Chapter 59

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕲𝖔𝖑𝖉 𝕽𝖚𝖘𝖍 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

The man's voice hit the four corners of the room that held us, his eyes that once had descended on mine, took a few more seconds to finally return to his first guest.

When his long and thin arms reached through Lexus' confused eyes only to tuck some of the strands of hair into his ears, his lips formed into a sinister curl.

His eyes that was once like sand, shone with lights of mystic hues appearing, and his head was held by the only young man in front of him. When my sight gazed at where Lexus was, I could see how his penetrating eyes narrowed.

His steady mouth which would always be the same, has shown a wide gap and yet, only sounds of breathes exchanges were heard.

No other sounds except when the man moved toward Lexus almost closing the gap between their bodies.

"Such a magnificent shield, I couldn't even see your real soul!" his words exclaimed like he was floating in the smoky skies.

His long hands wavered to cradle Lexus' frail cheeks and began to twirl around holding some invisible strings from the air. His long and slender body twisted, accompanied by his elongated legs twerking through the cold air.

Even when we were in this mystical room full of different lights, I could still feel how the passing wind gave rise to my calmly looking skin.

I saw in my peripheral vision how Lexus turned to face me and mouthed me some words, but because of the lights, I could barely know what he meant by what his mouth acted.

I could only shake my head with a corresponding sigh as I put both of my shoulders high up in the air.

"All right, I guess, I can make the bargain a little bit lighter for you," the man's voice became deep like a water's sound flowing through the deepest part of an ocean.

His lips remained one with the devil, and when his long slender finger descended on Lexus' nose, I could see how his body moved without his feet moving. As if Lexus was being pushed by an unknown person.

My eyes got heavier, and I blinked a few times before finally putting both of my hands to my cheeks creating a resounding noise of someone hitting, and yet when I tried to do it the second time, I felt something warmth gripping my hands.

When the darkness within my mind got enveloped with penetrating flushes of golden mist, I could see a person, who had a different figure than anyone, he had silver hair and eyes, and he had been clothes like a person who had been in ancient times.

"Vestia, don't ever hit yourself again..." his voice sounded like a fresh morning in a summer field, where I was in the middle of the meadow. It was like the last drop of rain from a sunflower, a colliding cold and warmth gust through my body and yet, my eyes widened.

My hands which were flatly resting on both of my cheeks began to shake from his mesmerizing grip overwhelming my body with warmth.

"Who are y---" Before my mouth could finish the words, I set my mind to ask, with a snap of a finger echoing within the room, my head immediately turned to the source, and it was a devilish man with his sinister smile.

He readjusted his single lens with his other hand still resting in front of him as if holding what I called earlier, an invisible string.

"It seemed that you were also mesmerized, Milady"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" as if his voice couldn't get any more wavered, his chuckles sounded like a devil's laughter, and later became deafening like a thunderous cloud.

"Are you that oblivious, Milady? Of course, I meant that your shadow assassin is a bit mysterious, won't you say?"

"What?"

I could only see him shake his head then expensive sounds of feet continued to move forward.

One, two three...

Then silence became a mighty scream.

The man that was holding me earlier disappeared, as if he had faded when I turned my sight on this man whom Lexus knew was the owner of this shop.

My eyes that was vast earlier got tainted by how they focused on the man right in front of me. His hands which were previously set above the air, descended to my shoulders and I felt as if a terrifying flash of lightning came erupting through my soul.

As if his hold nearly destroyed my soul, and paralyzed my body, and yet I felt still as a whole.

"You may never know what you're dealing with when you're late to realize the thing that you've been searching for was already right in front of you, my dearest guest..."

"A man like you is indeed truly hard to understand What are you even saying?"

"Perhaps, it's you to know and for me to find out..." With the simplest words he could utter in his vast and devilish mouth, I could feel the heaviness from my shoulders lifted.

That's when I knew that the distance he kept on holding to cage me, loosened and he was already back in his previous position.

