Chapter 52 – Realizations (2)
Translator: Lunarise
Editor: Namita Suberi, Larkspur
“Do you want to choose a horse?” Lune asked. She walked along the stable and chose a white one. It would make a striking pair next to Lune’s black one.
“You have a good eye,” he said with a smile, “she is his mate.”
“Really?” said Viola absent-mindedly.
“Yes,” said Lune, apparently too invested in explaining about the horse she had chosen. “She runs very fast and is very strong. Come, let’s get going.”
Before he could offer her help, she got on the horse by herself and rode out of the stables. He followed and caught up to her. Her heart was uneasy as she rode alongside him. The night was breezy and cold. He adjusted his speed to hers. He slowed down when she did and caught up when she went ahead. She didn’t know how long they rode like this, side by side.
They came upon the Forest of God. It was a fascinating sight. She saw a stream that seemed to flow along the circumference of the Lake of God. The horse trotted near the stream. She felt something was amiss. A certain kind of wrongness. She turned her head to look around and discovered a steel tower that loomed over the thick forest.
Viola pulled at the reins to head towards the tower but Lune rushed forward and blocked her way. “You can’t go that way,” he said agitatedly.
“I have never seen that tower before,” she said, craning her head to look at it. “What is it?”
“It’s just an abandoned castle,” he said. “It’s cursed.”
“Cursed?” asked Viola curiously.
She had never come across something like this. She wanted to explore it, but Lune seemed disturbed and determined to stop her. She turned the horse away but wondered about it all the way back. She had to investigate it somehow. She had lived in an abandoned castle herself, so she wanted to know more about it. Perhaps there was someone abandoned inside, just like her?
Viola and Lune rode back to the stables. She could see that several knights were waiting for Lune here. When they reached, he handed her the reins of both the horses.
“Could you take them back to the stables?” asked Lune.
“Wait for me a while.” Viola obliged.
She took the horses to their respective places, fed and watered them. She was busy with them when she sensed a presence there. She wasn’t alone. She turned to find Paul standing a few paces away. She looked around to make sure Lune was occupied and headed to the drill hall with Paul. The two hid behind the dais.
“They told us all to leave suddenly,” he said. “That’s why I couldn’t meet you. Had to sneak in.”
“But why?” she asked curiously.
“I think the crown prince might visit,” he said. “I have heard things from others.”
“Tell me,” said Viola, suspicious and alert of her surroundings.
“I heard that the crown prince has been out of office a lot recently,” he said hurriedly. “And they have found him in unexpected places.”
She thought of her encounter with Lustian. “He must be busy with his petty life.” She sneered.
“What?” asked Paul, confused.
“All the rumors of the crown prince being uninterested in women is bull crap,” she said annoyed. “He exploits women and indulges in a life of pleasure.”
“You’ve met him?” asked Paul incredulously.
“Yes,” she said angrily, remembering the encounter with the man.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” he asked.
“None,” she replied. She didn’t want to mention anything about her helpless contract marriage to Lune. She trusted Paul completely, but if he did anything to save her and compromised his identity… She wouldn’t be able to forgive herself for putting him in danger. Besides, the crown prince had allowed her marriage to Lune on the condition that it be kept secret until he could proclaim it himself.
Viola thought back to the abandoned castle she saw earlier. As she mulled about it, she realized she was looking at the flag fluttering above the drill hall.
“Paul,” she said sadly, “do you remember the flag around Edward’s body?”
“Yes,” he said, dejected. He looked at the golden flag fluttering and gritted his teeth. “I so want to cut that flag up in pieces and drag it through the mud. I think about the flags covering Edward’s body a dozen times a day.”
“Paul…,” she faltered.
“I don’t know how long I can hold back,” he said with anger, “I vowed to avenge him the day I recovered his cold dead body with my own hands.”
The flag that Paul was looking up at wasn’t the flag of the Blood Army. Their flag was red. She remembered the color of the flag when she saw it wrapped around Edward’s body. It was, undoubtedly, red…. Then it hit her. Paul was glaring at the imperial flag! The flag representing the knights led by Lune. Her body froze, her lips were trembling.
“Red… the color….” Viola couldn’t say it out loud. Even the utterance took too much effort and heartache. He had been so pale because of blood loss …
“Oh, Edward… .” Her voice trailed off as tears flowed down her cheeks.
His blood had colored the flag red like the blood of every victim that the Blood Army had ever killed …