Crying was an emotion that brings out my vulnerabilities to others–that is what I usually believed. It felt ironic to keep saying it to myself, but I tend to not cry even after failing. Sometimes–if pain overwhelms me–I do.
"I don't feel like it." I answered back while leaning against his shoulder, because I was simply tired. His hand came to rest on my head, and he seemed to be cooling my head down. At this point, I was certain he had unlocked a skill that allowed him to calm the nervous system down. Too many times had his fingertips been glowing.
"Well emotions are something that is better not to hide. If you want to cry for the empress because you failed to protect her, you know that is an acceptable reasoning too." He spoke after a short while.
"It is not that I am worried for her..."
"..."
"She poisoned me, tried to bribe me into saying 'I love you mother' after having beaten me up to coma." I answered for his silence. "It would be so ironic if I chose to grieve for that sort of a toxic person. I almost died because to her so many times. And she wanted me to love her as a mother. Ha! Why would I ever cry for her?"
He stayed silent much longer, but his hands tightened around me. While I wasn't aware, he buried his face in my head.
"The only person I would grieve for is either Henry or Lewis..." I spoke without being asked any questions.
"Your brothers?"
"You know the answer... I think I would grieve the least for Lewis. Given how he tried to kill me twice in the beginning. However... Henry has no fault. He is a kid. And he was the most supportive sibling out of everyone else in the palace.
"The servants were not a huge problem, but the only loyal maid that I had, was killed because she was close to me. She was killed in front of me due to my own presence... I would never grieve for that woman in any of my lives. She snatched my only friend in the entire palace." I narrowed my eyes down due to the sleepiness settling onto my eyes without my command.
"You know? I wonder why that woman is so twisted. Sometimes she shows a nice part of herself and other times she wants to take me out of this world." I lifted my head to look at his face.
He pulled his face off my head in some sort of shock. "It was very odd for me to listen about it too."
My gaze dropped back down because just tilting my head backwards was causing me neck pain. I was actually currently suffering a bit of high blood pressure, so my veins were practically groaning. Because of the pain, I couldn't shift my position too. I was stuck between his arms like a little kid.
But it was comforting after some long time of being under stress and pain from the battle and just having heard about the apocalypse and the situation at the capital.
"How is it so that I am only sleepy when your hand is on my head?" I asked while a little confused. I knew that some healing skills had an easy sleeping treatment, but I wasn't certain that he had actually manifested it just yet.
My suspicions were clear when he started to grow more nervous. So he was using this sleeping technique on me since that first time that I had met him again at the forest.
"You are pretty smart for yourself." I smirked at him while closing my eyes due to my overwhelming tiredness. "However... You were right about how I wanted to cry for a few minutes at least."
***
It was later at midnight or sometime after, when Cindy had come back to inform me the news of Lewis asking a few guards to search the area around the statue for evidence. And that was also when I had let Helio know about my departure and then left. He seemed to be upset that he couldn't really accompany me, but I told him that since Nada was at Countess Elanor's house, he had a proper reason to come over and visit the capital if things sorted out properly.
He agreed to meet me again later on. But before I left, I had remembered to ask a single question to him.
"So is there any known cure for this apocalypse that you would like me to search for while I am investigating the capital?" I asked while fastening my Imperial cloak over my shoulder. Every guards and family members had the same design, so I knew I could hide myself well while disguising as a guard. I had remembered to repair my appearance.
Added to it, my fever and headache had also gone away and I could easily say I was back to being healthy. At my collar, the red brooch stayed stuck to the fabric like I had hoped it would have. Then, I checked my bandaged left hand and where Spectrum was at my side. That question was my last enquiry left.
"Well if you want to look for them, then you could try searching for a certain type of maple leave that has magical properties that helps with purifying the entire body. Although, you can only find them on a beast body. They are pretty strong and if you ever find them, try to keep some distance. You would know the rest if you just observe from a distance."
I looked at him with furrowed eyebrows after leaving my gaze from Spectrum's handle. "Are you sure I will keep that in mind? I am a risk-taker without knowing the risk."
"Alright fine." He folded his arms while smiling. "It is a bit venomous, so it would be safe if you carried cobra venom along with you to the dungeon. It has a fear for cobras–they think them as predators. So if you just carry the scent, it would be of great use to you... Better than having a sword.
"But if you ever come across it, and want to collect the maple leaves, you shouldn't pluck it off suddenly. Try to kill it first. Even one displaced leave can wake it up and make it aggressive." He answered without a break in sentence.
"I see." I replied while locking all those information into my mind. "Well thank you for your help until now."
I stepped forward and hugged him one last time before leaving for the window. "I will contact you as soon as I can collect a sample of the leaves. Should I bring you a blood sample too?" I smiled while asking.
"Uhh... Well... Sure." He replied while stuffing his hands into his pockets nervously. "But be careful to make sure it is dead." He added right before I waved at him and jumped out.
That was all that I had done before I left the room. And right now, I was standing at the edge of the forest and slowly joining into the group of guards. I had made sure to change the silver parts of my hair a deep wine red. And my crimson eyes were hidden beneath the shadow of my hood. The team was... Small, yet huge.
