Taking her place

Losing time

"I need you to help me get rid of my curse." He says as he grits his teeth tightly.

The word 'help' comes out of his lips with a little struggle and I realize how much of him it took to say it.

This man has probably not asked from someone like this in years.

Possibly, this is the first time he has ever asked someone for help in general.

‘sadly, I understand the sensation a bit.’

He looks down at the floor as if he is fighting something within his mind.

"Do you have someone in mind that can help with that?" I ask ignoring his uncomfortable expression.

"There is a man by the name of Noah living in the border of the kingdom of vespers. Call for him, do not mention my presence just use the authority of this house. We can't trust anyone who might get ahold of the letter and have them find out that I am alive."

"Is he trustworthy?" I ask as he clears his throat.

"He is the only person in this world who would never betray me." He says as he looks far into the distance turning his expression dark and I realize who he is talking about.

There was a man, who came to get him in the life that I saw.

Shortly after my sister died, he called for someone to pick him up, the presence of this man was the opposite of this man.

He was like a ghost, A mysterious man who rarely talked and had a scar across his eye. He was this man’s right hand. 'Of course, it’s him after all.'

"Alright I will call for him, is that all you need me to do?" He frowns as he gets up from the bed and he begins to walk back and forth. “Yes, I need to know how things are over there before I can think of making any moves."

"Alright, oh I will be busy for a while after this, things are beginning to escalate in my life so if I don't visit, please be assured I'm not ignoring you. I just can't visit."

"You are having problems?" He crosses his arms as he looks at me with a confused expression. "Explain, I'm eager to be entertained, staying here without being able to go out is quite a bore." He sits down on his bed away from me as much as possible with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

'Of course,...'

I sigh loudly as I lay down on his bed and stare at the ceiling. I feel him move away from me and I laugh softly as I begin to frown without noticing it myself.

"Must be bad if you are making that face." He sits down on the bed in a more comfortable position as his body finally relaxes.

“Have you ever hated something so much that you wouldn’t mind wiping it out of this world entirely?” I ask as he looks at me with a slight glow in his eyes.

Perhaps he's surprised, that there is someone in this world who can think like the current him.

“you have something you hate?” he asks as he looks away this time.

"I’ve always hated the kingdom of vespers and now I hate them even more." I stretch my arms as I turn my body to look at him. "If an entire kingdom were threatening those that you love what would you do?"

He stares at me as his expression does not change for about a minute before his expression suddenly turns grim, "I wouldn't have anything of that sort, to begin with..."

I stare at him with tears wanting to fall but I hold them back.

This man would never understand.

‘Why the hell am I even opening up to him about this? This is a waste of time.’

The man in front of me has always been thrown from one place to another without anyone to love or care for him and that is something that I slowly started to forget.

'What was I thinking? Asking him out of all people...'

"Of course." I look away from him as I sit up on the bed and look away from him, cleaning the tears that came out against my own will as I laugh. "That was my first mistake huh?" I laugh airily. "But if you did, what would you do?"

He looks down at the bed as if he is trying to avoid my eyes nervously "I would do anything to make sure that my loved ones are safe."

"Right!" I laugh as I smile "the vespers kingdom along with the others is planning to attack this kingdom to take over this house."

He looks at me with a confused expression as it suddenly turns stern "is that why that i***t wanted to get rid of me that badly?" He stands up as he turns his hands into fists and begins to shake from what seems like pure anger. "If this had not happened, I would have never allowed something as stupid as that to happen."

"I won’t be able to visit you as frequently, but I won't forget about our promise. So far it seems like their plans will happen in about six months so I have time, but I will be preparing myself in order to not be caught off guard." He turns to look at me stunned by the calmness in my voice.

"I am from the vespers kingdom; you could use me as a prisoner of war. Why would you still help me?"

"If I use you as that there is still a high chance that they will kill you once you arrive at their borders is there not?"

He does not say anything he just continues to stare.

"If I were to do that, I would hate myself, after all, I gave you my word. You can't possibly expect me to have you be the first time in any of my lives to break a promise?" I get up as I begin to walk towards the door. "I’ll find the man you want me to bring here as soon as I can. Goodnight."

The quiet movements of my pen against the pencil make lily nervous as she fumbles with her fingers. "Who are you writing to, my lady?"

I put the leaf of my pen against my lips as she is taken aback, "that's a secret." I smile as I fold the paper and close it within an envelope and seal it with wax.

The Artema symbol is engraved in the dark blue wax and I frown. 'If only they pieced two and two together, they would know that I am using the Abner families color.'

"Make sure the messenger sends this to a man named Noah in the border of the Vespers kingdom. Tell the messenger to tell this person that if he denies my request, I will have his head." I say as I hand Lily the letter with a slight sigh as I stare at my fingers.

They are not thin like Lily’s; they are rough, and the palm of my hand has a couple of scarred lines left over from sword practice.

A flashback of the life I was supposed to live appears as my fingers become thinner and soft and I smile drained.

'Well if anything at least have a chance at succeeding this time.'

I walk towards the center of the classroom as everyone stares at me, but I pay no mind to this.

Some of the girls wear a knights’ uniform like me while the rest wear dresses that are meant for a ball and I look at them unimpressed as they whisper to themselves with giggles leaving their lips as they slowly move their heads to the front of the classroom.

