Vol 1 Chapter 8 (1/2)
Chapter 8 - Deliverance II
That night, just as Claudius was about to fall asleep, he heard a noise amidst his slumber
”Who's there?”
Opening his eyelids, Claudius quietly requested a confirmation of identity He couldn't be careless It hen he was careless that he was most vulnerable
”Do you realize you're in the room of the prince? If you take another step into my quarters, you'll be put under a curse by this country's greatest icians”
Even so, if the person had come this far prepared to throay their life, they wouldn't have any proble silently in Claudius's heart, Claudius strained his eyes in the pitch-blackness
There was a sure
”Sorry for coht, Dia”
The slight voice was like a sently across the floor
” Mii? Is that you, Mii?” Claudius asked, bewildered He thought he felt her nod
”Yeah Sorry, during the day, they had ht”
”You were being watched?”
”Sort of They didn't say I couldn't go anywhere, though The guy at the bottoh”
”I see” Claudius responded in a complex mental state Several different words said by various people ran about in hisfor you”
”I know Thank you”
Mi, just a little
”Andy and Orietta caht you wouldn't be co to see me anymore”
”Why?”
Hidden in the cloth of his bed's canopy overhang, Claudius couldn't see Mimizuku's face, and thus was unaware of just howher memories
He closed his eyes in the darkness Nothing changed Whether his eyes were open or closed, the world was still the same color
” The king came by today He said that the last cere held tomorrow, and that I have to co”
Claudius had understood what the king meant
The day before, Ann Duke had come and told him He knew of the whole situation Ann Duke told hi of the seal on her forehead, and the reason why she had scars on her wrists and ankles
And then, Ann Duke told hi to be called for a ceremony two days from now, Claudius Burn my actions that day into your memory However if you can, please don't tell Mimizuku about this”
Ann Duke had worn a sad smile as he said those words
”I figured I'd become notorious and hated eventually, anyway It can't be helped”
Claudius had asked what he could do to help
Ann Duke si dohat he truly wanted to say
”Dia, you s soon”
”I don't care what happens to me,” Claudius had said Ann Duke patted him on the head
”Don't say things like that The king wants you to be able to s freely so that you'll have more confidence in yourself”
Confidence in himself
Moving his ar just by s?
”You know, Claudius,” Mi voice Claudius opened his ears so as to not let any of her voice escape him ”You know” Even in the dark, Mimizuku's silhouette was small
Even though he was close to gaining free movement of his limbs, Claudius could only think of Mimizuku
Is Mii crying? he thought
Then, in a tre voice like a whisper, Mimizuku spoke
”What would you do if I asked you to help me?”
Claudius s
He knehat his ansould be long ago
A tricolor bell rang with a pristine sound As he heard it ring, Ann Duke thought of the dead queen's funeral
That tiht He had watched the endless procession absentmindedly of people in black dress froarden in his mansion
Even though he was high up, he couldn't see the inside of the coffin fro the procession He was disappointed, as it had been said that the queen was a rare beauty
However
Ann Duke raised his head, and gazed upon fukurou, who sees
Two moons had passed since he had been captured Since then, he was given nothing to eat or drink, siic power
However his figure, eyelids lowered, thin and withered, was still coldly beautiful
Before such ghastly beauty, even the Holy Knight shi+vered
”Holy Wo Dantes said in a low voice Without any wasted effort, Orietta kneeled down beside Ann Duke She closed her eyes, and offered the Holy Sword to her husband
He didn't think she would come
That hat Ann Duke had truly felt Since he told her that he was to wield the sword on the last day of the de's suppression, she hadn't listened to a word he said
However, Orietta could not say no in the end either
” Are you okay with this?” Ann Duke whispered the rabbed hold of the sword
Orietta sighed, her eyes still closed
”I live as one with the sword”
Hearing her answer, Ann Dukeabout it, he didn't want Orietta to be forced to say such things
He grasped the hilt of the sword, and unsheathed it in one swift movement
Two ht of the full ive off a di that shi+ned the most brilliantly in the cereicians It was a bit larger than a hu blue flame flickered inside of it
There was no ht at this point
The crown said to be for the next king gave off an inti air
”Bring me my prince!”
At the order of the king, Claudius arrived on a sedan chair er than his body held up by several round, Claudius's lips were pursed He looked first at the king, and then at fukurou
The ical power of the de in the history of their country
Their aim was the complete resuscitation of Claudius's unrestrained use over his arertips
It was right when the icians took their stances with their rods
”Please wait”
Having not made a sound up to this point, Claudius broke the silence in the ely turned to look at him
”Your Highness,” Claudius said clearly,”I would like to see the de clearly with my own eyes”
” What?” Dantes growled
However, Claudius, unabashedly and buried in his chair, raised his voice again
”Before he is stabbed by the Holy Sword of the Holy Knight Ann Duke, I wish to be allowed to burn the shape of this future syic power into my eyes”
The gray-haired king glared fixedly at his son However, Claudius did not lower his gaze Dantes wondered when his son had becoeous He felt like Claudius was not the saly
” Alright” The king nodded ”Bring Claudius forward!”
