"Yes! We've completed our mission!"
Tens of raised fists pumped upwards in the air, but they all seemed to lack enthusiasm when compared to the voice. The sound of whirling breeze slashed past the adventurers' cheeks, and the chill brought them back to their senses.
"It's not like this was your mission," Azalea shot a sheepish look at the pink-haired prince, who was responsible for the earlier cheer.
Layla did not care, and slung an arm across Lucilline's shoulder. "But it was the mission of someone who I care deeply about. I merely saw fit to celebrate such an occasion." He flaunted his blinding pink hair, the long locks more mesmerizing than the ribbon of any maiden's birthday banquet.
The group of adventurers rode on the back of the scaly dragon, Sugarplum.
They've finally left Ubel Kingdom, the sky still clouded over in black mist and an uncomfortable rumble. Despite that, the horrendous scent of pungent death no longer lingered in the surroundings. It became less of a hassle to breathe.
Lucilline peered down at his own hands, which were caressing the cover of the Book of Memories. Traces of smoky black dust had smeared over his knuckles.
"I got what I came here for," a smile flickered in his eyes, but his face remained unchanging. "So I suppose this trip of hardships was worth it."
It only seemed like yesterday when he left Lydia Kingdom, and set off for the demons' abandoned castle.
On this adventure, he experienced and have expanded his sight on the world. He met Layla, the lunatic pink prince, who was ruefully enamoured with him for some reason...? There was also Khione—the Queen of Isdis Kingdom, who despite her easygoing nature was a strong-headed ruler. Then... there was the news of Azalea's betrayal, and his learning of his past life.
Past life... present life...
Lucilline wished to joggle everything he's learnt from the book, but he needed to do it at another time... at a time where they aren't flying through the skies.
It took the entire evening to return back at Lydia Kingdom.
A dragon really is fast. Lucilline inwardly sweated, regretting ever picking a fight with Sugarplum at Isdis Kingdom. It took us approximately a week to reach Ubel Kingdom on feet, and it only takes a day for us to return home on dragon... They were dropped off at an inconspicuous forest.
After every person slid down the dragon's scaly back, Sugarplum raised his wings and flew away. He only left behind a strong gust of wind, fanning their clothes and hair back. In an instant, the black dragon disappeared above the clouds.
Farrah was still unconscious.
Augustine was tasked to carry the Demon Princess, thus the butler sloppily threw her over a shoulder.
The group quickly arrived at a small town, settling down in an inn. Farrah, Willow, and Noah shared a room, while the rest of the group split into halves. The girls were supposed to stay in a room together, but seeing how meek and shy Noah (the servant of Layla) was, Willow allowed him to join them, afraid that the other knights would bully him.
Bunk beds were placed near the walls, with its woody texture permeating off the smell of cedar. Clean bed sheets had laid across the mattresses, and soft pillows leaned against the beds' headboards. In the centre of the room was a small circular table, with chairs surrounding it.
"Let's rest for the whole day." Dimitri stated.
The group had been exhausted from staying up on Sugarplum's back the entire evening, costing them their sleep.
Lucilline did not even need to be asked. He stripped his outer black coat, draped it across a chair, then plopped down onto a bottom bunk bed. His black hair blanketed across the bed sheets, as if a bottle of ink had spilled across a white canvas.
Augustine glanced at him, and off-handedly remarked, "Young Master, maybe you should wash up before—"
He faltered.
Lucilline had already fallen asleep.
"Forget it," Percival spoke softly. His eyes contained a gentle hue, the chestnut brown colour warm like seas of melted caramel. "The fatigue is catching up to all of us."
Everyone took a rest.
*****
In the next morning, the group made their way to the Capital City. They rode inside a horse carriage, the wooden wheels crinkling against the unsteady pebbles. The knights have peeled off their armour, tucking it away in their bags in order to avoid attention.
Sadly enough, they couldn't fit that many people in one carriage.
Thus, the group split up into separate carriages.
Azalea asked to sit with the Crown Prince, to which Dimitri gave a side glance in contemplation. At last, the latter agreed with a neutral expression.
Lucilline understood what the silver knight's intentions were. He shared a carriage with Willow, Farrah (who'd woken up and disguised herself again), and Augustine.
