he had kneeled—no, fell to his knees, as his forehead met the damp grass as rain began to trickle down from above, a sign of god's disapproval. his hands, dirtied from dirt, droplets of rain and fresh cuts from battle, had gripped the blades of green below him as he wept, the sky darkening and thunder furiously pounding from the heavens.
"i'm so sorry... i'm so sorry..." he chanted, as if brainwashed into repeating the same thing over, and over, and over. salty, hot tears dropped from his closed eyes, and to the ground below.
"hey— what? what are you sorry for...?" she had laughed anxiously, standing before him and glancing around at the pouring rain, wetting her indigo shaded dress. "let's get out of here, okay? it's raining too hard and—"
"i cant go with you," he mumbled, though loud enough for her to hear, and she had stopped in her tracks, her breaths ceased, heart caught in her throat.
"what are you saying? this is no time to make jokes!" she retorted, her voice becoming louder at the end, holding up the ends of her dress to lessen the stains and soil pestering the rim.
"my duty is on the field, your highness. i'm a soldier. i'm disposable." he began, voice cracked and thinning near the end, as he choked on a sob. she only stared, baffled, at his words that were much unlike him in their year of knowing one another. "so why... what right do i have to feel the way i do for you...?"
she had jumped at the thunder which roared above, as if he had violated fate itself; a sinner, through and through. the clergy would never spare him. the prince would never spare him.
"hey, what do you... what do you mean...?" her voice had softened, so unusual and a such large contrast to her token prideful manner.
"you know very well what i mean, my lady." he had said quietly, and it had struck her then, so shockingly that she had slapped her palm to her mouth in bewilderment.
"you can't possibly...! you would be an outcast to europe! you know this!" she gasped, and he was silent, the air so tense, and the roaring of swords clashing just beyond the forest; it had been getting closer, the battle at its climax.
"god will never forgive me... and perhaps you wouldn't either. so if i die, please forget me." he had whispered, and her heart dropped— a good friend, taken just like that by war... her mind was thrown into a feud of sorts, but was helpless as she watched him rise from the ground he had clung to so closely seconds before, yet his gaze stuck to it, as if gravely ashamed— and as he should be, she thought, that no sane person would ever commit to such a heinous sin.
"maybe... i have gone mad to say this. but perhaps in another life we could... i could..." his eyes trailed up from the ground, slowly and agonizingly, to meet hers, which were widened as expected. "perhaps i could be worthy of you." he smiled, tears trailing down once again, before turning back and leaving to the battlefield without another word.
that was the last evelina of lithuania had ever seen romeo martinaitis.
some would say that the skies of poland-lithuania were the brightest blue seen anywhere in europe. some would disagree. but frankly, eve was never really one for the debate. her mind would always drift back to when her and romeo sat by the fields, picking dandelions and talking of anything and everything. he was one to say that the atmosphere and life in poland-lithuania was unlike any other kingdom he had seen before; though eve was never one to agree, constantly bored by never being able to travel.
she remembered the day she had asked him of his experiences and adventures, and the way she had gotten rather interested when he had mentioned italy. the memory of her prying him for more information on the isolated nation was something that came as instinct at first, though ceasing once she had seen his hurt-filled cobalt eyes once mentioning it. that was the day she had begun to see his pain; a shame how she had dismissed it at first, unknowingly leading up to that wretched day— her breathing hitched, as she bit her lip in anguish.
just weeks from today would be her wedding day, to the prince hubert of poland— her expression shifted to one of a disgusted grimace at the mere thought of his name. one would be mad to name their son hubert, of all things; it was much unlike his name, which flowed effortlessly from her tongue, and unknowingly, she uttered it, quietly to herself as she stared through the window of her bedroom.
"may you rest in peace, romeo martinaitis." she mumbled softly, her gaze flickering from the skies to the ground below her, watching the guards converse casually. it was then she had noticed the carriage pulling up to the castle grounds, the once relaxed guards stiffening, and rushing to open the mahogany carriage's door.
eve watched rather boredly yet amusedly, cheek pressed against the somewhat warmed glass and glancing at the man who came out of the carriage. dark, inky hair that was disheveled, familiar navy blue attire, and a sparking ruby gem clasped to a cobalt cloak...
she had shot up, sitting straight as she recognized his figure, and though she couldn't see his face through the masses of guards escorting him into the building, she knew it had to be him. jumping up from her seat on the windowsill, she dashed, rather informally, past the marble floored halls and the glossy staircase. maids turned to watch, bewildered as eve ran, out of breath but filled with such adrenaline that she could run for miles; though it was cut short as she had slammed into the back of someone, before stumbling and crashing her shoulder to the wall for support.
"are you alright?" the familiar voice had come, and eve lifted her gaze from the ground quickly to him, and their eyes met, both widening in shock.
there he stood, soldier romeo martinaitis of lithuania, who had always adorned the badge of naples. romeo martinaitis, who had fought on the front lines since he was twelve, europe's greatest hero.
but he was a sinner.
"ah... it's you..." eve had gasped, pushing herself off the wall and standing before him— though he was taller than before, perhaps by six or seven centimeters. "you're... not dead."
"god told me my sentence would be living, so i took it." he said simply, cobalt colored eyes glued to the floor once again, and the two could tell he was ashamed.
"if you are a sinner, then perhaps i may be as well." eve had said so surely, so pridefully as she had always done, which was pure habit and manner at this point. "you will be a soldier of lithuania no longer."
romeo was taken aback, rightfully so, and his head snapped from its drooped stature to look at her square in the eyes, searching for any sort of joke in them. of course, there wasn't any. "you cant...! there's still so much i have yet to do for this kingdom and— well, unless you want me to be a prisoner then that will also—"
"i want you to be king," eve scoffed, expression shifted to hurt that he would even think of her torturing him in that way. romeo was baffled, bewildered and stunned, so much so that his mouth had run dry of words, stuck in an endless sea of sand.
"i don't... i don't understand..."
"you know very well what i mean, martinaitis. i want you to wed me." eve said sternly, watching the way his eyes widened, his dark eyelashes fluttering and cobalt eyes darting around, as his hand went to hold his head, mouth agape.
"i... i can't! your fiancé— the prince! he's— well, even if you don't love him, you could always... it can't be me!" romeo sputtered, grasping his shirt just above his heart, as if about to rip it out of his skin and flesh. "i'm not... i'm a sinner, your highness please—"
"if you're a sinner, then i'm the devil himself." eve uttered lowly, gritting her teeth in anger and frustration. "you disgusting imbecile...! if i say i want us to be wedded and i love you, then take it already!"
romeo said nothing then, biting his lip and looking away in shame, tensing up as her hands went to hold his, softly and tenderly. his gaze went to glance at her face, flickered for a second, but then stopping to see the pained expression she held, and his heart was ripped to shreds just by staring at it. once again, his tears fell, just as they had done that day, and her hands left his to wipe them away, as if they would curse him for eternity.
"alright." was all he could say, and eve smiled so brightly, a kind he had never seen before— a kind that not even she, had experienced before.
and so the sinner, once dead, was resurrected by an angel to convert him for good.
