This is the busiest Delyth has ever seen the Lardel Castle been. The servants are moving around at a rapid pace from one point to the next, each carrying either food or fabrics. There are constant buzzes of voices and shuffling of feet at every corner. She has tried asking one of them what makes today so special but they were walking by so fast to hear her or stop and answer her question. Luckily, she finds Jothan speaking with one of the workers and giving instructions. She waits until the conversation is over until he approaches her.

"Captain Kersey, what is the event?" She sweeps her eyes around the hall at the activeness of everyone.

"The celebration of the death of Boaz Casteron." He tells her and her eyebrows raise, dumbfounded. His reaction when she compared him to his grandfather didn't give her the impression that he would care to commemorate his death.

Jothan reads her expression. "He's not mourning, quite the opposite actually. However, he's not completely happy around this time. Steer clear of him today."

He pats her on the shoulder after extending a warning and leaves her to organize the ceremony and ensure everything goes well so it doesn't trigger Silas in a worse mood than he is already in.

Turns out Silas isn't the only one that is celebrating such a day. One would think a big festival is being held throughout Varusa. Everyone is in the streets dancing, laughing and drinking. Care-free energy is floating in the air. Even the calm gush of wind, the warm sun high in the sky and a faint rainbow in the distance give credence to the day.

It is bad to celebrate someone's death but it is a collective decision that Boaz Casteron is an exception. For those who have suffered by losing loved ones during his irrational temper, kill-someone-for-fun moments, today is one of the best days to honor.

While preparations are being made for tonight, Silas is mindlessly taking a walk around the castle until he hears a group of guards and knights say derogatory things about Delyth. There is a leader in the group initiating it all, expressing his discontent with Silas giving her a room only being there for such a short time when they are still settling in the Keep.

There is an old labrys in the hand of a knight armor statue. Silas removes it from the hand and quietly yet quickly proceeds behind them. His breathing is heavy and a vein in the side of his pulse as he swings both his arms in a horizontal angle. Two heads fall to the floor and the rest stand unmoving, not comprehending the situation yet.

"Does anyone have anything else to say?" They shake their heads jerkily, fear seeping on their faces. His voice drops two octaves in a thrilling manner as he delivers his threat. "Good. If any of you utter a single word against her again, your fate will be less merciful than theirs. Are we understood?"

"Yes, my lord." Their voices come out in a rush and at a high pitch. Not a second later they sprint away in a millisecond when they realize what happened and who the cause of the unforeseen deaths are.

He cuts his eye at the scene, drops the labrys on the floor and goes to walk away but sees a shell shocked Delyth standing there with her jaw dropped. She stares at the heads, the blood pooling from the bodies and her body almost visibly shaking.

"Delyth." He steps towards her but she jerks away from him which causes him to pause. "I'm sorry you had to see that but it had to be done."

Her head whips up to look at him, her eyes really wide. "H-Had to be done?"

His expression is passive as he nods. "Yes, they deserved it. I regret not making it a bit more painful."

She understands how delicate the day is and just about anything that can set him off but seeing his heartlessness in person, activates a different kind of fear in her. This is the man she will have to handle. The man that finds it so easy to kill someone without blinking an eye.

She licks her lips that have gone dry at the gruesome scene in front of her. "Did every innocent person you've killed in your lifetime deserve to die or do you convince yourself of that to sleep better at night?"

It unnerves Silas a little at how calm her voice is about the situation in comparison to how she reacted in the past to other terrible things he's done. His tongue poke on the inside of his cheek. "They disrespected you. They called you names. I would not have stood still and allowed it. No one speaks ill of you and gets to keep their lives."

"Are you serious? That..." Her voice starts to rise when she points to the bloody scene that is being cleaned by the servants as they speak. "...does not justify you killing them. I knew what I had to endure when I decided to be a Knight and I have accepted it. I faced reality. I suggest you do the same, my lord."

She turns on her heel and walks away from him, unable to stand the sight of the unremorseful King. It's hard to speak to him and get him to realize the extremity of his actions and how unacceptable it was when he is being stubborn.

