Silence engulfed Limpio. From the dirt roads of the lower districts of Tanawa to the unlighted stone roads and walls of two-floored houses in the upper districts of Calare, sound was snuffed out by the presence of the memory of yesterday. No soul dared to roam the street nor a beast of labor let loose. Silence reigned after the night of defeat.

However, a shrill voice of a child refused to obey the silence. In the innermost parts of the Calare district stood the estate of the Cuore. A sob stifled by hours of crying and wailing echoed from a small, empty room in the Casa resonating outwards through the dead gardens of the estate.

There in the storeroom, A little girl sat on the wooden floor behind a locked door. Her face was red from tears and her fists sore from repeated pounding. The doorknob clicked and the girl's emerald eyes gleamed as she limped to stand up and wiped her face clean with her skirt.Opening the door was a maid holding a white veil.

" Is Papa not angry anymore?"

The girl looked up at the maid as they both stood still by the doorway facing each other.

" I was only instructed by the Signor Cuore to tell you this," the maid said.

"You are to never go out this room from now on."

"Why?"

" Because the outside is dangerous."

" But we used to play outside with Oleon."

" And Signo Oleon will also be sent away for study at a given time."

The girl balled fists around her skirt and blazed a gaze at the older woman despite her tears. "Papa is angry at me, is not it?"

The maid refused to meet her eyes. She refrained herself from kneeling to meet her level lest the child take her father's words lightly. The Signor was nowhere in sight at the hallway leading to this room. The Signor's presence had been a flitting ghost for the past few days. He will not even want to see the girl's face. His absence was grace. If it was he who would talk to this girl, such cruelty.

The maid heaved her breath and forced the blank white veil on the little one's head. There was inaction, ultimately resistance, then again came submission.

"You are to wear this veil at all times," the maid said. "Orders of the Signor."

"Can I put this away tomorrow?"

"No, not ever."

"Why?"

The maid knelt to the child's level for her face was now covered. " Hush” She pulled a finger over the girl's lips. " There are many things one ought to never understand."