of the two women very happy, a flame that does not go out always said more about the matriarch of the family than about love. It was always the moon's obligation to teach the stars how love worked. — It's a horror, the youngest of the family has lost another suitor. This marriage was supposed to be hers—the girl turned her face a little, just enough to hear the newest gossip. She noticed two ladies, one wearing the most beautiful pink and the other a radiant yellow. — Ms. Carmesim must be as ashamed, a family as devoted as hers— the lady in yellow shoved an almost whole cookie into her mouth, putting the fan in front soon after. — Obviously it is! But it wasn't something that wasn't being expected, where the labor water bloomed a poisonous flower — the lady in pink took a sip of the drink and looked around before approaching the lady in yellow. The girl couldn't hear much, just the other woman pulling the air violently and speaking one louder than a whisper: — Bouquet of beladona? Heavens!... The girl laughed blandly before turning the glass of wine. Gossip wasn't very changeable, she knew it. Years ago were the same rumors, never had a confirmation to satisfy the ears of the curious. The girl was getting ready to return to attend the party, as if it were nothing more than a servant or a part of the decoration. But her attention was drawn to the ladies' conversation with only two words: Carmesim Mansion. The wine she had just had suddenly tasted like vinegar, and the snacks and sweets on the small dish no longer seemed so appealing. — When I saw the Messenger of the Carmesims searching for the documents in the registry office, I did not know that he would be a man with so few popes on his tongue — the lady in pink laughed in a way that only the matriarchs of that city could, form cruel and sharp as a razor — The mansion needs to be occupied by someone, the priestess of the family had a terrible dream and spent three nights and three days kneeling on the praying moonstone. The girl could see the lady's pupils in yellow growing up after hearing that, but hers also grew. — Tell me he told you what the priestess dreamed of! — the lady in yellow tried not to scream in an animation. — Only Mrs. Carmesim and her husband know what she dreamed of, but staying on the moonstone hasn't changed anything. The messenger said that the same night the priestess had the same dream. So Mrs. Carmesim sent him after the documents as soon as possible. — But as far as we knew the Carmesim Mansion was being occupied by a distant aunt of Mrs. Carmesim, you know the rumors of that woman being crazy — the lady in yellow paused and the girl turned her face again to see what the women were doing, but right at the time the lady in yellow took her hand out of her mouth and drank a sip of the drink — Since when Mrs. Carmesim was just a debutante there were already those disturbing stories of the woman dancing on the blood of her children. The girl's spine froze a little. That story was almost like a horror story in town, a gossip that was whispered low enough not to reach the mad ears of Mrs. Carmesim's aunt. Because it is a delicate gossip, the girl heard the noise of the slap that the lady in pink gave on the shoulder of the friend. — Speak lower! The musicians entertain people, but they're not deaf! — the woman drank the rest of what she had in the bowl and put her hand on the pendant with the Waning Moon — We don't know much about this gossip, but what the messenger said was that the news that scared Mrs. Carmesim the most was not even the priestess's dream — the lady paused a little dramatic, ripping off some grumbling from her friend —what scared Mrs. Carmesim was to know that her aunt had passed away months ago, the mansion is empty! The party seemed to stop for the girl, the blood flowed like a river in winter. She automatically turned her face to her mother and sisters who chatted happily with other ladies, smiling totally carefree. — The house can only be passed on to a true Carmesim, as the older sisters are adopted... — she heard one of the ladies speak and the silence was the end of the phrase she did not want to hear. The girl got up quickly and soon her feet began to guide her out of the hall, passing strangely gracefully through the tables and people, then was taken to the mansion garden, crumpling some flowers without any remorse, and finally reaching the garden that had been named after her at her birth. The girl knelt down and tore off her gloves, throwing the delicate pieces into some bucket and began digging among the poisonous flowers that never died. She cried in anger, cried and pulled the earth out, until there was nothing left but broken roots, petals, and stems where the garden was. Below that chaos, the girl took the box she knew would be there. By turning her finger on the lid, she can feel the carved letters and it was soon possible to read what was written."It's finally here, dear Artemisia."Related chapters
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Artemísia woke up again in that damn room. The walls were covered with ivy and they were moving higher, the curtains were the same as when i was awake and the only thing that differentiated was that there were only ivys, windows, curtains and the bed where Artemisia was lying. The strong smell of beladona almost intoxicated her, it was as if she was chewing on one of its poisonous fruits and enjoying her pre-mortem moment. The girl closed her eyes and put her hand on her chest feeling the fabric of the sweater she wore hours before, lace and sweat that tickled her fingers whenever she wore. She began to imagine pink butterflies or some other flower appearing in the room, wanted to be able to visualize in her mind small fairies, but the girl knew she did not have enough imagination for that. It's not like she expected much of her own dream, close to her sisters, Artemisia looked like a hollow shell. No enough talent or imagination to create your own talent, depending on the garden to
