—Emmie, you're the only one I can tell you this—
The girl with a light, beautiful shade of purple hair stared down at the words written elegantly as always by her beloved, tracing them with her slender fingers over the rusty paper.
—I trust you—
Her fingers slowly curled and scratched the paper weakly with her nails, staring deeply down at the words with an unreadable face, reading them again and again with her crimson eyes, as silent as the cozy room she was sitting in without the owner of the small cottage.
“...I'm sorry...” came the whisper from the girl, “I'm sorry...” her eyebrows slightly frowned in deep sadness and regret. Closing her eyes, not daring to let her tears fall down as she didn’t have any right to after her miserable mistake.
She opened them with a startle when she caught the sound of the Quill pen writing over the rusty paper, finding words of magic slowly showing up on the end of the last page.
—You're forgiven—
She widened her eyes with a weak gasp, slowly bringing her hand to cover her lips as she read the following words of the man she so dearly loved and trusted.
—Forgive me—
She closed her eyes and let the hot tears freely down her pale cheeks.
Silently accepting the pain in her chest as she became aware of reality, waking up from a fairy tale made of two horrible lovebirds stabbing each other.
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The Red Flower
Chapter. 34
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“Emmie.”
“Ah, Albern...” Emmie was silently startled when the man suddenly appeared in her quiet room, unlike his usual habits of knocking first despite having all authority to walk in as he pleases. She was about to stand up respectfully but stopped when the man gestured for her to sit still and walked to the seat in front of her, sitting down with his usual cold smile.
She knew from that look and posture that it would be a long, risky talk she wouldn’t be able to avoid with the playful mask she’d put on most of the time.
“I'm amazed you stayed still even when we went to the academy.” The man observed the girl before him as she stayed silent and did her best not to avoid his eyes, “Or is it that you trust me?”
“......”
He crossed his legs and rested his head on his fingers, “Or perhaps you expected something to happen? Like something within me to be lifted somehow? An obnoxious curse, maybe?”
Emmie tried hard not to turn away from the sharp eyes of the emperor, “...you know the answers.”
Albern slightly huffed a laugh, “suppositions are not answers, dear daughter-in-law. I know you’re intelligent enough to know this much.”
Emmie allowed herself to glance at the window beside her for a short escape from the knowing eyes, “...where is Belvedere?”
Albern let out a light, silent scoff, “I thought maybe he ran back to cry in your arms and cower behind you, but I guess I was wrong.”
She looked back at the man with a slight frown, “Is he... still in the academy?”
Albern tipped up his chin a bit with a smirk, “Wouldn't Karl Alastair tell you?”
“......”
He was amused as the girl didn’t look too surprised, as if she knew he had caught notice of a visitor in his castle long ago yet stayed quiet about it just because. He waved his hand dismissively, “Ah, right. She isn't powerful enough to teleport over here. That was silly of me to ask.” He stared at his daughter-in-law as she looked relieved for the first time in so long, looking at him with familiar eyes once again after years of wearing a mask in front of him, yet she still looked cautious of him. She stiffened a bit when his eyes turned sharp again.
“Tell me, what was the thing you told Belvedere before the day of Yeolard's death?”
“......”
[https://i.postimg.cc/T1KRmtD9/1.jpg]
Albern’s crimson eyes glowed a little in the dim room. “Tell me what secret my son Yeolard entrusted you with, Emmie.”
.
.
He felt like he was finally out of the cage, no hands grasping onto him and breaking his bones ever so slowly, no distant reverberating voices and cries that sounded so close everywhere, no bars closing in around him slowly with every passing second.
Javi sighed, closing his slightly swollen eyes for a moment to relax his throbbing head, resting back and tilting his head back. He mumbled, “So, you won't tell me everything...”
Elois frowned at his persistent friend, who had just stopped crying after two hours of complete silence. His butt has gotten sore from sitting still and waiting patiently for the other to let it all out, only to try and fish for details again, “...maybe you should try asking Ellmer.”
Javi opened his eyes and tiredly frowned at Elois, “So he forced you to be silent about it...”
Elois blinked at that, thinking about it for a moment before he shrugged, “I agreed with him.”
“Hmm...” Javi tilted his head to the side before looking down at himself, especially his skin, as it stayed the same during his first breakdown in years, “So, how am I still okay?”
Elois slightly pursed his lips and frowned in thought, “...a vampire helped lift a curse from your blood or... something?” he grimaced at the memory of the veiny thing dancing in his insides and the feel of it; he quickly brushed it off in the next second.
“......a what?” Javi stared blankly at his friend as if he had just heard something absurd.
Elois nodded as he expected the response, “Vampire and cursed blood.”
Javi looked slightly down in thought, blinking blankly, “......I was cursed?”
