Chapter 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7

THANKS to the existence of color contacts, Yuki never had to avert her eyes from others. She never felt ashamed of the eyes she inherited from her father, no matter the curious looks she received from others.

***

A soldier acted as their guide upon entering the castle gates, gradually leading them deep within the still damaged fortifications. At the end of the labyrinth of bloodied halls, torn banners, quickly built makeshift furniture, and wary-eyed soldiers, stood a door riddled with cracks. General Isis was waiting for them on the other side.

He was a man of lanky stature and slender physique. His eyes were so narrow no one could tell if they were open. His large top hat clashed greatly with his military uniform, which should have been worn with an armored helm instead.

He looks like a fox, Yuki thought as she stole a peek through the gap in her mantle. She kept her eyes cast down, thinking it best their eyes didn’t meet. A small shadow loomed by Isis’ feet. A girl the same height as Yuki stood there. The girl wore a long red dress with a loose hem. She squeezed Isis’ hand like she was frightened.

“You kept me waiting Lucat. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever accept my invitation,” Isis said without preamble.

“Thank you very much for your most kind invitation,” Luca responded in a pleasant tenor. Yuki recalled Luca’s full name was Cendol Lucat Adolunde.

Oh, he’s switched into his fake pleasant mode, Yuki noted as Luca slid into a friendly conversational mode with the general.

Yuki stared at the girl beside Isis. The girl’s beautiful jet-black hair nearly reached her waist, and her eyes were a forest green. Yuki smiled when the frightened girl’s eyes met hers. The girl’s face crumbled like she was about to break down crying, then stiffened when Isis put his hand on her head.

“I never imagined Adolunde’s knighted prince had a penchant for little girls.”

Yuki felt Luca’s hand flinch. By saying Luca had a thing for little girls, he must have meant Yuki was the object of his affections.

Hang on! What’s this guy saying! It’s impossible for a man handsome enough the idols of Japan would pale at his good looks to have impure feelings for me—a girl who looks no older than ten!

Yuki frantically tried to deny it—her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. What if it’s true?

“Oooh, she has an adorable reaction,” Isis’ lascivious tone had Yuki using her free hand to pull the mantle past her chin, hiding her face from his perverse leer. “You see, this adorable girl here was quite hard to tame at first, but she’s recently become the most obedient little lamb. Submissiveness is charming too, but I always enjoy breaking them the most. Hehehe,” Isis’ high-pitched, creepy laughter echoed through the room.

“The moment they realize there is no hope and their bodies give in to my touch just does it for me like nothing else will.” Isis finished by directing a provocative look toward the shivering girl at his side. His very presence sent a shiver through Yuki.

“About the negotiation terms,” Luca mildly interjected. Both his smile and demeanor were subdued, but an intimidating air surrounded him.

“Oh dear, how formal you are to bring up negotiations already. Personally, I would love to become good friends with you before we jump into the negotiations—especially when we share such similar hobbies,” he said lasciviously. Yuki grimaced, his tone made her sick.

“Besides, it’s too boorish to discuss such things right away. I finally have guests visiting my newly acquired castle; it would be rude of me not to host a banquet in your honor.”

Luca opened his mouth to say something, but Isis started ordering servants who had been out of sight preparing for the banquet before Luca could object. Isis proceeded, completely ignoring Luca’s silent rage.

“Please relax in the room I have prepared for you until everything is ready,” Isis said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

***

THE room they were led to was very much customized for little girls—or rather, predators trying to win them over. Every nook and cranny of the room was pink with frilly lace attached. The unusually large canopy-covered bed in the center of the room overpowered even the frills on the walls.

Both Luca and Yuki kept their distance from the bed, choosing rather to sip their tea at the table near the front of the room. Exhausted, Yuki leaned heavily into her chair and stole a glance at Luca as she drank her tea. Luca just put a fifth sugar cube into his black tea.

I wonder if he has a sweet tooth. Or is he so deep in thought he hasn’t noticed?

