They stood on top of one of the towers of the wall they had built and looked down.
There were about a hundred mounted knights in plate armor where they were looking. A few people stood in front of the knights, but only two of them interested them.
One of the two men standing in front was Azil Zao Long. Although they could not see him clearly from where they were standing, he had reddish brown eyes and blond hair. He wore a crimson plate armor with green emeralds embroidered on it and a green cloak on his back.
Azil Zao was the general who took Vermia from Cecilus. He told him that if he surrendered they would protect the dignity and property of the Vermilia family, and when Cecilus surrendered, he took the city without a fight.
“Why did Cecilus have to flee? I can't imagine Yu Zao's men lying, even if they are our enemies.”
Cornelia was still suspicious about what had happened. There was definitely a game going on in the background and her brother was probably part of it.
Standing to Azil Zao's left was Lien Yachi Long, the man Cornelia had defeated earlier. She knew that he too had reddish brown eyes, but no hair on his head. He did, however, have a short yellow beard on his chin.
Lien Yachi Long's armor was simple compared to his companion. It was a gray plate armor, with a dragon embroidered on the chest, like the whole army. The same dragon fluttered on the banner carried by the man to Lien Yachi's immediate left.
“We have come to discuss the terms of surrender,” Lien Yachi shouted. He had to shout to get her voice across. “If you surrender, each of your lives will be spared.”
To Cornelia's right was Sir Devan von Bishory, the next highest ranking commander. Sir Devan was Cornelia's second-in-command. To her left stood Link Yachi Long, whom Yu had sent to represent the Virgo Cathedral. Link had a slippery smile on his face.
To Link's left was Ana Rosegreen. She was standing here to defend themselves with wind magic against any sudden attack from below.
Yu Valarfin refused to participate in the meeting, saying that nothing would come of it and that it would be more productive for him to practice swordplay with Sivina instead.
That's why Yu wasn't here and the Cardinal of Virgo wasn't here because she was asleep when she should have been here as the master of her own armies.
And Cecilus... He didn't want to compromise his sleep either.
“Then lay down your weapons, bind the hands of all your soldiers and bring them to kneel before our walls, and you alone will enter our western gate. That is how we will accept your surrender and have mercy on each and every one of you,” Link said.
If she had managed to speak before Link, Cornelia would have spoken to them with the same message.
“I thought that people in our family weren't so bad at pranks, but then I realized that it was Link, the half-blood... You must have inherited your inability to joke from your mother.”
“And you must have inherited your skills on the battlefield from your mother. I should talk to her in private sometime and ask her to teach me. Considering how much the girls love me, she'll be happy to accept.”
Although she couldn't see Lien Yachi's face clearly because of the distance, she could feel him bubbling. Lien Yachi Long was the one of Yu Zao Long's generals and he had suffered the only royal defeat with losing to Cornelia's army of twenty-five thousand with an army of forty thousand.
“No need for childish bickering. I will repeat our words.” This time Azil Zao Long spoke. He came from the same branch as the King and seemed more insidious than the man next to him. “Your army is weaker than ours, less experienced, outnumbered, surrounded and your wooden walls cannot protect you. If you surrender, we will forgive you and give Vermia back to the Vermilia family. If you do not surrender, your entire army will fall to the sword.”
Cornelia turned her head to the left and looked at her city in the distance. It belonged to her, it didn't need to be given to her by anyone.
“That city is already mine,” she said. “I'm not going to take what is already mine from someone else.”
She too was aware that men with dragon banners were circling overhead. It was ironic, actually. They had come here to lay siege and yet they were the besieged side. Still the troop difference was not as great as Cornelia had feared, and with their own troops they could mount a successful defense.
“If I remember correctly, that city is supposed to belong to your brother, not you.” Lien Yachi had such a big smile on her face that Cornelia could see it even from here. “Maybe he is wiser than you.”
“If you're looking for wisdom, my brother is as wise as you are,” Cornelia said. “And you are as wise as the hairs on your head.”
When she wiped the smile off Lien Yachi's face, a smile settled on her own. Lien Yachi reached for his sword, but it was useless to draw it, so he just stood there.
“I thought you were a clever woman. You must be mad if you think these walls will protect you or that your rotten church will send you help. Your walls will not hold, nor will you receive any support from your side. Even your God has abandoned you.”
