As Sahara and her cousins walked out of Talon’s courtyard and towards the old madam’s courtyard, Sahara stopped suddenly.
The big leaves on the trees nearby, reminded her that she needed to make more stars.
“Thirteenth Young Miss?” One of the girls said.
Sahara ignored her, as she took a leaf and turned to Steven, “Grab a few of these for me, I’ll teach you later on how to make some stars.”
Steven took the leaf and then looked up at her, he knew of these stars and was curious, “Very well.”
Sahara walked to the girls once again, and they took her hands, like they never wanted to let her go! Sahara had a bad feeling about this…
She couldn’t even remember them prior to last night, it was like she was meeting them for the first time! Yet here they were holding her like she was their treasure!
So not cool!
They looked relatively pretty, but they didn’t seem to have any other disguising facts though. They held happy smiles that seemed real, and their eyes still showed that expectation that was seen the night before…
Sahara remembered a small factor of her daughter, back in her last life, for a split second…
‘I love you mum!’ She wouldn’t say anything else and looked at Sahara with eyes that were ready to spoil her…It was obvious that she wanted something, making Sahara want to say in return, ‘What do you want?’.
Oh well, Sahara guessed that she’d find out soon why these ‘cousin’s’ of hers are trying to hug her leg…
The old madam’s ‘home’ was still a good five minute’s walk away and was well looked after.
She was at least sixty years old, having had the Right Minister at a young age, but she was feeling like this life of hers was nearly coming to an end.
Only wanting to spend valuable time with her family, she no longer held much power within the estate, only wanting to see her children and children’s children.
But…There was a recent request that she did want to ask about. She hadn’t seen much of Sahara, but she does know of her story. Having survived the poison was great indeed, but the madam had wondered why she hadn’t returned to the estate, after she had been cured of it…The person who had caused the poison had gone, so what other reason was there not to return?
Since she wasn’t really all the close to her, the madam had wanted to see her a few times before she left for the Second Prince’s estate, but now she had another reason to see her.
As the three girls came into her eyes, she saw the expectant glances of the two girls and sighed in her heart. Their request wasn’t much, surely Sahara would understand…
For the first half an hour, they talked leisurely and ate their share of food…When the food was taken away, the two girls beside Sahara finally pouted at the old madam and a conversation was then forced to take place.
“My dear, I have a request.”
Sahara looked at the old madam and felt like this was what she had been waiting for all this time. Actually, Sahara didn’t mind her, she was sweet when she wanted to call her ‘Princess’, and she really did look happy for her, just as she did last night. Honestly, the elder had asked how Sahara had been and genuinely held her hand asking how Sahara had survived alone outside of the Haven. She asked questions and even when she showed she didn’t understand the answers, she was still happy and smiled honestly at Sahara. Sahara told her a little about her cultivation at the Academy and that she was still learning how to use the elements. Sahara told her about Naruto and how she had tamed him and about meeting Steven, who Sahara told her was now her brother…
Sahara liked her…But…What was she going to ask?
“It is not uncommon…That upon marriage, the bride takes in with her another family member to their new husband’s estate.”
Ha…Should have known…It was like Miss Haves all over again!
Sahara patiently stayed quiet and continued to listen, wanting to give the old lady some face. She already respected her that much…
“My two other granddaughters here would like to accompany you into the Second Prince’s estate.” The old madam stopped. She had brought up the topic and asked, that was all she said she was going to do…
To Sahara’s astonishment, she found that was it…Sahara was waiting for another half an hour to go by! She really did like her! Straight to the point and no dancing around the topic!
“I refuse.” Sahara said, quickly bringing the conversation to an end.
The two girls were stunned, they were going to start calling the Thirteenth Young Miss ‘sister’ and get the steward to prepare them a carriage for the next day, but they were completely shut down!
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The old madam gave a slight nod but looked down. She was too old now, she did not want to create a hassle. For her love for her granddaughters, she had done what was asked of her, but she also wanted to respect Sahara as well, considering her position was well be above her own, as being a ‘Princess’, she did not want to put pressure onto her. After all, Sahara was still her grandchild and she had gotten to a stage in her life that she wanted to love her family unconditionally. When she had been younger, grudges could be kept, but now, she still wanted to love her grandson Borak and the late madam who possibly killed another daughter in law…Time was just too short…
“Madam! Please, we already think of her as sister!” One of the girls said.
Sister? Hell no…
Sahara took a sip of tea, as did the old madam.
It was a strange sight to see, as two people were mature and the other two were getting angry and upset…
After another five minutes of the two young girls trying to coax the old madam and herself, into making Sahara agree to their request, the old madam simply stated, “This old one is of no use, the Princess has declined, so let us no longer think of the matter.”
Sahara smiled and nodded, she was great! She even reminded them of the title ‘Princess’ that she’ll have the next day, to get them to shut up!
Sahara read so many stories, where the old madam sucked, and now this one seemed like she was ready to go to bed because of laziness!
A movie popped into Sahara’s head, with one of her favorite quotes that fitted her to the tee, ‘I’m too old for this shit!’
