Desire

It hurts. He pierced that knife right through my chest just barely missing my heart, however the wound was still bleeding. If this continues I might die from blood loss.

“Rusha, can you hear me?”

“Master, you are in pain aren’t you? I can feel a sting on my chest!”

“I need your help, which flower can help to stop my bleeding?”

“Bleeding! Wait let me come!”

“No! Stay with Mica, if something happens to him I wouldn’t be able to handle that! Instead ask Carina if there was any flower included in my training, that would… stop the bleeding” I wheezed.

“Just a second master!”

It hurts! Why would it hurt so much!

“Yarrow! It’s the white one, it only helps a little but with your thorns it might work like a compress! But master, I really don’t want to leave you on your own!” Her voice was shaking. 

But I couldn’t give in, I need you to stay focused on protecting Carina and Mica who shouldn’t be involved in fighting. Although I can imagine Mica making a fuss out of the situation saying something like, he can also fight. I know, I know far too well, but Mica I want to create a world where young children like you wouldn’t have to worry about things like fighting and war, surviving and justice. I just want you to be free.

“It’s alright Rusha! Everything will be fine after tonight." Ah, how much I would love to see the ocean right now, for just one time.

Just as my mind started to cloud I let the white colored yarrow spread out towards my chest and fixed it with the thorns so it would stay in a fixed position. However the thorns made me feel another type of excruciating pain. It’s alright Sherya, you can endure this! You can do this!

You only have to find Calista now.

Where could she be? Someone I know? That’s what that man just said. Maybe I should have pressed him for more information. No, it was the right decision to put a stop to him, otherwise he could have used his powers and manipulated more people, maybe even making them kill each other. That would have been an even worse outcome. For now, I should try to go to the imperial family.

I could see them right across from me, just a few meters away. They were being protected by the knights and even the crown prince seemed to fight. However, as the hostess of this ball, I should assist them.

I let the thorn vines spread and dug them into the wall so I could take swift fly towards my targets. With a slight step back I tried to build up speed by running forward and then I leaped off the ground and flew right in front of the empress and the emperor. I deflected the sword that was just raised against me by one of the knights who thought I might be a danger to them.

“I am the fiance of the Vermonde Dukedom, fear not, I shall assist you!” I explained towards the knight who simply nodded and went back to fight.

Then I turned towards the emperor and empress, who watched me with stunned expressions. Ah right, that wasn’t ladylike.

“Forgive me for showing no proper greeting, your majesty the emperor and empress are you alright?” I respond respectfully with a bow.

“My dear child, your chest!” The empress said worriedly while reaching her hand towards my chest where the white yarrows were attached to.

“Thank you for your concern, it’s just a minor wound” I replied, which was a lie since it actually was quite life threatening but I didn’t want to make such a kindhearted empress worry.

“Dear lady of Vermonde, you don’t have to worry about us, even if I might not be the youngest I am still well-versed in swordsmanship, so you should concentrate on the woman you are searching for!” The emperor replied.

“Your majesty, if it’s not rude of me to ask, how do you know that I am searching for a woman?”

“Just look for the crown prince, he will be able to give you the answer you desire for sure. That boy, he used to look so cold and heartless the past few years and suddenly as if overflowing with energy he stormed off saying, he would kill that woman.” The emperor explained.

“His highness did?”

“My dear child, my son who used to always ignore us said mother, father don’t worry. He suddenly seemed to be back from the dead. It joyed my heart but in this situation, we couldn’t even hold a proper conversation with him. After all these years I just wanted to finally talk with him like we used to do when he was a child.” The empress held on to my hands. 

They were shaking. 

I could guess what happened to the crown prince. He must have been manipulated all these years by the heir of Blackwell. The moment I incapacitated him the magic must have stopped. So even the crown prince of this nation was a victim, for many years it seems. 

The empress and emperor must have stayed so kind despite being in power because they genuinely feel love towards their citizens, you could tell just by how much they cared for their son, who was like a stranger for years to them.

“Please don’t worry your majesty the empress! I will make sure that you will be able to have that conversation with his highness the crown prince!”

“Dear child” She said while I tried to force a smile out to reassure her, despite being in pain.

“Be careful my dear!” She said and pulled me in a warm embrace. I took that hug in and then I left them and sprinted across the hall towards the crown prince who was in a rage of anger. 

He was dealing with black hooded people that were well versed in speed magic and water magic. From the records of the books back at Chronum it was known to me that the imperial family was bestowed on light magic, they were able to blind their opponents and burn them alive, like a flame far stronger than the ability of fire passed in the Chronum family.

I let thorns spread from my hands and aimed them towards the one using his speed to attack, I pinned him down to the ground, which the crown prince noticed and slashed him in an instant. Then I stood right next to him while fighting against the other men.

“You? Aren’t you the youngest lady of Chronum?” He questioned.

“Right, your highness. We actually met around two months ago but you probably can’t remember your mind was fuzzy right?”

“So you know? I seemed to have been controlled for a long period of time" he replied.

“It was mind manipulation, a forbidden magic that shouldn’t have existed in this timeline. I was able to take the one using it down. That might have broken the spell that was cast on you.”

“Then I should offer my thanks towards you!”

“There is no need for your kind words, simply knowing that I could help is already a blessing to me. However his majesty told me that you dashed off in anger because of a woman. Could you tell me who it is? That woman is someone I have to deal with." I declared.

“You, my lady?” he wondered.

“Yeah, I am the niece of that godforsaken woman and I am willing to tell you everything you want to hear about later, but now I have to take her down, before it’s too late!”

“I see, very well! Let me tell you where that rat is hiding!”