Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenzo-Capiz

[4 YEARS LATER]

I thought I’d just stay here for a month at most, just until the search parties Lykus would’ve inevitably sent out for me would hush down after weeks of no success.

I have been with them… for FOUR YEARS! Honestly, I didn't even want things to go this far. They just told me to stay with them until things died down. They have a good point in that matter. I stayed for months and joined the group, wherever or whenever they moved, I moved.

During the first few weeks, I slowly got wind of how their system works. Like nomads, we jump from town to town. If we get lucky and manage to rent out ships, we could move to a different country altogether, and from that point on, same old same old. We ask around what needs to be done if they need someone to do it and how much they’ll pay. I’ve learned how to be industrious. I was forced to learn how to survive when resources are low.

I’ve learned how to deal and cope with the circumstances I’m in, to improvise, to adapt… to overcome. Things I barely even knew how to do in my world.

More than being simply acquainted, I’ve become close with the other members, and Klaus didn’t stop picking people up and letting them join our group. After a few years of being with everyone, I've managed to study their quirks.

Klaus… is basically a philanthropist, the thing is, he’s dead broke. A walking conundrum, basically. He came from a very humble beginning. As he said before, he's well-versed in stealing since he was young because that’s his only means of survival. Still, he remained kind and weirdly optimistic. He’s a happy-go-lucky kind of guy and he wouldn’t be Klaus if he was in any other way. His family origins are unclear. I’ve noticed he tends to evade topics involving his background.

He’s the one with solutions. He pulls this whole group together. One might say leading a team consisting of forty-plus people is difficult. He makes it look easy. Maybe it’s because he leads with compassion and not scaring us into compliance, he’s just kind and so very accepting. I used to joke around with the others that there’s no flaw he’s not going to overlook. We have seen him angry, though.

I've long gotten my answer to my question before. This group isn't just a group. It's more like family.

People say that the kindest ones are usually the most frightening when angry. In Klaus’s situation, it’s only half right. He doesn’t get violent, no, something worse. He becomes negligent. He got angry once, and I thought the group would fall apart just after a few hours.

Understandable, he’s entitled to his emotions, I can’t say things have remained perfect throughout, but whatever bumps we had our way, we usually smoothen out with finesse, and despite everything we know about Klaus, we have a lot more we don’t know about him. What I do, and everyone else, know is that he grew up with Seth.

Now Seth… where do I even begin with Seth? Interesting is an understatement. He’s strong. Compared to the rest of us, he’s considerably stronger. He has a knack for shiny knives and swords. He’s a foodie as well. He’s a bit hotheaded and very frank. He does tend to get a bit shy when being criticized, but he doesn’t take it to heart and considers a lot of other people’s opinions when he knows he’s making unfit decisions.

A flashback to when he suggested ‘Lomi’ as a name. He’s rather adorable, really, however… no one knows what he looks like, except for Klaus. Everyone had their guesses as to why he covers his face. Every once in a while, he excuses himself for hours to replace the bandages with clean ones and wash the old ones, and during that, theories just fly around.

What happened that made him cover his face? Some thought it might be a choice, a fashion statement perhaps. To appear more mysterious, but we’ve been with him for a while and nothing about Seth is mysterious, he gets angry if things go wrong and he’s overjoyed when they go right, he’s expressive, one exception would be when he’s trying to be a toughie and not show how touched he was whenever a member does something meaningful for him.

Like how a lot of our younger members helped out in re-twisting his hair every time he grew them out. He’s just flustered for the whole day, running his hands through his hair with a shy smile.

Now we have grown in numbers, and I don't mean to brag, but I’ve become a somewhat valued member. After putting on some muscle, that is.

I was practically useless during the first few months apart from giving ideas, one of which was our traveling diner. The traveling diner is our side business. Whenever we travel long distances, we have to take breaks and stop in different places to replenish our strength and resources, and in those moments, we assembled a makeshift diner. This only worked out because Seth has a talent in the kitchen and is insanely good at cooking up improvised dishes with cheap ingredients.

'Another surprise,'

This has gone so well that sometimes we also managed to rent out establishments from our last gig. We’ve become business-oriented, along with giving public service until we’ve basically just thinned out thievery in our strategies.

I’ve said ‘thinned out’ because even though we make a small fortune in our traveling business, feeding forty-plus people is a challenge with the expenditure for traveling. It’s not like we can stop traveling either because we are… criminals, one way or another. We might get caught if we settle in a place for too long.

“Mina, the old men at the back ordered beer!” Seth yelled from the kitchen of our patchwork roadside eatery, we're currently on the posted on the outskirts of a town called Ulapis, I’ve never been here before so I don’t know much about this place apart from what’s in here that could help us earn money. That became my priority.

“I got it!” I yelled back, as I fetched some beer that we got for a cheaper price from passing merchants. They're not as tasty as the good ones, but at least it’s not poisonous, and it’s cheap. I help with the workforce whenever we pitch up this diner while the others scour the town for odd jobs.

The others… Well, they steal. We try to do a good job on our other services though, in an attempt to even out the losses or something like that.

I brought the beer over to the old men dining outside of the tent. Just a precaution. If they get drunk and cause disturbance to the customers inside the tent, they’ll be harder to mitigate because we have limited space, and once these old men start having alcohol in their systems, what comes out of their mouths gets too vulgar to be said in an enclosed space with countless other living beings.

In short, I try to mind my business, “Here’s your beer,” I said as I set it down at their table, one old man looked rather well off compared to the other, but what the other lacked in richness is contemplated by his magnificent gray beard that reached down his neck.

‘What a peculiar set of friends,’

“Great,” the better-dressed old man groaned as he propped himself to sit up straight, looking at his friend grimly, “drink up old friend, you’d need it once you hear what happened in Temog,”

I paused.

