Chapter 45

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕾𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖘 𝕱𝖑𝖞 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

When all I could think were his words, great fearlessness enveloped my being enough to wake my gravest doubts to rise once, but by that time, this would fall to the depth of my treasured box.

Cascading through the forbidden landscapes made my spine shiver as if dealing with the uncertainty that I hadn't planned out. The sinister eyes that told me certain care, the devious lips that foreshadow deadly poison.

With flames within my throat burning the words I should have asked to ashes when his sinful and yet sincerest eyes cascaded to my soul, made me fall to the reverie of yesterday's fair weather.

"Why?" with one gulp to clench the fire and turn it into an alluring water, calm but never provoked, I asked.

I heard familiar sweet laughter reverberating within the place, but even the shadows of the glass-stained flames never left the eternity of dancing as if it was teasing me enough to know more about this person who became my friend in the shortest span of time.

"Claudius, why..."

"Vestia," he paused, the once soft voice became like a sword, deep and unnerving. The once warm and soft hands yet full of blisters and scars made their way covering the parts of what should have been placed like a coat to my shoulders.

Everything, right now, felt vague like an action in a misplaced time, like an emotion in a ruined past.

But the moment soft air escaped his lips, I could see how his expression reverted to his old self.

In a split second, everything around me spun and my eyes landed on the same person who was like yesterday's kind. The softest lips he could curl up, with eyes that spoke of peace, and laughter that was carried by the cold air.

Everything about this person speaks elegance in the form of darkness, a vagueness of one's traits, or a mixture of it all, and the unfamiliarity of the situation caused my chest to a nonstop beating carrying thousands of tons per second.

"That person you saw earlier, was the type of person I shouldn't have let you see. But because we wouldn't be able to meet for years, I just want to let you show the different side of me, the dangerous side, where I couldn't be saved..."

"Everything about you is what made you become my friend Claudius and I have already accepted you from the very beginning but don't say that you couldn't be saved, Claudius, just don't---"

"I know, Vestia, that was a part of me that couldn't be saved in the past until you came to shed light through the darkness of my life. Now, that dangerous being living within my soul, could only be tamed by you..."

My mind weighed more than what my chest could handle, but because of the words, he said to me, the tons became feathers in a second of complete understanding.

"Then promise me that only I could tame that amazing soul within you, Claudius..." I said but my senses were immediately covered with his warmth.

"I promise, my only lady. I, Claudius of the Monsiore household, would only take my oath with the lady of my precious household, Lady Vestia Monsiore..."

Little did I know what would happen in the years ahead. Never did I once thought that the sunny weather would burn to crimson flames with the promise that we held up with each other.

***

"Lady Vestia!!!"

"Finally, after five minutes of waiting, she finally came!"

"Well, I never thought that me as a prince would come earlier than these two even from my precious friend who recommended that we go to the South Lake..."

I heard my friends, Celna, Cain and Verfeil's voices come in contact with me. I couldn't express enough gratitude that they came especially since sending Celna and Cain a letter when they didn't reply to mine made my heart stutter that night.

But now, everything came to a point where I was already grabbing Henry and Caludius' hands as they were on both of my sides.

But my gaze couldn't escape the way the scenery unfolded with the lips of my friends who looked like angel's. As if in that briefest moment, they were made out of angel dust. The shining Lake behind them corresponds to the sun's setting.

The endless rippling sounds, while the birds continued to flock above the sky, swayed my friends' hair like time's moving an eternity in that given second.

The look in their eyes, their gestures and the way the corners of their lips curled made my heart flutter when my eyes suddenly shifted to the two young men I'd brought with me, they were looking not at our friends but at the same time, their faces reflected like my mirror.

I caught my breath and raised my eyebrows but because some things weren't just expected, I ended up stumbling on the ground with my friends' laughter while Cain held my head and Celna hugged me.

Henry and Claudius, on the other hand, couldn't stop bickering as usual and it all started because Claudius let go of me when Cain pulled me while Henry held Claudius' hand thinking I was Vestia.

I get their points since their words could ring around, but I'm thankful that today, the South Lake doesn't have many people coming, was it because the imperial academy would officially start by the coming days that people would be busy of they just don't have time at all?

Shaking my head, an echoing soft laughter came out of my mouth and before I knew it, my friends came following while I heard Henry sigh and Claudius doing the same thing looking at us with both of their hands on their waists.

Sometimes, I wanted to stay the way things are now, where I don't have to find out the culprit to my family's ruins, where I wanted to avoid the crown prince and only treat him as my friend, and live happily like this moment.

But I knew that life was never easy. One second, I would be happy, fine, and fortunate to have these amazing people beside me but after that second, I wouldn't be able to predict anymore because living means conquering the reality in everyday life.

Who knows that things will change this time, but no one can guarantee that happiness will stay like that forever, there will always be people who will try to dim one's light, no matter if that is because of greed, power, or anything else they consider, that's why there's no permanent thing to stay in this world.

Since I was already given the chance and this opportunity, I wouldn't let this go to waste. I would try to find who was plotting behind my family's demise and more so, I would try to understand why Caliere did those things to me in the past.

But I guess those can wait when this moment is as precious as a golden sun.

"Before everything could turn out to be chaotic like this, I should try to say what I found out earlier," Verfeil spoke and his voice sounded like he ran an entire oval for ten laps.

With soft chuckles escaping my lips, everyone except Verfeil managed to stand despite us crumpling on the ground.

"Here"

"Vestia, here"

"Lady Vestia you should grab my offered hand"

"No, Vestia will choose me"

Everyone said not paying any attention to Verfeil's words because now, I got their eyes on me with their hands offered but before I could stand on my own, someone from behind me made me stand firm and that is to say that it was Henry who would always do that.

When I turned to look at him, the edges of his figure reflected the shining golden mists of the sun's setting, even the way everyone said some words, while I heard someone bickering again, all my eyes could stay was from Henry's, and how the corners of his lips lifted.

"Then, and now, I guess I would say sorry in advance because it's always been a plan of mine to monopoly my precious friend..." After saying those words, my eyes widened when he carried me in his arms and ran away.

But who am I kidding when he's a knight and to top that, a senior knight who goes missing in the entire empire. Good thing my potion would last for six months before I got to send him some new again.

"There, we outrun them," he said running out of breath but he managed to make me lean on a tree beside the benches. When I looked beside me I could see how far we ran away but warmth invaded my cheeks when he made me look at him and only at him.

"Vestia, I knew I wasn't in the right position to ask this but as a friend, what did Claudius say to you earlier?" I could see how his eyes shivered while his eyebrows creased.

I couldn't point my own reflection in his soul and I just patted his shoulders yet the warmth from my cheeks stayed the same.

"He showed me the first room we met each other and he redecorated it," I paused when I heard him sigh but instead of finishing my words, he looked me in the eyes and leaned in closer enough for his forehead to land on mine.

"Remember this Vestia, when things get a little more dangerous, stay away from him"

"Why?"

"You don't know him that well"

"Of we do, he's our friend Henry how could you say something like that----"

"Then can you say who is the real him before we found him being abused by that old noble lady? What is his real name or what family he came from? If you can't then better heed my advice or else, you will be in grave danger, Vestia..."