Unfortunately.
I died before I could find the answer.
I've been missing for a full week.
In the Ferraro family, this means one thing:
I've been implicitly considered "disposed of."
The irony is:
No one in the entire manor has mentioned me.
It's as if I never existed.
The first person to "discover" my disappearance was Serafina.
She stood in the center of the main hall, her white dress so pristine it seemed otherworldly.
Delicate, harmless, perfect.
"Aunt Gianna..." her voice was soft, as if it would dissipate in a breeze, "Valentina hasn't returned for several days... Do you think something might have happened to her?"
As she spoke, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
The movement was clean, restrained, and perfectly timed.
As if meticulously rehearsed countless times.
My mother looked at her.
At that moment, her expression held a tenderness I had never seen before.
“Ignore her,” she said indifferently. “That heartless person didn’t even come to your initiation ceremony.”
“She’s probably out fooling around again.”
She reached out and straightened Serafina’s collar.
The gesture was painfully intimate.
“I’ll always be with you.”
“Just like your mother entrusted me with this before she died.”