Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER THRIRTY-FIVE

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenz-Capiz

After roaming around more, I couldn’t count the time he shot at something in the distance and then ran back at it. More than a few times, I was getting scared that maybe he shot another one of those mutant things. How there came to be mutants in this world is a mystery to me. I don’t think I have the headspace to worry about that on top of anything, because how did I even get into this world?

‘I don’t know either.’ This is why I couldn’t expend my energy on it despite how dangerous and horrid the whole concept is.

But this is how the hunting went. Lykus would shoot into the distance. I thought it was he was just randomly shooting arrows everywhere. But, somehow, every single one of them is a hit. Right in the same place as the others, the center of the forehead. Honestly, I had to suppress the need to clap or say wow because it was impressive and it could pass up for a party trick.

But all of his targets were animals. After the boar was a rabbit or a hare, he said it’s a hare, but how could anyone honestly tell? Followed by that is a weird deer, but a deer nevertheless, and a bunch more. I think one of them was a wolverine but I’m not really big on the whole nature thing, and that’s been established long before.

The weirdest part of the whole thing isn’t that he shoots into what looks like nothing and once he finds his target, he says things like ‘not the right size’, ‘old meat’, ‘looks sickly, and ‘not really hunted for meat,’ and so on.

Maybe it’s not weird, maybe he’s just very picky with how he hunts.

The whole hunt was more or less successful, though. The other knights brought along heaps of what they hunted. Lykus didn’t actually present any loot. I think ‘game’ is the proper term for it. I thought that he was going to have trouble facing the knights empty-handed when he’s the one who led the hunt, but it was more like a non-verbal conversation.

Which is kind of concerning, I already have trouble catching up properly even if they do have a verbal conversation. The odds are against me if they decide to not use words more often. That said, we returned to the castle. The ride was way calmer than the ride here. Lykus didn’t rein Lily like we’re escaping from the government.

Once we came back, the other servant was quick to secure the game, not sure how they were going to preserve all that meat. Do they have the medieval equivalent of a fridge around?

Lykus helped me down Lily, and by now I’m pretty certain I can’t just walk around practically clueless about the upcoming events. I get a spontaneous sense of urgency because I forget things but I think it’s high time that I spend some time and effort in getting into the—

“Wife?” I heard Lykus call, handing Lily’s reins to one of the servants just as I was about to enter the castle,

“Yes?” I answered, and he cleared his throat as he walked closer.

“Will… will you be doing anything this afternoon?” he asked.

‘oh my goodness …’

I gulped and tilted my head at him. Do I have something to do this afternoon? I mean, I was planning to do something which is digging around for information about Yulsey and anyone else that would probably attend that coronation. Although I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to do that, I’ll just be hopeful and wish that some of the servants have any idea about the topic but—

“If you do please ignore my question, I’m merely wondering if you have time for some tea at the greenhouse…” he trailed off, looking into the distance with a small huff,

‘AHHHGG! HOW?! HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO SAY NO TO THIS?!’

“I recalled how you loved eating and drinking your tea there but I haven’t seen you visit it lately,” he followed, taking a pause to smile at me, I now consider the millimeter upward curl at the corner of his lips as a smile because it does look like a smile but at the same time he looks like he’s trying to suppress it, “the servants say you haven’t been there at all since… your health is…” he went on but his voice got more hushed as he spoke,

The very faint smile on his lips dropped as he furrowed his brows to the ground. My hands are tied at this point, I hummed as I peeked at him, “Yes, tea sounds wonderful, my lord,” I agreed and you could see the exact moment that he lit up, I can’t believe I was immensely frightened with this man before.

He’s overly doting, isn’t he? I was right to give Polly the benefit of the doubt, even if I immediately retracted it. Then again, unlike the current Lykus, who doesn’t have even a shadow of his previous attitude and actions, Lykus didn’t act anything like a loving husband the second he set foot in this castle.

He did say it could be the aftermath of war. I guess he became temperamental, so I suppose this is how he usually acts? I can’t say for sure. It’s only been two days since he’s been nice to me, compared to the previous week or so that he’s been tormenting me.

‘… did I maybe forgive him too easily?’ I’d say it’s his looks. It’s impossible to remain mad at a face like that, adding on with how he explained why he acted like that, plus his efforts in making amends. Maybe I was lenient with how easily I warmed up to him, but I’m in my defense in comparison to our wrongs… I’ll take the lead,

I’m still pretending to be his wife, for Pete’s sake.

He nodded at me, “Then I will see you later, I will send your personal servant to fetch you,” he said turning his back and walking away and I nodded with a smile—wait, did he say personal attendant?

“P-Personal attendant, my lord?” I clarified, furrowing my brows. Does he know about Polly?

