To Be a Beauty

Chapter 28 : Siegfried de Chauvegné

Diana walked back to the path where she once trudged. The basket in her harms was hefty,  the woven handle forming bright red marks across her skin.

While she advanced, many people walked past.

The sun was slowly setting, falling down from the sky.

Red lanterns were being lit one by one, signaling the forthcoming night.

A few minutes passed and Diana saw the familiar archway, the bakery in her right, and the familiar stalls that were once brewing with life.

The moment she stepped outside the archway, her inquisitive eyes took in the sight of a path void of any signs of life. 

Diana frowned, her hands wrapping around her torso. Her footsteps halted, hesitating.

Suddenly, luminous orbs brightened the whole street. The stone-paved road became visible, blocks and blocks of different colored houses lining across the street.

Her steps that faltered, stepped forward once more.

Diana stood in front of a wooden arched door. A sign was displayed saying that it was closed.

'I'm finally here.'

She breathed a few slow shallow breaths. Here it is, the first step she had to make. 

'It's fortunate that he was close.'

She parades forward. Raising her hand, she knocked on the door.

Diana waited for a response.

A minute passed swiftly, she decided to knock on the door again.

A rattle came from inside the house. The teeth-gnashing clank was so loud that she heard it through the door. 

At last, the door opened with a creak.

It was the same man from before. He was dressed in a dark auburn suit, his white tunic along with his striped tie complimented his outfit. Soft greyish locks and two blots of amber peeked through the doorway, the man's heavy eyelids suddenly widened, languor now forgotten.

Diana threw a complaisant smile and stood with her shoulders back. Her hands shifted to hold the basket within her palms. She bowed her head slightly then asked the man dressed in a dark auburn suit. 

"May I come in?"

Auburn eyes meets blue. Those auburn eyes looked at her with apprehension, the black earring on the man's left ear glistened the moment he turned his head slightly.

Bewildered and distraught, a combination that made the man's heart clench painfully.

He was called Louis.

Once upon a time, he had no name, no identity. He was simply one of the many children of the masses, rid of their family because of war. All of their fathers were once soldiers, now lied in one of the makeshift tombs dug in the battlefield. All of their mothers were once housewives, now spoils of war, given by the empire to their enemy lands in order to keep their so-called 'peace.'

Their parents were made to be sacrificial lambs, used by the Empire until they bled and were of no use. They are children made by the love of their parents, made by them to inherit their roles, as sacrificial lambs of the empire.

He hated it. He hated everything, his parents, the kingdom, and even himself. He hated being born in this world, in this time where he had to burn himself, giving everything that he had for the sake of this wretched land.

He woke up, trained hard, eat, trained again, then sleep. It was a constant cycle, repeating over and over again.

At one point, he decided to end himself. At that time he was already enlisted on one of the armies assigned to each commander.