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Artemisia only stopped walking when the clock struck 12 times, obviously scaring her. The body hurt a little and asked for food, rest and maybe some sun. However, without employees there was no food and after the eleventh stroke she remembered that she was trying to understand why she was alone in the mansion. I couldn't call the police, because being without employees wasn't an emergency, at least they'd laugh at it and for two weeks it would become the joke of afternoon teas. She passed her hand on her little face caring if the powder came out a little or not, just closed her eyes for a few seconds and sat on the first steps of the stairs. In a few hours looking for someone, alive preferably, only showed that Artemisia was nothing more than a prey. Well, he liked that. The blonde's eyes quickly opened with thought. She had barely made a month of her move and was already starting to go crazy. Who the hell was he? — I give up — Artemisia stood up and put her hands on her hips —
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"However, you don't know how you got here." He said, sitting facing Artemisia. He looked elegant, wearing a black hat that shadowed his face, a suit in a green so dark it could be black. He was beautiful. “As beautiful as last time”, thought Artemísia as she drank some wine. Where did the wine come from? Wasn't it afternoon tea? It didn't matter, she looked at the man who had a sharp smile while looking at her. "Should I know how I got here?” Artemisia asked, landing the cup of coffee on the bluish saucer. “Where is here? "It's a special place, you know me here." He took a piece of cake and took a bite. At that moment, Artemisia realized that it was not cake, but rather a piece of meat, raw meat. Human. "So you brought me here so you could know that I know you? "What does it matter? You don't even know what's here, how are you going to know why you're here?" The blood flowed down the corner of his lips, leaving him looking frighteningly beautiful. "I brought you for a reason, but
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The only light that dared to enter that place was swallowed by the dense leaves of ivy. The breeze that eluded between the broken windows made a lovely noise to hear, if it was the first time listening. He remained with his eyes closed, in fact sewn by the thorns that also grew there. The devil's mouth was as sand-dried, as much as that place was as damp as a swamp. His fangs pierced their own tongues, seeking to insate with their own blood. But it wasn't enough. How many nights had passed? How many new moons? 200? No... He knew they were more, his body begged so much for blood that there could have been only 200 new moons. The ivys and thorns squeezed him like a snake hugs the prey, keeping it so helpless, without air, without movement. He hated thinking about it, hated being a prey. Ever since he stood before that damn being, he swore to himself that he would never be the prey again. I wouldn't dare be the one who hid when the fatherly light of the sun gave way to the moon, it w
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 7: Delirium
Artemisia's body froze completely while listening to her great aunt's name. She genuinely hoped that after so many months of death the woman's name would be forgotten at the bottom of the gossip chest that the city certainly had. As much as it had been a few weeks, her great-aunt's body was almost becoming a clotter of bones and elegant clothes, people kept talking about her and her great-niece. That town just couldn't forget Delfine Carmesim."What do you want to talk about Delfine? — asked Artemísia trying to ignore the shadows that came back to dance. This time, they would tat around the maiden and make jokes for the widows.The feeling of something being terribly wrong grew every moment when the young woman tried to ignore what was happening. Maybe if she ignored those hallucinations, at one point they'd get tired of jumping and dancing. In addition to the unbearable music that was getting tattooed on her mind. She was about to implore the Spirits of Rest to do something to stop h
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Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 72: Again and again
Artemisia leaned her body against the chair entirely, the truth hurting more than she could have imagined. She could tell that the stages of grief hit her too fast, so the young woman was already in anger. An outsized hatred of herself. Artemisia knew it was deadly, she saw her father die, the nannies die, the plants, the animals. It was clear as the day that it was her curse, but knowing it was so painful that it made the young woman want to vomit up all the sweets she had eaten. Suddenly something hit her too, a memory that involved stories. It was almost like a blur, but if Artemisia tried hard, she could understand that it had been a dream, a strange and a little disjointed dream. In it were three books, each of which bore a strange memory of the young woman. The first was a debt, of this she remembered better than the others, the second was pure pain, the same pain she had felt when Leonore opened that book of leather red as blood. The young woman raised her face looking towa
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 71: Living again
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Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 70: Little Red Snow
The rest of the day Artemisia remained only immersed in her own thoughts, especially after discovering that one of the culprits of her current state is dead. The young woman really wanted to feel guilty for killing someone. Well, she felt guilty, but for that particular someone, Artemisia couldn't feel any twinges of kindness or empathy. An old subject? Yes, but the pain did not age, it renewed itself again and again, remaining fresh. It was only because the young woman couldn't feel guilty for killing the woman, she was still trying to figure out how the hell she had done that, since it was supposed to be for Hyacinth to be immortal, from earth to earth, being in a vicious circle of life.As she pulled the covers so she could warm herself from the cold that was beginning to stick to Artemisia's bones, she could feel that there was so much more to it. How would she kill such an old being, when even Death herself couldn't do that? Artemisia didn't know much of that world she had been
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 69: Slowly becoming cold
