La Vervain Dungeon…
“So where are they?” Looking sternly at the captive, the warden asked.
Although his left eye was swollen, the earl looked up and glared at the warden. Spitting out blood, he answered. “I have no idea…”
“You were with them when they escaped… where did they go?” the warden inquired.
When the earl refused to answer, he ordered the guard hit the poor lord.
Grimacing from the impact which busted his lips, the earl gritted out. “I honestly don’t know. I was left behind so I have no knowledge of the place they escaped to.”
Agitated from his captive’s uncooperative attitude, the warden commanded. “Beat him up until he talks.”
The guards moved as ordered. But before they could land a blow, a feminine voice made them halt.
“Desist!” Arisa entered the torture chamber. The young woman looked out of place with her velvet off-shoulder gown and with her hair styled in an elegant bun.
The guards were momentarily distracted by her unearthly beauty that they did not hear her command.
Sighing, she snapped. “Stop that and leave us alone!”
The men snapped out of their reverie, bowed before the woman and left her with the earl.
Sauntering near the captive, she seductively greeted. “Fancy meeting you again, Kain.”
At the flick of her wrist, the stinky prison chamber changed into a lovely rose scented bedroom. The room was illuminated with candles and in the center was a king sized bed adorned with rose petals.
Despite the change in the ambiance, the earl remained suspended from the ground. Chains were still keeping him in place.
“I am not happy to see a whore like you.” He gritted out as he eyed the woman with distaste.
Hearing his insult, Arisa slapped him with a force that made him turned his head to the side. Grabbing his chin, she made Kain face her. “I really wonder how you Verbanians could resist our enchantments.” Her eyes glowed purple and her face brightened up with her teasing smile. “Don’t you find me pretty, my lord?”
His eyes met her purple ones. The woman smiled as she cast her spell. But instead of getting captivated by her beauty and falling for her trap, he gave her a mocking laugh. “You may be beautiful to look at, Arisa. However, I could still see the monster behind that fake mask.”
The girl narrowed her eyes at him. Her purple orbs grew dark in anger.
“Very well if you won’t cooperate then you leave me no choice.” Just like what her mother has done with the King of Thyme, she formed a portal in front of his chest and let her dainty hand penetrate his flesh.
The earl cried out from the excruciating pain. Blood dribbled from corner of his mouth.
Finding his heart, she held it firmly. But instead of squeezing it and ending all his misery, Arisa had planted a spell directly inside it. “You shall obey my command. You will answer me with nothing but the truth.” She then released him.
Panting, he glared at her. “What have you done?”
“Just a little spell to ensure that you will obey me and give me the information I needed.” She smiled triumphantly. “If by chance you disobey or betray me, that spell will release poison and you’ll die.”
Clapping her hands, Arisa made the chains that held the earl disappear. He dropped on the ground with a loud thump.
“That hurts.” He grunted as he tried to control his uneven breaths.
“So, tell me… where are they?”
The Earl’s eyes glazed. He had no control over his body. He opened his mouth and let the information that the woman needed flow out.
Satisfied with what she learned, she beckoned the earl to draw near her. “Now, allow me to reward you.” And she pulled him for an ardent kiss.
***
Tokyo, Japan
The training has been going on for weeks and they had noticed that Kuroe had been picking on Blaze.
“She is at it again.” Conrad commented as they watched Blaze doing push ups while Kuroe was sitting on his back. The rest of them were allowed to take a break save for the wizard who had received another punishment.
“I wonder why she kept on bullying Blaze.” The duke commented while taking the towel that Daxton offered. ”Is it because she knew that Blaze likes her?”
“Blaze likes her? I didn’t know that.” The girl exclaimed.
“You are quite dense in things like this.” The king commented. “I pity the guy who would fall for you.”
She just ignored the king and answered her cousin’s question. “Kuroe is not bullying him because she knows he likes her or something like that.” She began after taking a swig of water. “Being a caster, Blaze is a little bit weak in the physical aspects. Kuroe could tell that his stamina is not as good as yours. So she is trying to build his stamina and endurance in order for him not to be left behind.”
The knight turned to the princess and said. “Innocia, this is bothering me for a while, does Kuroe knew that we belonged to another realm?”
“I don’t know. She never asked about my past and I haven’t told her. I never opened up to her about being from another realm. But I have a hunch that she had an idea that we are not from here.” The girl muttered.
“Innocia…” a gentle voice called. They turned around and saw Kira with tray of snacks. Innocia helped the other girl.
