Chapter 56
HOW long had Yuki kept her face buried in her knees? Shae had stopped shouting at the door. She had either given up and left, or waited on the sofa for Yuki to finish. Either way, Yuki didn’t feel like checking because she didn’t want to see her face. Sliding down the door to her butt had rolled her skirt up and exposed her thighs to the chilly air in the room.
Luca…
Sluggishly, she rose to her feet and stumbled over to his bed. She sat heavily on the mattress, the springs squeaked under the new weight. Luca still hadn’t opened his eyes. Color had returned to his skin and a sense of tranquility settled over his sleeping face. The pained moans she heard earlier seemed like an illusion.
“…I’m…so…sorry…” She gripped at the dress covering her chest. “It would have been better if we never met…. It would have been better if you had entered a bonding contract with that woman rather than me.”
Shae possessed breathtaking looks and a noble upbringing. Yuki believed she didn’t even deserve to be compared to someone who astronomically outclassed her.
“Had we never met—had you never made me your Master—you would have never needed to suffer like this.”
Yuki reached out her hand and affectionately ran it down the side of his cheek. The dried scabs peeled off under her fingers, leaving a trail of glowing skin behind.
“If I disappeared and that woman took my place loving you…would you stop suffering?”
No one answered. She peered down at Luca’s face. His eyelashes didn’t even twitch. The only signs of him being alive came from the sound and movement caused by his regular breathing. Sunlight spilling in from the windows dulled into a dark-orange. Tears rolled down her cheeks and splattered on Luca’s cheek.
“It’s all my…fault,” she whispered.
“That’s right. You’re the cause,” Vivi’s voice boomed. A whirlwind of red rose petals filled the room.
“Vivi!”
Vivi’s cackling bounced off the walls. It wasn’t windy inside, but the rose petals danced from the floor to the ceiling. Vivi’s voice and cackling came from all directions. The petals swirled around Yuki as if each one was an embodiment of Vivi. Within the blink of an eye, the petals and cackling vanished. In their place was Vivi sitting on the opposite side of Luca with her back to Yuki.
“Aaah, what an amusing show. You should’ve seen your face! I’m in pain from stifling my laughter.” Vivi turned only her neck toward Yuki. Pure bliss perfectly described her complacent grin. “On top of getting your Knight deathly sick, your ring was taken and worn by another woman! Can you be any more of a failure Master, or what? Not only did you not have a connection or bond—you have nothing with him at all.”
“……”
Vivi was absolutely right, which is why Yuki had nothing to say. She hung her head in shame, the torment she felt showing on her face.
Unconcerned with Yuki’s depression, Vivi continued through her silence, “So? What are you going to do?”
Yuki’s head jerked up at the abrupt question. Seriousness replaced the pleased grin on Vivi’s face.
“You interfered with my pleasure,” Vivi supplied when Yuki didn’t answer her.
“…That’s not—” Yuki trailed off. She didn’t know Vivi was involved and she couldn’t let someone suffering in front of her go unattended when she could save them. Above all else, she saved the queen to gain access to Luca.
“It doesn’t really matter. It’s just through your actions I failed to accomplish what I planned on doing.”
“What you planned on doing? You mean kill the queen?”
“The queeeeen? Ha! Nothing so worthless. What I’m referring to is this world.”
“This world?” Yuki didn’t follow the sudden leap in topics.
“Yes. War has swept the world into chaos. Invasions and tyranny are running rampant. Killing, being killed, and more killing. An ocean of blood is being shed. Those things are slowly disturbing the world’s equilibrium.”
Aridol was strained with countless wars. Blood was shed, sorrow abounded, and happiness was stripped. Learning Vivi grieved over the war made her more relatable to Yuki. Vivi flashed a wicked grin when Yuki nodded. She was all too familiar with this expression—it was the one Vivi used whenever she was scheming.
“With that said, Yuki, why don’t we play a game? This game will be just a smidge harder than the last one. There are only two results,” Vivi held up two fingers, “will the world crumble first or will you restore the equilibrium?”
“…What kind of game is that? This isn’t a funny joke, Vivi.”
“Joke? Now that’s the real joke. I’m always one-hundred percent serious. I’ve grown sick of it,” she intoned loudly. “There’s something that had to be done. It didn’t have to be me who did it. But I still did it, you know? I’m so sick of doing it and then someone had to go and interfere with the job I already didn’t want to do. I’ve lost all interest in doing it now. So I’m handing the torch over to you whether you want it or not. Got it?” she asked, her lips curling.
The smile would have been cherubic if not for the evil glint in her violet eyes. Her smile instilled cold-hard fear into Yuki. “I don’t really care. I don’t care if this world falls apart or whatever else may come.”
“Fall apart? …You’re getting too abstract for me to understand what the heck you’re talking about.”
Cackling, Vivi flipped onto the bed and crawled over to Yuki until their faces nearly touched. “Every single volcano across Aridol will erupt. And monsters will come pouring out. I’ve already heard the small monsters are popping out and attacking people in mountains more frequently recently—enhanced beasts, a tad stronger than normal. But they’re nothing compared to the real monsters who will come.”
“Monsters…”
Yuki once heard about how on extremely rare occasions monsters will appear in Aridol. She heard the stories, but she hadn’t seen pictures of them, much less the real thing.