***
Lewis came to stood at the place where the statue was seen broken in shards, and no one had been seen around it as if lately. The villagers were shocked too upon seeing it. Rage took over his mind as he searched back and forth to search for any proves. His deadpan expression dropping onto his face as soon as he came into view in front of his guards.
Seeing this, Aefia truly thought it was not just a coincidence he is as twisted as his mother.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to help me search for proofs?! Don't just stand there and look at me with such ugly faces!" He spoke harshly to them, his resolve had broken completely ever since his little sister decided to take her own life.
No one moved for sometime, until one rose their hand to ask a question. He looked at the hooded person all the way in the back.
"But then, why do you want to look for prove of who destroyed it? It's not like finding the destroyer would bring your sister back." Being all the way in the crowd, Lewis had no choice but to answer and let it pass for the time being. The question rang with a sense of familiarity inside his mind.
"Because this proves enough that she had enemies before she died. And that person hated her so much so as to destroy such a piece that she had died upon. I want to know if they killer her." He answered while turning away.
Well you are some sort of a brother. Aefia thought to herself. A little bit too overprotective and possessive. I am already dead in your eyes–just not in your mind.
"Now, no more questions and more searching." He spoke softly while staring at the hands that stayed intact and out-stretched. He brushed his fingers against the cool marble with a softer expression. But then, a sudden presence seemed to have alerted him to turn back around almost instantly.
Huh? He held an unwillingly shocked and weakened face, while seeming to have regretted something. By then, all the guards had gone away. "Nevermind... I have grown too used to having her around... That I can't quite get rid of the feeling that she is still alive." He spoke to himself in a soft voice.
I will just go and visit her grave then.
With that, he turned away and walked himself towards the cemetry. It felt like a heavy task. "Why does it have to be that her body was buried in a place this far away?"
But then, by the time he had reached the front of the grave, he found himself staring with a shocked face at the the uprooted grave and the way there was only scattered soil left. He wanted to confront the guards if he could, but then, he had trespassed without a proper reason to give and found himself in an angry situation. He wanted to scream and search out the person who had dug out his sister's body if that was a possibility.
"..."
Silence flowed as he kept staring and clenching his fist at his sides, until his knuckles had gone white and threatened to leave a trace of scars.
"Aefia?"
He spoke out involuntarily as his widened eyes searched the surroundings, until he dropped his knees and found his hands covering his face. He silently screamed into his mind.
***
Rustle... Crunch.
"Ugh! This place is just... Crapped up." A guard spoke loud and clear into the air while folding his arms. And then, he pulled out a small vile of a poison that he had wrapped with a clean cloth. Noticing that he was truly alone, he pulled out his dagger while staring at the silver and sharp blade.
"Haha! Now this is about to be fun!" He carelessly laughed into the air as he poured the poison onto the cloth, and then threw the vile away. Using the same soaked cloth, he wiped the blade back and forth, every corners precisely.
"The current crown prince really is dumb! Let's see how his family will react to knowing how he has been sent away this time!"
Rustle...
"What the–?"
A pretty red flower fell to the ground from above. It was rare to see that a red flower which looked to be in full bloom, had fallen to the ground at an hour as the midnight. Upon closer look, to was a blood covered edelweiss, that made him look up instinctively.
Only then did he realize... He wasn't truly alone. He swallowed hard, clenching the dagger at his hand, in case the guard wanted to make a run and snitch.
"Hey you! If you spill the truth, you won't have a chance to live! I am warning you!" He shouted at the figure who stayed sitted atop a branch.
"So which empire are you from?" A feminine voice came from the hooded face. It sounded young, ruthless, reckless, and extremely smart. Maybe it had also been a voice that had been logged into his memory cleanly.
Crunch... Rustle.
Finally, the figure dropped down while landing lightly onto the dried leaves on the ground. She pulled down the hood at her face, which made the guard gasp.
"You too thought I was dead?" Aefia asked while reaching her hand towards the hilt of Spectrum.
"Your Imperial Highness?!"
"Surprise... I heard there was going to be a planned assassination on Lewis, so I decided to show myself. Why? Pretty amazed that I survived that fall? Don't worry, I was shocked too."
"But you were graved!"
"Yes. And I reawakened as the Guardian of Death. Anything else? If you survive, go tell your emperor that the villain to his story has returned even more powerful." She answered while unsheathing the sword at her side and first thing she did, was chopping down his hand with the dagger.
She had taken back her original features, to make herself more recognizable. Soulless black eyes and black hair that had silver edges. With the features returned, she looked more alive then dead.
She wanted to be sarcastic about it–saying it she was a psycho to scare him. However, when the guard just wanted to runaway. She stuck Spectrum into his back and watched it come out slick with blood on the other side.
"You have five seconds... Tell me more about who is after the Imperial family of Smod." She whispered to him as she pulled out the blade and stepped on his fallen body on the ground. "Don't waste my time."
"Mides family! The Mides family!"
"Who in specific and what do they want?" She stopped her blade mid-air, her face turning more serious with the passing seconds.
"I can't say about that! I really don't know!" The guard shouted for his life.
"Then you are not useful anymore."
Shing! Splatter!
Spectrum stayed stuck out of his head, as she stepped back from the body to wipe off the crimson liquid from her face.
"Worthless. Should have cleansed properly before I left."