[ POV of Khalid Vassilis Salvatore ]
"Forrester!!" I burst opened the door with only a kick and we all stride in quickly.
"Oh, my!! Young Lord!!"
"Oh, Heavens!"
"Just what in the north is this?" Avery was as greatly shocked as I am.
My breathing was heavy and unstable, not from running that is for sure, yet the gasping for air was merely due to the trauma that reacted again, and maybe because of the scenery in front of me..?
All that painted the room was the blood. And that was all I could saw in that very moment, leaving Forrester from mind, Aurora occupied it.
Huff.. Huff..! Aurora..?!! Auro-!!
The image of her flashed in mind, the familiar dark room overfill with thorns, blood slather on ground and wall, and a pale corpse of Aurora lying so coldly on bed, a terrifying scene indeed that haunts me till now. Eyes red from crying, covered in her own thornless vines, thorns piercing the wall as if she tried to attack someone in defense, yet the gentle smiled remained on her face.
All I could do was embrace her cold corpse in my arms and yelled her name in hope of getting a replied, to no avail.
I couldn't save either of them from the hands of The End. I couldn't do anything than crying in front if their graves, I couldn't even caught that bastard, I'm such a failure in name of a husband, a friend and even as a fath-!!
"Father?" I looked down at the sweet voice, embraced in my arms, calling me as I meet those pair of crystal green eyes that had not lost it's liveliness.
"Ah..! Thank goodness! Thank goodness you are safe!" I could feel the wobbliness of my voice in relieved anxiety.
"Father?" He called me again and my heart seemed to be calm now than before.
"Yes! Your father is here now! Don't worry, you are safe now." I answered to an unasked question, and kissed his forehead.
"But father..?" He tried to move away, but did not let it go completely.
"No need to be scared! No one can harm you now!" To calm him down, I pat his head and whispered in low sound.
"I'm not harm! He is!" He pushed himself out from my warm clutch.
"Huh?" I was surprised at his sudden raise in voice, but his cheeks were flustered in anger, I noticed.
Too cute!! I want to pinch it!
"I am trying to tell you this, father. Thalv is hurt!" His yelled once again to gain my attention which was diverted by those squeezable cheeks.
To bad, it's not those chubby cheeks anymore. I miss them so much!
"What? Thalv?" As Forrester pulled up the blanket covering Thalves Turner, I saw him wounded.
"He is bleeding from many places!" He sound worried.
Indeed, he is bleeding. The thorns have pierced his body in many places. We have to do full examination for any stuck thorns.
"Call for the doctors!"
"Yes, Your Grace!"
"Avery, take Forrester and Thalves for treatment."
"Yes, My Lord."
"But father.., What about.. her?" He glanced at a maid whose body was covered in blood and thorny vines.
"Do not worry. I will take care of her." I again stroked his head with a smile.
He hesitated and grabbed my sleeve before getting up.
"I will query you later. First, get treatment, okay?" I sighed lightly and let out a laugh before carrying him down from bed.
"Yes, father." He cuddled me with his tiny body.
Ah..! Again too cute! Avery took them away from this bloody scene to another room while supporting Thalves.
But the question is, how to carry that corpse down. She is hanging in the midway with vines clutching her tightly enough crush her bones. It would be difficult to cut those vines since they are made of Rosalan Mana, so the only possibility left is to chop her body out.
"Slash her out, now!"
"Yes, Your Grace!"
She is dead anyway.
"Ugh~" Swords ready to penetrate her body, yet her fortune struck at a very good timing preventing us from harming her.
"She's alive!"
"Should we still cut her, Your Grace?" They asked as a joke which absolutely was not funny at all.
"Sigh.., we need her for an interrogation as to why she was lurking in Forrester's room in the middle of night." Got up from bed, I stand beneath the corpse where drops of blood were falling to inspect how to save her without harming her further.
"Since she is alive, let's try to find a wa-!"
In front of my eyes, I saw thorny vines, not crawling back or growing smaller, just fading away in air, and leaved behind nothing, but red sparkle forming from those greenish vines with heavy smell of red roses that Aurora loved so much.
The body fell down, and not a groan came from her, must be passed out due to lose of blood.
"It vanished just like that?"
"How beautiful."
"It looks so magnificent!"
They were too flabbergast to notice the maid in state of a corpse on ground.
Well, cannot blame them, can I?
It indeed is as magnificent they said.
Aurora uses to said..
[
"These vines are nothing, but a fragment of our emotions that do not wish to harm anyone, unintentionally. Like a kind soul, blessed by Lord God, will protect us, the Rosalan people, from any harm threatening our lives." Her hair were aaccompanying the wind as I removed a summer leaf from her face.
"Isn't it majestic, My Lord?" Her cherry lips asked me a question as the corners of her mouth lifted up.
Too amazed to answer, I stared at her Emerald green eyes shinning under the rays of sun. We laughed and laughed and laughed only in presence of wind and red roses.
]
I guess you are not scared anymore, huh?
I picked up the fallen rose near my shoes and gave off a relaxed smile.
"Your Grace?" A knight called in his mumbling like sound.
