Chapter 98: Chapter 98: Hall of History

Chapter 98:

Hall of History

Grand halls, sweeping staircases, interconnecting corridors, and much more laid inside the grand manor that I now found myself inside. Walls painted in beautiful murals in one area, and in another hung with beautiful paintings of ancient countryside's both in Europe and Asia. A tale was told in their images. A tale of the Alden Families exploits before they met with the Ishikawa Clan of Japan. The Hall of History, they called it.

I walked it with Sadia and the girls, Alana and Rosa. Scarlett and Cecelia were currently meeting with their mother. Our mother now, I suppose. It felt weird calling her mother, but using her name seemed disrespectful. Mother-in-law was a bit of a mouthful as well.

Still, she was kind considering how rocky our introduction had been. I had free reign of the entire estate. My first order of business was to explore. I wanted to get to know the place I was staying. It was bigger than any of the penthouses, and it should be. It felt like a palace to me.

It was situated in the center of three-square miles of land. Lush forests, rolling hills, and beautiful rivers. I had got to see a bit of it when I took a hovercar over the area. The view had been stunning.

"So, that's the marriage of the Ishikawa Clan and the Alden Family?" Alana asked, bringing me to the present.

Before us was a wide, landscape type painting. A golden frame, intricate with leaf-like patterns and swirls, surrounded the image. It depicted a beautiful, cherry blossom scenery of an old-fashioned Japanese manor. A courtyard surrounded by people of western and eastern appearance.

The Bride, an English Woman who wore the attire of a man. For back then, that must have been unheard of, but there she was. Her red hair painted vividly as it fell across her shoulders. A tunic, tied at the waist underneath a long-tailed nobles coat. Petticoat breeches underneath.

At her side she carried a longsword. Her face was fair and bore a smile. At her side was a young Japanese man with long, dark hair that was tied back. Wearing a black kimono with a gray hakama. He wore no weapons but carried with him a fan. His face was fair, his smile grand, but what drew me the most was his stunning amber eyes.

At the bottom of the painting the name of it was imprinted: Marriage of Ishikawa Kotaro and Meredith Cecelia Alden.

"Wait...Meredith Cecelia Alden?...Isn't that Cecelia's name, except inverted?" Smiling, I found it rather cute that she was named after the ancestor which helped merge the two families. Moving on, we saw many other moments in history. Meredith leading the Alden into victory at some battle in Europe.

Kotaro renovating several homes in Japan and opening orphanages. Even a tragedy was painted. An injured woman, Meredith, knelt on the ground as an angry Kotaro raised a blade against the assailants. The next painting showed them together again, Meredith with a new scar, and a child. Their auburn hair and amber eyes a reminder of their parents. From then on, almost all children of the Ishikawa-Alden Family bore the same hair and eyes, with some exceptions when one with ombre hues appeared, like Cecelia.

As the years advanced, so too did technology and the Ishikawa-Alden Families reach. From around the world, they opened businesses, trade routes, and became a force to be reckoned with long before the Eco-Conversion, but as the world began to wane, their power skyrocketed as they held the technology and resources to help rebuild the world.

The Hall of History soon came to the present. Pictures that I felt didn't belong. A man in a prim and proper suit sat in a chair, almost like a throne. Next to him was a pregnant Yumei as she sat on a less conspicuous chair. It was the first time I ever saw young Scarlett, sat upon the man's lap. An anger arose in me as I knew the history behind it.

She was adorable, even back then. Yet, whoever took this picture...or painted it, captured the fear in her eyes. Though she was smiling, her eyes were not. Next to them, standing proud and with a defiant expression was Cecelia. She couldn't have been more than fourteen in this picture, and sure enough the date told me that it was two years before she met me.

The man himself was, much to my annoyance, a rather handsome man. A face as if chiseled from stone, with his lips curled in a smug smile. Fair skin, flawless. A well-kept beard and blue eyes. His dark hair combed back. The hand on Scarlett's side kept drawing my attention.

"...That bastard," I whispered out loud.

"Uncle?" Alana asked, her light touch on my arm drawing my attention.

"Ah...sorry," I smiled apologetically, "I just...got angry. This man, you know who he is, right?"

Sadia and I shared a look, and she seemed to know the story. "I guess Cecelia informed her at some point..." Rosa and Alana looked at each other, then at the picture where they read the caption: Loving Father and his Family Expecting. Lord Andrew Ishikawa-Alden.

"It's...their father," Alana whispered, finally understanding my anger.

They were told of him, but not much else. This was the first time I ever saw him, and he looked just as cruel as I expected. The smile on his face told me everything I needed to know. No one else was smiling, save Scarlett's forced one.

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"Why is it here?" Rosa asked the question I had in my own mind, "He was a bad man, wasn't he? Yet, he's here in this place...why?"

"Sometimes, history has moments of darkness," Cecelia's words came from behind us as she silently approached, "Even if it is unpleasant, it is still history. I chased him down this very hall..."

Her words were cold, but her smile as she saw us was kind. Wrapping her arms around mine, she began to move us along slowly.

"Are you done with your talk?" I asked her quietly.

"Yes..." She nodded as she continued to lead us, stopping before another painting, "This is where he finally fell, but it wasn't here he died."

The painting we stood before was morbid, and while my instinct to cover Alana's eyes was strong, it was long past since I could protect her from the world. A scene of Andrew, bloody and afraid as he begged Cecelia for his very life. My heart began beating in my chest as even this part of history was recorded.

"Is it morbid?" She asked softly, almost afraid.

"...Yes," I answered honestly, but held her tightly, "But it is part of your history. If this is what must be recorded, then it must."

Giving me a thankful smile, she moved us along. Rosa and Alana lingering their gazes for a moment before joining us. The next painting was of Andrew being imprisoned. Titled: Tyrant Father Imprisoned, Tortured Until Death.

"I made sure everything was paid back," She explained coldly, a smile appearing on her lips, "I told you how he begged...Just like I did. Just like my mother did. When the light finally left his eyes, there was a moment of anger. I lost myself. I tore into him...how could he die so easily after everything he did?"

Her hand moved to my face, cupping it affectionately. I smiled sympathetically.

"On top of that...hurting you," Her gaze became focused, "You were my light. You are my life. The only place I felt happy...And now you're here with me."

"Always, my love," Placing my hand over hers, I looked at her lovingly as I kissed the palm of her hand, "I will always be with you."

"Yes, you will," There was a glint in her eye as she said this, and I found myself entranced by her beauty as always.

Being led on, we saw the war within the family as Andrew's people fought against them, only to be slaughtered. It showed the rise of Cecelia through the ranks as she took control of the family. Showed her rise to power within the Corporation. The Inner-Corporate War. Her title bestowing ceremony. Everything until now.

The final picture was a blank slate, with a title yet to be determined.

"This...my love," She smiled brilliantly, "Is where you will be. The moment you came into my life. I hope you're ready to pose."

Teasing me with a poke to my cheek, I blushed as I held myself close to her. I don't know if I was ready or willing to pose, but if it was for her...I'd do all that I could.

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