Chapter 10
Returning to the interior, Barath felt terrible. Worst doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was an indescribable mess.
Zart, following close behind him, was also in a bad mood.
It was plain to see that a northern blast of snow was stirring in the mind of the spring-breezy warlord. Such violence is needed on the battlefield, but here it’s just a bomb.
Here, with no enemy prisoners, there was nothing to appease his ‘fleshiness’.
Following him into the bedroom, Zart stood breathlessly by the door. He’s the only one who can stop him from going on a rampage, so he have to keep a close eye on him from this moment on.
Barath returned to his usual expression, seemingly in better spirits, but Zart did not relax.
His master was in the battlefield at the right time, but he was also a man with a killer streak that would have made him a rare killer otherwise. He could be in such a good mood one moment, and then turn round and not answer.
“Zart.”
Zart answered his master’s call to him very carefully.
“Yes.”
The corner of Barath’s mouth twitched upward. He had just had an idea.
“Leave him in the inner castle.”
Zart slipped quietly out into the corridor and headed for the basement. He would bow down to the heavens in gratitude if just that one creature could calm his rage. It was fortunate that he met Anna just as he was about to descend.
He begged her to hold off his lord’s visit for a few moments, then hurried down to the basement.
Once underground, Zart left a few doors open.
When Robin woke up about an hour later, he would adjust the route he would take in an attempt to escape. The path led to a small room next to the inner corridor.
***
If he’s not the kind of bastard whose mind is strong enough to overcome Abelanon’s drugs, then they must be in love. A man Selene loved, or perhaps still loves.
Perhaps they promised to meet again someday and make love. She may have promised to never forget this love, even if it meant being sold for money like a cow or a pig by a father she doesn’t even know.
Good for you. I’ll nip it in the bud now.
He’ll nip the hope in the bud so that it has nowhere to turn. He will make it so.
Barath pushed himself to his feet and slowly approached the window, wondering what to do.
He had just heard Selene’s laughter coming from the courtyard.
Selene must have liked eating in the cloister, because every time she came out there, she smiled as she soaked up the sun.
Barath would stand and watch her for minutes at a time, taking in the scene outside the window.
Watching her was never boring, no matter how long it lasted, as long as she sat still and watched the back of her head.
***
As Selene watched the deserted courtyard and the walls, she saw a butterfly.
It was white and tiny, flitting from place to place, carried by the occasional breeze. There were no flowers here, so it must have flown over the walls somehow.
Somehow, Selene couldn’t take her eyes off the butterfly.
It mirrored her own life, from birth to childhood to adulthood, always being thrown into new environments against her will.
Selene clenched her fists as the white butterfly finally disappeared beyond the mansion walls, its flight upward still stirred by the wind.
The fate that had brought her here seemed to whisper to her.
‘You will find your happily ever after.’
Selene turned her gaze from the wall where the butterfly had flown over to the window of Barath’s bedroom.
He happened to be standing by the window, and she thought she could faintly see him. Probably wearing his stern face again.
She doesn’t know how she was thrown into this world, but she thinks she can find happiness. Just like the little white butterfly that flew over the high wall and eventually found the flower and got the nectar.
She stood in the courtyard, mesmerized, looking at something, and suddenly turned her head to find herself.
It’s not a short distance, but he fools himself into thinking she’s looking for him again.
He suddenly remembered her blossoming age. Twenty. An age when it wouldn’t be strange if she had grown up in an aristocratic family, married and had children.
She was old enough to know love.
He wondered if she had whispered her love into his ear with such a radiant face, blushing shyly, the nape of her neck and her ears reddening.
He had no idea what Selene was thinking, watching his shadow, and now he had to calm his furious temper.
No matter how hard he tried to breathe evenly, he couldn’t calm down. He wasn’t even sure where this anger was coming from; he was just angry and wanted to smash everything in sight.
There was only one thing holding his back. There was only one reason to hold it together: she was looking up at his bedroom.
Selene.
Selene.