"I was hoping this time it would work." Geon said as the shadows danced around the fireplace. Artemisia looked at the demon with a raised eyebrow, it was not impressive to the young woman that it had happened more times than she would have liked—that at the moment, within the will of the young woman, the amount of times her soul could possess people and kill the owners of the bodies was faithfully clinging to zero—but it was still a little curious to think that perhaps that possession had been the one that had worked out the best. Even if it was a slightly vague definition of what "getting it right" is. If Helleborus hoped to have one more chance at life, run through green fields in the spring, and remain reclusive in the arms of a loving family during the winter, Artemisia felt a little sad to give her the bad answer about the woman's choices. "What happened to the other times?" Artemisia asked as she shrunk her legs until she could hug them. The cold was beginning to affect the
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 68: Liquid Rage
She stood staring at the countertop, for several minutes her mind had begun to get unbearably high. Part of the young woman was trying to believe that Geon had never really said whether or not he knew about what happened to Artemisia, even before she was "born," it had said only a small omission, nothing that was important enough that it could hurt or give that nagging feeling of being deceived. On the other hand, the other voice that screamed in Artemisia's mind said how much she would have been spared from all that misfortune, would not have freed her from more than twenty years of such agony, but would have saved her long enough for the young woman to understand everything that had happened and had happened. She could taste the bitter taste of betrayal, that pungent thing that stuck to her taste buds and stayed there until the young woman went mad with so much bitterness. She wanted to believe that it would give the final card of her insanity, finally letting what was supposed to
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 67: Did you
“Oh, you are here.” The demon spoke when he finally saw the young man in the middle of the living room. "I went to let Leonore know we're here, I wouldn't want to have an angry witch running after me." He turned away from the window, heading towards the couch.There were a few suitcases occupying the piece of furniture, Artemisia was quick to recognize them as they were the same ones she had used when moving into the mansion, theoretically several weeks earlier, in what would have been the beginning of spring.The young woman wanted to laugh about it, minutes after listening to the creature's whole lecture about the weather, she would be seeing the suitcases she had used to store some things before leaving her mother's house, it would be winter again, as it had been a season before.“I'll prepare lunch for you, apparently your body can't go too long without food. Try to find something warm to wear, Leonore's clan is looking for what could have caused this regretful winter.” Geon said
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 66: Human Time
Maybe having followed that entity was a bad idea, but giving up in the middle of that situation seemed a bit extreme to do. Artemisia looked at the white immensity as she walked with that being, each step made her regret her decision even more, it was a bad choice.And then there was the fact that she was the one who wanted to find out more about the family curse, abandoning that would be an extremely shameful sign of cowardice. The only one to blame for being in that situation was Artemisia, the creature being there or not was just a curious part of the consequence.“You've heard his whole story, haven't you?” a creature asked as they stopped in front of a flower bed full of tulips."Yes." The young woman smiled, looking closely at the small flowers that grew amidst the blanket of snow. She had heard of these things before, flowers that bloomed during the winter, growing through the snow and into the dim sunlight. Artemisia didn't know how to explain it very well, but that vision ma
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 65: A Winter
The moment Artemisia left that eye-filled place, the cold of the sudden winter hit her like an arrow. The whole green field that the young woman had seen through the window was now a white immensity. The story Tinea told her the day before sounded again, all over again, it was already starting to irritate Artemisia. She just wanted to live miserably well, she didn't want to have to go through it all and know that when she finally got rid of that life, the young woman's soul would still beg for death for the last life. She could be absolutely sure that everything would be repeated again, from the days in the snow to begging an immortal woman for the gift of being reborn. The young woman looked for somewhere to sit, some corner that wasn't fully covered in snow, which was a somewhat impossible request. The white robe doubled in size with each passing minute, Artemisia could feel the skirt start to get hard and icy, no longer able to have the same movements as a normal skirt. But she w
Curse Of Wine & Belladonna Chapter 64: They will not hear
If someone told Artemisia that one day she would wake up in the middle of winter, she would believe it. Which might be surprising, but even then, the young woman would trust the words of the person she told her that. It didn't need to explain in more detail, to say how one day the sun burned and the next day it was cold as a curse, the young woman would believe it. It was funnier that way. What's more, so many things had happened to the young woman that this would be just another normal day. Artemisia was willing to ask Geon again if he was hiding anything from her, it was clear as a crystal, at the moment the night before she had asked the demon, his expression could not be the best. Something inside the young woman said he was lying. She could call it something over-suspicious, perhaps. Artemisia went to sleep with Tinea's voice explaining to her about the flower that insisted on keeping in her life, but carrying an extensive secret like an apron, the young woman also woke up he
