Chapter 17

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 17

YUKI returned to her room and crawled into bed next to a sleeping Tita. Morning arrived before she could fall asleep. Luca apparently had no recollection of the previous night, and greeted her with his usual sullen-look when she sat across from him at breakfast. Yuki was honestly relieved he didn’t remember.

But how can he act so nonchalantly, like nothing happened? She didn’t want him to remember what he did yet wanted him to. She realized how contradictory she was being but couldn’t stop the way she felt. At least let it bother you a little, stupid Luca.

She glared at him with one-sided anger, when he suddenly looked at her. Their eyes met—Yuki blushed and turned away when she remembered last night. Last night was the first time a man had ever looked at her with such passion and embraced her with heated intentions.

I’m the real idiot for being the only one who got excited.

Irritated, she stuffed food into her mouth.

“Ooh, you sure can eat,” Nasette commented in awe.

“Yuki, why don’t you eat a little slower? The food will get stuck in your throat,” Tita suggested kindly, handing her a cup of tea.

“Thanks,” Yuki said, accepting the cup with a smile. She downed the contents at once.

Right, this isn’t anything worth getting worked up over. No matter how they look at me, I’ll only appear like a ten-year-old girl. In all actuality, they probably only see me as a girl not much past ten. That’s why Luca’s actions were a result of the alcohol in his system and not any actual feelings. There’s absolutely no other reason for it.

Yuki let her thoughts move to other topics, such as getting used to the toiletries in a medieval world, and tried to forget about what happened last night.

***

THEY successfully found Nasette and Tita—however, from what Yuki was told, the main goal of their expedition was to rescue Nasette’s father. Nasette left Adolunde for that purpose. After finishing breakfast, the group gathered in the bigger inn room where Nasette proceeded to explain the situation.

“I told Luca the details yesterday, but my dad was captured by Maruk. The village we stopped at before coming to this town is taking care of our mom. I told her to go on to Adolunde without us, and commissioned a fast horse to take her late last night.”

To summarize Nasette’s story, he succeeded in rescuing his parents from Maruk, but they were relentlessly pursued causing Dante—Nasette’s father—to entrust him with running away with his mother and Tita as he held back their pursuers. Nasette was forced to watch his father fight against their hunters before inevitably succumbing to capture. As much as he wanted to help, he couldn’t risk his mother and sister’s safety.

“I had no other choice if I wanted the girls to be safe,” Nasette mumbled, hanging his head as the image of his father’s capture replayed in his mind.

“Let’s head farther east. It’s highly likely if they kept Sir Dante alive they would take him to Cele,” Luca said.

“Cele?” Yuki asked.

“Cele is a fortress city to the west of Maruk’s royal capital. It has a large-scale prison for prisoners of war. It’s basically a prison city,” Luca explained.

“Heh,” Yuki said, impressed. There were a lot of things she still didn’t know about their world. “Sounds dangerous. I’d better be careful.”

Things will get messy if I make the wrong move and get captured again, Yuki thought, clenching her fists and gearing herself up to take on whatever may come next.

“About that, I want you and Tita to return to Adolunde with Ain,” Luca said.

“Why!” Ain bolted out of his chair, sending it skidding across the ground and into the bed.

“We can’t put Yuki and Tita in any more danger than we already have,” Luca said calmly.

“Why must I go back too, then?”

“It won’t be safe for Yuki and Tita to return alone.”

“Then send a message to the fast horsemen you dispatched to pick up Lady Anne! Tell them to stop by here and pick up Tita and Yuki on the way to Adolunde,” Ain argued.

“I won’t,” Luca countered.

“Why not? Why will you take Nasette with you but not me?”

Ain was going to argue further, when Nasette interjected, his eyes still downcast. “Ain.”

“…What?”

Nasette lifted his face and looked at Ain. He forced a smile at Ain as if he were soothing a spoiled child who wouldn’t listen to reason. “You are neither a soldier nor a Knight. Understand your position,” his muttered words echoed through the still room.

Ain clenched his fists.

“We’re headed there to break a high-profile captive out of a reinforced prison. We’re basically picking a fight with Maruk in their own territory. If our real identity is exposed, it’s the same as declaring war. That’s the kind of place we’re breaking into.”