“From what we've heard, he did say something like cursed Cown- Clown- Clowndrel?” Elois frowned at the stupid name; he didn’t catch it well when he was busy dealing with the disgusting veiny— right, he didn’t want to remember that thing again. “Ah, anyway, you have a cursed blood mixed with your blood, or so he said...” he stared at his friend, who looked back at him with a face that said, what the hell are you spouting? And yes, he could share the sentiment.
Javi stared long at Elois’s face with an unreadable look, “......you don't look too shocked.”
“Huh? Ah...” Elois blinked and relaxed back, “I guess I accepted everything that happened since nothing seemed normal anymore?” recalling and trying to understand last night’s events were too exhausting in itself, so he opted to accept everything as they were.
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“No, you look like you know how I got the blood mixed in me to start with...”
Elois looked back at the observing eyes, “Ah... that's...” he blinked before looking to the side and rubbing his neck, “I got two types of blood mixed in me. I was kinda aware of one, but the other...” he suddenly remembered the man he fought with, was it Karl? Karl… Alastair? Recalling what the vampire said about the Alastair siblings, one of them must be Karl, then does that mean that Karl had saved him before…? Was that why the man expected him to remember their first encounter?
“Two types of blood…” Javi stared blankly at his friend, who looked so confused and busy in his own head, “Wait... hold on, you... haah...” he pinched the bridge of his nose with a slight frown.
Elois frowned in worry, “Maybe we should stop here and get some sleep?”
“No, I wouldn't be able to sleep now anyway.” Javi shook his head, lowering his hand with a sigh again and looked at Elois, “So... you... do you have like... something like the Shadow or a monster in you?”
Elois looked like he had just realized that the only one who possibly knew of his shift to the monster while in his fight with Karl was probably just… Owin? Since his brother had vaguely hinted that he had seen the fight and saved him somehow. Maybe even others know, like Ellmer? Or…
He paused. Was Davante aware, then? He shook his head from his jumbled thoughts, “Not a shadow, but a monster... yes.”
Javi stared long at his friend, blinking dumbly before looking down at the table as he recalled everything that had happened recently and the orange head’s violent reactions toward almost everything ever since the recovery of his memories, “...right, now it makes sense... wow... it makes so much sense haha... sorry…” he massaged his temples with his hand and sighed, “So, was it... what was his name you said? Lucas?”
Elois looked confused for a moment, he thought that Javi had surely met with Lucas at some point since he worked directly with the organization, so he shouldn’t speak of the man like some stranger, but he remembered that in their fight, Javi looked quite confused when he asked him out of anger if he had worked with Lucas all the while. “...what about him?”
Javi cautiously asked, “Was he the one who… mixed the blood in you?”
“...pretty much, yes... he injected me with something before he went off somewhere…” he hesitated a bit before deciding to question the other, “What about you?”
“...I don't know. I never asked how I became like... this.” Javi pointed to himself and the broken crystal stone on the table. “I have no memories from before I was turned to the Shadow or whatever... I guess I accepted the Shadow as a part of me from birth...” he shrugged but looked like he had just remembered something and frowned to himself, “No, maybe I asked Armand once, but he avoided the question...”
Elois carefully asked, “Armand...?”
“Ah, my maternal uncle, who was also my butler, the one who gave me the necklace.” Javi waved his hand slightly, looking at Elois with knowing eyes, “I suppose Ellmer explained some stuff to you?”
Elois coughed lightly and looked down at his cold coffee, “...yeah, he did...”
“Hmm...” Javi observed his friend getting a bit nervous again, “That means I became the Shadow, and you had to face me… maybe I attacked you or both you and Ellmer? Ellmer hardly shares any information unless you’re somehow dragged into the mess.”
Elois looked at Javi, kind of surprised that the other knew the guy already. Were they friends before? Did they have a serious fight that made them on bad terms now? Though Javi talked about Ellmer the first time as if he had just met him. He sighed and decided to stop thinking. “...hey, maybe you should give up figuring it out?”
Javi didn’t look to be giving up any time soon, but he slowly sighed and looked tired again, “...so, sorry to ask, but how does this Lucas look?”
Elois looked unsure but still tried anyway, “...messy, curly black hair... weird sunglasses, always smiling, a lab coat... tall… a little beard? And he always had his hair tied to the side…”
“Ah... him...” Javi nodded slowly again, looking like he had expected the answer but had to be sure.
“......you know him?” Elois observed as Javi seemed to recall the past and looked a bit disturbed.
“Have met him three times in my life, and it felt like a ghost rather than a man, showing up and disappearing out of nowhere... he was even...” he frowned, “I'm not sure, but I saw him in the mirror when it should be my father in there...”
