After the sound of the mutilated body hitting the floor faded, it was replaced only by a heavy, absolute silence. Dio ignored the trembling woman, ignored the smell of blood. All his senses were focused on one thing lying on the luxurious carpet, which was slowly soaking up a dark stain of blood.

  He approached with calm, measured steps, as if walking in a dream. He knelt beside his mother's corpse. He didn't look at her body; instead, he extended a trembling hand and picked up her severed head. He lifted it with both hands until her face was directly in front of his. Her eyes were open.

  Strange, Dio thought as he stared into those eyes that could no longer see. You were always afraid to look into my eyes. You used to say they reminded you of him. Of Corvus's golden eyes. Well, here I am, looking directly at you now. Are you afraid?

  He felt no sadness. He felt no anger. All he felt was this vast, cold emptiness.

  The door opened, and Leonardo entered, quick and quiet, his assessment of the horrific scene taking only a fraction of a second. He said nothing. He stepped forward, took off his black jacket, and covered Maria's headless body with it, then her head, which was still in Dio hands, with a touch that carried an unexpected respect.

  In that moment, Alma ran to Dio, bent down, and hugged him tightly from behind, pressing her face into his back.

  It's alright, my child... she whispered, her voice trembling. It's alright. If you want to cry, then cry. It's okay to cry.

  Dio felt her warm, trembling body pressed against his cold, hard back. It wasn't a comforting touch; it was strange, as if a being from another world were trying to communicate with him in a language he did not understand.

  And in his mind, fragments of conflicting memories flashed: a fleeting image of a small child running towards his mother as she opened her arms and laughed, a warm, genuine laugh. Then the image faded, replaced by a thousand other memories of a cold face, sharp gazes, and an icy silence that had stretched for years.

  Was that laugh a lie? Or was everything that followed it the lie?

  The hours passed like a gray fog. The de Foix family guards arrived, along with an investigator with a weary face from the Law Enforcement forces. They asked him questions.

  Did he say anything?

  Nothing important.

  The investigator said to his assistant, They use advanced daggers of the void steel type. Only the Jacobins have this signature. They are hired killers. They leave no trace.

  Dio heard the words, but they were just whispers in the sky. He felt no desire for revenge; he felt nothing. When they had finally finished and left him alone, he remained sitting on the sofa for hours, staring at the empty wall, until the darkness of night turned into the pale gray of dawn.

  It was a funeral that did not belong to the beauty of the sky.

  Dio stood in the luxurious cemetery of the de Foix family, wearing formal, black mourning clothes that were suffocating him. The air was cold and damp, and the sky was as gray as a dead face. He was surrounded by nobles wearing their finest clothes, whispering false words of condolence, their eyes watching him with morbid curiosity.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  She certainly didn't want to be buried here, Dio thought sarcastically as he watched the polished coffin being slowly lowered into the pit. She wanted to be buried in the Van der Wood cemetery, to preserve the last remnants of her pride. Or... maybe next to Mia?

  He let out a silent, bitter laugh in his mind. Next to Mia, perhaps, but what do I know? I knew nothing about this woman.

  In the middle of the ceremony, he felt it. A cold, orderly energy pressure. He turned and saw him. His father, Corvus, was standing at the entrance of the cemetery, with his new wife, Edith. He didn't approach, but remained standing there, observing the scene as if it were a play that didn't concern him much.

  How I didn't want him to see her grave, Dio thought, and he felt a wave of cold anger wash over him for the first time.

  After the Rock Priest had spoken his final words and the people began to leave, Corvus started to walk towards the grave.

  Dio couldn't bear it. He walked until he stood between his father and the open grave, blocking his path.

  Dio said, his voice quiet and deadly Get out of here! .

  Corvus stopped and looked at him with his golden eyes.

  Dio continued, the anger making the sky tremble, You and that whore beside you! You don't deserve to be here! Get out!

  Edith started to retort in anger, but a single glance from Dio silenced her.

  Dio looked into his father's eyes and realized something. Strange... I thought his gaze was like Maria's. But it's nothing like it. Maria's gaze was cold, but it was filled with something strange. As for him... his gaze is cold as if it's just a task that must be completed.

  Corvus said coldly, I will come back again, when you have calmed down, then he turned.

  Dio shouted at his back. Over my dead body will you see her grave! , but his father did not turn around

  After he had left, Cairo, who had just returned from his trip and looked tired and sad, approached. He placed a hand on Dio shoulder. Dio, I'm sorry.

  Dio flinched as if Cairo's touch were a burn. He moved away from him, turned, and began to walk away from everyone, from the cemetery, from these empty rituals, and disappeared among the stone gravestones.

  The journey back to his mansion was silent. Dio sat in the back seat of the car, watching the landscape speed by. At the mansion gate, he saw Leonardo standing, smoking a cigarette. When he saw him coming, he quickly threw it to the ground and stomped it out with his shoe, then stood with professional rigidity.

  A small detail in this empty day, but it was the only real thing Dio had seen that day.

  When the car stopped, he did not get out. He remained seated, looking at his dark, empty mansion.

  Should I feel the desire for revenge? he wondered in silence. Should I search for the 'Jacobins' and burn them all? Why don't I feel anything?

  He got out of the car, but he did not head for the main door. He walked through the neglected garden, which the weeds were beginning to reclaim. He walked until he reached a small, quiet spot, where a simple stone gravestone stood, covered in soft green moss.

  Mia grave.

  He sat on the cold ground, leaning his back against the stone. There was no one here to see him, no rituals, no lies.

  he whispered into the still air Mia... She's dead.

  He was silent for a few moments, then the words began to flow from him, not as a conversation, but as a desperate confession to a departed soul.

  A filthy man from the garbage of this world killed her... and I killed him. They say they're from the Jacobins. I don't care. She died in front of me, and I... I felt nothing. Am I a monster, Mia?

  I came here, and I thought I would feel peace. But this place too... is cold. Everything is cold.

  He stopped, feeling a sharp sting in his throat, and a strange heat gathering behind his eyes.

  Do you remember when I used to say I would be the best father in the world? I met my little brother, Louis. He's nice. I wanted to be a good brother to him. But now... I don't think I can.

  His voice began to tremble. If only...If only I had listened to you. If only I had talked to her. If only I had tried. Even if she hated me... if only I had tried.

  He could no longer hold it back. He leaned forward, buried his face between his knees, and broke down.

  It was not a quiet cry. It was a complete collapse, violent, painful sobs that shook his entire body, the cry of a soul that had just realized the extent of its absolute emptiness. He wasn't just crying for Maria. He was crying for Mia, for his lost childhood, for the friendship he had ruined, and for himself.

  For the boy who never knew how to love, and who only learned how to grieve after it was too late.

  If only I had changed... he cried out in the silence of the forest, hot tears streaming down his hands.

  If only I had changed, Mia.