‘No, I can’t just butt in…’ I thought with a sigh as I continued to walk ahead, turning my back to them,

“Indeed, I’ve heard… lord Lykus seems to be nearing the end of his life, considering his actions,” the bearded old man said.

My world stopped. I gulped as I spun on my heel, walking back to them, “Sir? I’m sorry for barging into your conversation like this,” I began, breathing in as they both looked at me with a frown, “I-I—I’m from that castle, I’m a servant there as well as my mother, so I would like to ask how are things at Temog, I’m worried about her,” I begged, lying through my teeth as I evened out my breathing,

The well-dressed man clicked his tongue and downed his pint, “Well, if you’ve been gone for a few years, you wouldn’t recognize Temog with how it is now,” he said and my breath hitched.

As he said that, I pictured the vibrant colors I saw in the town, from their cascading flowers and their ambient lanterns, the street performers, the colorful banners, and the clotheslines at the tops of the establishments. The day Lykus brought me out to eat, “How so? What happened?” I asked,

The other old man pulled out a cigar from his satchel, “Lord Lykus’s wife ran away, some said he went crazy for a few months, but… well, the most unexpected thing happened,” he trailed off, placing the cigar between his bearded lips and lighting it up with a match, I almost groaned with how much suspense they're bringing to the conversation, I just want to hear it straight.

“What unexpected thing—”

“Don’t just stop mid-sentence, old friend,” the other old man interrupted before looking at me with an amused smile, “If you’ve served Lykus before, I supposed you’d be more than surprised to hear that he now… has an heir,” he finished with a solemn nod.

As soon as those words left his mouth, time stopped.

“... I beg your pardon?” I blurted out,

He shrugged dusting the shoulders of his expensive coat, “An heir, it’s an heir, the man goes crazy looking for his wife only to have an heir during the search,” the man nagged with an amused grin to his friend, “quite contemptible if you asked me, that Lady Heilman,” he added.

That name brought back so many memories that it rang in my ears for a while before I could focus on anything else. So it was her, that night, she was pregnant from that night. I gulped and clasped a hand to my mouth, trying to calm myself down and not burst, but despite the pain not being as intense as before, hearing it all now is just…

“Are you alright, miss?” the man with the beard asked, and I nodded, breathing in deeply, waving at them as I left.

Once I returned to the tent, I headed to our ‘kitchen’, patting Seth’s bare back, even while cooking, the only upper body garment he had on was an apron, “Seth? Can I take a break?” I asked, my breath hitched because I wanted to break down so bad.

He frowned as he looked at me, “S-Sure, are you alright?” he asked,

I nodded, “Yes—I’m fine, I just need a minute,” I assured, and with that, I walked out of the tent, grabbing my cloak hanging to a nail on one of the tent’s posts, or stud—whatever it is, not my biggest concern at the moment.

And with that, I ran out, bolted out and away from the others, heaving with every stride I took, wiping the welled-up tears in my eyes with the back of my hand before they could trickle down my cheeks. This is wrong. I left him. Whatever he does should be none of my business—but why does this hurt?...

Why does this hurt so much?

I know I should really wish him the best. Maybe it’s my attachment issues. It’s hilariously miserable. I feel stupid, just what exactly do I expect from him? I should be glad I'm out of his line of sight now. We weren’t even together for a long time…

But then again, those few moments I shared with him felt so precious, sure—he was terrible at first, but he changed! He was sweet, kind, and caring—he was so caring, even with simple things like drinking beer, even with my nerves, he’s been so thoughtful…

I thought he would’ve cared more—b-but it’s completely fine! We’re bound to separate, either way. There’s nothing else I could do about it. This—This is good news. Lykus now has an heir and—and he can focus on his family now and—

“Mina!” a voice called out and I could see Klaus running in my direction that I just met him halfway. He engulfed me in a hug that I melted in, sobbing as I couldn’t contain the disappointment and frustration I felt. Klaus exhaled as he rubbed circles on my back, “What happened to you? Are you hurt?” he asked. I shook my head.

“No… I’m fine,” I replied,

“Lies,” he denied, “You’re not fine, not when you’re like this—what happened?!” he asked again, now patting my back as he hugged me tighter,

I sniffed, choking up on my words long before I could speak again, “It’s Lykus… he had a kid now… with the woman he cheated me with,” I finished, laughing at my own misery and he clicked his tongue,

“Oh… Mina, I’m so sorry,” he said, pulling away from me and wiping the tears on my cheeks, “Goodness… look at you, are you going to laugh or cry, I can’t make fun of you and console you at the same time,” he joked and I chuckled nasally as I sniffed,

“I’m sorry—I’m just conflicted, I didn’t expect myself to react this way, I’m sorry,” I blabbered, and he shushed me, still wearing a comforting smile, pulling me into his arms again,

“Ah… I knew something was wrong when Seth told me you suddenly left,” he noted, “but there’s nothing for you to be sorry about, I’d understand why you’d break down crying," he said, looking around and nodding along to the people that gave us weird looks, “even if it is in the middle of the streets,” he followed and I chuckled, pulling away from him as I gathered myself with a quivering smile,

“I know a should be happy for him, but I—”

“Why would you be happy for him? For me, I hope he’s damned miserable,” he quipped with a huff and I let out another chuckled,

I bit my lip, wiping the last traces of my tears away with my palm, “I suppose I could also wish that upon him… I wonder what his child looks like, hopefully not as scary as he does,” I joked to try and lighten up the atmosphere.

But Klaus looked at me with a mischievous grin. I frowned at him, “Klaus… what are you thinking, what’s with the look?”

He pursed his lips before smirking, “You want to go see?”