A shiver ran up his spine as he imagined the situation for a brief moment. He looked down at the cup; he couldn’t help but recall the vampire’s words again and how Lucas had told him that he was long dead anyway… or it could be something else, after all. “...according to the vampire we met, he said that whoever had experimented on us must be a vampire, so... maybe Anfinrud is full of vampires...”
Javi took a deep, calm breath, looking up absently at the ceiling, “...vampires, huh?”
“Right...” Elois could understand the disbelief behind the question. Despite everything they had gone through, it still felt like a dream that there were creatures other than humans in their world.
“...is Davante a vampire?”
Elois blinked, slowly looking back at his friend, “...what?”
“He never eats anything, and... if this man is a vampire and works for Anfinrud, then isn't Davante related in a way to the vampires? Since they want him dead so bad...” Javi slowly tilted his head and glanced to the door, “And maybe he looks so tired most of the time because of his need for blood...?” he huffed a laugh at his theory, “Sounds funny, I know...”
“...that reminds me...” Elois hesitated, “The vampire did say something about Davante not being completely a human...”
Javi paused, slowly fixing his posture and sitting properly with a serious face, looking like he had just woken up suddenly. “...wow...” he wasn’t sure if he was shocked that he guessed it right maybe, or if the fact itself was more shocking to him…
“Right...” Elois nodded again.
A long silence passed between them before Javi suddenly mumbled, “...though, it still bugs me how different he was from the rest of my targets...”
Elois forgot for a moment that Davante was one of Javi’s targets before, “...what were your targets like?”
“Mostly from wealthy families or some fishy ones working in the shadows. Armand never looked sorry for them, and I always thought that maybe they deserved to be killed?” he frowned a little at his own words before shrugging indifferently, “I did a little research on some of them out of curiosity but didn't really get much. Davante was the only child there and had no information about him...”
Remembering the teen’s house in the past, Davante could be from a wealthy family, though. “...and... did you attempt to...” Elois stopped when the other stiffened slightly but quickly relaxed with a sigh.
“No, which is why... I ended up here.”
“Oh...” Elois joined his friend and looked down at the table.
“......”
“......”
Javi hummed, “Hey, maybe we should... tell our stories?”
Elois blinked, thinking a bit, slowly nodding, “...yeah, maybe...”
Javi leaned in with his arms crossed on the table. “Maybe it'll help us? Or we could discover something? Well, let’s just get to know each other.”
“Yeah...”
“Since the vampire helped, we wouldn't go mad just because we feel sad or angry while talking, right?” Javi nodded to himself, convinced with himself.
“Yeah, we have...” Elois trailed off, unable to finish his sentence without sounding like an insensitive jerk.
“Me, for example, right.” Javi nodded again, sounding totally fine to his friend. “And you look way calmer than any time before.” Javi observed the other again.
“Right.” Elois wasn’t sure what had been removed from him, but Javi was right; he felt way too calm and… free.
Javi nodded firmly, holding his fist up a little with a playful glint in his eyes despite looking serious. “Rock, paper, scissors?”
Elois stared at his friend with a deadpan face, “...really?”
“Do you wanna start first?” Javi asked with a raised eyebrow.
Elois slowly let go of the cup and leaned his elbow on the table, bringing his fist up along with the other, “...three times win.”
Javi chuckled lightly, “Got it.”
.
.
“Excuse me, Mr. Ivailo?”
“Hm?” Ivailo stopped walking in the hallway with some students around and turned his head to be met with an innocent-looking guy with round, wide eyes.
“Sorry to bother you, but... you're one with the patrol groups, correct?” the student waited for the nod, “I wonder if you’ve seen my roommate at some point? He had been away lately, so...”
“......”
“Um, Mr. Ivailo?” the student didn’t know what to make of the man’s reaction, slowly smiling at him with a glint in his sharp eyes for a moment.
“Yes, I've seen him.” Ivailo turned around to face the student properly.
The student smiled in relief, “Oh, thank goodness, then—”
“I'm sorry for what happened to your family, Edmund Cavalon.”
“I'm sorry?” Edmund stiffened.
“Ah, it seems you haven't heard of the news yet. My apologies...”
Edmund stared at the man who didn’t look the slightest bit sorry, “I’m sorry, would you mind explaining?”
Ivailo smiled in pleasure, “Of course.”
.
.
The hall was lively with students and teachers and all the people in the academy; the place was packed and full of chatter and laughing all around. The people of the academy quickly forgot about the explosion from months ago since it was dismissed as some chemical failure in a lab or something.
The two guys sitting in one of the restaurants kept their eyes covertly on one particular man from a distance, looking at the academy’s headmaster talking kindly to students and teachers and other employees with a friendly smile, occasionally laughing at something others had said or teased him about.