"Did you really expect me to not do anything?" He asks in a placid voice, his nostrils flaring.

She pauses and looks at him over her shoulder. "Yes."

"Whilst there is breath in my body will I allow such things to be said about you at my court."

She shakes her head and continues walking. "Filius canis."

Everyone at this ceremony is chaotic. It's as though everyone forgot their position in the castle and is galavanting carelessly. Not like Silas cares because he is nowhere to be seen. Tiarnan nurses a cup of strong beer in his hand while Delyth stays by his side to take care of him in case he hurts himself.

This is a haunting day for him. As much as he is celebrating the death of the former terrible king, he also mourns the people who were captured and slaughtered in Swuybia by the man. Tiarnan trips over his feet and Delyth holds onto his arm to keep him steady.

"I think you've had enough." She takes the cup from his hand while he whines and tries to grab it back from her. She places the cup on the table and in perfect timing is offered a cup of water.

She sits him down in a chair and helps him drink the water. "You need to get sober before going to bed because tomorrow is another day and I cannot predict what Silas's mood will be."

Tiarnan's sleepy eyes focus on her lips and he leans forward, his heavy hand gently tugs on her curls. "You're so beautiful, my golden dream. I call you that because you are literally everything I have dreamed about for years. You are like the sun and I, the mere planet that revolves around you. Sometimes when I remember how perfect you are, I think you could be this whole fantasy that I conjured in my mind and I'm still stuck in Swuybia going about my dull life in the redundant cycle. And I swear, if anyone wakes me, I will gouge out their eyes."

A huge smile brightens her face at his confession. She has always been curious about why he calls her his golden dream and now that she knows, she didn't know she could fall in love with someone a second time. She pecks his lips, ignoring the awful taste of the beer that stains on his lips and breath. She leans back and runs her fingers through his disheveled hair in an attempt to fix it.

"Stay right here, I'm coming back with maybe a cake or something and more water," she stands to her feet and points a finger at him. "Do not move."

It confuses her how one minute the servants can be found anywhere and the next minute they are impossible to be found. It's like her dad said: Things are easier to find when you're not looking for them, my little Odessa.

After roaming for approximately five minutes and she is about to go back to Tiarnan and just let him sleep in her room, she stumbles upon Silas who is leaning through an arch window with a chalice loosely hanging between his fingers.

She battles with herself whether or not to approach him but the angel on her shoulder pushes her to advance towards him and take the chalice from his hand. Drawn from his thoughts, he lazily lays his eyes on her and blinks a few times before releasing a sigh and leaning against the window. A little too far out the window as a matter of fact.

She holds him firmly by his shoulders and pulls him to lean his back against the wall. "You wouldn't want to fall over."

"It would be better. No one would care anyway." He mumbles, his words slurring a bit. He tilts his head back against the wall, his chin tipping upwards.

"I'm sure there will be someone who will miss you. Jothan, probably?" She states, knowing that he will be the only one to mourn his death.

Silas let out a hmph. "He would be more relieved than happy." He pauses. "I don't want to be known as the Devil King. It reminds me too much of the man my grandfather was. As ruthless as he was to the people of Varusa, he was the same towards his family. I doubt he knew the meaning of love. He brought up me and my brother a certain way with really strict expectations. I felt like the less favored son so I felt obligated to comply with him. There were repercussions to my failure that I have learned from. I believe he is the reason why I am the way I am. It's too late to change me because I am already programmed this way because of him."

He pushes himself off the wall and faces her while using his shoulder to lean against the wall. His expression softens as his eyes pierce into hers. "Seeing your reaction to what I had done earlier made me feel...I don't know. I couldn't bear to look at myself. I apologize if I scared you."

She takes this moment to observe the mess of a man that stands before her. Delyth takes a deep breath and looks behind her before looking at him again. "Get some rest, Silas."

What is she to say after all of that? She doesn't expect Silas to regret his despicable actions just because she was disgusted by him. It is likely that Delyth underestimated the effect she has on Silas. And what about the story about how his life was with Boaz? Her chest ached while she listened, conflicted on whether to pity him or be cautious of it being a ploy.