Azil Zao, unlike Lien, was not trying to pick a fight, only to persuade them to surrender.
“We trust neither the walls nor the church. Whether Azer is with us or not, the outcome will not change. I won't put down the sword until I'm back in my house, enjoying the view of Jade Lake again. You must know that.”
“You are as stubborn as they say.”
It was not often that anybody would say this to Cornelia's face, but she knew she was, and she was glad of it, even if she was headstrong. For her it meant that she was a determined person.
“What are you going to do?” Lien Yachi asked. “Run to the Church of Andromeda, which abandoned you after you took the city on your own, and expect praise like a dog returning a bone they threw?”
Cornelia could have responded with a simple ‘no’ but she had to shout to get her voice to them and she didn't want to shout for a single word.
Lien Yachi continued speaking. “Pledge your allegiance to the Son of the Dragon. The offer we made to your brother still stands. If you kneel, the House of Vermilia will continue to rule the city.”
Cornelia's doubts surfaced again when the subject of their offer to her came up, but her thoughts were interrupted by Link.
“Son of the Dragon?” Link was laughing. “Just out of curiosity, is the dragon his father or his mother? Because if it's his father, I'm going to mourn for his mother. I mean, you know, the dragon's dick has to be at least as tall as I am.”
Link brought his hand in line with his own head.
“No, if it's his mother who is a dragon, I wonder how horny his father is... He even got it up to the dragon...”
"WATCH YOUR MOUTH, DOG!”
Lien Yachi drew his sword and shouted. He called Link a dog, but it was Lien Yachi who was now raging like a dog. He reared his horse and tried to intimidate from below. Needless to say, it was a failed attempt, especially when it was Lien Yachi who was trying to intimidate.
“I'LL CUT OUT YOUR TONGUE AND BURN IT! YOU CAN'T TALK ABOUT OUR KING LIKE THAT!”
“Your king, not ours.”
It was a good thing that Lien Yachi was angry. When he was angry, his mind would be clouded and he would not be able to concentrate on his work.
Nevertheless, the fact that Link had done it with a vulgar joke also annoyed Cornelia. She was not one for such jokes.
“I wish Yu was here. He wouldn't play such dirty jokes.”
Why wasn't Yu Valarfin here? Cornelia wished he was with her. Now knowing that he was with another girl was clouding her mind and making it hard for her to think.
“It looks like we're not going to reach an agreement,” Cornelia said. “Let's end it here.”
“How sad... For the sake of the noble blood you carry, my lady, I give you time to think until sundown. If you surrender, the terms we have just offered you will apply. If you do not surrender, you will perish this evening.”
***
Yu struck Sivina's sword, which she had extended forward to stab him in the chest, and knocked her to the side. By this time he had managed to create a gap. He threw a shoulder at her, trying to knock her down, but he was too slow compared to Sivina. Sivina dropped her sword and fled to the side.
When Sivina was not in front of him, Yu lost his balance and fell on his face. While he was down, Sivina put her knee on his back and put her dagger to his neck.
“You're dead again, Yu.”
“At this rate, dying will become a habit for me.”
She got off Yu and held out her hand for him to get off too. Yu grabbed her hand with his right hand, their hands were bare, their skin touched and that alone was enough to excite Sivina.
“You are too kind to me,” Yu said. “You used to be harder.”
“You used to be so bad, maybe you think I'm being kind because you're just bad now.”
It wasn't really like that, she didn't want to be too hard on Yu for his lost hand, but her little kindness was noticed.
“If you keep being kind, you won't be the next one to kill me. Don't pity me for losing my hand, it's humiliating.”
Yu was right. Without proper training from Sivina, an enemy might actually kill him in battle. Still, she couldn't bring herself to be harsh with him.
“I'll protect you,” she thought, but did not say it out loud.
Yu took his sword in his right hand again and pointed it at Sivina. This time he really wanted her to give him some training.
Sivina sighed and accepted his request, picking up her own sword from the ground. She wasn’t wanting to hurt him but even though it would hurt, it was for him own good.
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This time Yu made the first move. He brought his sword to Sivina's chest. Sivina knew he couldn't hit her, but blows to the chest really hurt, so she placed a wooden plate on his chest.