In a separate carriage, Azalea and Dimitri sat together. The silver knight was nervous, but the Crown Prince didn't let a single fleeting expression surface. "So? I assume that you wished to share a carriage with me due to something. Is there something you'd like to discuss with me?"
Dimitri reverted to his indifferent face, his hazel eyes cold and without a single drop of warmth.
Azalea coughed in his fist.
His face paled, and his throat clogged when trying to speak. I must tell him. "The truth is," the silver knight tried not to avert his eyes, with those amethyst purple hues more vibrant than his own locks of white hair. "I wish to quit the Royal Knights."
A heavy silence dropped in the thick atmosphere.
Dimitri frowned, "Give me a reason." It was a shame, especially since Azalea was an important and strong asset to the knights.
He didn't expect to hear the next sentence, "I was the traitor."
Dimitri's eyes thinned, and his white gloved hand inched closer to drawing the blade by his belt. The silver knight must have noticed his actions, because Azalea raised both his hands up in defeat. "I apologize that I turned against you, and all your trust." His voice was murmured out like a puny bird. "In order to atone for my sins, I have decided to quit. Is that alright?"
The tension in the air was thick enough to be cut by an axe.
The Crown Prince huffed, his hand never leaving the hilt of his blade.
His curly locks of golden hair was brushed gently by the wind, and Dimitri ascertained his subordinate. "First, you must explain to me in detail how you communicated with the demons." His hand tightened into a fist, with his white glove wrinkled from the force. "Second, you must explain yourself... as to why you turned traitor... and why you are now regretting your actions."
Azalea wore a small smile.
The Royal Demon "Nineteen" must have found him as a weak point, and utilized him in order to control the group. As for what she was after... probably the destruction of Lydia Kingdom. She was a Mind Demon, and was able to communicate to him through his thoughts.
He shared details of their journey to the demons, and Nineteen took advantage of that to ambush them. Her primary goal must have been to steal Farrah.
"I turned traitor because..." Azalea peered up melancholically at the ceiling, watching the roof of the carriage shake slightly with every spin of the wheels. "I realized that I was a bad person, and that I wasn't upholding the kind of justice I wanted to." His amethyst eyes flashed to look at his hands, calloused from sparring and wretched in dirt. "Even more, I didn't want the person I cared about to learn of that."
Dimitri fell silent in contemplation.
He gave a low cough, "If you truly want to repent for your betrayal," the Crown Prince withdrew his hand from his blade. "Then tell the rest of your friends the truth. Let them decide if they want to forgive you."
"As for me," Dimitri rolled his eyes, "I will grant your resignation from the Royal Knights."
To this, Azalea raised his head in surprise.
*****
Their arrival in Lydia Kingdom came shortly.
After being dropped off, Azalea stated that he wanted to treat all the knights to lunch. "There is something important that I need to tell the knights," he pressed a gloved hand to his chest, to which the remaining knights understood its urgency.
Dimitri had declined the offer, and explained how he needed to return to the Royal Palace.
Meanwhile, Layla and Noah needed to find a place to stay. They began to hunt for an inn.
This just left Lucilline, Farrah, Willow, and Augustine by themselves.
"Let's go look at some jewelry?" Lucilline suggested.
Nobody declined his offer.
They strolled around the shops, with Farrah curiously peering through the windows. Her pale face had shocked some customers, but Lucilline's nonchalant smile made them lower their guards. The beads of a diamond necklace had reflected Willow's greedy gaze.
When Augustine frowned at her, the maidservant turned her head, and pretended like he didn't see her.
In the end, they did not purchase anything.
"You see, Farrah, my father loves jewelry a lot." Lucilline rambled on to the Demon Princess, who listened with a poker face. "It's almost an obsession... but now that he's recovering from his illness, I think that his obsession won't be as bad anymore."
Augustine gazed the black-haired nobleman's face while he talked.
In the depths of the butler's silver eyes, the trace of a smile surfaced.
"Oh, when would you like your memories back?" Lucilline jabbed at the Demon Princess. "We have the Book, but the question is how to use it—"
"Hey, what is that commotion over there?" Willow perked up, clearly noticing a loud crowd surrounding the centre of a fountain.
Lucilline glanced with curiosity. Surely, a water fountain isn't enough to attract so many people. He inched closer, bypassing several people. The nearer he is to the centre of the fountain, he could feel small droplets of the water splashing over his cheeks. He could also make out some frequent mumbles from the crowd... their voices were hesitant and lowered.