In the blink of an eye, my feet moved backwards as if a mighty wind went in front of me and as I was trying to cover myself from being thrown away, my back landed on a sturdy object.

I thought it was a wall, and yet, why does a wall have a familiar scent of nature? Why would a wall have this familiar feeling of warmth?

Then it descended on me, when my head turned to look behind me, I found Lexus breathing hard as if he had run a few laps and competed in a marathon.

"Why do you seem as if you're out of breath?" I asked with my hands touching his cheeks.

He let me have my way of touching his frail yet soft skin. I saw how he closed his eyes and covered my hand with his warmth.

"I thought he'd do something to you, and I couldn't let that happen, not when you're so near my grasp and yet he got a hold of you first"

"Wait, Lexus, what are you talking about? Are you talking about that man?" my pointing finger found its way to where the owner of the shop was, and I found him eating a cake on this white table that seemed to camouflage the room.

"Yes, Vestia and to be careful, stay away from him. I get this impression that he might never seem to be one of the people of this empire..."

That got me.

I opened my mouth, but my throat felt dry. I wanted to ask more questions because I suddenly became curious about him but the words that the man asked earlier seemed to remind me of Lexus' answer since he stayed silent afterward.

"Lexus, what did you do to have a bargain with this man?" For the first time, I've seen Lexus' sight to avoid me.

I held both of his soft cheeks like I did before, and yet, his eyes seemed to be darting on the ground.

"Lexus..." I spoke his name and his eyes already looked into mine but his mouth stayed the same.

"I would not want to repeat myself again and just say even if I would never expect----"

"Vestia, did you know about the black horn?" Lexus suddenly asked and my eyes looked into my reflection from his soul and yet, his eyes never changed.

As if they were caging me within his grip that I could barely utter away.

"Black horn?"

I see him exude this magnificent air from his lips but when his forehead landed on mine, his nose touched mine first before closing his eyes.

Ironically, I felt his warm breath cascading its way through my face and around my cheeks.

"Yes, the black horn, the one who was said by the legend, a mystical being, who had been wearing a disguise, where no one could ever know his appearance, and yet he's the mighty warrior of the late Asserian princess..."

"How did you know all of this----"

"That man, told me everything and do you really want to know the end of the bargain he just told me?"

"Yes..." I said without batting an eye.

"In exchange for finding the black horn, this man will...."

***

Lexus' hands were full of the brown bags that we had purchased from the Greenery shop. I never thought that aside from making a bargain with Lexus, Hellier wasn't even willing to give the medicines for free.

But that does make sense when we all know what he would be able to do a week from now on.

"Lexus, don't you think you're already acting beyond my authority?" I said those words with a corresponding chuckle and yet Lexus halted which made me do the same.

I heard him sigh and turned to look at me.

"You know, it might never seem like you don't want it, but I never want you to have a hard time doing things on your own. This is all I asked for Vestia, so please let me share that burden that you have"

"You know what Lexus? You're too unpredictable but caring and I love that about you..." I also can't wait for my friends to me him. I knew they would immediately like a person as trustworthy and caring as him.

"So we should head to that place now and we're ready to go----"

Lexus wasn't able to turn his head right on time because he was walking ahead of me. Though when he sensed that something wasn't right, his hand moved to catch mine and yet, my back already landed on a very familiar figure.

My sight was near his golden eyes and with a few blinks of my own, I could see how the young man's eyes widened.

What is Caliere doing in here?

"Your Highness, are you all right?"

"Capture that preposterous lady!"

"How dare she bumped to his highness?"

My ears became vague, and I couldn't even know what to hear anymore. Just when the warmth cascaded to both of them, I felt the vagueness of the surrounding's noise turned to a deafening silence and Lexus' voice was the only one whom I could hear.

"Just don't mind them. Close your eyes and unhear those words. For now, just only focus on me..." then just like that the abyss got a hold of my existence once more.

***

"Who are you? You seemed familiar and reachable but you're a midnight sky so distant far away from where I was... Please tell me, that you're her. Your eyes reminded me of the person I couldn't help but think a lot about lately..."