It had been 3 days ever since Thais woke up and currently, Leonhart was the one doing the work while nursing her back to health. There were times where she insisted on him to focus on his work but he just could not. He was far more worried but he wanted to know who had done this. Thais could not bring herself to tell him but she knew she had to.
"Will you please tell me who had down this to you, Thais?"
"I..." She pursed her lips. The look on Leonhart's face broke her. There were dark circles on his eyes and they were bloodshot. She sighed before describing the man.
"I see. I will make sure he'll pay for what he had done."
"Don't! Just don't. You're going to die if you do that. Please." She begged. He could not understand why she suddenly stopped him but her trembling figure was enough to make him listen. Silence took over and neither of them spoke a word.
'Ose? Ronove? Should I tell him now? I want him to know and I don't think I can keep it anymore. He is my king and he deserves to know. I think Sinbad deserves as well.' She confessed. Her djinns looked at each other.
'Remember that this is your destiny. Whatever you choose, we will follow you for you are our Chosen Queen.' Both were synchronized and that brought chill down her spine. She felt new power. In her mind, she sent an apology to Ugo before taking her King's hand.
"Leon, I have something important to tell you. Have you noticed anything weird with me lately?" She asked. He looked at her in confusion before pointing out that she got more tired than ever and that there were bruises on her body long before the fight with the cloaked man. She was not surprised with his observations. He was far more observant than anybody else and he was modest about that.
"I'll tell you the truth." She did tell him everything and a bewildered look took over his face. He felt anger and betrayed that the princess was just telling him this when in truth, they should figure things out together. The emotion that stood out the most was hurt.
"Why are you only telling me this? Didn't you promised me that you will be by my side and that you will never leave me!? Didn't you say that we will solve everything together!? Why? Tell me, Thais!" She froze on her bed. Tears were evident on her eyes for it was the first time that Leonhart really yelled at her.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to leave you. I don't want to but I have to. I..." The dam broke down. Leonhart saw how broken she was and he knew that his harshness pressured her. He did what he had to do to calm her down.
"I'm here. We're going to go through this together." She clenched his shirt tightly, clinging as if he was her lifeline. The king saw this and hugged her tightly. She may belong to Sinbad now but it did not mean that he could not love her all the same. He slowly felt her lose consciousness so he laid her back down the bed. He returned to his office once again and wrote a letter to Sindria Trading Company. It would be better if Sinbad will assure her but he was not sure whether Thais will tell him everything.
"Daw. I want you to do me a favor." He said to nobody. Just then, a shadow dropped from his window appeared. Seated on the edge was his household member, Daw.
"Understood, my Lord."
Sindria Trading Company
Judal trained Selendine to the bones where she could not properly stand up anymore. Her energy was more depleted than she thought. She wondered how were the others able to draw the power of their djinns easily.
"What? Is that it? How boring. You can't even draw out the real power of a metal vessel like that." Judal whined. Selendine growled under her breath before standing up shakily. She was on the edge of collapsing but she was not one to give up.
"Not yet. I'm not giving up yet." She said. Judal let out a small smile. It was not his usual smirk but a genuine one. They continued training as she reached for her djinn's magoi. She could feel a barrier between them. It was the same barrier that held her down.
'I will break this down! I can't give up now. Not now!' The barrier broke into pieces and in front of her was Zepar.
'You're doing great, Selen. Receive my power.' A new found strength enveloped her as her body glowed in response to Zepar's power. Judal grinned at the progress. As soon as she was able to do the full body djinn equip, Judal put on a stance and released a small ice magic. Selendine was taken aback and luckily, she was able to dodge or else, she will be a frozen bat.
"What was that for, Judal!?"
"You have to hold that transformation for a very long time, you know." He slyly said. Selendine gritted her teeth in anger before pushing her self to the limits. Soon, the pink haired princess dropped down panting.
"Looks like you finally figured it out. Zepar's full-body djinn equip! Let's test it out to him, shall we?" He grinned. Selendine held her high up and nodded. Of course, the magi let her rest for a while before they went to Sinbad. The former princess entered his office and asked him for a battle.
"You want to have a djinn equip battle with me? There's no need to, is there? It'll just be a waste of magoi." He excused. Judal used this to coax him.