Silence continued to loom between them. Yuki tried several times to start a conversation, but she didn’t know what to talk about and couldn’t find the right chance to speak. Not to mention there was a high chance they were being spied on—in fact, Yuki expected it. Luca put his teacup to his lips in silence. She was certain the tea would be overwhelmingly sweet, but he drank it with his usual brazenness.

Sitting in a daze not thinking of anything in particular automatically caused Yuki’s thoughts to drift toward her own predicament.

Why…am I even here? Just when I thought I was suddenly drowning in a spring, I was unknowingly made the Master of the blond-haired prince who rescued me. And now for some reason I’ve been brought to a place for war negotiations after being forced to wear strange clothing.

“By the way,” Luca turned only his eyes toward Yuki, “what are we going to do now?” she asked. He told her he wanted to free the prisoners, but didn’t tell her any of the details. She wondered whether there was anything she could do to help.

“Good question. I was planning to decide based on how Isis dealt his cards, but he’s quite the problematic opponent.” Luca narrowed his eyes in contempt, as if he had seen something so disgusting he wanted to scrub the image from his brain.

Aah, he must be disgusted that pervert thought he was cut from the same cloth.

“But his kind doesn’t have a strong set of convictions, so I’m sure he’ll accept if we present him with appealing terms.”

Appealing terms… Yuki sighed. She couldn’t wrap her mind around what would be appealing and what would be unappealing to someone like Isis.

“Worst-case scenario I’ll set a decoy to distract him and open the cells myself.”

“…Won’t that be difficult?”

“It’ll become an instant battlefield when I free them,” Luca said matter-of-factly.

…This guy pretends he has no plan then feigns he actually has a plan, when in all reality he actually doesn’t have any plan at all. Yuki felt uneasy as she watched Luca vacantly stare into space.

Just when she thought she heard voices outside the door, it opened without the person knocking. She quickly covered herself with the mantle.

“Pardon me. I apologize for the wait. General Isis’ banquet has been prepared. If you would follow me I will escort you,” said an uncouth grim-faced soldier standing in the doorway.

“Not at all. You were quite expedient. Come now, Yuki, let’s go.”

“Only Prince Luca has been invited to the banquet,” the uncouth man said to the mildly smiling Luca.

“Oh?” Luca replied calmly, but there was a hidden edge to his tone.

The soldier didn’t seem to notice as he continued, “Your companion is to relax in this room. Her food will be brought here.”

Yuki peered through the opening in her mantle at Luca who was all smiles.

“Then I guess I’ll have Yuki wait for me here.” Luca turned his back to the soldier and looked at Yuki with a stern expression. His eyes said, “Stay here.” She nodded.

“I’ll be going then, Yuki. I’ll be back soon, so don’t go wandering about,” Luca said, patting her on the head before leaving the room.

***

“…THERE’S nothing to do,” Yuki grumbled.

Several minutes after Luca left, Yuki dived onto the canopy bed. As the solider said, food was brought to the room for her, but her nerves were so strung she had lost her appetite and left the food untouched on the table.

“What is that guy planning on doing?”

Maybe he sneaked into enemy territory intending to slaughter everyone on his own?

“Nah, his allies outside would never stand for that plan…”

Besides, he’s a prince. The war would worsen if he did something like that.

“But what if that was the goal all along? I mean why was I invited here in the first place if they were planning on forcing us to eat separately after locking me in this room? Isn’t that strange?” she asked no one in particular.

“…Wait a minute, what if what I took as him saying ‘stay here’ was actually him saying, ‘I leave the rest to you’?”

The more Yuki thought about it the more uneasy she felt. The more she considered it, the more believable the idea became, eventually leading her into deluding herself that was what Luca meant.

“…I feel just like a hero who snuck into enemy territory. Actually, I feel more like Romeo going to meet Juliet,” she giggled and rolled out of bed. She put her ear against the only door to the room—she didn’t hear anything on the other side. She cautiously opened the door.

“Oh my.” She completely thought someone would be standing guard on the other side. Not only was no one there, but the door was left unlocked too. “Could this be a sign from God telling me to go?”

Yuki slowly exited the room, shutting the door without a sound. She readjusted the mantle over her head, and slunk into the shadows of the hallway to begin wandering about the conquered castle.