Chapter 195: Chapter 195
*******
The clear words of her letters had disrupted his insides in an ignorant chasm.
It was a lovely truth she had shared to a curious question he had done because of her velvety presence when witnessing the creature.
Her eyes looked at it with lonesome resignment to let it leave for an uncertain fate and his eagerness to learn whatever lighted those eyes with any emotion of hers, threw him to ask an answer to his doubts without much consideration.
Nonetheless... His heart confusedly ached at the obtained knowledge.
[ No. I am one. ]
"..."
[ I like it when he calls me a bird. ]
"..."
The Crown Prince had seen in her eyes the yearning as she wrote the answer. The Lady’s spirit vibrated greatly in a lovely air, certainly writing those words with heartfelt sincerity.
Yet, once again... Such honesty had him chained in new conflict.
The reminiscence of her gleam when meeting the far sky in their regrettable return emerged selfishly in his mind. And so, Zeleskiaz blurted.
"... Therefore... The Lady finds joy in the sky and birds who travel through it...?"
"..."
A decisive nod was given, as well as a boost to his conflict of nameless desperation. Hence, aware that his grief was to summon a sight the Lady did not deserve to watch...
"I understand. It is regrettable, yet I ought to leave so the Lady finds rest."
"..."
The two souls listened surprised. The man’s response seemed rushed, and even to the carefree soul inhabiting Marianne, his harsh expression, as well as his reluctance to meet her eyes for long, felt misplaced.
"Until later, Lady."
Quickly he turned to flee, as the woman stared confused at the sudden end of their evening.
Nonetheless... She said nothing.
Neither on the outside nor the inside, she stayed hushed at the scene and, ultimately perceiving the curious gaze of her maid, she freed herself from the silent wonder to continue her day.
’I should take a look at my treasure...’
She decided, trying to change her focus and attempt to leave behind the disappointment disguised as confusion.
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince’s strides became wider at the gradual suffocation he felt. His destination was his private chambers, yet that is everything his psyche was conscious of at the time.
Zeleskiaz’s speed only halted at his entrance; where he hesitatingly opened the gates after an uncomfortable pause, only to find the familiar sight.
With every paced step he gave inside, The man’s desultory heart, felt puffed in ache, menacing to pierce his chest out of discord.
"..."
The feel of the pure cloth... and then its plunging soft sound on the floor.
The smell of coloured feathers... Those she liked.
Swallow...
’... I’ve devastated thousands of these creatures...’
His clear inward sentence summoned a heated headache.
— I am one. —
’She is...’
Zeleskiaz felt faint.
In his eyes, she was far more enchanting than those simple creatures. Nonetheless, he now could see in them the appalling similarity to her lovely elegance in their delicate wings covered in luxurious feathers.
Prominent in their beauty and stand... just as she was portraying herself when teaching him her likes.
"... She’s certain to despise me now..." — Zeleskiaz barely pronounced in a choking voice as his features struggled with the pain.
His hand, like he has never done, caressed the depressing bars of the huge cage, feeling its cold temperature and heartbreaking edges that prevented the creatures from leaning on them.
’... If she once was a bird... And had come to meet me as these have...’
"Kh.."
The rusty flavour that came from his lip was maddeningly deleterious. Yet he still tasted and swallowed it. Intending for its harmful memory would never leave his soul.
Zeleskiaz’s next actions did not wait.
Driven by the difficult pressure his emotions placed on him, the bars of the cage were opened.
Though, unlike usual, instead of his hand going into it in search of the feathers, he recoiled. A step after another... And yet another one.
He slowly stepped back; Away from the cage that held the creatures that now only reminded him of her desirable figure.
...Flutter...
One feather fell and after a curious one made its way out of their prison, the others followed.
Flap, flap... Rustle...
The man’s eyes watched the wings shortly fly in the restricted sky of his chambers. Chaotic yet free, every single one of the creatures seemed to gain a new beauty once freed from their cage. The sound of their flapping and random twits reached his ears differently from the cracking sounds he used to make from holding them.
Running his gaze through the surrounding feathers, the Prince fixated his eyes on a lovely pair that shared its species with the one the Lady had previously waved goodbye to.
