"Mai, let's head down stairs to eat, Amelia said she's going first as Aither already went down."
"One second my lady, I'll be there in a moment I'll just finish up packing our things."
"Done?"
"Yes, my lady."
"Okay, let's head down then and eat breakfast."
Mai finished up packing their things as the date of their departure had already arrived.
They were also in a hurry in order to not let Aither go into trouble with the town lord.
After all, they can be recognized rather quickly because of their unique hair color, a cascade of ethereal white.
They walked and step by step they moved down the stairs they only heard silence on the first floor.
At the bottom of the stairs was Amelia, unmoving like a rock and her eyes gazing only on one person.
By the time they moved to ask her what was going on, an awful smell of blood came to linger in their noses.
And Anaia immediately went past Amelia, worried if something had happened to Aither.
However, Aither was safe and he was holding a butter knife in his hands, dripping with blood.
He was standing still, looking at the corpses below him, ahead of him, and..... Besides him.
Noticing the sounds of hurried footsteps made by Anaia, he slowly gazes upwards.
He saw Anaia looking at him with disbelief but most of all worried.
He didn't know what kind of face he was making, maybe that of a murderer.
Behind her was Amelia, he noticed her quite a while ago already and Mai who just arrived.
He was glad that he was wearing a mask. He was glad that their expressions showed no disgust over this scene.
Especially Amelia who's looking at him as if she was his idol. That girl already saw scenes much worse than this, of course something like this won't affect her.
Truth be told, she actually heard everything and saw everything that happened here. Thus, explains her current smiling face.
"Aither.... What happened here? No, nevermind that, Mai get our things, we're leaving right this instant."
After saying her orders, she moved in closer to Aither and he placed his butter knife inside his jacket.
Anaia was quite surprised, even with all the blood here, not even a single drop of them tainted his clothes.
'The current him can't really be compared to the him who I first met.' She thought to herself and pulled Aither by his hands and slowly they walked upstairs.
Amelia followed along her expression shined brightly when Aither's gaze fell on her.
Aither smiled at that and patted her head. It was an instinctive reaction and even he was quite surprised about it.
After packing all their things, they left the inn after giving Amelia a mask of her own.
Silently, Anaia's source energy wrapped around them, making sure that no one is spying on them.
Thus, they safely left the town in their carriage after hearing the town lord's scream.
§
§
§
"Could you tell me what happened now, Aither? Why did you k- kill those people?"
Silence, a loud silence fell inside the carriage as Anaia spoke questioning my actions earlier.
I pondered for a moment and as I was about to tell her what happened, Amelia spoke up first and explained everything to her.
"So that's what happened..." Anaia said, her expression is unknown inside her mask.
"Yes, Aither was just angry for us because those guys want to do something bad to us."
As for Amelia, I didn't need to worry about her, she's even explaining it to Anaia cheerfully as if I was some hero.
She didn't leave one bit of detail, especially how I killed them using a butter knife.
"Still, you shouldn't kill someone just because of that, Aither. You could've just beaten them up and reported them to authorities."
What Anaia said was right considering that we should lay low. I admit my mistake that I was overtaken by rage because of my past memories.
However, I'm worried about one thing and I questioned Anaia something that will determine how I will act in our journey.
"Anaia... Perhaps, have you never killed anyone?"
"N... No. Except for monsters or beast, I have never killed anyone in my life. I hate it, killing people is a sin worthy of a thousand deaths in our kingdom."
She said, her emotions stirred from my question. I seem to have forgotten that she was a princess before she was exiled.
Killing is a sin, that's what she believes and I respect it, having no intention to change it....
At least for now.
However, there might come a time where she lets a horrible person lives with her personality, and that might just come back to bite us.
If she cannot kill that person, then I'll just do it for her.
It's as simple as that. If she can't do it, the I'll do it for her.
"Then, am I someone worthy of a thousand deaths?"
I asked and she flinched.
"N- No..... You're different... You did it for our sakes, how could I ever consider it a sin."
That's a plus, at least she won't hate me for killing people. Not like I'm a psychopath who kills people for fun.
"I'm glad... That's why, if there ever comes a time where you need to kill someone, you ought not need to do it, Anaia...."
I put my right hand on my mask and grasped it. Slowly, I removed it from my face revealing a confident smile.
"I'll do it for you."
I said it, my corny line and what are you blushing for, Amelia?
Suddenly, an unexpected thing happened and a new display appeared in front of me.
[SYSTEM NOTICE] X
- Notice. Anaia's affection meter for you has risen significantly. -
- Notice. Amelia's affection meter for you is rapidly rising over maximum capacity. -
What is this? A new system feature? It lets me know if someone's affection towards me risen.
Then, I looked at Anaia, something like a loading screen hovered above her head, colored pink and with a heart on the side.
However, it disappeared when I closed the system.