Vervain Castle
Kira woke up in a slight daze. Letting her eyes travel around, she found her self in an unfamiliar room. Instead of her tidy room with light blue walls and a single bed with floral patterns, she noted that she was in a large room with greyish brick walls and she lay in a bed with white linens.
“Koko wa doko?” the girl asked. “Surely, this isn’t Kuruso –san’s place.”
When she tried to get up, she felt a sharp pain shooting through her head. Fragments of memories flashed in her mind. “That’s right… I was kidnapped. I wonder what they will do to me.”
Then she heard a couple of voices which were coming near the chamber she was in.
“At last, you finally found my step daughter.” A woman’s voice filtered her ears.
Getting back into the bed, Kira pretended to sleep while trying to observe things and wait for the right time to make a move.
The door hatched open and three people came in. The first one who had approached the girl was a woman with dark hair and purple eyes.
She peered closely at Kira’s face with utmost anticipation. However the look of elation on her face faded as she failed to recognize the girl on the bed.
“You imbecile!” she screamed which almost made the girl jump in fright. “This is not my step daughter!” she roared while pointing at the girl.
With a flick of her hand, the woman flung one of her companions to the wall.
The poor man knocked the portraits before slumping down. Her other companion, a younger woman, immediately went forward and tended to the fallen man. “Kain, are you alright?”
Although he received such a blow, not a single hint of pain registered on his face. “I’m alright, my lady.”
The younger woman checked his vitals and sighed after making sure that he is indeed alright. Then turning to the older woman, she gently reminded. “Queen Anise, you should not harm him. You might break the spell that I have cast.”
The queen huffed. “He deserves more than a good beating, Arisa. He did not only let the duke escape… he also failed to bring me my precious step-child!”
Arisa tried to appease her. “Mother, remember he is under my spell. If he had betrayed me, he would have died already.”
Anise narrowed her smoldering purple eyes at her daughter. “You keep on defending that boy toy of yours, Arisa. Are you getting attached to him?”
“Of course not, my Queen!”
“Remember… you should never get attached to the likes of these men. You will only get hurt in the end.” her purple eyes darkened to almost pitch black with contained rage. “Look at what they have done to me.”
Feeling overwhelmed, the younger woman lowered her gaze and shrank back. “I know, your majesty. I will never allow myself to fall and be treated as a fool.”
Anise gradually calmed down after her daughter uttered those words.
“Now then, what shall we do with this girl?” After a few moments of consideration, she began to cast a spell. “I have no need for her. I will just let her disappear without a single trace.”
Kira paled at her words. Despite feeling frightened, she made her move and jumped out of bed to escape. The women were quite surprised that the girl fled.
After getting over her initial shock, Anise screamed. “You dare to escape your fate!” then she raised her hand. Green flames burst forth and were coming fast towards the escapee.
Kira’s eyes widened as she tried to shield herself with her hands. Knowing that her efforts were futile, the girl closed her eyes and braced herself for her inevitable demise.
But instead of engulfing her, the greenish flame stopped a few feet away from her. The emerald tongues of fire did not even graze the girl’s skin. They just disappeared into the thin air.
Puzzled, Anise tried to hurl several spells at the girl but they didn’t seem to work.
“What?” the queen seethed. “What is going on? Why are my spells rendered useless?” she tried hurling another offensive spell after another at the girl but to no avail.
“It might be a protective charm.” Arisa said as she gazed at the girl. Her eyes glowed purple as scrutinized the cowering lass.
“A protective charm.” The queen muttered. “How can this girl have a protective charm? She looks like an ordinary human to me. And ordinary humans could not cast spells.”
“This girl had a charm to protect herself from any magical harm.” Arisa deduced after giving the girl a slap. “She is still susceptible to physical harm.”
Kira shrank in the corner in an attempt to get away and protect herself.
Arisa continued her deductions. “This kind of protective charm can only be cast by Verbanian nobility.”
“It must be the work of the new Duke of Alcove.” The queen muttered to herself. “The wizard may have done this as well. But since Kain had said that he found this girl with Aliester, then it is more likely that the duke was the one who cast it.”
“So what are we going to do with this girl?” Arisa asked as she pulled Kira by the hair.
The captive cried out in pain but Arisa’s glared made her shut up.
“I do not need a mere human. We can just get rid of her.” She ordered. “Throw her in the pit.”
After giving an acknowledging bow, Arisa released her captive.
Kira who had just found her strength to move again suddenly shivered. Arisa’s eyes were cold as she flicked her wrist. “Sorry, young lady but I am just following orders.”
Kira’s eyes widened as she felt the floor gave way. Screaming, the girl braced herself for impact as fell into a dark abyss.
“I am going to die! Aliester!” she called out as she plunged into the unknown.
***
Tokyo, Japan
Aliester suddenly sat up as he woke from the nightmare. “Kira!”
Feeling pain shooting through his nerves, he winced and curled into a ball.
“You shouldn’t strain yourself.” Innocia said as she pushed the duke back on his bed. “You were poisoned. That pain is part of the after effects of Alnwick.”
“It hurts. I felt like I have been trampled by elephants.”
“Here, drink this.” His cousin gave him a concoction made of several grounded herbs and wine. It reeked of malt, licorice and mint, but it was nowhere near appealing.
As soon the fluid touched his tongue, he spluttered. “This is awful.”
