(From the point of view of Damian Carmichael)

***

I then stammered awkwardly, still not knowing how to reply to what she had just said, but knowing very well that this is my responsibility now. I brought it up after all. Thus, I still went on with it even if I know that... it's not really a wise decision knowing what had just happened to the king. "I-I mean, of course, I know that it's because th-they're the sons of the king since I would also, you know, uhm... sacrifice myself for them, but I just... uhm.."

"They're family to me, Sir Damian," Madame Belladonna wisely interrupted my panicked ramblings. "just like their parents. I always looked up to the king and the queen; to me, they're this... wonderful array of hope that will always be there with me, you know? I always thought that they would always be there to light up my life during my darkest moments." She then looked up at the peaceful scenery outside of the window as the light touched her soft her skin. "They're more than just friends, and I don't treat them solely as JUST a brother and sister figure, no, no, no, no, no! I treat them like my parents and something way above that... if that thing even exists!" She chuckled after a short moment of seriousness were plastered over her grim expression. She then showed me another one of her dazzling smiles again as she looked at me before continuing, "Bah! I'm sure you've already heard the stories about me!"

"I only heard rumors..." I said as I saw the sudden playfulness in her eyes.

She then gently caressed the back of her hands lightly on my wounded cheek, which made me jump back slightly away from her. She then spoke, "Rumors can still hold the truth in them, Sir Damian..."

As she continued to stroke my bandaged skin, a part of me started cursing the world for not making me a piece of gauze instead! I then spoke with my eyes slightly closed, looking only at her smiling face through the tiny open spaces between my eyelids. "Th-then... the rumors I've heard are about how a king in Defuntalac imprisoned when you were young..."

"That's quite true, yes. I can't see the reason why I would hide that now since it pretty much became a part of my identity, it seems! But yes, that was true. I was taken away from my home in Duibhne and was shipped far, far away into Defuntalac wherein the only people I've seen are men—old, old men, terrifying men, and they're all there just to hurt me." Madame Belladonna continued brushing her hands on my wound gently as she let out a pained sigh. "In those few years when I stayed chained up in that hall while this old, old man did everything to my body and turned me into his experiment, I really almost felt like I was the only girl in the world. I never once saw any other lady until I beheld Queen Elara's beauty... That was the first time I saw another woman after what seemed like an eternity, really."

I suddenly felt a tug in my chest like something deep within me was puncturing my heart with a massive needle as I said, "That's..."

A playful grin then crept up on Madame Belladonn'a face once more. "Come on! What else do the rumors say about me, hmm?"

"Well..." I said as I cleared my throat with my eyes wide open. Meanwhile, the lady before me is still nuzzling her hand on my face. I may feel a bit weirded out about whatever it is Madame Belladonna is doing, but I do not at all intend to take her hands away from me. I then indulged her little game and started spouting more rumors the soldiers have told me in the past in admiration of her might as a warrior during the war. "Rumors also had it that... the king and the queen saved you from those who imprisoned you."

"Ah... That part was false." She then pulled her body away from me, which made me feel so dejected that a considerable part of me wanted to pull her arms back at me. I am glad I am not a person who would do something like that. "When the king and the queen saw me, my captor is already dead, poisoned—I'm sure you can put the pieces together on your own; no, they didn't save me from the old man... they saved me from myself." A downcast expression started to reappear on Madame Belladonna's face again as she suddenly wrapped her body with her hands.

"I'm—"

"If it weren't for them," Madame Belladonna continued as she tightened her grip around her body as a pained expression started to contort her beautiful face. At this point, I was already panicking so damn much that I pretty much already gave up thinking. I was just there looking at her with the face of a clueless child. "I would be a rampaging fool in the middle of nowhere now somewhere in the far, far side of the world, in the western side of the mountains, in a place where no man would dare trek, where I could continue being the only girl in the world."

"Well... Madame Belladonna..." I said after hearing what she had just said. "If I may be so bold to say this, but..." An idea then started spewing out of my head; one that I had never once thought I would be able to have the privilege to think. "If you just want, of course, I would like to... I would like you to, uhm—" I then cleared my throat once more as I started feeling my heart beating so crazy that it almost made me feel like it would burst out of my ribs and leave my chest hollow and open. However, this only gave me much more confidence to say what it is that I always wanted to say from that very moment our eyes first locked contact within the warm confines of the king's court. "It would be great if you would become the only girl in the world for me instead."

Silence ensued around us as I suddenly moved my head away from her, making me only face the damn wooden floor.

I saw a hint of shock and puzzlement on Madame Belladonna's expression after hearing what I had just said. However, I didn't manage to see her face much since I hurriedly avoided establishing eye contact with her after uttering the words I had so courageously spewed out of my lips.

Suddenly, I heard a sweet chuckle erupt from her pink lips, which made my heart quiver with both nervousness and affection.

"Call me Violet." She said as she placed her hands on my legs.

"Eh?" I uttered as my gaze moved up to her face.

The warmth of her hands continued to seep through my thigh as she plastered an embarrassed smile on her flushed face. "I hate it when you call me Madame Belladonna; it makes me look old. Call me Violet."

"Oh... uhm... okay," I then heaved twice and nodded with my eyes closed before finally uttering with all the confidence I have in my heart, "V-Violet..." Yikes. I stuttered! Not a good look.

"Great! And I'll call you Damian!" She said as she suddenly stood up, seemingly having regained some of her energy to make her body move as she pleases again. "Why don't you carry the princes for me, Damian? Let's go back to our room. I don't want the princes to learn how to snore like their old grandpa over there!"

Thus, for an entire day, Violet and I spent our time here in this little paradise-like part of the Cresca Sea while an endless storm raged from a few kilometers behind us. Violet then placed the princes between us as she laid her head on my arms.

Is it really...

Is it really okay for a person like me to feel such happiness?