Chapter 136 – Dolce’s Melancholy

Alex returned to the demesne bearing the news. He was alone on his ship and there was no sign of the heavily armed lad that once methodically checked on his weapons. He was gone like the wind. It has been four days since he dropped him somewhere around the borders of Midland. The last thing he saw was his lone harrowed figure walking with a gloom of cold fury.

He returned hurriedly to the demesne. He landed his skyship and reported to the Princess, who took the news gravely. She did not show it but her mask broke apart. He had nothing to say further other than that. The Princess asked where his passenger was. He could only say that he left. Where to? Alexander Langley didn’t know.

The Princess did not press him for an answer, for he has none to say. Alexander Langley quietly strode back to his sky ship and return back to home base in order to refit and resupply his ship. His thoughts were recalling the lonely figure of a man bathe in despair. He could do nothing for him other than make the sign of the cross and pray him Godspeed.

...

The sky cruiser landed on the landing platform. She looked at the familiar palace and strode with a slow phase. Her maidservant, her only friend walked near her, armed with a rifle, dressed in a sleeved shirt, a flak vest. While Dolce sported a brown longcoat, underneath her coat was a flask vest. Her pants were of the same color and it was tightly fitted by a belt. Her boot was tucked nicely and in her thigh, there was a pistol holstered.

A crewman tried to approach Dolce. But she gave the crewman a flick of her wrist. Her maidservant barred the crewman and accepted whatever he had in mind. Dolce did not linger in the landing area. She strides down to the palace and found herself walking in the ornate hallways of the palace.

Her hair was no longer springy. She didn’t have time to do so for she didn’t have time. She hated being ruled by people. She hated her father’s orders and rebelled against it. Yet she found herself in service of a foreign princess who she sold out herself. It was karma. She should be enjoying the lifestyle of the rich. And to keep herself occupied by the money she was making.

And here she was being told to do that and that. It was irritating but she rather has the Princess of the Demesne as an ally than an enemy. It was a quite the joke really. The more she worked under someone. The more she understood what it was like being told. She did not like it. She hated it but she had no choice. To curb her resentment she thought of single-mindedly doing her task. It did her well but at the cost of being unable to groom herself as pretty as, she could be.

Freedom, she thought. Where are you when I need you? I guess this is what it means to be someone’s servant. I did not fear my father yet I would agree with this princess? Is it Fear? Or is it my own wanting to understand that man who refused me madly?

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Her dreams have been wrought by a single defiant face. It was the face of the single man who refused her despite her willingness to offer her body like she did willingly in the city of storms. She still remembers the moments she spent making love to that bound man. The man then escaped and turned into someone who masterfully ruse a smith into death.

She had found ways to acquire him. She was gleeful at that time. She thought of many ways she would enjoy her time with that man. Yet what did he do? He defied her. He struggled and took a leap of faith with a defiant face. That face alone brought her days of nothing but that face mocking her.

Every night she would dream of that man scarring her. He would mock her. She would hear his laughter without end. She had fought such dreams with wine and mindless activities. But yet it did not cease. The dreams of a man who was dead did not stop. Maybe this was her own punishment for being such a tyrant. But what was she? She was told and taught how to act. And only through the past months that she had started to understand why would the lower born people would defy the words of the privilege.

It was a lesson to her. She had received something akin to enlightenment. Of course, her overall vain and narcissism did not cease. Even though she did not groom herself, Dolce still found herself as a beautiful woman that would make men turned to her. But that confidence faltered at the thought of the man who rejected her. It irritates her but she finds comfort that the man was dead.

Dolce found herself facing the office of the Princess. She waltzes right in without a care for knocking. She found the Princess wading through piles of documents. She was sipping wine and there were bags under her eyes. Dolce tried to be smug but found out that the Princess wasn’t in the mood for jest. Knowing better, Dolce summarized her task. To her surprise, she apparently failed. The person that the Princess wanted her to protect was dead. All her work was in vain and the stalling she did turn out to be nothing.

She found it stupid. She thought how much of a waste of time it was. She wanted to complain clearly but the Princess of the Demesne gave her another mission, much to her chagrin. She truly didn’t want to say no but the Princess was colder than ever. It was as if all optimism she had for the world was gone. She looked depressed and bleak that Dolce thought she must be using work as an excuse to distract her mind.

Dolce did not want to anger the Princess who could easily ruin her life so she listened. She can always postpone the mission and idle. So she listened and nodded faintly before leaving the office and back to her sky ship.