Chapter 61

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝖂𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

When the soft water is embedded in the sweetness of honey and flows in a circular way, enough to reflect the people's souls, my lips find their curves.

My hands touched even the most fragile glass within the empire, where the grip I couldn't undo, and yet, the hardness mattered, it remained intact.

While the bypassing melodies descended on my ears, the scent of nostalgic aroma embedded the surrounding illuminating these blinding misty rainbow hues with the overlapping golden color, and soft but penetrating sounds from everyone's chuckles.

As my feet found their way to my own table, my eyes began to narrow and find the person I thought wouldn't show up until I passed the hallways.

A wave of pleasure swirled around this crowded hall, where everything was overwhelmed by the color of the sun. Sweet nothings, whispers of untrue words, and dances of these people's bodies got swayed by the burning ashes of the wind.

Every move they make corresponds to the cover from their upper face, darkness that they couldn't show, not when all of these people were captivated by the said abyss from their real identities.

Like the wind, with a blink of an eye, my body leaned on a hard wooden seat, and all I could see from my right side was the person who had the finest brown hair within the empire, the one with the chocolate brown eyes that defined quietness in the commonality.

"So, this is what it looks like," I heard him caress the winds with his words. His hands started to move and covered mine from the table, enveloping me with such warmth.

"Now you know..." I said and with a little twist of my head, I found the edges of my eyes mimicking the way my lips curled.

"No wonder, you seemed like the type to know these kinds of events, Lady. Have you been in here before?" The depth of his voice sounded like a calm water trying to come out of its natural case.

And I got the game he wanted me to play since everything in this place, must never be known, and no one must know anyone's identity, to keep the nightlife of the nobles' theme as dark.

"Oh, how nice of you, young man," my hands that were previously engulfed in his warmth hit his hard chest like a plank of wood, and instead, my hands got pained from doing so.

It must have been present in my expression because the moment I did so, a bust of unexpected sound came coming out from his mouth.

"You're a very hilarious lady, I suppose," he continued with his act and I did the same until the guests of the hall became even more crowded, and instead of talking to someone and looking for some allies, sounds of some whispers came rushing to my ears.

Then in a sudden blink of an eye, everyone gathered on the sides as if someone of the high status was meant to walk in the middle.

As I was informed, and have known from the past, nobles even the imperial family, if they would participate in such events, wouldn't they be able to conceal their true identity?

This night was meant for the people who wanted to enjoy their life, as long as it was exclusively for nobles.

Us who were from the table began to come to the sides of the center of the hall, and then as if a shining light appeared, a young man who wore a simple white coat, and a huge vest with no strings appeared.

He had white hair and very pale skin that no one could compare. His soul searched around, and it was in a violet hue, a very rare eye color that should live within the empire.

But for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off that person. I don't know if that individual was a man or a woman because I felt like the said person seemed to be both beautiful and handsome, and I couldn't help but fold my eyebrows.

Everyone bent to bow their head with utter respect as their hands came to the middle of their chest. I turned to gaze at where Lexus was, and he was right beside me.

He reflected my reflection and before I knew it, I already felt some warmth breathes cascading through my face and it came from him as he held my hands and put it on my chest.

"I guess, we should abide by the unwritten law, Lady," he said and with curled-up lips, he just winked and turned to look at the person walking in the middle

"Good to see the high priest of the temple"

"Good evening High Priest Vernon"

"It's such a pleasure for a high priest of high caliber to finally be able to attend the noble society's celebration once a month..."

Like an invisible string twisting its way to my neck, the words I wanted to say got caught up within, my eyes started to widen and yet no one noticed how I looked, because everyone's attention was on the person who had been plastering an angel's face and smile.

Everyone seemed to be mesmerized by his captivating beauty and he had been handsome, like in the past, as the imperial family would always support the temple considering that the high priest would always give his miraculous blessings to every imperial member.

That had already been proven and descended to the newer generations.

Yet, I would never expect that the high priest would come within the dark night of the noble society, not when all of the theme for tonight was pleasure.

Were there any dealings behind the curtains? I wanted to ask Lexus but given our current situation, I could barely hold my breath as my gaze continued to look at the same man.

In my past, High Priest Vernon was known to be the kindest being within the empire, he had established a lot of foundations and with the help of the imperial family, they seemed to be unstoppable.

However, one day, the high priest disappeared. No one knows why, and before my household fell to ruins, the high priest of the temple had already been replaced.

As if everything had been planned for a sole purpose that no one knew just by relying on the naked eye. That's when I couldn't help but feel something was off, now that I remembered everything from the past, and the high priest's fate.

But if everyone seemed to respect him, why did he suddenly disappear?

"You may all continue what you've been doing from earlier," his voice just like his appearance sounded like an angel's tone. As if every breath he exudes from those crimson and yet golden lips he had, was the sun's rays.

Everything about him almost blinded me for a moment, if it weren't for Lexus' hands trying to cover my eyes.

"Lady, I presume that you're mesmerized by him but I prefer if you only looked at me," is he playing or not when I turned to look at him, it seemed that his eyes weren't looking elsewhere than my own soul.

I shook my head and sighed.

"Well, young man, you just earned yourself a partner for tonight..." as the high priest left, and everyone went back to normal, some figures within the darkness of that veil where the said angel went never escaped my mouth.

"I think that I should prefer a darker wine color than this, don't you think, Sir?" I said and by that alone, I saw Lexus nodding with tight lips.

I stood from where I was and immediately went to where the High priest was headed, later I knew that a figure I was familiar with, followed my silhouette and never left it until I saw some figures enter a wooden door.

The people who had these grayish suits followed after the high priest entered and when I tried to lean in further to see what the inside of that room was, a hand immediately came engulfing me with the warmth but it felt different this time.

Is Lexus' hand always this cold? I shook my head knowing that he might have some errands to attend to earlier that's why it became cold and I let him take me to where he knew was safe and right now, we were already in this green grass.

I could see the huge tree in front of us, and some arcs of roses, even if the sky had been veiled with this dark cloak, I could still open my mouth and express such enthusiasm when I found that tonight, it was full of jewelry.

"Sir, I----" but then, when I turned my gaze to where Lexus was, my eyes widened. The man who held my hand earlier didn't have this chocolate brown hair, and eyes, but he had this luxurious crimson hair and golden eyes that were only reserved for the person I knew well.

Unless this person changed his appearance which is more likely that would happen since no one wanted to reveal their identity in here, that's the rule.

"W-Who are y-you----"

Before I could finish my words, I heard these familiar echoes of soft laughter from the young man, and that was the moment when I knew he wasn't disguising himself.

The only nostalgia of the past when I would only hear those sounds from afar even if it wasn't directed at me, I endured everything until the day that endurance turned to betray me.

"It seemed that you're also the one that I thought of. So for now, I wanted us to greet each other with our names at this event. I'm Vrail, my pleasure to meet you," his voice sounded like a soft caress of summer's breezes.

As he extended his hands in front of me, and the light of the silver orb surrounding us, our figures got caressed by this penetrating wind. My soul that landed on his mirror went to his open palm and I opened my mouth but there were no words to even say.

In a blink of an eye, he had already taken mine and brought it to his crimson lips.

And his other hand got to curl the end of my golden locks.

I closed my eyes and pretended that we both don't know each other. As I put this sinister smile on my face, my eyes mimic afterward.

"Then it's a pleasure to meet you Sir Vrail, I'm Lady Festin, by the way..." Since there's already no turning back

***

"If you were her, then why didn't you tell me? Am I even your fiancé, Vestia? If not, then what am I to you?"