Daisuke's point of view
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I WATCHED AS SHE LEFT, SILENTLY, paying attention to how she was walking awkwardly pending more to the right, but with confidence. Damn, I acted too rashly and on impulse when I saw Elodie on the ground. I shouldn't have throwed her on the wall with so much strength like that. Especially when she has just barely recovered from what happened.
But by how I saw the situation, I knew she had done something to Elodie, because of how scared she looked. Otherwise, why would she be so scared of the girl, if she hadn't done something? It can't be just because of her cursed eyes, after all, she spends most of her time at the D'Arcy's manor with Rai, so she must have gotten used to Eileithya as well, right?
There's no way she's innocent.
And what did she meant by that? Does Elodie likes girls as well? Then did her parent made her take part on the trials unwillingly? But she seems so fond of me, am I mistaken?
Sigh. "Do you want us to deal with that cursed woman in secret, your royal highness?" One of my guards suggested in a whisper and I turned to him.
"Do you want to be executed by my mother?" He turned pale and I smirked. "Then you have your answer! But if you don't mind going on a suicide mission, be free to go and murder her," my tone was calm, and that made them even more scared.
Rolling my eyes, I headed to where my aide said the boys were, just to find a mess on the personal trainig grounds, daggers, arrows, and swords everywhere, and more people than I imagined. From Eileithya's brothers, to my boys, and Rebekka, one of the girls on the trials.
"Why are you all here?" They got startled with me. "What happened here?"
Aeneas cursed, "Nsomi happened!" Of course!
"And why were all of you here? I thought my mother only had punished the boys with being around her. Did she punished you the three of you as well, and no one told me?" I was genuinely curious, but Rebekka seemed to take that, surprisingly, as an offense.
She had the guts to grin at me. "I'm sorry, your royal highness, but I have my reasons to appreciate Thya's presence. That poor girl need at least one person who doesn't crave to see her dying in this place that she'll have to stay for more 11 months!" Her courage surprised me. "You all may be man, and of a higher status than me, but it seem like you are all blind from grieve, to a point that you all prefer to blame an innocent girl who's hunted since she was 3 fucking years old!"
When she realized that she had lost her cool and said those things to us, she got bright red and ran away, disappearing from our view, leaving the five of us stunned.
After a minute, I broke the silence. "Is she one of the girls who aren't here to marry me but because of her parents?" Maybe she's also one of the girls who don't like boys?!
"By how she's stooding up to that jerk, instead of siding with us, I bet she is," Aeneas muttered annoyed. "She's innocent enough to believe on what that dumbass was saying," oh, so this must be the reason why he's so angry.
"What did Eileithya said exactly?" I asked to no one specifically.
"She was, again, insisting that she still has 52 years to live," Sohan spoke, but he didn't seem like himself, it was as if a shadow had descended in front of him. "Which," he looked at all of us, "I guess all of us here know it's a lie!"
Rai seemed speacially uncomfortable with that.
"Maybe she's trying to make herself forget her actual deadline," Adonis pointed, rolling his shoulders.
"I don't think so," Rai spoke. "But I can't pinpoint what's happening either. I just..." he stared at nothing, looking lost. "I still can't forget the expression on her face when she saw herself in the mirror," his voice was a whisper. "It's been hunting my dreams every night for a month now. It was... it was as if... at the same time she was scared, sad, and lost, she was also happy, relieved..."
I gulped and looked away from him. "You know her better than we do, Rai," that caught his attention. "Even if you hate her, you know her better than any of us here. Do you think she would harm someone for nothing?"
He seemed confused. "Harming in what way?"
"Like... pushing someone to the ground."
"Nsomi?" Rai questioned with his eyebrows raised. "Unless this person was me, Aeneas, Sohan, Adonis, or... hm... you... then, no! Even now, she isn't the type to harm someone for no reason!"
Aeneas sighed. "I hate her, but I hate to agree with Rai. But why the question?"
I bit my bottom lip, feeling uneasy. "Well... it's just that some minutes ago I found her with Elodie on the hallway. Elodie was on the ground and looking scared as if someone had tried to murder her, while Eileithya was standing, staring down at her. I... I thought she had harmed her, so I acted on impulse and I kind of hurt her," Sohan slapped his own forehead.
"Come on, Dai! Your mom told us, explicitly, not to hurt the girl physically. Especially not now, she may look like, but she isn't 100%. The physician told us in private that she wasn't fully healed yet," I expected Rai to say something like that, after seeing him worried when she got hurt, not Sohan.
Sigh. "It was automatic."
"How did you hurt her exactly?" Adonis asked. "Depending on the way, we won't have a problem with it," I avoided their gazes.
"I threw her at the wall with... more strength than I should have," they all slapped their foreheads. "But in my defense, I thought she would harm Elodie again!"
