One stormy night, Bernard was in his study room in search of a way to redeem his family name when an unexpected visitor came for a visit; an elderly woman cloaked in black with a long crooked nose, silver-white hair and an eerie aura about her. She was taken to see Bernard; walking in a crooked manner with her crooked walking cane to support her. Francis was a bit hesitant to show her inside at first because the Duke was stressed out about certain family matters which mainly involved his plots to redeem his family honour.
The elderly woman entered the study, introduced herself as an Oracle and requested they speak privately about matters that has to do with his future. Bernard simply abide by her wishes and sent away his servants so that no one would be listening in on them and offered the elderly woman a seat. She didn't answer him nor opened her eyes for a moment or two until she tapped her walking cane once on the floor to reveal what seems to be a vision of the future. Centuries past have the Gods abandoned thee, A year's time thy prayers be answered, A vessel of Gods comes for thee, And the future of your line erased.
There was a vision of the Duchess giving birth to a baby girl who will be one day be taken over by the blood of a Fallen Goddess cursed by God himself. The hatred for humans and all of mankind would unleash a power so Evil from within her that she'd wipe out everything in her path. There was blood everywhere, raging storms and an endless pouring rain that would devour the hope man has for living. Bernard didn't believe her but he could not help but be entranced by the vision before him and before he could even call her a liar, the old lady vanished with only laughter resonating throughout the walls of the room.
Fear began to arise in him for a second but he decided to ignore the old lady's prophecy and in time he forgot about it until one day after some time had passed, his wife had announced she was pregnant and his fear returned. Even more so when they finally find out the baby's gender. So without telling anyone about some oracle's prophecy, he kept it quiet while planning a way to get rid of the baby once it's born. The entire household was overjoyed that the Duchess was expecting another child again when it had been awhile since her last pregnancy. She thought she wouldn't get pregnant anymore after trying for so many times and now her prayers had been answered.
Due to the Nightray Dukedom's already ruined reputation, the Duke had no choice but to hide what he learned from his family because he knew everyone would call him crazy. If society found out about such a monstrous child being born it would be chaotic yet at the same time he can't help but be interested in the power she possess. He even felt that her powers were his salvation. As the months went by, Bernice grew big quite fast and just before the nine months was up she went into long hours of painful labour. She described it as though her soul was being pulled out from her body. It was a difficult birth and the doctors concluded it was because the child was of premature birth, but of course, Bernard knew it wasn't the case. Not that he would tell anyone about it. The birth caused his wife to be ill, fatigued and unconscious for almost two months so she had to stay in bed for a long time. Bernard on the other hand was thinking of what to do with the baby sleeping soundly in the cradle next to her mother each night. When she was born, only two maids and Francis were present to clean her up and bathe her so not everyone was present during the birth. Not even their family members had seen her yet as Bernard made sure to send them off for a vacation.
During the two months that his wife was unconscious, Bernard often had a nightmare every time he closed his eyes; a woman's voice telling him he was going to die. He became superstitious and paranoid after a fortnight of nightmares, he wrapped his newborn daughter in a blanket and left in the dead of the night so as to get rid of her while no one was around to witness it. He rode a horse to a forest outside the city and arrived at a lake where he decided to drown her but just seconds away from committing a tedious crime, she smiled at him. Her smile made the father in him feel his heart break and he couldn't bear it so instead he returned home.
The fear was still strong in him so Bernard decided to keep her hidden from not just the world but his family too so he used an old building that was rarely used for anything but storage and kept her there where she could do no harm to anyone. He only spoke to the two maids who were present during the labour to keep feeding her but never speak of her existence to anyone. He made sure to try and keep it a secret from Francis as well though he was sure that his Head Butler would be able to find out one way or another.
When Bernice Nightray finally awoken after a long and tiring slumber, Bernard told her that their newborn child did not make it and that she died only a few days after she was born. This piece of information caused her to become broken that she did not recover from it at all even when Elliot was born years later. Although Bernard was not proud of what he did, in an attempt to keep the prophecy from continuing, he locked up his own flesh and blood just to save himself and his family's reputation.