“Something's off...” one of the two guys said while slurping his beverage, “He's behaving as if nothing had happened, maybe even better than any time I've seen him before...” Owin put the drink on the table, keeping his eyes still on the blond man while asking the other guy, “Are you sure nothing happened after we left him alone in the room that day?”
Ellmer hummed lowly, “According to Kyle and Kito, nothing had happened. He woke up and behaved like he was lost why was he in a hospital room and left. I observed the recorded video myself, and they were right.” He silently tapped his finger on the table beside his empty cup of coffee, staring sharply at Kaven.
“...you think it's the effect from dad's kick after all?” Owin smiled at the satisfying memory and took another slurp.
Ellmer smirked, having witnessed the kick from the video, “What a kick, really.” He tapped one last tap and stopped, “But let's not be silly here. Something’s off, indeed. Either he is secretly acting and planning something, or his brain is damaged somewhat.”
Owin hummed, “I cheer for the former.”
“Same here.” Ellmer looked at the other, “And the message you got on the wall, did you confirm the person behind it?”
“Ah...” Owin rested his hand holding the drink on the table and rubbed his chin with the other, humming with a slight pout. “It's been weeks, but I still got no message from my friend. The last thing he said was that he would meet with me after some time because there was something he had to do first, or so he said.”
Ellmer stared thoughtfully at Owin, noticing the worry beneath the calm smile. “Would you like me to tell Kyle to track his whereabouts for you?”
Owin blinked, looking surprised for a second before he chuckled, “I'd like to, but no.” he took another slurp and shook the cup a little to make sure it was empty. “I don’t think he would like it, he has always been like that, going everywhere doing who-knows-what and showing up later as if he had just come back from a picnic.”
“If you say so.” Ellmer shrugged, looking back at Kaven and making sure the man was still far from them. “What about Davante...?”
Owin paused, glancing at the other before looking back at the cup he was absently playing with in his hands, “...still asleep.”
Ellmer hummed lowly, tapping his finger and staying silent for a long minute before asking, “...is he really just asleep, or is he in a coma again?”
“Dad said that Davante wasn’t showing any signs of a coma, and his body seemed to be getting healthier with time for some reason; sometimes your brother would even move a bit in his sleep. Dad tried to call his name or attempt to wake him up but...” Owin chuckled lightly at the memory, “Your brother actually slapped his hand away one time and frowned other times... he had also huffed at dad one time, I think.” He chuckled again when he remembered the flabbergasted look on his father’s face every time.
Ellmer hummed with a straight face, “...I see.”
Owin observed the other some more before asking cautiously, “Hey, you look like you’ve been hiding something for a while now. Just what happened in the forest?” he leaned in when the other kept looking at the headmaster some more before looking back at him, “What do you know about Davante that you're not telling me?”
Ellmer resumed tapping on the table, “I will tell you when I'm sure enough.” He looked at Kaven again from the corner of his eyes. “Ask your brother for the other details if you like. I think he took enough time to calm down, so he should be able to answer you now.” He hoped so. The two friends had been quiet for weeks after that night, so he wasn’t sure if he should take it as a good sign, but as long as he hadn’t received any news from Kito, then he could assume they were safe.
“You think?” Owin looked to the side to think for a moment, nodding slowly with a little smile, looking forward to talking to his brother finally.
“Yeah, someone had helped him a bit, after all.” Ellmer decided to toss the one information to assure the younger orange head and leave the rest to the older sibling.
“Someone...?” Owin curiously asked.
“Haah, just ask him.” Ellmer rubbed his face tiredly with his hand.
Owin wanted to pat the other on the back, feeling sorry for the always-busy guy. “Maybe you should take some rest, man.”
Ellmer sighed again, tilting his head back a bit with his eyes closed, “...did you know that Anfinrud and Cavalon were destroyed in one night?”
Owin paused and remained silent for a long moment, blinking blankly at the other. “...wait, what?”
.
.
Alvis fished his keys out from his pocket with a tired sigh, unlocking the door to his room, stepping inside, and locking the door immediately, “Good work today, Neron.” He turned around to smile at the said young man, “I brought you food in case you haven't......”
Thud—
He didn’t mean to let go of the plastic bag with the food, but he could only blame the purple head for not delivering the news to him beforehand. “D... Davan...” he could see the teen sitting casually on the bed with his back resting on the pillow, turning to look back at him with a stoic face along with Neron, whom Alvis noticed was looking a bit… strange.
Davante looked at the plastic bag on the floor, “Ah, can I have the food?” he pointed at it and looked at the assistant headmaster indifferently.
“I— what...?” Alvis glanced at the purple head, sharing the same strange expression as the other now.
[https://i.postimg.cc/gkPzrH0v/2.jpg]
Was it him, or… was Davante… a bit different?
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The End of CH. 34
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[https://i.postimg.cc/wTxrW1fC/3.jpg]
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