"Throw her into prison and tried to wake her up as soon as possible!"
"Yes, Your Grace!!"
"I will go visit my son."
"His Grace looked so murderous." Whispered by knight, yet my ears caught their words easily.
"I agree!"
"Let's first move her to prison."
"I will get the doctor for her."
A rose in my hand, I went to living room where Avery has taken Forrester, whereas the male and female servants began to run around to clean this room.
Sigh..! What a misfortune.
[
POV of Forrester Appell Salvatore
]
A warm cup of milk in front of me placed on table, Thalv being treated by doc in other room, awkward noiseless atmosphere between us, meanwhile, I, who has been staring at space quietly for quite a while, have the thoughts full of plan B.
"Do not worry, Young Lord! He will get better soon." Avery with a troubled face, tried to cool me down from the shocked I experienced a moment ago which he clearly has no need for.
Cause I am calm. In fact, too calm to pretend not to.
*Nod-!!* Upon the nodding, the sound of someone bursting inside the room made me flinched in surprised.
And I clearly know who that someone is.
"Are you alright, Young Master?!!"
Her sweet voice turned into quite.. uhm.., lemon?
She is awake, I see.
Tears in her eyes, sweating from running maybe, she ran to me and spread her arms wide to squeeze me into her warmth.
"Young Master~!!"
"I was so scared!! I thought, I thought that I won't be able to see you again!! Young Master!!" She added into her yelling.
'I'm not dead yet. That I want to say, but.., Sigh! Forget it.'
In order not to hurt her, I added a small dose of sleeping pills to put her in sleep. Because, Rosa has a habit of waking up in middle of night to adjust my blanket as an excuse to see my sleeping face.
If she were to encounter Bella in my room, although Rosa would have killed Bella in an instant, but everything would have crumbled apart and I would not be able to leave the Altair Empire. So I did what I should do.
"I'm fine now." I respond back by patting her back with my palm.
*Burst-stride*
Not again~ Sigh.
"Forrester." Coming closer to me, he called my name.
"Yes, father?" Rosa, who was crushing me by her embrace, stand up and stepped back to greet His Grace.
"Forrester. How are you feeling now?" Not acting his usual self, father sat down beside me and gently roam his palm on my head, like he was restraining himself from hurting me further by his cuddle.
'Huh? Not gonna squash me anymore?' I thought as it was confusing and gave late replied. "G-good!"
"Your Grace, do not worry. The doctor found no injuries on Young Lord." Avery said at the blink of father.
"I see." He sighed and smiled tiredly, and maybe that what I saw. Because the only hint of tiredness was shown by eyes.
'It's my fault for causing such a ruckus for everyone.' Suddenly, I'm feeling guilty.
Not did I only cause this mess, but because of my carelessness, Thalv end up getting hurt. To attract the attention, I spread my vines all over the mansion which may have injured many servants. Although, I did remove the thorns, yet they all must have been troubled.
Without thinking, closing my eyes shut, I cuddle father. I couldn't saw his expression, yet the warmth of his smile reached me through the action.
"Can you tell me what happened, Forrester?"
"Yes, dad."
"Take it easy."
"I was actually sleeping when.."
And, so I told him everything made of lie. Not completely a lie, just added little bit of spies in truth which will open a flowery path for us villains, hopefully.
I lied about Bella who came in through the door in the middle of night holding a knife and tried to attack me as I was asleep. I opened my eyes at the loud sound of thud, and what saw was Thalves pinning Bella to the floor, but mystifyingly he became unstable and Bella was able to pushed him away, then charged at me with knife.
She ran to me and shouted 'Die, you son of a bitch!'. In terror, I closed my eyes and yelled 'Don't come closer!', and then..
"Then?" Avery seemed more curious than furious to me.
"Everything became quite and my room was filled with vines that can wriggle around eerily. I saw Thalv covered in blood and help him up to bed."
Huh, I guess Avery is more interested in stories than reality. Look at his curiosity eyes that are staring at me. How adorable.
"I was only able to noticed Bella when she groaned in pain. I couldn't help her since she was too high for me to reach. I'm sorry." Bowing down my head, I added, an expression of guiltiness was made as I tried to shed tears.
"It's not your fault, Forrester." Father comforted me. His eyes looked painful.
"Yes, Young Lord! It's not your fault! She was the one who wanted to hurt Young Lord!"
"Yes! Young Master, you are too kind! She deserves that!"
Avery and Rosa were trying to cheer me up, though they didn't need to do so, but I won't debut on what they said. I mean, she truly deserved that several for several times. And I truly am too kind to let her go like that.
[Sigh..! How kind-hearted I am, ain't I Thalv?]
[Yes! My Master is too warm-hearted!]
[He-he!] I'm feeling like a shameless person now.
This telepathy thingy is much more similar to the device called bluetooth back on my plant earth. How convenient!
Now! The plan B officially begins from here!
[Go for it, Master!]
"But it happened because of me! I'm at fault!" I cried out my voice which startled them at the sudden raise of my voice.
"What do you mean, Forrester?" Breathing out moderately, father hesitated before asking me.