They began eating while watching Blaze’s torture under their tyrant of a teacher.
“No that is not done like that!” she scolded as she removed his blindfold. “The purpose of blindfolding you is to sharpen your senses. You need to rely on your instincts. Listen to the swing of the blade and feel the wind to predict where the attack is coming from.”
But the wizard seemed not to get it. He was not able to dodge the blade that was aimed at his right shoulder. As a consequence, the blade grazed his shoulder.
“How come the others were able to do this but you cannot?” she mused as she allowed him to patch himself.
Blaze had a troubled look on his face. He turned to the rest as if asking for help. However his companions only shrugged their shoulders.
“Innocia, come over here and show this guy how this is done.” Kuroe called out.
After Innocia made her way to their mentor, Kira took a seat near the duke and said. “I have to thank you for bringing out those expressions. It felt like I have seen many sides of Innocia that I haven’t seen before.”
That perked up the duke’s interest. “What do you mean?”
“Keep this information from her.” She winked. “Just to inform you, ever since you, people, came here, she has been smiling a lot.” The girl replied while watching her friend put on a blindfold.
Innocia waited for Kuroe to attack with her blade. Kuroe swung the blade in order to swipe Innocia’s arm but instead of getting hit, the girl managed to evade the blade like a pro.
“Innocia was not always like the cheerful girl that she has been for these past few weeks.”
“What was she like?”
“When I first met her, she was not even capable of smiling and very unsociable. It was as if she lost something important. There was always this blank sad look in her eyes. She was very reserved and would not talk to anyone she does not know.”
“How did the two of you become friends?” he asked. He had always noticed that Innocia trust this girl more than the other people in school.
“Are you sure, you want to find out?” she asked. The boy nodded. “It is quite a long story.”
“Try me.”
“It started with Kurosu-san. My family and Kurosu family had been acquaintances. They have a dojo near the mountains which was only a few blocks away from our home. My family serves as caretakers of the dojo, so basically I grew up around Kuroe san. Kuroe-san lost her family in a freak accident and had been living alone but five years ago, she came to adopt a girl who was my age.”
“That girl was Innocia?” he confirmed.
“Yes. They believe that she had suffered a traumatic experience. The doctor advised that Kuroe encourage her to talk and open up. They let me try talking to her since we were the same age but the answers she gave me were nods or shake of her head.” she sighed.
“I think it is because of the language barrier.” The duke commented.
“Yes. I was a bit frustrated at first because I wanted to be her friend but she kept pushing me away. Later on, I discovered that she only speak English. I tried to learn the language, and I was happy that I was finally able to talk to her.”
“It must have been tough on you. Learning a language is difficult.” Aliester commented. He did have a hard time learning Nihonggo for the first week that they had stayed. Luckily Innocia was a patient teacher.
“It was difficult but worth it. It took about a year and a half for her to open up to me. I had to approach and pester her everyday so that she will talk to me. She tried to avoid me but I did not give up.”
“Sounds like you had a hard time with her.”
“I did. I usually drop by the dojo to talk to Innocia. I tried teaching her Nihonggo a little. She was really smart and a fast learner so I did not have a hard time. But no matter how much I try, she did not open up. I sensed that she was hiding what she really feels. She would usually give me fake smiles.” She smiled as she reminisced the past.
The duke could only look at her beauty. Not only Kira was pretty but she has a good heart. He knew that she had a lot to do with his cousin’s behaviour.
“She was bullied at school because of being different. Although she had already learned the language, she refused to defend herself. I had stood up for her since she was always keeping quiet.”
“She had been bullied?” the duke formed a fist at the thought.
Nodding, she continued. “Unfortunately, she ran away due to one of the bullies insensitive remarks and she was not able to go home. We tried looking for her and most of the adults gave up when it began to rain. But being the stubborn one, I spent the whole evening looking for her. It was then that I discovered that she was terrified of thunder, so I stayed by her side comforting her until we were able to go back home in the morning.”
“thank you for staying by her side.” He smiled at the girl’s kindness. Though she was a bit frail than Innocia still this girl had some spunk in her.
“You don’t have to thank me. I did it because I felt that she needed me.” She smiled back at him. “Innocia did open up with me but we both ended up with fever. We had to stay in bed for days.” She giggled.
“When we got better, we became friends. She still hides her past from me. She rarely answers when I ask about her family. Only that she was the lone survivor of an accident…but I never truly believed her made up story. Now you guys showed up.”
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