“Well, that is the only antidote available. The herbs were preserved by Blaze so they are not that fresh compared to the freshly picked ones. Although I managed to accelerate its effects, I cannot do anything about the taste. It is an antidote and antidotes are not meant to taste like gourmet milk tea.”
Looking at the dark colored fluid, he grimaced. “Here goes nothing.” Pinching his nose, he gulped the liquid. After swallowing the concoction, he covered his mouth in an attempt to prevent himself from throwing up.
Despite her efforts to stop herself from laughing at the duke’s face, Innocia could not help but chuckle at his misery.
Though she was making fun at his expense, Aliester could sense that her laugh was half-hearted. Something must have gone wrong. “Done laughing?” he asked with annoyance.
Wiping her tears, Innocia looked at him then burst out laughing again.
When she finally managed to calm down, her cousin inquired. “Are Kira and Kuroe alright?”
All laughter ceased as Innocia’s brown eyes turned a reddish hue. “Kuroe is recuperating in the next room. Though she had survived with only a stab that she has done to herself, the poison managed to damage some of her capillaries.”
“Damaged capillaries? She had reached the second stage?!”
“Yes. Alnwick poison works that way. If you managed to inhale its fume, you will be paralyzed. That’s the first stage. The second stage…the poison will work its way into your system and destroy your veins. Then death will follow without any physical manifestation. Since Kuroe wounded herself, some of the poison spilled out with her blood. That helped save her from the worst.”
“Is she doing well?”
“Yes. But if we haven’t arrived in time and made that concoction, she would have passed away already.”
“How about Kira?”
Innocia suddenly clenched her fist, as if she was holding back her anger. “They took her.”
“We need to get her back-“ Though the duke wanted to have an outburst at the information, he halted.
With goose bumps covering his arm, Aliester almost shrank back as he saw his cousin’s face. Her eyes were glowing fiery red.
“All the while, I was thinking that you were quite calm that our master is injured and your friend got taken away.” The duke commented with a bit of dread. “I never knew that I will get a glimpse of the rampaging devil again. It seems that it is only waiting to be unleashed.”
Ignoring her cousin’s remark, Innocia gritted out. “Kuroe and Kira have nothing to do with this. What was the reason why they attacked and took her?”
“Kain mistook her as you. He didn’t even listen to me when I told him that Kira is not the princess.”
“The earl betrayed us?” she gritted her teeth. Her eyes shone a deep red tinge.
“I think he has been controlled.” The duke took off his covers and tried to sit. “When are we going to leave? We need to rescue Kira.”
“As soon as possible.” The girl replied. “I wanted to make my move to retrieve her but we cannot leave without you.”
“I am alright now. I have regained much of my strength.” The duke said as he stood up. However when he took a step, his knees shook and he almost lost his balance.
Innocia was quick to assist him. “Are you kidding? As you are now, you won’t even make it to the Eastern gate of the castle! You need to recuperate first. Not to mention, I have a lot of explaining to do.” She lowered her gaze and sighed problematically.
“I am sure, Kuroe will understand.”
“I always knew that you are not from this world.” Kuroe’s voice made them freeze.
Turning towards the door, the cousins found their mentor leaning against the frame. But she was not alone. Blaze was hovering over her like a fussing mother hen.
“You shouldn’t move, Kuroe sensei. The poison was not yet totally removed from your system.” The wizard tried to support her but Kuroe just ignored him.
“I’ll be fine so stop fussing.” Kuroe snapped. ”I am not a weak person.”
“but…” when she glared at him, the wizard relented. “Alright.”
“You have always known that I am not from this world?” Innocia asked. “Doyo koto?”
“The first time we met, you were wearing clothes that did not look like from this realm. Not to mention the language that you have spoken was different from this country… they were some of the things that gave you away.” Kuroe explained. ”but above all… the main reason why I know that you are not from this world was because I know who you are, hime-sama.” Kuroe dropped the bomb.
“Nani?” the girl cried out.
“You knew that she is the princess!” the duke blurted out.
Making her way to the nearest seat, Kuroe explained. “Of course! I know who she is… because someone hired me to be Innocia’s guardian. The same person also hired me to teach the princess to survive and to train you to be independent.”
“and to be a ninja?” the wizard incised.
“No.” Kuroe frowned. “I was not ordered to teach her to be a ninja. It was Innocia’s decision to learn the arts of ninjutsu.”
They were quite for a time while absorbing such information. Then the wizard voiced out. “You are aware that we are not from this realm and someone hired you to take care of the princess. Is it possible that you also came from our realm too?”
Their master gave them a secretive smile, but she answered nevertheless. “I had been living in this realm since I was a child. I was raised here, but I may have been born from another place.”
“So it means-“ the wizard would like to know more but Innocia cut him off.
“Kuroe, I want to know who hired you. How was it possible that that person was able to contact you even you are in this realm?”
“Sorry, dear, that information is highly classified. If I tell you, I will have to kill you.”
“Not even a hint or clue?” Innocia haggled.
Her master just shook her head. Innocia kept on begging her master to give her the needed information but Kuroe won’t give in.
“Enough prying Innocia.” The wizard chastised the princess. “At the very least we now know that someone is still looking out for you even though you got exiled.”
“So what are we going to do now?” the duke asked all of the sudden.
“I would like to rescue Kira as soon as possible. His cousin replied.
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