A Dark Deception

The beautiful sound of music reverberated through the palace gallery. Baron Damian Graf stood with a calm and simple smile on his face, lit by the gold and silver chandeliers. His eyes were fixed on a girl standing at the other end of the palace, wearing a green gown, and dressed like a princess. They both smiled at each other. It was as if they had been together for centuries, their world was complete.

  Isabella, people called her the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. To Damian, she could have been just another noblewoman, but there was something strange in her eyes, a cold, piercing razor as if she was looking into his soul.

  Then someone announced, "Today our dear Damian Graf and Isabella are getting married.

The palace resounded with thunderous applause. And the next moment when Isabella slowly moved towards him, his smile became even deeper. He touched Isabella's face lovingly with trembling hands, his whole body was drenched in sweat. Then both of them danced with each other," but Damian did not feel the connection of his soul with Isabella at all.

But the marriage was completed.

For the first time in the last five years, something good had happened in the biggest and richest noble family in the state. It took them a very long time to recover from the massacre that happened five years ago.

Then another announcement was made, "You can ask anything from our dear Damian today. He will fulfill your every wish today."

Then, a girl came forward from the crowd; she was very thin in appearance, and her clothes were old and torn in places. Her hair was golden and tangled. There was a deep pain in her eyes, which was melting and coming out in the form of tears. She folded her hands in front of Damian and said in all seriousness, "Please find my brother, he has been missing for the last five years. There is no trace of him yet. Please help me, dear Damian.

Damian's eyes became moist, he slowly blinked his wet eyes, but he did not say anything. With a painful smile on his face, he left from there. And all the people standing there again got busy enjoying the party. But that girl left from there with slow steps, taking the support of her stick. Tears were still falling from her eyes. She had come to this palace for the first time, only with that hope.

Suddenly, a week later Damian Graf dies mysteriously. He was given a dangerous poison. The whole kingdom mourned; Damian's loved ones were heartbroken, and everyone was demanding to catch the murderer. But the murderer was never caught.

A mountain of sorrows fell on that family once again; everything ended; the sounds of crying in the palace were echoing in the walls, but with the passage of time, everything turned into a deep silence. Where there was no sound, an emptiness.

Isabella also left the palace.

One day, the maid who cleaned Damian's room found a letter; that letter was hidden in secrecy. That maid started reading the letter.

Today was also a beautiful and bright day, as always; I was busy grazing my sheep and other cattle.

Suddenly, a white horse came running from somewhere and passed by me. The horse was so attractive that I became curious to know where this horse came from, and where is it going now. So I followed it, and after following it for some time I reached near an overturned horse carriage, where that horse was standing comfortably.

As I got closer, I saw bodies strewn all around.

The scene was a tale of a terrible massacre. An entire noble family had been killed. The killers were probably looters, they looted everything they could.

Then I saw a young man who looked exactly like me. I felt like I was looking at my reflection. I cleaned the face of the dead man to make sure he was my lookalike. And he was.

Then I realized that if I could pretend to be the only survivor of this attack, I would go from being a humble shepherd to a nobleman. And my life would change forever.

Then I changed my clothes to that dead man's clothes and buried the body in the forest. And then I waited to be rescued, and a group of knights found me, and they took me to a huge castle, whose heir I was now.

Any questioning about the past resulted in me claiming amnesia caused by the severe head injuries I suffered in that attack. I married the most beautiful girl in the kingdom, the one I had always dreamed of.

And ever since then, my soul has borne that burden. My very existence seems to me to be in danger.

I hid my darkness in the light of the castle, but my soul was never freed; in the mirror, I see not myself but my greatest mistake. And now that death is at my door, I don't know if this is my punishment or my salvation.

(Damian Graf aka Miles VanHorv)