Just before Yu's sword struck the wooden plate, Sivina met it with her own sword. She spun around, took a step forward and grabbed Yu by the throat.
“I didn't see the need to pull out the dagger this time, but you're dead.”
“Tch.”
With a click of his tongue, Yu moved away from Sivina and got into position for the next time. When Sivina took her own position, Yu lunged forward again.
Now he was not trying to stab him with his sword. Instead, he tried a blow from above on her shoulder. Sivina defended the move with her own sword. Yu was faster this time, he drew his sword back and aimed at Sivina's hand with his next move.
Sivina again defended herself against Yu. Yu next tried to turn around and gather strength, but before he could complete his turn, Sivina put her sword against his back.
“No way, you have to be much faster if you're going to turn around.” Sivina retreated while Yu took up the next position. “Yu, instead of trying to beat me just to beat me, try to beat me to survive. Believe me, the difference in motivation makes all the way.”
“I'll try,” Yu said.
Sivina gave her a beautiful smile and they both took their positions.
Sivina wanted to make the first move, but this time instead of the usual opening move she tried something different, she swung her sword from the left.
Instead of meeting the thrust with his own sword, Yu crouched down and Sivina's sword went through the gap. In the meantime, he tried to drive his own sword into Sivina's stomach.
Sivina jumped back and dodged the lunge. She liked Yu's move. It was the first time he had tried something different.
“I guess you forgot I can jump.”
“Well, I don't think those standing outside the walls are as playful as you are.”
"P-playful..."
In Elhaven, this word was used as a different version of ‘making love.’ Sivina's face flushed as she thought of perverse things again.
“What happened?” Yu asked.
“It's okay, take cover.”
Yu spread both legs sideways and pointed his sword at Sivina. Sivina approached him and took the same position.
She let him make the first move, Yu thrust his sword forward to stab her, and Sivina used her own sword to knock Yu's sword to the side.
This time Yu also jumped back and recovered his sword. It was not as fast and agile as Sivina's leap, but it was clearly an improvement.
Yu was impressed by his move too, let his guard down for a second and Sivina rushed forward to stab him in the chest with her sword to teach him a lesson about never letting his guard down.
Her move was blocked at the last second. Yu tilted Sivina's sword again, but that did not stop Sivina from killing him. She kept moving forward and crashed into Yu.
They both fell to the ground together.
Sivina was on Yu's stomach. She pulled her dagger from her waist and held it to Yu's throat.
“Needless to say, you're dead again.”
Yu gasped and looked into Sivina's sea-green eyes. So Sivina looked into her purple eyes.
Even though his skin was abnormally white, his eyes were still just as beautiful. So much so that Sivina didn't even realize that she was sitting on Yu right now.
She stared into Yu's eyes for a while as her stomach rose and fell with the breaths she took. It was impossible for her to break the spell cast by his violet eyes on her own. She was about to fall into it when Yu unfortunately broke the spell.
“Are you planning to get up?” Yu asked. “You're on my stomach, I'm having trouble breathing.”
“Yes, yes...”
Sivina made a face and stood up, it was a moment she wished would last a while longer. Then she reached out her own hand to feel his hand again and helped him to his feet.
The sun was just rising and normally Sivina wakes up around this time, but Yu wakes up a little later. This was because he wanted to wake up with Yurine, but today he was up earlier.
So he was sleepy and he could have performed better if he wasn't sleepy. But that was no excuse because he never knew when the enemy was going to show up.
“As they say in Elhaven, the soldier sleeps and the enemy does not.”
Sivina was serious about Yu being bad. Even if it wasn't Sivina, but the Redchapel Killer, Yu could easily die. She even doubted he would have a chance to make a move while dying.
Yet at the moment she believed he could beat anyone in their army one-on-one. After all, unlike the basic training that ordinary soldiers received, Yu had been trained by Sivina, and Sivina had been trained by her father, one of Elhaven's heroes.
In short, Sivina was now teaching him a style that she herself had put something of her own into, which she called the Enhanced Ecues Combat Style. This was not something to be taken lightly.
“But he's still bad...”
Sighing, she sat down in front of a rock on the hill and leaned her back against it. She stretched her legs out and without even thinking about what she was doing, she tapped her hand on her leg and called Yu.