He paused and gave me a sideways glance, raising his brow, “Yes…? The woman who’s with you at all times, what’s her name—Polly, that one, is she not your attendant?” he explained, finishing with a question and I gulped,

Nodding awkwardly with a chuckle, “Y-Yes, yes, that’s right, I will see you then, my lord,” I replied, and with a curt nod, we parted ways. I practically power-walked my way back to my bedroom. How did he know about Polly? Did he just assume since we’re always together or did he overhear us talking in one way or another? How much does he know? Because if he knew about the 'codes' we made for him, I doubt he'll appreciate that.

Once I went back to my room, I shut the doors and plopped down on the fluffy mattress. Today was already kind of tiring and it’s just the beginning too. It’s still early morning. I didn’t even have breakfast yet. Maybe I could get something from the kitchen first, but the bed was too soft to leave.

It seems I’m once again in a dilemma. Would laziness triumph over my needs?

I groaned as I sat up, I don’t think that hungry, I could lie around here and laze about for ten minutes max. Otherwise, I’d be too hungry and I’ll end up wolfing down on food and eat more than I need to. Then again, that would be okay. I think some extra weight would do good for this body.

I stretched and gazed around my room. I didn’t sleep here last night so—oh! The green book! I forgot I took a book with stories and illustrations from the library yesterday. I was supposed to be looking for books that had some information about the royal party given that we’ll be heading there two days from now,

But as expected of myself, I got distracted and brought down a children’s book instead.

I hummed as I flipped it open. It just so happens that the page I opened has a sheet of paper with handwritten notes, of yeah. I remembered that this is one of the reasons I picked it up. It seems like this particular note is correlated to the story on that page. I cleared my throat as I went on to read it. It seems pretty long too,

“… in my darkest nights, when even grand chandeliers seemed dim, you were the candle with a weak flickering flame. I was but a mere moth, you may appear faint to others, but to me you were glorious, I was drawn to you and the paltry warmth you exude, you gave me comfort more than fright and I was more than willing to be engulfed in your embrace, I burn for you…”

What.

‘Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME?!’ That was—ugh! That gave me butterflies!

“Who the heck wrote this?!” I exclaimed in the silence of my bedroom. With that, I’m hooked. I might’ve raised the bar with my expectations because of that but it seems like it's not one, but two separate people who wrote notes in here, one was the romantic one who makes heart-shattering metaphors and the other one was a really angry and hateful critic.

I ended up equally looking forward to the romantic notes-writer and the hateful critic. While the former was writing about his undying love and devotion, the other person was writing about how stupid a particular poem or story was.

For instance, in the poem about someone being compared to a star in the sky, the other person wrote: “How could you tell it was the same star? It already said that the appears bigger and smaller, brighter and dimmer. Isn’t he looking at different stars altogether, the nerve,” and I just find it hilarious at this point.

While the pieces of literature themselves were truly beautiful, seeing how the two different people reacted to some of those has me clutching my gut. But all of a sudden, the sounds of the doors opening made me look up from where I was lying on my stomach on the bed.

Lykus’s big frame peeked out. He had this worried expression on his face, sighing as he opened the door completely. I immediately sat up, “my lord?” I called out, now closing the book and sliding off the bed, fixing my dress once I stood upright. He looked stressed, did something happen?

“My lord, what’s—”

“We were looking for you for hours now, wife,” he replied, looking around the room.

“What? But… I was just in here… I didn’t leave the room ever since we came back,” I answered, and he furrowed his brows and rubbed his chin. Now he looks pissed and worried. Is he mad at me? Why was he looking for me anyway and hours? Did hours pass by while I was reading—oh no, it’s pretty dark.

How did the day just pass like that? AND WHAT ABOUT OUR AFTERNOON TEA?! Ah! I forgot about the tea!

Now that I’m looking at him closely, I could see more disappointment than anger. Man, did that make me feel terrible? What am I going to do now? Uhh…

“M-My lord?” I called, tugging at the cuff of his sleeves. I don’t think I could summon enough courage to hold his hand on such short notice, he looked at me with raised brows but half-lidded eyes. Yep, definitely upset, it’s written all over his face, “I’m very sorry… I was just reading the book, I got too immersed, I should’ve watched the time we could still have tea even now… can we? Assuming you still—”

“This is not about the tea, wife, you still haven’t eaten, what if you get sick again?” he interrupted, his hand interlocking with the hand I used to hold on to his sleeve cuff, pulling me with him and we left my bedroom,

“Ah—yes, I’m very sorry I’ll just—”

“Let’s eat together at my study, I won’t feel reassured unless I see you eat until you’re full,” he interrupted yet again, lightly squeezing my hand in his. Oh, man…

‘I bet the person who made those romantic notes would be the only one able to capture just exactly how taken I am by this man already,’