"You look awful this morning," Mike says as he smiles towards me with a tired expression.

"You don't look any more animated compared to me," I say as his smile disappears.

"what?"

I frown as I sigh.

'Oh yeah, that word doesn't exist here.'

"Vigorous?" I ask as I look at the ceiling. "Yeah, that might be it."

He turns his head to the side as he scratches his head but then turns serious. "I have something to tell you so after this meet me at the courtyard."

"What is it?"

"It's important so..."

"Alright."

The courtyard is filled with blooming flowers and a huge pond that I would imagine is for the entertainment of the young flowers that attend this school.

I grab a light blue flower as I pluck it from the rest of its body, and I stare at it as I twirl it around with my fingers.

Flowers like this never existed in my previous life, if they did there was always some sort of imperfection. A missing petal, the petals beginning to wither or simply the color being too dull to its other petals.

I stop twirling it with my fingers as I stare at the bright blue, it looks like a darker shade from the sky but not exactly dark blue either.

I begin to twirl it again but this time I begin to look for any imperfection, any sign that this world may be connected to the previous but there is none.

"Never took you as the type to like flowers, my lady." I hear someone say as I stop twirling the thing around and look back, only to have a red rose shoved gently into my eyesight. "But if there is flower that represents your beauty, I have to say that it would be this one," Julius says as he smiles gently with his hand on his back.

"Me taking it from your hand doesn't mean I approve of your advances," I say as I look at him with watchful eyes as he grins.

"Of course."

I take the rose from his hand and laugh mentally as I look at his bright red hair.

'If this flower were to fit any of us it would be you though…'

“How is the day treating you, my lady?” he asks as he tries to walk closer towards me, but I move away at the same time and he stops.

“the same as yesterday.” I coldly answer as I look around. “shouldn’t you be somewhere else?” I ask as he looks at me with a saddened expression.

“I was on my way to see the headmaster, but I saw a beautiful flower that I hadn’t seen before in the garden and well, here I am.” He says as he smiles widely.

I stare at him without changing my expression as I try my hardest to keep a cold approach to this conversation.

‘do the men of this world not understand the concept of getting a hint?’

"I invited you here to talk, not to witness your flirting," Mike says as he walks towards us with a goofy smile.

"If you'll excuse me," I say as I smile innocently. "I need to talk to his excellency in private."

Julius glares at Mike as he smiles. "There's no need for you to refer to him with such titles yet. He hasn't taken over as the Duke yet."

"But he will become the Duke, there’s no questioning that," I say as I smile softly. "I'm going to make sure of that."

His body shivers as a slight breeze passes through us as he smiles nervously. "I'm sure that you'll be able to accomplish whatever you put your mind into." He glares at Mike as he says, "I’ll take my leave since the lady asked kindly."

Once Julius is far away from us that he cannot listen in on our conversation Mike begins to talk.

"He never truly learns, does he?" Mike groans as he puts his hands in his waist. "Men who chase women like that bother me, don't they understand what it means when they say, no"

"You wanted to tell me something?" I ask as I interrupt the silence that follows his words and he looks at me with a gasp.  I look up at him with a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach as I frown, his expression shows an unnatural look as his face pales at perhaps the thought of what his news might be.

"I managed to get the swords; they are in my possession, but I recommend you learn to perfect your skill with them." He swallows hard as his breathing becomes heavier.

"How much time do I have?"

"Not very much." His expression pales up even more as he sighs. "They are moving fast."

I turn to look at the roses as I touch the petal with my fingers, my feelings of anxiety turn placid as I smile gently. "Do you like roses?" I ask him as he looks at me conflicted by what he must say. I grab the heads of about four roses all at once and crush them in my hand as the petals scattered all around my feet. "I hate them, they are so easily destroyed, so easily manipulated. I view humans as the closest beings to roses, how sad it is that I will be scattering their beautiful petals on the ground so soon, don't you think?"

"I will help you." He says as he grabs my bleeding hand. "You aren't alone in this."

Tears begin to form in my eyes as I remember about how much I have hurt this boy to the point that I have forced him to become a man in such a short amount of time.

'If you did not meet me, you wouldn’t have ever suffered from heartbreak. Or from the ridiculous belief that someday you’ll be happy.'

He is taken aback as he sees tears in my eyes. "And for that, I will always support you." I touch his cheek gently as he breathes normally, and the color of his skin returns. "Whatever you wish for, I will help you get. Even if it means destroying this kingdom with my bare hands."

He stares at me with an undisturbed expression as he laughs. "You should be careful not to say something like that in front of anyone else, or they just might consider it treason against the royal family."

I pull my hand away from him as he composes himself and looks at the floor with a serious expression. "Today I want the weapons at my possession. Please have them prepared for me."

"Of course." He says as he begins to walk away leaving me alone to stand in between the path of roses on my own. The wind picks up and causes the roses to lose more petals as they fall on the floor and I swallow as the memory of bodies lying down on the dirt appears in front of me. The rose petals bring back the sight of blood, like a vivid nightmare. I begin to walk through them as I step on the petals without holding any sorrow for their hurt.

'Even if I must recreate that scene, I will protect them. My family.'