Chapter 66

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕯𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

As the passing breeze's warmest shivers on my skin, with the illustrious cloak of the night embedded with the shining dust from the mystic silver orbs, and diamonds that seem near and yet playful from the edges of my fingers, the time and place couldn't be better.

His mighty silhouette caressed the edges of my shoulders, passing down the chilliest and yet enough to raise my temperature, caressing my back towards the end of the suit's hem.

"You've been here since earlier, you didn't seem that enthusiastic when the Lady of the night talked to you earlier," his voice that served like a platter in the icefield, whispers through the sweet nothings towards the dust of that second, but it still lingers within my ears, that penetrating knife of his softest tone.

"And you don't seem to enjoy the view so much as I did, right now, Lexus," I heard him exude the air from his body as the silhouette moved backward until I couldn't feel his figure anymore.

I shook my head and gazed back at the view in front, then gazed at the newly circular fragile glass that contained that crimsonness of my past.

"This might do you good since it was a night after all," I took that cold glass and placed it enough to my lips and felt the warmest trick it could ever do to my tastes.

"So, what do you think?" I asked.

I saw his face move from the front to my side but I never looked at him back, the grip that my hand held on the glass tightened and yet it remained strong for there were no rooms of shatters that could echo right now.

When the passing breezes swayed my hair again, my free hand went to grip the coat that Lexus managed to give me, but the leaves were inevitable to descend on my hair enough almost to mess up how Rita spent time fixing mine.

Seems like I've been more like Lexus lately as I couldn't help but let go of this breath that was previously causing me to be idle.

"What do I think of what?" His voice sounded wavy not the one that's been playful but more rather than the vision of having his eyebrows knitted and lips that would stay flat along the conversation.

My hand began to move the glass in a circular way looking at how some of the fluids within it turned to feel like the edges of the sword.

"And treating this as a silent game was never enough, to know what you truly mean Vestia," he added, and in the blink of an eye, I was already looking back at my reflection in his mirror, the one thing I couldn't get enough to look at when all I see was the background of the abyss once more.

Perhaps, this was who I was all along, and the moment that I gained the change of time with the friends I created, perhaps, that void creeping to claim like an abyss on my back was enough to fade away.

Yet again, when I kept looking at Lexus and his soul, I couldn't help but feel like I've been thrown back to the way things were before, to the way that I kept chasing this shadow of doom.

With my hands in their tight grip on the things that Lexus gave me, my eyes would only hold his stance for a second before my back already landed on the chair from the view of the balcony.

"So Vestia, would you rather tell me now?" I don't know why Lexus suddenly got this brave and this was a very different thing from him because the first time I met him, he seemed as if he couldn't touch my hands, but right now, he was already the one touching my face with his warmest and yet wood musk breathe.

I chuckled. For some odd reason, knowing that Lexus was like this and engrossed in my game where I knew he should just rest made me feel as if I'd gained the upper hand from him this time.

"You know, the men that Oratio had recommended to you, don't you think you needed to be their leader now?" I saw how his eyes narrowed but then they softened when I landed my hand on one of his cheeks.

The edges of his lips remained, and his eyes came to the hands that were giving him some warmth.

"Sooner I will make them obey me enough to meet you because right now, as you've mentioned, Oratio was the one who was in control of them, since he is their current master"

"Are you all right with them? Don't they seem bad to you?"

"Well, as you've known me, there's nothing like a wild magical beast I couldn't handle about, you know that Vestia. Even if one day I would meet your friends, you know what I would do," I simply patted his chest as some soft laughter came out from my mouth.

I don't know why my gaze landed on the glass but considering how this magical silver orb penetrated our figure above, it landed on two people talking with their body language.

One who's been dominant while the other was submissive bending to the will of the young man.

I gently put my hand on Lexus' chest and pushed him aside as he gladly accepted my actions. When he sighed and closed his eyes, he took a few steps backward until I could see how he clenched his hands and bit his lower lip as his eyes narrowed but descended on the large tree right in front of us.

From observing the young man, I could see how he managed to transform, from being a plain-looking young man from the market who had many siblings, to a young man who seemed that all the ladies would have these heart eyes from their eyes.

His brown hair was neatly combed and his suit was tailored by our household's tailor Mr. Brianne, he had these crimson thin lips majestic to look at every view, and skin that could attract anyone from the empire.

With his chocolaty brown eyes that would show a person's weakness in his actions, he seemed too calm to pay attention to things that don't matter to him but I do, now that I get to know him better than in the past where I never heard of him before.

"Then if that time comes, be prepared because they wouldn't let you go, not when you have held some arguments with them because you know, Henry and Claudius love to argue, Cain and Celna love to watch by the sides and Anna would chuckle as I do. Oh, and Verfeil..." My eyes widened from mentioning his name...

Like the ones in the past, where I would continue sending him letters when I couldn't receive anything back, it seemed that he had been neglecting me for a while.

"I guess you mentioned the second prince and you stopped, is there anything going on with the two of you?" his voice became deeper but I just shook my head.

As I was about to open my mouth to speak to him again, I could see how the curtain not far from where we were got lifted and showed some lingering lights within on the corners of my eyes...

"There you are Lady Vestia, I've been looking at you everywhere and you were here with, oh who was this handsome young man?" Lady Grenda said.

At first, she was smiling at me with her vision shining but when her eyes landed on the young man who was in front of me, her eyes doubled their sparkles and now her hands were covering her mouth as I could see how in a second some red tints were already oozing on her cheeks.

I took that as an opportunity to explain what I wanted to at Lexus later and grabbed a hold of Grebda's arm. The lady was Denteil Henderson's second child, a young Count from the easter side of the empire.

Count Denteil has had the cleanest record there is to know since he was also patronizing for the poor, and Grenda was no exception in the past, they remained a decent family who never used extravagance to show off but to help the poor.

Right now, we were in their household with the noble lady's birthday and it was only a simple celebration where no higher nobles could have been but only close friends and some people who were invited enough.

I was one of the lucky few because, I would like to make a deal with Lady Grenda since, in the past, when she turned twenty years old, she left her noble status and lived in the countryside and took care of the orphaned children there.

She had a fair share of her wealth and lent all to the peace of the estate.

But right now, I could also see that she had a talent for something that I could do and I will not let her abandon her noble status because I would let her help people while maintaining it.

"Lady Grenda, glad you came at the right time, this is Lexus and he was one of my closest friends," I tried to grab Grenda's arm leading her closer to where Lexus was but she almost stayed in her current position.

Looking at Lexus, he seemed only to crease his eyebrows while his eyes continued to narrow as if he wasn't prepared with the plan I'd suddenly come up with.

"Oh, before that, Lady Grenda could you give me a sudden minute? I wanted to talk to you for a very important reason..."