The Center of Cosmos

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Chapter Fifteen

She change into comfortable clothes and exited the bathroom, she saw Mathew sitting on the couch with slightly wet hair and was also dressed in dry clothes.

Seeing his serious face making her tongue-tied and cannot think of any topic she can talk about. She just stood in the doorway of the bathroom as she kept on staring at him.

“Celine,” he called.

Her heartbeat became faster as if she run in a marathon when she heard him called her name.

As he stared at her, the moment their eyes met, her heartbeat became erratic.

‘Calm down, calm down,’ she reminded herself as she breathes.

“Yes, master?” she replied as she stared back at him.

“Please come here,” he uttered as he tap the vacant seat beside him.

With a tense shoulder, she walks towards Mathew and sits beside him.

She felt tenser when she heard him took a deep breath.

“I apologize for what happened in the forest, I’m sorry for injuring you back there,” Mathew said as he eyed her.

She stared back at him as she patted his shoulder.

Suddenly, Mathew felt light-headed and relax.

“Don’t do that, you should save your energy,” he uttered as his eyebrows furrowed.

“Master, you shouldn’t apologize, none of these is your fault and you shouldn’t feel ashamed of yourself. Don’t feel sorry for me instead, the enemy should do that for themselves,” Celine replied.

“What do you mean? Did you figure out their plan?” He asks.

“…No,” she answered truthfully.

“They want us dead, obviously,” Mathew uttered, “I just can’t accept that they fooled us.”

“And so?” she responded as she lean her back on the couch.

“It doesn’t mean we're on the losing side right?” she continued as she shrugs her shoulders.

Mathew smiled.

“I’m sorry that your master is weak,” he said as he look at her with an apologetic look.

She look at him and met his gaze.

“You? How come? I don’t choose a weakling as my master.”

He shrugs his shoulder as a response as he averted his gaze away from her.

“I don’t see a man who has someone to protect as a weakling,” Celine uttered.

His heart skip a beat when he heard her words as their eyes met.

“Master, you are not a mistake, and choosing you will never be my mistake,” she said.

There was a deafening silence between them.

“Master, let me handle this.”

“No. If you’ll fight then I’ll fight with you,” Mathew declared.

“……If that is what you want, then please do,” she replied.

“So, what’s your plan?” Mathew asks.

 After hours of discussing and preparing the plan, there was a sudden knock on the door.

“Your majesty?” Lucas uttered behind the door.

“Yes?” Mathew responded.

“May I come in?” Lucas replied.

“Yes, you may.”

Lucas opened the door and step inside the room, Celine met his gaze and bowed her head to him as she stands up from sitting beside Mathew.

“Your majesty,” Lucas uttered as he bowed his head.

“Have you told the three kings about the plan?” Mathew asks.

“Yes your majesty, we are ready to go now,” Lucas answered.

“Yes we must be on our way now,” Mathew answered as they exited the room.

Still sharing a ride, Celine was already wearing a cloak as they started to resume their travel to the capital.

She lifts her head and saw the grey sky was about to rain. And as they went through another forest again, she eyed Mathew as her fingers glowed.

Meanwhile, Shin who was on his eagle form and was circling above them saw that they divided their groups and went on separate ways which made him confuse, however, he became relieved because he can assure he can execute the plan perfectly. He doesn’t have any magic but his master managed to pass him some of his skills for him to successfully carry the plan. He flaps his wings and locks them under an illusion again.

After a minute of watching them having a hard time, Shin started to laugh as he flaps his wings more.

“Is it that fun?” he heard a voice behind him which made him flustered.

As he faced the owner of the voice, his eyes widened when he saw Celine flying behind his back with a composed expression.

“What the!” Shin blurted in surprise as he flew backward, distancing a few meters away from her.

“You?! What are you doing here? How did you—”

“Of course I’d be able to find out. You’re not that strong,” she replied as she shrugs her shoulder.

“Hah! It’s too early for you to say that they were separated from each other right? And you left them on their own, remember?” he uttered followed by his mocking laugh.

“I’m quite sure you are only in disguise as a bird for now but…what a bird brain you are,” she replied as her fingers glowed trapping him in an invisible cage.

His laugh faded as he tried to break the cage.

