Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER THRITY-THREE

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenzo-Capiz

“My lord, uhm… must it be this close?” I asked,

I heard him chuckle but by no means did he take that as my subtle and passive cry for help, an attempt at putting some distance between us. For someone who was dead-set on labeling me as a cheater, he’s very handsy and touchy-feely to his wife, isn’t he? More reason for me to be determined on bringing back the real Pelomina.

‘more reason to feel guilty,’ With my talent for overthinking, I won’t ever need anyone else to ruin my day or a new experience. I could do it by myself.

Lykus hummed as he looked at my face shamelessly, “Wife, are you alright? You seem to be having… mood swings,” he commented with a shrug, and I don’t even know what I’m supposed to reply to that. I think he means well when he said that, but saying it blatantly without any sort of filtering and just plain bluntness, it feels like I’m being purposely annoyed.

Given that I am acting moody, in my defense, I have a lot going on. The only problem is I can’t tell them about those problems for my safety.

Luckily, as a survival skill, I’ve learned some defense mechanisms, which is lying through my teeth. I gulped and sighed, “The truth is my lord, I don’t think I could learn this even with your attentive coaching,” I replied, see there’s some truth in there, this thing feels stronger than the bones in this body of Pelomina Vaustero,

He clicked his tongue and waved me off, “Please, wife, don’t be so negative, I have pride in my teaching skill, put your faith in me,” he replied as she nudged my shoulder back to face front and placed me once again in a proper and stable stance.

And then, I felt his face and body lean closer, “And if you’re ever feeling dread or weariness...” he began his breath hitting my neck, talking softly with that voice is a crime and it’s cheating because more than assurance, it gave me chills down my spine.

“Just know that I consider your emotions as part of your health, now more than ever after what I did to you,” he followed, and I was trying to hold on for dear life. Words of assurance? Accountability? Gentleness? This man is placing all of his best cards against me and I don’t even know how to play cards!

‘No, just remember that this is for Pelomina, don’t get swept up!’ I gulped with a nod,

“Y-Yes, thank you… my lord,” I replied, and he hummed, straightening his back again,

“Well then, lift the bow, I’d advise you to level it on shoulders, and don’t overextend your arms, straight yes, but overextend? No,” he explained, modeling my arms as he did like he was moving a mannequin, “firm grasp, wife, put it at a slight angle,” he followed, doing the same for my wrists and moving them with slight changes that really did make a difference.

‘He’s a pro at it after all, so I guess that would make sense.’

I followed his instruction, for a hot minute I thought he was going to be all sensual but I guess I got my answer, it’s not that he’s doing all these emotionally compromising acts intentionally. Maybe he’s just overly chivalrous. He was a knight before he became the lord of the land, wasn’t he? I don’t really know—it’s been over some weeks ever since I got here and the status of not knowing anything only progresses into knowing ‘some’ things.

In those few things, hardly anything was valuable enough.

I couldn’t focus on my plans because ever since Lykus made a whole 180 with his personality, he’s been almost the only thing occupying my head. I should charge him for rent at this point. He then strung the arrow and put his hand over mine, “focus, wife,” he said and I gulped, nodding at him.

“Pull the string back, I’ll help you,” he added and huffed before doing as he said, he even placed my finger properly to hold the arrow’s nock in place, this shot is 80% his effort but I’m not complaining. He leaned closer again, “Alright, breathe deeply, your only goal is to hit the tree where the arrow I shot the first arrow on,” he instructed and I followed.

Once we stretched the string I was about to let go when he suddenly paused, “Wait,” he said, jogging to Lily and rummaging through the saddle badly, coming back with a leather sheath. It’s like the one on his forearms that he wears on a daily basis. Without a word, he wrapped the leather around my forearm on the arm I held the bow with, a.k.a, my dominant arm.

He fastened it with its corset-like binding and looked at me, “Is it too tight?” he asked and I shook my head, he smiled and went back behind me, “The string flicks the wrists, it’s not that painful but it’d be better if you have these on,” he said and I bit my lip.

He cleared his throat before I could start on my thought frenzy again and set my arms at ready, helping me pull back the strings, “Get a good aim and let go, don’t even think about it,” he said and I scrunched my nose, good aim but no thinking? Still, it sounded like solid advice for the time, and after looking at the tip of the arrowhead and the designated target, a second or two, and deep breaths, I released the arrow.

“… where did it go?” I asked, looking over my shoulder to see Lykus try to stop himself from laughing but it was a failed attempt because his shoulders were visibly, and very obviously, shaking and his face even reddened, I’m sure he’s trying so hard to keep a straight face but it just hurt my ego more than just outright guffawing at my biggest fail yet.

“T-That—that was certainly—pft—eh… excuse me, wife,” he said, moving away from me to double over with the loudest suppressed laughter I’ve ever heard in my life. I guess it’s nice that he stepped away to not laugh at my face, that’s considerate… if it weren’t for the crushing defeat and shame I would’ve been brought to tears by his gentlemanly qualities.

“You could laugh out loud, Lykus,” I commented, and he raised his hand, still not facing me,

“N-No, I wasn’t laughing, by no means, I'm just... taking a breath,” he defended but something in his actions didn’t convince me, maybe it’s the fact that he’s not looking at me, or maybe it’s his face, I think his cheeks just spasmed with how wide his smile was when I ran to look at his face.

“It was my first time,” I defended with a shrug. He was having way too much fun laughing on his own,

‘… was it that funny? I mean… it’s not easy, should it be that funny?’ Because more than ‘fun’ it feels more like... ‘ridiculous’.

“ah... wife, forgive me, it was… I wasn’t expecting you to be accurate, but I wanted you to hit the tree at least,” he replied in between his chuckles and wheezes. I squinted at him with a huff. This is too much. Where did his caring and soft demeanor go? Glaring at him, I rushed over to my ‘target’, prying the surrounding shrubs and looking for the mission arrow, where ever that thing went.

“Ah, no... Pelo, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed like that, forget about the arrow, would you just like to try again?” I heard him say behind me, but the whole thing is mildly upsetting, no? He didn’t think I’d get it on my first try, did he? I didn’t reply to him and just continued looking for the missing arrow. Who knows, maybe it hit something apart from my pride.

“Wife?” he called out again, walking closer. But no, I’m petty and I will not be easily swindled now. That was embarrassing, it wasn’t initially, but all his laughing just made it that way.

“Pelomina?” he called again, this time he’s literally standing behind me, he’s just making it harder to ignore him but luckily after being, somewhat, bullied as a child, I’ve developed a good habit and skill of ignoring people even if they’re right at my face.

“Wife, please, it’s all in good fun, I didn’t mean to… ehem, make fun of you,” he followed, but I think I saw something shine on the ground, I didn’t think I’d find it but here we are, I crouched and heard Lykus sigh, let me bathe in the few moments that I could have this delusional power over him,

Oh, it hit someth—GAH! WHAT IS THAT?!

“AGH!”