The clouds blanketed over the sun, and the skies greyed.
For some reason, an ominous sensation lingered in the air.
"...are you sure it is?" A noble woman spoke with a disgusted expression. Her huge umbrella blocked the way, and made it difficult for Lucilline to see the path ahead. By her side was another noble woman, presumably her friend.
Her friend was dressed in an extravagant blue gown, "I am sure of it!"
The frills of her gown had racked a bit of dust from the cobblestone ground. Despite this, the noble woman was engrossed with something else... at the centre of the fountain. "...poor girl. I wonder who did that to her..."
Lucilline was puzzled. Poor girl?
By his side, Willow, Augustine, and Farrah caught up. "I have a bad feeling about this." Augustine couldn't help but speak up.
It wasn't until they reached the centre of the fountain did they freeze on the spot.
The water droplets spewed from the fountain no longer felt comforting, rather they dragged across Lucilline's skin like claws skewering his flesh. The heavy stench of rot stunk the air, with flies buzzing around a figure like moths drawn to a flame.
A slender figure laid on the fountain's walls—Lucilline could discern that they were a woman.
Her brown locks of hair streamed down the cobblestone ground, and her eyes had long since lost their colour, becoming duller than a rock. Trampled across the woman's body was a giant hole, gouged straight from her abdomen. The bloody mess permeated off a horrible stench, forcing anyone nearby to retch. Her flesh had long since darkened into a black void.
It was then Lucilline froze.
The image of a smiley young woman surfaced in his memories. That woman from his memories looked oddly similar to this one—
"...Daphnne?" Willow's voice was quiet like a squeak, but Lucilline still heard her loud and clear.
He remembered what the heroine looked like when young. She was a lot thinner, and a lot less daring. Her skinny limbs were weak, as if they could be pulled off her torso like fragile sticks. But the shine in her blue iris eyes were always kind.
On the first day Lucilline met her at school, Daphnne had accidentally smacked his books into the fountain, and drenched him wet.
She had apologized profusely, her face on the verge of crying. Lucilline could tell that she was a loud spirit—but not a bad one.
How ironic that she laid dead so silently before a fountain... her body wet with her own blood.
"Lucilline! Hold on!" A loud voice snapped by his ear. It was then the black-haired nobleman noticed himself collapsed over his friend's body. He threw a hand over his mouth, trying his best to not throw up. Tell me who did this to you, Daphnne... I will make sure to avenge you... His golden eyes had lost its original glow... and instead festered in a sea of mania. Not a single shred of sanity was left.
I will cut them a thousand times, force them to cry loud enough for even you to hear them—
Augustine could feel cold sweat permeate beneath his body. "Daphnne is not dead!" He yelled.
Lucilline allowed himself to be shaken around. What do you mean she is not dead? Right before us... that is her body... jumbled in a bloody mess...
"I can tell!" Augustine deadpanned.
He ran a hand across the body, his gloves untangling the messy locks of brown hair. "This is a wig." Just as he stated, the locks of brown hair had slipped off the woman's head, revealing a bald exterior. Augustine tapped his knuckle on the bald head, "I can tell that this is not the body of a dead person. The skin is not rotting, and the body is as hard as rock."
When he knocked his knuckle upon the head, it sounded clearly much more solid than a human head.
"Smell the blood," Augustine smeared a finger-ful of the flesh. "This is not real blood." He hovered his finger smeared with the red liquid beneath Lucilline's nose.
The black-haired nobleman could smell something... sweet?
"This is chocolate syrup with red food colouring," Augustine grimaced. "The only person here who knows how to disguise a dead body in the medieval era is..." K... you're finally beginning your act, aren't you?
At last, Lucilline wobbled up from the cobblestone ground.
He noticed a slip of paper near the fake body. Picking it up, he read it. "We have the real heroine at our side. Meet us next week during midnight, and at the outside of your favourite jewelry store. Show up on time if you want her back."
Farrah was taken aback.
She could clearly see a mist of carmine red cloud over those golden eyes. For some odd reason, she remembered hearing a saying from somewhere. A villain will always be a villain.
Lucilline crumbled the piece of paper in his palm.
At that moment for him, the world turned dark.