Chapter 36

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕰𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖈 𝕿𝖔𝖚𝖈𝖍 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

After that event happened, my friends would hang out most of the time at my house and even go to the imperial household, at a time whenever I had a lesson. Mostly, Claudius would be by my side even when I was in my room reading a book.

And today, I felt like I suffocated and had enough.

"Claudius, will you please---"

"No, Vestia, this is for your own good"

"It's not like I will run away by the things you've been doing"

"And who's fault is that from that night? Besides, it's also uncommon but rumors started circulating the empire about your sudden disappearance one night and reappearing in your room..." I could see how worried he was but when he said about the rumors, his eyes went fiery.

As if it couldn't get even more heated up in my room. I shook my head and sighed.

I knew my place this time and I would not act rush out of it, but that night, when I saw that book, I felt like it was calling me and my body seemed to move on its own, and that was weird.

What's even weirder was Crane's words that day when I tried to touch his book. He said corrupted and what does that mean? I don't know. Shaking my head, I looked at Claudius who was still standing and talking.

So I flip some of the pages I've been reading only to have an idea.

Besides, the moment that I went missing, Claudius told the Duke and Duchess about Henry and how we found him in a dreadful situation in his household. They hesitated for a moment before finally agreeing to his proposal which was mine and Henry's idea first.

Since my friends also knew about Henry, they tried their best to keep quiet.

I walked to where my drawer was and found the book of the Vellitas household. Claudius stopped talking as he went to look at the book and sat beside my bed.

I leaned to his shoulder as I opened it but before flipping to the next pages because the first one was blank, I gazed at Claudius not removing my head being attached to his shoulders.

"Claudius, why don't you talk to me about my disappearance that night?" I asked.

I saw him sigh but that's all before returning my gaze with a smile.

"As long as my dearest lady came back fine, I don't mind talking about that event that might have triggered some bad experiences for you," with the sweetest voice that he could ever muster I gently hit his chest pretending to be angry but I'm indeed flustered by his words

"You know you've been the best, best friend I could ever have"

"Bestest that Henry?"

"Well, equal on both sides I guess you have the highest point in being this sweet..." I chuckled but he only remained silent for a second before chuckling ahead.

And Claudius being Claudius is just enough for me...

As I flipped some of the pages in the book, my gaze became fixed the moment that there was mention of a tradition.

"Claudius, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"My eyes could never get any clearer, Vestia"

"This was the reason why Henry couldn't leave the Vellitas even if he wanted to"

"Perhaps, it was only one of his many reasons but it may serve as the main dish..."

As I looked at the page closer, I could see a portion of a blood and cup from the seal. Then people kneeling with praying hands while a person bloodied on the top of the table touched his heart.

Vellitas Tradition:

One must obey the scriptures written.

One must never have any emotions

One must make this tradition at every end of the month

The head of the family must draw blood from a golden cup with a servant's sacrifice.

For the curse to be lifted, give birth to a person with raven hair and ocean-blue eyes.

Whoever gave birth to a different being other than described should be killed at birth.

Then the following illustrations were horrible and I have to close to the book and almost vomit if it weren't for Claudius patting my back.

"It's getting late, you should sleep now, Vestia"

"Then should you head back to the knight quarters this time, Claudius?"

"No," I could see the sadness on his face when he said that word followed by a shaking head. I gulped and looked at the closed book.

"Claudius, no matter how we learn more about the Vellitas household, you should keep it a secret from Henry and anyone, okay?"

I saw Claudius nod and I did the same thing. The only difference this time was I hugged him before going to bed.

"Good night, Claudius"

"Good night, Vrstia..." I could hear the faint voice that he spoke of until I drifted to sleep.

Never did I think that, by the next morning, Verfeil would send me a letter from his household. This time, it was the second prince who took the initiative to send me.

Besides, when I looked at that time, he wasn't around when I woke up. Did he catch some illness? Being curious I agreed with the letter but not as usual as I did before, Claudius came with me in the imperial household.

"I apologize I couldn't come up to see you wake up, Vestia," he said while hugging me. I could smell the familiar but faint woodland scent and it got me thinking about the coincidence again.

"It's fine, Verfeil, everything is fine so there's no need to worry about it, okay?" I patted his back with a smile and we talked a lot of things. Claudius being a knight as he was, brought a sword and wore a uniform from our duchy.

But because Verfeil treated him as a friend, Claudius couldn't help but sit between us in the garden and talk about many things he had experienced as a knight. We drank some lemon green tea and ate some pastries that I liked.

In the end, Verfeil was accommodating and even said that he would send another invitation if it weren't for the imperial household' preparation for my engagement with Caliere.

Just as I was about to take turns from the hallways, my ankle twisted and I closed my eyes thinking that it was too late to save myself as I would only wince in pain when my butt kiss the ground I waited and waited yet it never did.

The funny thing was, I didn't even realize that someone caught me and enveloped me with this invisible warmth that I'm only feeling now after opening my eyes.

"Just as I thought Vestia, if you would disappear that night, you would trip and stumble to the floor," Claudius got a hold of me and he immediately fixed my stand.

I tried to act cool as if it was nothing to me but our faces were so close to each other that my nose touched his if it weren't for him being factual in this situation, I would have fainted.

He had these dreamy crimson eyes that I wish I had when I was younger, and his hair shone like a faded blue sky with purple glitter.

Everything at that moment stopped until now that he was kneeling only for me to realize that he had already removed my sandals and saw the redness of my ankles.

"If you keep on wearing these heels, then it would be possible that you would only hurt yourself more, Vestia. So I guess as your knight, I need to take you home like this..." he said and before I knew what he was up to, he had already carried me in his arms.

"Claudius... we could be seen like this and rumors will spread again----"

"Don't worry Vestia, no one will spread some rumors from this since this is the imperial household. Besides, a knight must only care for his lady, right?" I was taken aback by the softness in his voice and the sincerity he held with them only to feel that my face felt hot.

I hugged his from his neck without responding but I knew that I couldn't look straight on anything other than the ground. However, something told me to look in the imperial palace and I saw from one of the rooms there that Caliere was looking at us and his gazes were like in the past.

It felt cold, chilling, and dangerous to the point that I unconsciously tightened my hug to Claudius' neck, and in return, I only heard him chuckle

"Don't worry, Vestia we're almost going back home..."

"I hope so, Claudius..." because the look of the crown prince is like the look of a predator to his prey and it's never safe to stay in a place like that for a long time.

***

"So you have finally decided to temporarily adopt Henry, right Father and Mother?" I asked

And they both nodded. Within Father's office in our household, my Mother, and Henry were within. Henry sat beside me while across from us were my parents.

"But be reminded Henry, this was only temporary so the course you have to take for now is----"

"Medicine, Duke, and I got that. Don't worry, besides, didn't you say that Vestia would have a double degree? Being a lady knight and a doctor, is that it?"

"Yes, besides, I have some important words to talk to you alone later, is that alright, Henry?"