Sahara was sort of right, without knowing it. She really was feeling old and did not want to waste her precious time on something that wasn’t going to happen.
She was just like the older version of me! Ah! I must come back and see her!
Sahara felt bad suddenly, that she hadn’t spent much time with her before now…Had Sahara automatically thought that she would be like the nasty madam’s that she had read about or was she just plain lazy?
Sahara checked the elder’s body, ignoring the girls beside her, and found that she was indeed not well. Her heart seemed stressed out and she had arthritis. Sahara checked her own cultivation base and sighed.
She hadn’t been able to meditate or take a pill, after healing Zeus, and she still needed time.
Sahara wasn’t in a rush, she will meditate and help her tonight. Being full of spiritual essence by then and knowing that she would need quite a bit because she had to transform it into something else, like tendons or skin, Sahara felt better after making that decision.
Healing people did make her feel good, that jar inside of her was slowly filling up and becoming see through…
Sahara still had to figure out why she can change spiritual essence into something else…She kept forgetting to look it up!
“Madam! Madam! There’s…There’s been trouble!”
Someone’s voice came in and stopped the girls from bickering and the madam looked up at the steward.
“Tell me.” The old madam said.
The steward was breathless and looked stricken, absolutely upset and sad…
Sahara narrowed her eyes…
“There has been…We found Young Master Zeus…He has been killed! And then…”
Sahara didn’t hear the rest, she dropped the teacup, which smashed upon falling to the ground, and took a breath and teleported back to Zeus’s courtyard…
Sahara felt like something bad was happening…Well, in her previous life, it wasn’t something strange. People fell from stairs and broke their foot, people got into car accidents and got cancer. They lost their hearing for life, suicidal, and she felt like it was all because of her! She really was right in the middle of all those previous life’s incidents…She had been there! And, then she found out that it could have been…
Sahara just…Had this feeling…
She raced passed maids, and ran like the wind, totally dismissing everyone else’s idea of a lady and stumbled into where a body was…
Thump!
It was…History repeating itself.
Sahara’s eyes were wide in horror. She felt the world was shrinking, making her kind of dizzy.
Thump!
She couldn’t help but hold her breath as she took one step closer, seeing the person who she had just healed, unmoving and lifeless…
Thump!
Zeus!
Sahara had trouble swallowing, her heart hurting like when it did when she had seen her daughter, her slit throat, fallen to the floor…Sahara held onto something near her, whatever it was, before she would fall to the floor…She needed support…
Thump!
Sahara couldn’t hear anything but that of her beating heart!
Thump, thump, thump!
She started breathing heavier, as she ended up falling to the floor anyway…
It was…Exactly the same…
Zeus’s body was still in the wheelchair, with his head hanging back, clearly showing a slit to his throat.
How could she not feel anything at all?
Not only did she just heal him and give him a goal to live, but his life had completely vanished before she even got there. Was it because of her?
Thump!
Sahara squeezed her eyes shut and took several deep breaths, but nothing calmed her. Her daughter, Zeus…She was like a plague, she was the god of death!
Thump!
He was a friend, a brother, one that they shared a common interest in little animals. Without her consent, memories flooded through her, breaking her heart and Sahara just couldn’t help but let a tear escape.
He was laughing only…An hour or two before…Giggling, talking…But this also reminded her of Naruto…Where was he!?
Thump!
Sahara became…Utterly exhausted, her eyes showing a dim red, lifeless look. Her face showed her usual frown, and her hands had fallen limp down to her side…
Zeus was dead…Gone…
Thump!
She took a deep breath and tried hard not to cry…
After a while of trying to calm herself down, Sahara walked up to his body and sighed in frustration. Why is it that his life is gone, when it was only just starting? Should she have healed him from afar and not spoken to him at all? If she had done that…Would he still be alive today!?
Sahara just had the worst feeling that would be true! If she just stayed out of his life, and healed him from a far, perhaps…He’d still be alive!
But, if she hadn’t had caused him pain, let him yell at her and then cry his heart out…
Sahara was torn, frustrated and completely falling apart!
Thump!
Was this what it was like for babies that died? That they don’t have a chance to live?
Sahara touched his hand lightly and bit her lip in regret. Why was he dead?
Surely, someone else deserved to die more…Why him?
She squeezed her eyes shut once again, unable to hold back another tear…It just…Wasn’t fair!
Why!?
Zeus…He…
Sahara let out a sob and wiped her eyes…It just wasn’t fucking fair!
Bowing her head in defeat, she felt a nudge from someone and looked up at them sadly.
She hadn’t known that someone was trying to get her attention for the last two minutes…
“Miss…It’s…”
…Sahara had trouble taking another breath, seeing the maid’s face. “What…Is it?’
They looked worried and sad, “Zeus…Wasn’t the only one…The murderer…”
“What…Who…” Sahara tried to ask.
Thump!
The maid let out a sob, unable to be the messenger anymore, “Talon and Samuel, Miss. Please save them!”
Thump!