Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenzo-Capiz

He hit the roof of the carriage lightly with his knuckles twice and the carriage veered off to the side, where fewer people were walking about, and eventually came to a full stop. Lykus got off first and kept the door open for me. I got giddy with the fact that I’ll get to be involved in the crowd,

Too excited, in fact, that even with the single descending step I need to take before I set foot on the ground, I still managed to miss it.

“GAH!”

“WIFE!” I heard Lykus yell, he managed to catch me before I plant my face into the cold hard ground, my whole abdomen is only a few inches bigger than his forearms so when he used it to catch me, the air was almost knocked out of me and I ended up being pretty winded.

“What are you doing?” He hissed as he pulled up to stand properly, even lifting my chin up to see if the rest of my body incurred any damage.

I chuckled nervously as I started breathing in properly again. I was getting nervous because what if that painful thing happened again? Still, I dusted myself and feel my lips and fingers to see if there was any pain starting to come from anywhere. Luckily, it all checks out and I truly was just dumb enough to miss a step.

“I just got too excited and missed a step,” I replied. In this case, being truthful is the way to go,

He gave me a look of disdain that made the whole experience worse, I’d be better off if he just sneered at me, but now he looks genuinely disappointed. “That’s… Awfully dumb,” he whispered as he straightened his back.

I shamefully nodded, plastering a fake smile to hide the soul-crushing embarrassment, “Yes, I’d agree,” I replied, and he looked around for a brief moment before gesturing me to stay at my place, and the moment he left, I buried my face into my hands.

‘THAT WAS SO FREAKING EMBARRASSING!’ Of all the things I could’ve done—I chose to FALL. It was one step, One.

In my defense, yes, I wasn’t looking at the carriage step because I was looking at the surroundings—come on! It was beautiful! The scene looked different once you got out of the cabin. Colors were popping, and it was distracting. Hopefully, no one saw that. I’d have to give credit to Lykus. He’s a real team player on that part.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear… with a horse?

Lykus came back with a white and brown-colored horse, holding it by the reins. “Where did you get that?” I asked, looking round to see if there were just people handing out horses.

Lykus frowned at me and gestured at the front of our carriage. I forgot to take note that we have three horses to pull that carriage along.

I facepalmed. Dragging my hands over my face. ‘I blame all of this on Lykus,’ His character development has left me in shambles,

I nodded at him and placed my hands on my hips, “Well then, uh, s-shall we?” I said and he nodded as she walked closer to me and grabbed me by the waist.

“Wai—Lykus!” I yelped at the sudden motion,

“There,” he said as he sat me on the horse sideways. The saddle was a lot softer than I thought I’d be, and there was this little handle I can hold on to.

He waited while I shifted on my seat to fix my balance and breathe deeply as I try to settle the excitement of riding a horse for the first time. I nodded at him and we walked onwards. He didn’t even get on. Did he seriously get the horse just so I won’t have to walk?

‘What the hell is happening, he’s seriously being nice,’ I won’t even deny or lie to myself about it, he is making really good gentlemanly gestures that it was hard to keep up with the probable negative notions and ulterior behind them and now he just looks like he genuinely cares.

He can’t do stuff like this out of the blue.

He’s messing up my psyche.

But enough about him. I’ll end up getting sucked into a vortex of doubt and suspicious if I keep thinking about him. Instead, I looked around and breathed in a whiff of the air.

It’s a mixture of different distinct smells, there was the smell of freshly pressed cloth, bread, and the cool and light fragrance of plants and other greenery, and every now and then, whenever we approach a*****e that has an abundance of a particular flower I could smell just how light and calming each scent was.

The visual is just as wonderful, what truly captured my eyes were just how many flowering plants are crawling about throughout the city, the hanging plants are starting to reach the ground and crawl across the walls, flowers were everywhere, and what sort of village is this? Is this a normal occurrence in this world or does this town, in particular, had an obsession with flowers?

I’m not complaining, I’m just curious.

It must’ve taken years for it to be this widespread.

Apart from the plants, the actual villagers are also a sight to behold. You’d think you’d only see these kinds of attire and setting in movies, but no, this is real. There were kids running around playing, and it seems like everybody knew everybody. They were laughing amongst each other and—is that a GOAT?

There was a man who was carrying a small goat in his arms like a child, showing it to his friends and the said friend then laughed.

“Huh…” I mumbled right before laughing to myself. That’s my kind of humor. Stupid, but it’s too stupid that it’s kind of funny.

“Having fun?” I heard Lykus ask,

I nodded before looking at him, “Yes, thank you lord Lykus,” I replied,

“What for,” he followed, nodding to one of the vendors as he passed and the vendor in return bowed deep with a small smile,

“for many things now, but foremost for catching me earlier,” I said, hoping to get a reaction from him, a sneer, a smirk, a snicker, anything that I’d expect him to do… but no, he’s done nothing but to rattle me because instead of either of those things he chuckled…

HE CHUCKLED.

What in the name of the first man on the moon is happening here?

Is he happy because their mission at the Okuzal border was successful, or is he happy because he’s not coped in the training hall? His face has gotten softer actually and dare I say I could almost see a small smile forming on his lips.

“That could have been disastrous,” he noted, but even so, he looked less crass than how he usually is,

And as we walked and passed buildings of different heights, it didn’t help that at that moment we passed a smaller building that couldn’t provide enough shade against the sun so when the light latched onto him, his bright silver hair seemed like it as glowing, like it was truly something made of metal.

Then he had the gall to face me with a small smile, “Although if I recall, it’s not the first time that’s happened,” he said, his face glowed and his complexion appeared honey-like, his teeth white like ivories, his eyes glowing as well even with their amber color.

‘Is this some kind of joke?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!’

I know I did acknowledge his good looks. I accept the fact that he has a face that’s easy on the eyes, but this… this is pushing it. Are you telling me he gets more attractive the more amicable he gets? Is that why he’s born with a face that looks like he’s perpetually angry? To mitigate the full extent of his charm?

Now that I’m looking at him with a sparse amount of prejudice, he stood out so much against the general populace, from his frame, his looks, to his hair, and the aura that he exudes.

Lykus couldn’t be human. He’s just… there has to be a valid explanation why he looks like he’s just edited in this whole scene, I also started noticing the people who follow him with their stares, they bow in his presence and he actually acknowledges each and every one of them,

“Lord Lykus…” I began,

“Yes,”

“You’re quite an attractive man, aren’t you?” I followed, I’m not even going to hide it. I didn’t even want to comment about it, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious and one cannot just not take note of that.