>>5378031>>5378071"You don't have to tell me if it's that harmful."
"I insist. I've been dwelling on this for far too long. It's something I had to tell Lady Farnese eventually, so consider this a test run."
"Why can't you just tell her?"
"Let's just say this secret is only harmful for those who spread it, and you've more than earned my trust for you to explain myself."
You are reluctant in obliging Serpico, but after him boasting his vote of confidence to you, it's hard to deny an ear to him.
"I don't know if I can maintain my composure by explaining this with words, would you mind using your magic?"
Delving into his memories, Serpico thinks back to his childhood as the first vision that appears to you is pure white, the snowy stones of Vritannis slums obscuring a young Serpico's view as he is repeatedly kicked and stomped on by a group of children, stealing the food from his bag as they ate a slice of bead in front of him.
"Get lost, idiot!"
"Yeah! We're the ones who get food around here!"
Just as the group of children were about to leave, Serpico unexpectedly picked up a rock from his hand to squash the eye of the one stealing his dinner, bashing his face in to relinquish his anger before finally fleeing to his home.
For those who didn't have a family name, Vritannis was as much of a hellhole for commoners as any other place in Midland, as he climbed to the second floor at the rotting hovel he lived in, a dim lit room in the outskirts of a city was room to a woman emaciated to skin and bones by illness, forever reminding his youthful self of his imminent death.
"Here is your food, Mother."
"Were were you! I was freezing by myself here... My back aches, rub it for me."
"...Yes, Mother."
She showed her protruded spine and ribs for the boy to press onto, and the way her neck snapped when she turned over to check his face made her look like a living skeleton.
"What's this bruise over your face?"
"I, um... Got into a fight with some other boys in town--" Serpico speaks up before being slapped in the face.
"Where is your pride, Serpico!? You are an aristocrat! Fighting with hood rats is absurd, don't stoop to their level!"
Taking a pendant from her neck, the sickly mother makes an uncanny grin to her son as her eyes sparkle on the brink of insanity.
"You are my only hope... Your father will come for us, I know it! Do not disappoint him!"
"Quit shouting, Mother... You will start coughing again."
"Have pride, Serpico! Pride!"
Her mad mantra proceeded to drown his worries as he expected the locket, opening the latch to find a painting of Federico III and a younger depiction of herself. Being a servant for his mansion, she told the 9 year old Serpico that he was conceived at the end of their honeymoon.
As she clung to those sweet memories, she burdened the young child with a dream who he had no chance of discovering if it was a mere delusion, too busy supporting the family by himself.