Selene Velias. His rain.
How he should kill him in front of her eyes. He would kill him so horribly that the word love would never be uttered again.
If only.
If, indeed, there was any part of her that still longed for him.
He will crush him to his bones and scatter him as food for the wild beasts.
***
His shadow faded from Barath’s window. She watched for a while longer. Thinking of the blunt man in that room somewhere, even if he wasn’t in the window.
She tore her eyes away from the pretence and turned her head to see Anna bringing in hot tea and cookies.
Her expression seemed sterner than usual.
Selene called out to her questioningly.
“Anna?”
“Yes.”
Her demeanour was usually polite, but today it seemed stiff with tension. Then a large shadow loomed behind her.
It was Barath.
He sat down across from her, his face expressionless. Selene had the vague thought that he looked as usual, but not as usual.
Anna filled the table and stepped away.
Barath’s eyes were hot today, and Selene didn’t know where to look.
Sitting across from her, he was just sitting there, staring at her. Like a rock.
Selene ran a hand through her wind-blown hair and moistened her lips with the tea on the table in both hands.
He glanced at her repeatedly to see if he was bothering her, then pretended not to notice. Occasionally, she’d make eye contact and smile awkwardly, but then she’d shrug and grab her teacup again.
She smiles shyly, covering the corner of her mouth with her teacup, and speaks in a high-pitched voice.
“I wore those shoes today, would you like to see them?”
And with that, she slipped up her dress and showed him her shoes. As he looked at the woman smiling so brightly, the feeling that had been lurking somewhere in the back of his mind began to creep back up.
The dress and leather shoes didn’t look right at all, even to him, who frankly knows nothing about fashion, but she didn’t seem to mind at all.
“Are they comfortable?”
As if those shoes would speed up her slow, awkward gait.
“Yes. They’re much easier to walk in, and they’re pretty.”
He thought to himself.
‘Easy walking shouldn’t be the word.’
She’d have to run full speed to get out of this castle. He knows. She’s not going to be able to run either, so it doesn’t matter.
“Do you want to go out with me today?”
He could see the thought in her head that she’d like to walk everywhere because her feet felt good, and it’s funny how he can see right through her.
He swallowed his laughter and asked distantly.
“Where do you mean?”
“Just anywhere,” She said, “anywhere will do.”
She meant it, and he knew it: she’d only been out of Velias Castle twice, and both times she’d only gone as far as the marketplace and the fountain.
Barath looked at her, tilted his head sharply, and spoke.
“As of today, I am closing the inner castle.”
The smile in Selene’s eyes began to fade as he spoke, and she seemed taken aback by the suddenness of the announcement.
“I’m…”
Seeing her stutter, he answered the question that would have been omitted.
“You stay in the inner sanctum.”
Selene, now completely devoid of laughter and speech, sat looking into Barath’s eyes.
It was as if she was trying to find something in his eyes.
A reason, or something like that.
Barath swallowed a sigh and added.
“I’m closing up the castle for a while, but it won’t be more than a week at the most, so why don’t you and I go for a ride afterwards?”
She smiled slightly at that, let out a long sigh of relief, and nodded.
“Sounds good.”
Maybe today this woman would decide to resent him for the rest of her life. Whatever. It doesn’t matter.
He has no intention of sharing even a speck of that powder, let alone the crumbled remains of the sugar bunny in his hand, with another bastard.
It’s okay to feel empty inside. It’s okay to be sad and depressed.
But it shouldn’t be directed at another. It’s unacceptable for him to be alive.
After watching him die in front of your eyes… I need to get some air. We should go to the Lebelaberg Forest. You seem to like the stars.
The night sky is famously clear and beautiful here, so he’s sure she’ll love it.
Just then, the door to a small room off to the side of the corridor slowly opened.
Barath watched Selene turn her head at the unfamiliar sight, his eyes constantly scanning her face as she made eye contact with Robin, who would soon emerge from the room. What expression would be on her face?
Barath’s eyes glowed strangely.