A part of her is telling her that maybe—just maybe—Silas is the product of having a bad childhood.

She helps a sober Tiarnan to her room, very aware that she was away for far too long and came back empty handed. When she asks about the food and water that she promised, she tells him that she couldn't find any. Not a lie.

When they make it to her room and she carefully places him on it while tucking him under the duvet. She sits on the bed bench and sits sideways.

"Tiarnan," she calls softly and he hums in acknowledgement. "What if we dropped everything and went back to Swuybia, got married and lived our lives?"

He sits up in the bed and looks at his obviously distressed fiance. He crawls forward in the bed towards her and holds her hand, his thumb caressing her knuckles.

"I would want nothing more but this is your decision. You have had this plan to avenge your family, I'm just here in support of that and make sure you're safe. I must ask though. What brought this on?" He leans his head down, trying to get her to look at him and not in her thighs.

She exhales deeply and shakes her head while shrugging a shoulder. "I don't know. I still want to go through with the plan, I was just wondering if things would've been different if we stayed in Swuybia had I accepted their deaths and moved on. If we would've been happier, you know?" She finally makes eye contact with his deep green eyes.

He cups her cheek and she leans into his tender touch. "If you want to go back home, I will follow you without hesitation. But, to avoid regrets, I suggest taking a bath, getting some rest and we can revisit this conversation in the morning. Okay, love?" She nods, wordlessly. He smiles and plants a kiss on the side of her head.

He takes her by the hand and the two go to the bathroom to wash off the graveness of the day. It was a long and exhausting day, one can hope tomorrow is better.

She waits until she is sure he is asleep until she crawls off the bed and tiptoes to the dungeons to see Aurore. It has been weeks since Silas brought her there and she is certain he hasn't found a way to dispose of them.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your fine visit, Dame Delyth Aiken? Is that what you are going by now?" She hears the mocking tone in her voice but takes it. She deserves it. No child should have suffered what she did. If anything, Aurore should've been in Delyth's position and she in hers. It would have been fair that way.

"We are way past apologies, I know that, but I still am sorry for what I did to your mother. In spite of our differences, I'm here to let you free. Go to Swuybia and look for a friend of mine, Roisin. She will be sure to help you if you tell her I sent you." Aurore narrowing her eyes at her, making it clear that she doesn't trust her, makes her more nervous than anything. Aurore has always been a temperamental person. Nothing seems to have changed.

"Why? Is it the guilt, seeing that you're the reason they destroyed our home in the first place," Aurore snaps at her and Delyth turns her head away.

"Yes, Aurore, I do feel guilty but I also am angry. I am trying to restore the harm that happened at my expense. Starting with you. Everyone is too deep in sleep, thanks to drawing themselves in spirits. You can take them, leave and start a new life. I owe that to you." Aurore pokes her tongue in her cheek as thinks over Delyth's offer.

"Fine, apology accepted. It has been long enough and time has given me the opportunity to do nothing but think in this hellhole and understand that you were young and confused and burdened with a power that you didn't even ask for or had any help in handling. I was wrong in holding it against you all these years, especially when you needed me. So I am sorry, Delyth. Where did you come up with that name anyway? It sounds so Swuybian." Aurore grimaces at the name, making Delyth laugh.

"It's a long story and I mean very, very long. I forgive you, too. Now, are you ready to get out of here?"

"Oh, it's been long overdue. Open up the windows, Dame." The look on her face tells her that even she can't fathom the idea of her being a Dame. She opens the window and gives Aurore some time to harness her power enough to bend the rays in the direction of the steel bars of the cell and burn her way through.

With Delyth's help, Aurore and the other captured Naelundians managed to escape the Lardel Castle and make their way to Swuybia safely. It might have cost the guards facing Silas's wrath the next day as well as her putting the blame on one of them that hated her for leaving the window open, leading to their not so tragic death.

All for the safety of her people and she would do it again.

28/07/22

Au revoir...

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