"... This is how it ought to be." — He mumbled, heavy from how strong fatigue he felt out of guilt.
"... Even if the thirst pushes me into insanity..."
— I prefer it before causing harm to something she finds delight in. —
Words without true shape resounded at the bottom of his soul.
That day, every cage holding winged creatures was opened. Hundreds of them flew away into the skies over the palace and marched beautifully in the red lightning of a disappearing sun.
Nevertheless, sleep was deprived of him. Bothered by his past, Zeleskiaz blankly watched the empty balcony that wouldn’t have her presence in the meantime.
Even recalling their passionate twining did not appease his affray.
His measured demeanour had been disrupted by the imprinted feel of the frail corpses in his palms and fingers.
Zeleskiaz felt sickened with himself. Saddened greatly for harming creatures that represented her comely virtue.
— Leaving here this chance ends —
"..."
Pained, his eyes closed. Recalling the meaty lips that even in the dim light appeared appetizing in their cherry shade; Juicy, sweet and succulent in their softness... His heart ached at the surreal memory.
"... It hurts." — The Crown Prince declared, clenching the loose blouse covering him.
’Why does my chest aches so greatly right now?... I...’
"I’m at loss... My Lady..... I cannot bring myself to understand what you have done to me."
Every little detail of her figure crossed his mind in a blink.
"It’s not only your restrictions that have me in desperation now... This... This painful throb my insides keep on amassing at what I’ve done unknowingly..."
Intimidating strife... and shortness of breath...
"How am I to overcome this qualm... This deserved penance... To appreciate your illusion calmly again?"
’... Lady... What is this sentiment you have cursed me with...?’
Ignorance at the obvious that was unthinkable for the Prince. His new feelings kept evolving their deepness, selfishly, steadily...shamelessly.
Indeed, like a curse, strong and relentless, the unique emotion was to invade him completely in his oblivion. Although... the sensation was so spectacular in its complexity, that whenever the distance was shortened to the recipient, his whole existence became ecstatic at the enormous bliss of her presence... And it was this heavenly sensation... That brought him to unconsciously help the curse to grow further.
"... A disease... A calamity... A curse..... Even though I know how dangerous a sentiment this appears... Haaa..... My Lady..."
’I cannot bring myself to halt its destructive power.’
Nothing like this was meant for him to experience. Nonetheless, Zeleskiaz was learning the uncontrollable force of the unknown.
"My Lady..... My Lady Marianne... Feathered mist that invades my entire spirit..... Help me Fenrir... So I can be at her side proudly and drown in her gaze without shame."
*******
In the tall building, at his favoured spot, the man was once again changing the bandages placed to cover the unwilling-to-heal wound.
The itchy sensation of the fresh air grazing it as it was set free from the old bandages scorched as strongly as it did the moment the weapon flew towards him.
’... I should have obeyed Bashaa... The ordered distance of sixty meters was certainly not a whim...’
The unkempt man was still bothered by the unexpected response he received after approaching the Prince’s whereabouts thoughtlessly, simply curious to see from closer what occurred inside after learning the presence of a certain Lady there.
’He’s a dangerous man... It took him a mere second to find me even when concealing my presence... It wasn’t a bluff when Bashaa warned the clan.’
As a member raised by the stealthy clan, he was stunned that the feared Hero of the Empire was indeed an opponent the Umbra Quadrigis ought to respect out of the menace he represented to their extremely trained skills.
"... My Lady... I couldn’t even peek at Miss Marianne’s figure because of that deadly poniard."
The book he had lent to her rested peacefully on his buried desk where she once came to surprise him.
"... I hope she’s recovered... I hope the Crown Prince won’t harm her weak spirit further with pressure..." — Spreading the healing oil on the wound, he mumbled regretfully.
His intentions at the time were to guard her against any harm that could come her way, yet her chambers were guarded by the invisible veil of Fenrir’s protection and the only place he might have been able to watch over her was where the rules demanded an extreme distance from the Lady’s companion.
"... I wonder when His Grace will send news on her recovery..... To think it’s been a week since they left for the Palace..." — Theodore mumbled, preoccupied for the girl who had left to stay near a man that easily injured him.