“Do you want to rest?”
She had actually planned this moment last night, but it was embarrassing to even imagine it, so she tried not to think about anything while she did it. If she thought about it, she might make a blunder.
“Consider it an apology for beating you.”
“Would you want to sleep on my lap if I beat you?”
“Oh...” Sivina was speechless. Last night she had thought that the worst he could do was reject her, but what was happening now was beyond rejection, it was something she hadn't anticipated.
Seriously, who would want to sleep on the lap of someone who beats them? At least Sivina wouldn't want that. There weren't many people who could beat Sivina anyway, but if she was a weak girl and a man beat her, of course she wouldn't want that.
“Well... I mean...” Sivina couldn't think of anything to say to convince him. “W-well...”
Sivina closed her eyes in frustration and leaned her head against the rock. Last night she had been so excited about this moment that she had tossed and turned in her bed for an hour while dreaming of it.
But she was almost certain that he would agree. He would lie on her lap and she would talk to him.
“Oh... Why did I even ask that?” she thought as a weight appeared on her lap.
She opened her eyes to see Yu laying his head on her lap. His brown hair was long, the ends touching the soil, and his eyes were closed.
She had dreamed of seeing his amethyst eyes in this position, but just lying on her lap was enough. She wasn't going to want more.
A big, sweet smile appeared on her lips that Yu could not see because his eyes were closed. Her heart began to beat faster than when she had fought, and a wonderful warmth enveloped her whole body that made her forget everything around them.
Yu had both hands on his stomach -actually one hand and a wooden prosthesis- and at the moment Sivina looked at his wooden hand, she couldn't help but feel sad and bitter that she was the one who had caused him to lose that hand.
Yu could no longer play the piano or dance as before. He had to wield the sword with one hand and say goodbye to the arrow and spear.
“This happened because of me, I have to do for him everything that his lost hand could do.”
She didn't think it was possible to make up for a missing limb no matter what she did, but she was going to do her best.
“Why did you offer me this?” Yu asked.
“You're a little late asking that after you've been lying in my lap,” Sivina replied. She giggled. “Maybe I'm just trying to get something out of you.”
This was one of the excuses she had thought of last night and she decided it was the most logical one and she put it forward.
She had to do it because at least for the time being it was impossible for her to say to him ‘because you give me strange feelings and I love it.’
“What do you want to hear?”
Yu's eyes were still closed and there was no emotion on his face compared to Sivina's ecstatic face.
Yet this lack of emotion was also Sivina's fault, so she was not going to rebel against that either. She didn't want to rebel and ask why, she wanted to strive for him to get good feelings.
“I want to know who you are.”
She hadn't given it much thought when they first met at Rolderhelm, but she had been wondering who he was ever since Yu had offered her the job.
And lately, especially since she had met him again in Andromedia, she was madly curious about who he was. She wanted to find out everything about him and burn it into her mind so that she would never forget it.
“What does it matter?” Yu asked. He was in a state of oblivion, as if he was not interested in his own past.
He was disappointing Sivina again, but she waited, hoping that it would only be a temporary disappointment like before. Her waiting paid off when Yu started talking again.
“I'm a fickle, cowardly monster,” he said. “Whenever I say I've decided something, it's just to satisfy myself in the moment. Deep down inside I'm still indecisive.”
Sivina expected him to talk about his past and even fantasized about it.
In the scenario Sivina imagined last night, Yu would tell her stories about his noble family and talk about his noble blood because Sivina was sure he was noble.
Those perfect facial features, those gorgeous eyes and his naturally fit body were things she could not see in an ordinary person. Yu was also really smart, and this intelligence was something she believed could not be seen in ordinary people.
But Yu had said something Sivina had never expected.
“Monster?” she repeated Yu's word.
Yu continued speaking without any interest.
“How can I accept death? How could I think such a thing? I am afraid of death and I look back on the past months and I am surprised at myself for saying that if I am going to die, I want it to mean something.”
“Are you going to die?!” Sivina shouted involuntarily. Yu's expression didn't change.
“I've only died once so far, don't worry.”
Sivina was so shocked by Yu's answer that she forgot the words she was about to say. She wanted to think he was joking, but she couldn't believe that this emotionless face would play any kind of joke.