Thethe prince forward They placed hiht, red carpet The prince then stared carefully, though fros of which seeure had not lost its majesty
He looked at it as though searing its shape into his mind
Just as Dantes was about to continue on with the proceedings, Claudius suddenly shouted so
”Mimizuku, now!”
nobody there could deny the sound that entered their ears They simply stood wide-eyed in amazement The cloth at the bottom of Claudius's sedan chair had been ripped open
Then, a shadow jumped out from inside
”Mimizuku!!” Ann Duke yelled Like the time when she was just skin and bones with one thin cloth over her, Mimizuku jumped out like a bullet and ran
”Stop! Stop that girl!!” Dantes' voice boo stances However, they were the saicians who had already set up to perform the revitalization of Claudius's limbs It would take time for them to cast another spell
Ahead of everyone else, Ann Duke ran toward Mimizuku
However, his arm was suddenly pulled on from behind
”Urk!”
He looked to his side There, with a strong look in her eyes, was his wife
”Let o ahead, Andy”
”What are you going to do!?” Ann Duke said
”I'll show you Watch my back!”
Orietta's words were strong Her grip on Ann Duke's wrists was tight,it hard for him to refuse her
Impelled by his impatience, Ann Duke looked at Mimizuku
Mimizuku ran Wholeheartedly, she ran To fukurou, the beautiful King of Night
”fukurou!!”
She called out his name with her whole heart
She grasped a knife, holding its radiant silver hilt to her chest
Orietta stood at the entrance in her full priestess unifored her old clothes for a thin, white cloth
”Mimizuku”
”Orietta, I'o”
” Go ahead, Mi at the same time
Looking at Orietta's teary face, Mi
”You know” Tears began to parcel out of Mimizuku's eyes She didn't continue her words Orietta embraced her compassionately
” If I had a daughter, I think this is how things would probably turn out, don't you?”
She had given up on having a child of her own She had previously cried and apologized to Ann Duke for it Ann Duke loved her, and she loved Ann Duke, so she apologized whenever she cried to him Ann Duke didn't blah
They weren't able to take a child froe, as they were to consider the country their child
”I'm sorry, Orietta”
”You don't need to apologize,” Orietta said, wrapping her arly around Mimizuku's back
”You know, I I I was happy wearing the pretty clothes I got Everyone's cooking was delicious The bed was soft and fluffy, and everything made me really happy
It wasn't a lie Her feelings were definitely real
” That's right” Orietta's affir with all the affection of the Holy Mother
She's just like a real ht
I don't know, I don't understand, but ita mother is like?
Even so
”But, even so I want to go hoo back to fukurou's forest I must be an idiot”
I'h you were so kind to me
Even though everyone was kind to me
At those words, Orietta tenderly swept her hand across Mimizuku's head
”You know, us girls we all become idiots e fall in love,” she said with a mischievous smile
Mimizuku blinked at her words
”Orietta was an idiot too?” she asked, wiping her tears Orietta looked at Mimizuku and let out a chuckle
”If I wasn't how could I beco wife?”
Mihed involuntarily
”Take this”
Orietta then pressed a knife into Mimizuku's hand It had a simple beauty, and with one look, Mimizuku could tell it was valuable
”Orietta, what's this?”
Miht suddenly placed into her hand
Orietta smiled at her affectionately
”Take it I'iven to me when I became the Maiden of the Holy sword It's been passed down through the teiven shape from a broken off piece of the Holy Sword If you want to cut the threads holding the King of Night down you'll need this”
”Is it really okay for me to have it?” Mimizuku asked, assailed by mixed emotions
Wasn't Orietta Ann Duke's wife? Wasn't she a priestess of this country?
Even so, Orietta continued to smile at her
”I implore that you take it my dear Mimizuku,” she said
So Mimizuku took the blade
Pains froan to feel nauseous
However, she didn't lose her grip
I will fight
Up until now, she had always done as others said She wanted to live for herself now, to give her life direction on her own
I knew it, the moment we first met
Meeting you
It had been the first choice Mimizuku had made in her life
I'ht
Mimizuku prayed to God for the first time
”fukurou!!”
Mi fukurou's body
”fukurou, fukurou, open your eyes!!” she called out, crying fukurou's face was calmly beautiful, as if he had died, and Mimizuku's spine froze, not because of fukurou's beauty, but because of the fear that he was lost to her
There were a lot of things Mi afraid of
Then, slightly, faintly, fukurou raised his eyelids Soft ht leaked from his eyes
”fukurou!”
With his newfound freedorab onto Mimizuku's wrist
The wrist was slightly discolored, and holding a knife
”Agh!”
fukurou's thin fingers had lost ly strong, causing Mimizuku to drop her knife
”Mimizuku!!” Ann Duke called out desperately
Orietta sed her breath
With a dull sound, the knife hit the ground
However, fukurou stared at Mimizuku
”I thought you said that you hated knives” he said
It was the sahtest, that fukurou had spoken hen they had first met
To his words, Mimizuku smiled
It was a powerful smile, unlike any one Miarding the single teardrop that had fallen from Mimizuku's eye
”It's not that important”
Mimizuku then jumped at fukurou's neck
She hugged hihtly Her delicate, slender arms wrapped around him, as if they were crafted only to embrace him
fukurou then narrowed his eyes slightly
He ehtly as he could
Much tiht The two finally received each other, arm in arm
”Andy!!” Dantes called out Blood vessels were visible on his forehead
”Holy Knight Ann Duke! Cut down the de's life depends on it!!”