"You're afraid of losing aren't you? Even though you have two metal vessels. Pathetic." That aggravated him so he began pulling on the little magi's face. Selendine noticed that he did not even take her request seriously so she voiced it out herself.
"This is my wish too. Please fight me." Sinbad still felt a little hesitant but with a little more coaxing from the dark magi, he finally agreed. His reasoning was that he wanted to know Zepar's ability.
They positioned themselves outside where their friends decided to watch their battle. The sun was high up as if it was judging their battle. They both took out their metal vessels and called for their djinns.
"Spirit of Souls and Puppetry, dwell in my body, Zepar!"
"Spirit of Falsehood and Prestige, dwell in my body, Valefor!"
Sinbad flew upwards after transforming. They turned towards the princess to see her transformation. Selendine now had a baby face with third eye on her forehead, red horns protruding from her head, bat-like wings, giant stomach, feet with hooves and a tail.
'What the hell?' That deadpan face turned into a full blown laugh. It looked like a replica of Zepar itself. Selendine's companions glared at the others for laughing at the princess' transformation. Sinbad was different. He did not care what she looked like because he will defeat her.
"Garufor Zairu." Ice shards appeared in his hands and fired at her. Using sound magic, Selendine defended herself. The ice shattered into pieces. Before Sinbad could even move, Selendine made her move and sped up which resulted to a bleeding left hand. It cut off a portion of him but due to regenerating ability.
"Zepar is a spirit hat controls sound. It is essentially vibrations in the air. Just now, I used a technique that caused the air around me to vibrate, slicing up everything that came in contact with it. Its range is small but quite powerful." Selendine explained. Sinbad was amused by it.
"So I'll be in trouble if I come near you. But you're too late." He uttered. Selendien tried to move but it was as if her body was stuck. Ja'far seemed Sinbad the winner but they were surprised when the princess let out a loud scream. Judal quickly covered his ears while the others fell down, unconscious.
"Good job, Selen." It was a wide range attack that even caused the people inside the building to be unconscious. About 30 minutes later, they all woke up. Everybody was in daze. The princess apologized for what she did but Sinbad just brushed it off.
"It's fine, really. This power is really powerful that's why, we'll be counting on you from now on." He admitted. Judal floated towards him.
"So you accept defeat?"
"I didn't really lose." Sinbad muttered as an excuse. The magi deadpanned at him and decided to tease the poor merchant at how a poor sport he was. Everybody laughed at how childish they looked. After everything was settled, Judal and Selendine went to retire to their room. While walking, the princess wore a guilty expression. The magi turned to her and praised her.
"Those guys don't suspect a thing about Zepar's real power." He snickered.
"Is this really the best way, Judal?" She asked. The fallen magi nodded and told her that this way, they will be able to take their country back.
Someone who was royalty. Someone who wanted to be a royal. Amidst their conflicted perspectives, the independent nationalist party, led by Barbarossa, won the elections. That news was sent towards Sinbad, a week after he battled Selendine. They were invited for the succession party. Of course, he gladly accepted that.
"We'll be going."
"We will welcome you there. Well then, we best be going. Thank you for your time, Mr. Sinbad." The representatives sent by Barbarossa left. Selendine went out of the shadows and bid him a safe trip. He nodded but before he could go any further, an employee of him approached him with letter in his hands.
"Sir Sinbad, we received a letter from the Yrif Kingdom. Their messenger just left a while ago."
"Yrif?" He wondered out loud. As far as he knew, it was his Thais' country. He thanked the man before going back to his room where he read the letter. His eyes widened at the condition of Thais but was relieved when he heard that they will be coming to visit him soon.
'I'm glad that she's safe but what happened? And what did Leonhart meant by truth and belief?' He thought. There was one part of the letter which bothered him.
Sinbad, I want you to help Thais. There is something she had been hiding from everybody. It's a painful truth but it would be better if you know as well. I know that once you asked this, she'll figure out that I told you but it's better than leaving you in the dark. Trust her. We'll be coming in a month's time. For now, I bid you good day.
~ King Leonhart of Yrif Kingdom
A month later
Thais' POV
"You gotta be kidding me? Why are we here in Reim? I thought we were going to Kou?" I asked. Leonhart turned to me with a passive face before shrugging. Soon, the ship docked and what surprised me was Sinbad. He was there waiting for us.