“But I think I'm determined that I will commit any sin to succeed. That's the part that makes me a monster. It's because I'm a selfish and evil person.”
Sivina waited for him to speak without saying anything. Just when she thought he would never speak again, Yu interjected again.
“But... I really believe I have made a decision now. I don't want to die, but I won't jeopardize a loved one for it, I won't steal again.” She continued to listen, not understanding what Yu meant by what he was saying. “That's why you need to teach me the sword. I lied to myself and to you about being average, I want to be better than that.”
“Normally, as people's physical ability decreases, so does their determination. It is as abnormal as your skin that your determination increases as your physical ability decreases,” Sivina said.
“Is that so? But my resolve was strengthened at the Sky Palace.”
Sky Palace was a name she had never heard before. She knew Yu hadn’t been to a palace, so she thought it was a metaphor. He must be doing something like that again because he sometimes used words she didn't know the meaning of.
Sivina's eyebrows rose as Yu started to chuckle. His chuckle turned into laughter and Sivina, who hadn't expected anything like that from him, stared at him, not knowing how to feel.
She wanted him to smile and Yu was smiling but there was no happiness on his face. Instead of happiness, he was in pain. He was burning too, but unlike Sivina, the fire that burned him was painful.
“I'm talking to myself. I'm really going crazy. It feels good, though.”
When Sivina noticed that tears were leaking from Yu's closed eyes, she quietly brought her hand to his face and began to wipe them away with her fingers. Yu was quickly back to his old emotionless self.
“Let me tell you something if it will increase your trust and loyalty to me,” Yu said. “I was born the third child in an ordinary family, with twin sisters older than me. First my mother died, then my father died in a car accident. My father had no relatives and my mother's relatives refused to take care of the three children, so my older sisters and I were put in an orphanage.”
When Yu suddenly began to tell his story, Sivina listened, trying to memorize every word he said.
She had believed Yu to be a noble by his appearance, but if his qualities were only found in a child from an ordinary family, it only made him that much, much more special.
“When my older sisters came of age, instead of going to university...” Yu interrupted his sentence and continued after thinking for a while. “...you can think of university as the Wizarding Academy, but without the magic...”
He said a word that Sivina heard again for the first time and then explained it. It was also the first time he had explained a word to Sivina.
“Anyway, instead of going to university, they got a job and got a house and took me in. I knew they wanted to be teachers and I begged them not to give up on their dream, but they said they would be happier if I studied. So I almost isolated myself from the outside world and buried myself in high school classes to make sure they didn't regret their choice. I don't remember getting a bad grade on any exam and taking it to them...”
She didn't know what high school meant either, but Yu was younger than his older sisters and they wanted Yu to study instead of going to a university. So high school must have been a smaller version of what Yu called university.
“I finally got into a good university and ran to my sisters with joy. I had succeeded, they had given up their dreams for me, but I had proved it was worth it. My goal was to earn a lot of money after graduation and give them a great life.”
“Then what happened?” Sivina asked.
“They're dead.”
Sivina trembled at Yu's answer. Yu's voice was so dark that Sivina felt the whole world freeze and that Yu really was the monster he claimed to be.
The regret, anger and hatred in his voice were the most intense emotions she had ever heard in his voice.
“Because of a drunk driver...”
“Drunk? Is that why you don't drink?”
“Yes. The idea of not being aware of what I'm doing disgusts me.”
There was no rule that everyone who drank would get drunk, and when Sivina drank, she didn't drink enough to make her drunk.
But she could also understand Yu. She would probably do the same.
“Then I won't drink again either,” she thought. If Yu wouldn't do it, she wouldn't do it. It was an outward expression of her respect for Yu.
When Yu fell silent, Sivina ran her right hand through his hair. Her fingers moved easily through the soft brown hair, almost floating.
Yu didn't mind his hair being stroked. Yu's hair was so beautiful that if Yu were asleep right now Sivina would have tilted her head and smelled his hair, but he was not asleep and if she did that he would be noticed.
It went on like this for a while. The sun rose and human voices began to reach their location.
But despite the noise around them, when Sivina closed her eyes, she fell into the most peaceful sleep she had ever known.