Rai sighed, trying to hid his worries. "I love Elodie, she's my best friend," sigh. "But Prince, she's scared shitless of Nsomi. She doesn't need to do anything and Elodie will cower herself as if she was protecting herself from a bomb. Her fear is so ridiculous that she shivers at the mention of Nsomi. And Nsomi never did anything against her, she simply fears the possibility of knowing how she'll die!"
"Oh... I think I made a mistake!"
Eileithya older brother sighed again. "Besides throwing her weak body to a marble wall?" His sarcasm was bitter.
"I'm a little impulsive as you already know, so I acted first and asked later. After I threw her away, I asked Elodie if she had been hurt and she said yes," Rai cursed.
"She doesn't have the habit to lie! Where is she?" What is he planning?
"Infermary, why?"
"If Nsomi indeed hurt her as she claimed, I'll deal with it. After all, Elodie is my best friend!" That was all he said before heading out.
The mood was tense and we stayed silent and we followed the older D'Arcy. When we reached the infermary, she was laying down and talking to a nurse, and by how she was smiling, it seemed to be alright. But when she saw us she gulped and straighthened her back.
"W-why are you all here?"
"Stop flirting with the nurse, Elodie," Rai seemed done, and that made me think of what Eileithya had said before. Does Elodie really feels only attracted to girls? "Did Nsomi hurt you?" She turned pale. "If she did, I'll go and hurt her myself. I won't allow anyone to harm you, because that's what friends should do!" Then he must really hate Eileithya, because she's his sister and he lets her get hurt.
If it was Avy on her place, I would have been furious.
Gods... what am I thinking? Even if she didn't do anything, she deserves to feel pain. I don't care.
"I..." she turned to me, looking conflicted. "I..." then back to Rai. "I..."
"You?" Sohan spoke anxiously.
"I lied..." she cried and covered her face with her hands. "I just... I just freaked out when I saw her there. She freaks me out," letting her hands down, she turned to me. "I'm sorry, Prince! I also freaked out when I saw you send her flying to that marble wall like a doll. I just... my brain forgot how to function properly and I... lied!"
The a random staff came running inside and spoke with the nurse who was supposedly flirting with Elodie a minute ago. Before she could get out, Rai held her arm. "What happened?"
She gulped and looked down. "Doctor Hov is calling for me," what?
"Isn't that Nsomi's personal doctor?" Rai questioned the nurse and she nodded.
"Yes, ma'lord!"
He held the nurse hand and ran from the infermary, leaving us here.
"I thought Rai hated her more than anything in the world," Elodie commented. "But since that day when he saw her in looking in mirror, he has been acting weird. He doesn't seem like himself."
"He cares," Aeneas mocked. "It doesn't matter what comes out of his mouth. The day she hit her head and almost died... I realized how much he cares about her. But it seems like doesn't want to aknowledge that. And neither will she ever believe on that, because me and him have been torturing her phycologically since we were kids. She would never believe on him if he began to show that he cares for her now. I think she would probably think that he's faking it to get under her skin and get a way to kill her!" He giggled. "That's what I would do."
Adonis and Sohan shared a strange look. "If I was in her place," Sohan spoke, "I wouldn't trust anyone. Especially not after more than 15 years of being treated like shit and having to deal with everybody wanting me dead. We all have a reason to hate her, because of the death of people we loved and cared about, even if they weren't necessarily related to us, but we grew up around them," we nodded. "But the rest of the Kingdom doesn't. None of them know her, neither do they have a reason to hate her. They have never even met her, and they blame her for all the disgraces on their life, as if she had caused their families' miseries. It can't be easy to deal with!"
"Eileithya has never done anything against me. Neither has she disrespected my wish to not see my own death. But I still fear her. My fear controls me, and I know it isn't good. I just can't control it. It's irrational. However, I have to admit that she has never been bad to me. Even if she messed with me sometimes, joking with my fear, it was never serious. I know it wasn't," she looked up to meet my eyes.
"What exactly happened on the hallway, Elodie?" I voice my doubt.
She bit her lips before saying anything. "Back on there, I was daydreaming and she was running away for some reason. She had her eyes closed and she seemed frustrated, that's why she probably didn't sense me. I didn't even see her coming, and so, we bumped into each other and we both fall on the ground. When I saw that it was her, I got so fucking scared with the possibility of my eyes meeting hers that I freaked out. Before opening her eyes she told me to close mine," I could feel how guilty she was feeling from where I was. "She was considerate dispite knowing how I feel towards her, and... and she ended up hurt again because of my reckless fear and because I lied."
Now Eileithya's reaction made sense. But ain't no way of me appologizing for what I did. It was an instinct. Besides, she's to blame for my sister's death. This little pain won't change anything.