“I know…I know that.”

“Do you think we should bring women and children to that kind of place?” Luca’s eyes were as cold as ice. Yuki shuddered.

Ain froze in silence. The pressure he put into his clenched fist looked painful. “Prince Luca…” Ain’s rage-filled black eyes widened wildly, “What do you think of me as, Prince Luca!”

“O-Oi, Ain, chill.” Nasette went to place his arm on Ain’s shoulder, but Ain shoved it away.

“You are always, always like this. You decide on things without consulting me. Am I that unreliable to you? You can’t place even a little trust in me?” Ain rattled on.

“…I asked you to escort them back because I trust you.”

“Please have someone else do that. It is my duty to be by your side, Prince Luca.” Ain’s voice changed from resentment to sorrow. His last words faltered, as if he were saying it to himself.

Yuki sympathized with Ain as she watched him plead with Luca.

“I really need to be by his side to stop him from doing something stupid.” Ain said to her once before. “Prince Luca is always acting recklessly after all.” There was a glimmer in his eye when he told her.

Why can’t he go? Yuki couldn’t help questioning their reasoning. What they were about to do was probably more dangerous than she could ever imagine, but having not been directly exposed to the dangers of this world herself, the sheer danger of the situation felt unreal to her.

A loud sigh broke the silence. “The master you serve is ordering you to return.” Yuki was shocked by how cruel Luca’s voice sounded. “I won’t pander to your selfishness.”

Ain’s black eyes rounded with shock. His tightly closed lips trembled as he endured whatever emotions were stirring inside him.

That’s terrible. Something snapped inside Yuki.

“Hey! Isn’t that taking it too far?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. All eyes were on her.

“You are in no position to say anything on the matter,” Luca said coldly.

“I know that!”

Yuki knew she would get in their way more than anyone else—she was more than aware of her uselessness since coming to Aridol. She thought she had been of some use when Isis captured them, but the truth was the situation would have been resolved without her interference. Part of that realization tore her apart on the inside.

“Then why did you drag me this far?”

Orga would have taken care of her. Luca was the one who went as far as forcing her to contract with him to drag her away from the castle.

“After all that’s happened, now you say, ‘it’s getting dangerous, so you best go back after all’? There’s a limit to how much you can drag someone around based on what’s convenient to you,” Yuki berated.

Yuki knew the truth though. She knew that if she had been left behind with Orga, he would have framed her as the imperial princess of Rvydom and used her as a catalyst to instigate a full-blown war. She knew Luca took her from the castle to prevent Orga from using her as a pawn.

But this has nothing to do with that. Plus, wouldn’t my going back at this point result in the same thing he was trying to prevent?

“I will allow Ain to accompany us,” Yuki declared.

“Huh?”

Nasette’s mouth hung open. Luca’s brow knit together in a disgruntled frown as if he didn’t understand what she was saying.

“I’m going with you to Cele.”

“Did you hear a single word I said? You will return to Adolunde Castle,” Luca ordered, glaring at her.

“Shut up. I won’t pander to your selfish request.”

Luca’s face twitched. “Who’s the one making selfish demands right now?”

“YOUR master is commanding you. Isn’t it a retainer’s duty to quietly obey orders?” Yuki pointed at Luca. The ring on her middle finger glinted.

Yes, I’m your master after all. Yuki was oddly overexcited to the point her shoulders trembled with heavy breathing.

Luca kept silent with a frown plastered on his face. Nasette was desperately trying to hide his snicker behind his hand, as if he found the whole situation hilarious.

Finally, as though he gave up, Luca sighed heavily, muttering, “Unmanageable tomboy…”

“The one who made this unmanageable tomboy their master is you, Luca. Am I wrong?” Yuki declared shifting the blame on him and standoffishly turning her face away. She was embarrassed saying his name for the first time—she didn’t count the previous night, as he didn’t remember. And calling him Lukey-poo didn’t count either.

She took a surreptitious glance at him—his face went rigid at her words. When their eyes met he sighed and said, “That’s how it’s going to be, guys. Hurry and get ready. Make sure you get everything packed; we have a long ride ahead of us.”

“Thank you very much!” Ain cheered. “I will prepare the horses!” He dashed out of the room.