“Who said were separated in the first place?” she continued.

“What?” he asks in disbelief.

She snaps her finger and in a blink of an eye, he woke up from a dream still trapped in her cage. His eyes roam around and saw that he was already on the ground and was surrounded by the enemy. Still, in his bird form, his gaze landed on the lady in front of him.

Shin was deluding the entire time.

“Surprise? How does being a fool taste like?” she uttered.

He could feel his veins pulsating with irritation on his head as his face darkened in anger.

“You b***h!”

“Don’t call me a b***h, I am not one of your kind,” she replied.

“Shut up!” he yelled at her.

“You should not yell at someone who holds your life right now,” Celine responded.

“And who would that be?! You?!” Shin answered back.

“No, of course not. The one who holds your life right now isn’t me but him,” she uttered as she pointed at Mathew who pointed his sword at the pitiful bird.

Looking at Mathew’s cold and deadly gaze made him trembled in fear.

“Tell me who is behind you?” Mathew asks.

“…And what if I won’t tell?”

“Then your life ends here,” Mathew replied.

‘Damn!’ Shin cursed in his thought as he tried to break the cage.

“Spill his name,” Mathew demanded.

“No!”

“Stop being a bird brain if you still wanted to fly,” Celine commented.

“Shut up will you!?” He replied.

‘Shin,’ he heard his master in his mind.

‘Master! Please help me!’ he replied in his mind.

‘Not until you get what I want,’ his master responded.

‘What?!’

“Tell me his name now!” Mathew demanded back.

The bird met his gaze.

“Fine! You wanted to know?!” he uttered and then laugh, “He is someone greater than her,” he replied and eyed Celine as he laugh aloud once again.

Suddenly, the bird who’s being lock from the cage was being surrounded by flames. Shin could feel his wings burning and yelp in pain.

“Celine?” Mathew uttered as he looked at her.

“No, it is someone else’s magic master,” she replied as she eyed the bird.

The cage made from her magic started to get broken and soon the bird was free from it. Despite its wings being burned from the flame, it managed to attack her.

Mathew automatically shielded her and avoided its attack, however, some of Celine’s hair was cut because of its sharp claws.

But Allen’s arrows pierced its left wings as a small portal, about its size, opened behind it and suck the bird in.

“What…what was that?” Lucas uttered.

“It’s the enemy’s magic,” Celine replied as he eyed Mathew.

“The enemy is someone like me,” she continued.

Mathew who was still embracing Celine felt his embrace became tighter.

“Are you hurt?” Mathew asks.

It took her seconds to reply as he loosen his embrace and look at her.

“Are you hurt Celine?” he asks again.

“…No, how about you? And everyone?” she answered still between his arms.

“Were fine, the protection magic you cast on us protected us all,” Mathew responded.

“That’s a relief,” she uttered as she distances herself from him because of the awkward stares from everyone.

“Then we should go now,” Celine continued as she averted her gaze away from him.

“Yes we should,” Mathew responded as they all went back to their horses.

Celine who shared a horse with Mathew was deeply stuck in her thought.

‘Who could it be?’ her inner self ask as she heard the galloping of the horses.

Meanwhile, Shin who was brutally injured and was already in his human form was breathing heavily on his knees in front of his master.

“…Master…why did you burn me?” he asks almost in tears because of the pain.

“Why? Hmm, such a silly question. You know the answer right?”

The poor servant did not reply.

“It's because you failed Shin, you failed!”

Shin could feel his master’s bloodlust. Despite his heavy breathes and injured body, he bowed down making his forehead kissed the cold floor.

“Please…please forgive me, master!”

“Are you kidding me? Why should I forgive you Shin?!Why?!”

“Please give me another chance master! Please!” he begged.

“And why should I?!”

“Because… Because even if I messed up mostly the plan, I still managed to bring you this,” he uttered as he raised his hand holding Celine’s strands of hair.

Seconds of silence before his master’s laugh echoed the place.

“Well, I guess you can still be useful,” his master uttered.

Shin felt himself being healed but his wings were never restored, he felt sad as he eyed the man sitting on the throne.

“I will give you a chance… but remember Shin, this is your last,” he announced as he slightly lift his right hand making the strands of hair levitate to him.

“Yes, master! Thank you!”