"Beg your pardon?" My mind just couldn't comprehend what he just said, "Do you hear how stupid you sound? Just lie! Why chase me?!" The old geezer nervously smiled.

"She'd know if I lied, and I did it because she's been upset ever since you got away." This kingdom's people are just too strange…

I sighed and reached inside one of the bags, "Hey, hey, why the rope?"

"For both our goods." He obliged and put his hands out and I tied them.

I made him hold an empty bag to hide his hands and pushed him out of the alley.

"Now, let's talk out in the open." We began to walk side by side, "What's your name?"

"Cyrus." I vaguely recalled one of the knights from before calling him that.

"Now, explain why you went through the lengths you did just so your master got an apology." He sighed.

"The young master tends to lock herself into her office when she's upset about something and so she's locked herself in and hasn't eaten anything."

"Usually, she lets the maids in but this time, she's completely shut out everyone."

"What's that got to do with me apologizing? I doubt that would do anything."

"The young master is a simple girl, an apology from the source of the problem would resolve everything." I touched my chest.

"Well, you should find another way, because me talking to her is off the table." Even if I didn't have an oath that would blow my heart to smithereens, I still wouldn't go. It could be a trap for all I knew.

"That's fine, an honest apology from you, delivered by yours truly should be enough." He had a big smile on his face.

"Then tell her I'm sorry, now piss off." I moved away and went in a different direction.

"Not honest." He appeared right next to me.

'Creepy geezer… who keeps following someone who basically held them hostage?!' I tried to speed walk and ignore him but he kept following me like a stalker.

"I'm feeling very uncomfortable…"

"Huh, why is that?" He asked very innocently.

"You. You are the source of my discomfort, you creepy geezer." He tilted his head as if I wasn't making sense.

He hummed and thought, "Then just say sorry and mean it and I'll be on my merry way."

"I already said sorry damn it!" I whisper-shouted to not attract attention.

"Not all words have meaning." No, no, all words have meaning, especially if I'm trying to get you off my ass!

"Listen, I had originally wanted to come here to apologize, but things happened and that's no longer possible." His brow rose.

"Really? Then what was the reason? If you don't mind me asking, of course." I wouldn't lose anything if I told him…

As I thought of what to say, he thought it was a good idea to try to guess, "Scared of the young master?"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"No." Should I tell him?

"Shy?" Giving up info for no reason…

"No." It's a non-issue to let him know…

"Social anxiety?" But letting on about personal problems between Pandres and I could result in more problems…

"No." But I do need advice…

"You missus got jealous?"

"No… What the fuck are you even on about?!" Some eyes turned to us and some scowled at us.

"Bingo!"

"No! And what do you mean bingo?!" I whispered and he just laughed in my face.

"So that's it! She doesn't have to worry about anything, the young master isn't interested in men like you." Old geezer has some hearing problems.

"She's not jealous, she's worried, that's all."

"Worried about what?"

"Do I really need to spell out what's dangerous about going to meet the Twilight Knight after pissing her off?" Oh… oh, okay.

"Well, she's right to be worried If it was the previous Twilight Knight you would've-"

"Be quiet." She's just worried… a completely normal human emotion…

'I should've understood her right away, she's a normal person, of course, she doesn't feel the same way as me. How could I be that obtuse..? That stupid prophecy threw me off… no. That's no excuse.'

'I even pushed her into letting go of her goal, of course, a normal person would let go of their goal if it meant they'd live! Goals mean nothing if they die. Normal people aren't you, Sebastian! You absolute idiot!'

I grabbed him by the shoulders "Listen, I'm really, really sorry about what happened between us and Ms. Twilight. It was an unfortunate event caused by things I can't explain. We never wanted to cause trouble." He squinted his eyes and looked into my eye.

"That's all I was asking for." He patted my head with his free hand and turned around.

"How'd you untie your hand?" He waved while he walked and didn't turn back

"Hope we meet again, Sebastian." I was left alone.

'Shit, I should go back and apologize.' I turned on my heel and started running.

'People aren't like you, Sebastian. People are fragile in every way. Don't ever forget that.' I remembered one of the first lessons I was ever taught.

I remember that I was sat under a tree and looked on at the rising sun, I still remember the distinct feeling of coldness even though it was a hot summer day.

