The Empress

James {54}

"Why did he stab me?" Tears flowed down my cheeks as I failed to understand how he could betray us.

For what reason?

I felt a hand over my eyes... I sobbed in confusion.

"Calm down, Izeiah."

Oh

That's why everything turned red.

Narrator's POV

Izeiah slept like cat, sleeping through the whole morning and only waking up in mid-afternoon.

She sat absentmindedly on her bed and stared straight through. She was left alone in the dorm because Qen went to Izeiah's former dorm because he remembered that one of Izeiah's plan for the morning today was to burn all of her clothes that were touched by Clarisse. And since she couldn't do it due to her morning breakdown, he just thought that he should do her this favour.

"Qen? Since when did you become nice enough to do an errand for a lowly girl?" Clarisse asked.

Hindi sumagot si Qen at nagpatuloy lang sa pagsindi ng apoy gamit ang posporo pero palaging nasisira sa dalawa ang punyetang posporo.

Huminga siya ng malalim at kinuha ang selpon para matawagan ang Butler niya ng tulong.

"Bakit hindi ka pumapansin? Qen, in the future, tayo tayo ang magpapartner para lumago ang mga angkan natin. Meron akong itataguyod na Shikaiken Clan kapag magiging asawa na ako ni Ivan. Alam mo naman iyon di ba?" Nakangiting sabi niya sa lalake na nahihirapan na paapuyin ang bundok ng damit.

"Alam ba ni Qim na malapit ka kay—"

"I'm sorry, but could please shut the fuck up?" Qen finally opened his mouth due to annoyance.

It was when he finally succeeded at getting a small bit of one shirt on fire that he realized that it wasn't safe to do so to the environment. He sighed and was suddenly feeling troubled.

'Surely, it's also fair to throw all of these to the trash? But donating it seems to be a bit more... helpful to the earth?' He thought deeply.

"Gryst's heir, what are you doing?" A deep voice sounded behind them which made both people turn around.

"Ivan!" Clarisse excitedly exclaimed.

'Gryst's heir... parang grease.. tagapagmana ng grasa. My goodness, I never realized that.' Qen thought and pondered how other people might have thought after hearing others call him by that.

"You must be Izeiah's former playmate."

"Quit the act. Magkakilala tayo, gago."

"What are you doing, Ivan?"

"I've been robbed, what did you expect me to do? Dance?"

"You can't be robbed of something... someone that wasn't yours to begin with." Qen whispered quietly, intending it to only be heard by himself.

"You're not here to test my patience, are you?"

"Nandito ako para sunugin ang mga damit na ito because according to Izeiah, it's been touched by something nasty."