"S-Sin!? Wha—How did you know that we'll be here?" Sinbad scratched his cheek before pointing at the king behind me. I was utterly confused as to why.
"Thais, go with Sinbad for a while. I have some things to discuss with somebody here."
"Eh?" He did not bat an eye at me before leaving to who-knows-where. I turned to Sinbad who held his left hand. Of course, I grabbed it.
"I'm glad to see you here." He kissed my forehead which caused me to blush a hundred times. Why did he need to have this effect on women!? I mentally scold myself regarding this before asking where we will be going.
"I've just finished some paperworks yesterday so I guess we can just roam around the city? Does that sound nice?"
"Yeah." He grinned at me before pulling me towards the market. We literally just looked around for some exotic locales and ate some. I saw a familiar fruit from Aktia so I decided to pick on Sinbad. I offered a blue good looking fruit and let me tell you, it may seem beautiful on the inside but it was a demon on the inside. I bought some milk before giving the fruit to Sinbad.
"Sin, you should taste this one." He raised an eyebrow at me before I encourage him that it was something he will never forget. Literally. He bit on it and at first, there was no reaction until his face turned red like a tomato.
"HOOOOOTTT!! W-What the hell is this, Thais!?" I laughed at his lips which were pouty and red. His glare kinda bothered me so I offered the milk.
"That one was called Linger Fruit. It's a special fruit from Aktia." I grinned. He gave me another glare before emptying the bottle of milk. Once he was done, the only evidence left by the Linger Fruit was his flushed face. I took hold of his hand before proceeding to another fruit. It was called Honey Glaze.
"Here. This should make up for that Linger Fruit." He gave me a look of distrust before I sighed. Seeing that he did not trust me, I ate a mouthful of it. The fruit was sweet and it enveloped my whole body. Sinbad saw that it was nothing dangerous and I thought he will grab the fruit from my hand but what he did was he kissed me and took the fruit from my mouth. Once he was done, he smirked at my flushed face.
"That was delicious." Heat rose to my cheeks and I was sure I was more redder than any tomatoes out there.
"S-Sin! You meanie!" He chuckled before taking my hand. It took us until afternoon before reaching the quietest part of the port. We sat side by side and I could not help but feel happy.
'I wish that this could last forever. No worries, just happiness.'
'Thais.' That one single voice pulled me out of trance and I could feel sadness loom over me. I hated it. Sinbad must have felt the tightening of my hands before he assured him that he was there. I looked at him and his golden orbs struck me.
"Sin?"
"Leonhart told me everything. He said that you were hiding something. What is it, Thais? I am here. I will never leave you." My body froze at that statement. He will never leave me? I knew that he will never but what pained me was that I will be the one to leave him. My body trembled.
"I-I... I will be the one to leave you, Sin. Just like what I told Leon. Just like...." I told him everything and I was sure that his body had gone rigid at that declaration. I did not want to show weakness but I was defeated. My time will be up soon now that Ugo has learned of that organization's movement.
"I will protect you."
'Don't. You can never protect me 'cause I'm always on my own.'
"Sin."
'Please. Can't you see?'
"I can see." He muttered. By that time, I knew that I was crying.
"I don't know what to do, Sin. I feel like I'm in the middle of a desert with nowhere to go. He told me that I will have to go because a certain organization is out to find me and bring doom to this world. I want to help but I can't leave this world. I can't just go to safety leaving that you two are out here, fighting in this world. I—" He cut me off with a kiss. It was not just a plain one but it was full of passion and warmth.
"I will protect you and even if you go, I will wait for you. You are the only one who made me feel like this and I know that I will never fall for another woman. I want you to be forever beside me. That is why..." He trailed. I saw him grab something from his pocket. It was a small box but inside was his promise.
"This will connect us."
"Yeah." It was a pair of ring. A simple one but full of promise. I did not notice that it was time until I heard Leonhart's voice from afar. He told me that we will going. As much as I wanted to be with Sinbad more, I had to go. He gave me one last kiss before going.
"Have a safe trip."
"Be safe as well."
With that, we sailed towards Kou where I will never see the light again.
=END=