The Abandoned Princess: Promises Arc

Chapter 69

"Are you all right, Crane?" I managed to ask and I saw how his eyes widened for a moment before the gap between his lips formed a curled-up smile, and his face softened like that of a very familiar face.

"Silly, I could never be more than all right when you're with me, though I am puzzled why you would only seek me out in the market..." his voice became softer as words went by and I felt like I was becoming more engrossed to his light, a reverberating light that once captivated me.

His hands, soft like a cloud that I couldn't touch enough, descended on my hair and messed it up a little, then drew the edges of my hair as if trying to curl what was already curled in it making it bounced when his warmth was no longer in mine.

"Well, it's the only way I could see you, and you know, you're always mysterious about your household when you said you're a noble. Still, you wouldn't tell me which..." I almost rolled my eyes when all I could think of was that moment when he said those words.

But then, I could only hear his sweet chuckles reverberating within the place, and as I was about to open my mouth again, I heard some coughs in front of us and Crane's hand went to where mine was and tried to envelop what was already left as frozen.

"Young master crane seemed to be interested, oh, I guess interested is not the right word, since you two were friends. Wait, let me look at what it was..." the old man said with his eyes narrowing but it was descending on different places.

His inked hand that was intertwined earlier was now under his chin while his eyebrows couldn't stop themselves from knitting. His lips which were curled up like a devil's grin, became crumpled as if he was searching for something and yet he wasn't sure if he had found it or not.

I tried to look at Crane but his eyes continued to narrow and I could only sigh secretly while shaking my head.

The air within the room was becoming cold and yet no one seemed to make a move. The silhouettes of grayish edges remained intact on the sides even though the linings from the old man's seat continued to move.

"Oh, I knew now, I guess it's about that word you can call unrequited----" but then, before the old man could finish his words, I heard someone snap, but I couldn't know where it was, and at that moment, with a blink of an eye, the old man's mouth was closed and yet he might be saying something within his throat.

And another snap came echoing but this time, the next sound was enough to make me look in front of the man with both of his hands on his desk. The table even vibrated with some papers dancing to the ground some ink splashed on the paper, and the veins within his hands appeared while gripping the edges of his table.

His mouth was opened wide, with his breathing was like a heartbeat in a run, with his chest doing the same beating of a drum.

But the next thing I knew, I could only gulp because the edges of the old man's men's swords were already pointed at our throat.

I don't know who was it that made or even cast a spell on the old man, but it felt like the men who were cornering us for a moment were being pushed by an unknown force and when I tried to look at Crane, he had already narrowed his eyes.

Just like Oratio had taught us, when I put my aura in my eyes, I couldn't help but almost gasped.

Crane was a magic user but then how and why?

I tried to talk to him, but it felt as if my throat was dry, that the only thing that's been keeping me alive within this room was him all along.

"Stop, all of you!" the old man managed to speak and the men had already gone back to their previous position while the man earlier was already holding his throat while trying to sit in a normal way.

He loosened his suit untied some of his buttons and shook his head before finally exuding some built-up air within his body then after some seconds, he finally looked at me with narrowed eyes, but the edges of his lips changed.

It's now flattened, and yet I managed to bring back the same intensity of his stares.

"I guess I have to apologize for my misjudgment, earlier, Young Master Crane, but it seemed that your friend was just something else," still his eyes darted to mine before closing his and sighing once more.

Accompanied by his breath coming out from his mouth, his hand moved to his drawers enough to open one and pulled a very dark envelope with a seal.

"Hercius, come here," he said and a man with a mask different from the others appeared like a black smoke. He knelt in front of the table with both hands in open palm.

"Did you bring the seal?"

"Yes, My Lord, I managed to bring it..." said the masked man named Hercius, his voice was dark as if enough to cover the sky with its cloak.

Then he pulled something from his pockets enough to make the old man nod.

"Give them to the lady beside the young master," when he said those words, I saw those eyes, as if black like the abyss where I've been, it came swirling through my mind and the only way to keep me alive was the warmth I've been feeling from Crane.

"Don't worry, you have me, Lady Festin..." With that mouth uttering a false name, I still held on to them as tight as my grip from his warmth.

The man knelt in front of me and before I touched the paper, a light shone, and the light carried the things to my hands.

"I guess my instincts were right all along, but given that you're young master Crane's friend, I wouldn't expose your secrets now... so go on, have that information from the war, in exchange, give me the tradition that the Monsiore family had..."