I felt numb and unfeeling as the blood had dried on my blade, all I could think about was that I had ruined my sword and would get scolded.

"Dear." I looked up and found the very familiar face of my mother.

But she didn't have that usual smile of hers, "What of the test?" Her eyes were saddened and filled with pity.

I didn't answer her, I couldn't.

She wiped the blood off my face, and for the first time, I couldn't feel my mother's warmth. Everything felt cold.

"This isn't your blood, right?" I couldn't answer her.

She took my hands in hers and used water magic to clean the blood, "It's not going away…" Her tears started to fall on the grass.

"But it is mother?" I finally found the strength to speak because it was odd. I couldn't understand what she meant, the blood was getting mixed with the water and fell to the grass, so it was going away.

I may not have understood what she meant back then but I've come to be familiar with what she meant.

My hands were still stained.

"…I'm tired, mother." She pulled me into her arms. But I felt nothing, I couldn't. I felt nothing, physically and emotionally. I felt nothing.

"It's fine, my child." She tried to comfort me.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She held my head and sobbed.

She then pulled back and grabbed my face and said that warning to me. I couldn't understand what she meant which for some unknown reason, caused me to cry.

I cried, cried, and cried. I didn't stop crying until I awoke in my dark room, even then I had dried tears on my face.

Then I heard arguing-

I was snapped out of my haze by bumping into someone, "Watch it!"

I was somehow knocked off my feet and found myself on my ass, "You watch it. Stupid asshole-" my heart sank.

"Old men like you shouldn't-" I got up and ran, 'I couldn't die here, not now!'

'I still need to apologize to Pandres!' I ran and expected my heart to explode at any moment.

'I swear, I didn't mean to meet her!' I internally shouted at my heart and kept running.

"Hold it!" I was grabbed by the girl and was somehow stopped, "At least apologize!" I closed my eye and waited for my heart.

"What's wrong with you?! You think just because you closed your eye that I can't see you?! What are you, a child?!" I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the girl.

'Hold on a second…'

Wore a jacket but basically the same clothes as me, had light brown hair, blue eyes, no glasses, and a sword by her side, 'but she's shorter and looks younger…'

"Aren't you the Twilight Knight?" I recomposed myself and looked down at her.

"No duh?" She had an irritating face, "Apologize." She crossed her arms.

I felt around my chest just to make sure and breathed in and out, "Okay, so you're not her. Good, piss off, kid." I sidestepped and tried to walk away.

"Not until you apologize for blindly running into me." She got in front of me again.

'For fucks sake.' I picked her up by the sides and put her to the side like a child.

"Adults have things to do." I ran and used wind magic to add to my steps.

I looked back and she was kicking up a dust cloud as she chased me, but I could tell she was barely keeping up.

I looked back and stuck my tongue out, "Haha little brat!" I'll admit it, I was being childish and that cost me.

I looked back ahead and almost crashed into a horse but both of us jumped out of the way in the nick of time.

I crashed into a wall, "Look where you're going!" I looked up and saw the last person I wanted to see… actually no, second person.

"Why are you here, brat?" He looked closer at me from his little high horse, "Can't you tell? It's me."

He opened his mouth to speak but something flew at me and got stuck in the wall.

I had barely moved my head and glanced at the thing, 'A sword?!' A blade was inches away from the blade.

The girl was breathless but had caught up, "You bastard!"

"You brat! You could've killed me!" If I hadn't had experience with kids throwing shit at me, I would be dead!

"That was the plan!" Onlookers quickly passed by trying their best to stay out of the crazy girl's sight.

"Ms. Terra?" The brat jumped off the horse and came to me while looking at the girl.

"Sir Klaus?" They know each other?

He struggled but managed to pull the sword out of the wall and inspected it, "Ms. Terra, I thought you knew better than to throw your sword."

She looked away and pouted, "You should always chase your target, it's better to do it with your own hands." He looked at me deviously.

She hit her palm with her fist as if he pointed out something smart, "Oh you're right." He handed back her sword.

I stood up and started to walk away.

"Hold it!" I kept walking and heard galloping and saw she was running after me.

"Stop! Both of you!" She stopped but I didn't, I had more important things to do.

"Sebastian, this is serious, Pandres is in danger!"