Once Ronin was sure that Hyacinth was asleep, he sat up from bed and woke Cermin up.
"Come on. We need to look for that Sleeping Giant's Cove." Ronin said.
Cermin sat up and frowned, rubbing his eyes. "But Mr. Hyacinth just said that we shouldn't go out—"
"I know, Your Highness. Which was why we need to go out. He couldn't have said that he wasn't hiding something." Ronin said.
Cermin scratched his forearm. "I don't know, Ronin….. It feels too dangerous. I don't want to put you at risk, not when we just had fought so many times within a week."
"Within a month, actually. You were asleep for a long time after the incident at the Banquet of the Gods." Ronin corrected.
"Ah, yes…. But it still felt like yesterday. You looked so hurt and…. And I don't like seeing you hurt."
Ronin furrowed his brows, then released it. He simply sighed.
"I'll be fine, Your Highness. I'm stronger, and I could just run away at the first sight of danger this time. There's nothing to worry about."
Cermin eventually conceded. "Alright….. Let's just be careful to not disturb Mr. Hyacinth and upset him. He seems like a good guy."
'Hah, some pretty flowers are poisonous.' Ronin thought to himself.
He too was beguiled into thinking that there was nothing wrong with Calla Lily's father at first. But now that his distracting presence was gone, he had sobered up and realized…..
How can someone living alone, with a very painful and traumatic past, manage to continue living by himself by the sea and still wear a smile towards visitors?
His behavior does was too good for someone with a background like him. And his eyes and melodious voice really have a calming effect.
But Cermin still have no idea, and Ronin did not tell him.
Because he wanted Cermin to get in danger.
If he gets in danger, Ronin could save him, and gain more V-points for his trust. That's how he gained most of his V-points.
It's all about how much Cermin trusted him as a friend to the point that he will never see the betrayal coming.
And Ronin came to relish this thought a lot by himself too. He took Cermin's hand and led him outside despite Hyacinth's warnings, wearing a wide smirk.
They peered into the dark hallways. There was no sign of anything, and so they quietly walked out of their shared room and into the staircase.
Not long after, they heard footsteps and as they turned around.....
A figure was already waiting for them in the hallway.
"AHH—"
Ronin quickly covered Cermin's mouth as he shouted, and cursed under his breath. "Fucking hell, it's just Kai."
"I knew you both wouldn't listen to him. I was waiting for you." Kai said.
Cermin took away Ronin's hand. "That's really dangerous, what if Hyacinth caught you?"
"I'll be fine." Kai told them not to reassure, but just to state a fact.
It was a system, so it would not be affected by Mage Focuses.
"Let's get out of this house as quickly and quietly as possible." Ronin told them.
They followed suit, and left the dainty bamboo house. The full moon was bright over the sea, and the tides rose up to engulf almost half of the beach.
The God of the Moon and Secrecy, Skollhati, was married to the Goddess of the Sea and Allure, Nereid. It was the explanation why the moon affects the tides.
The water splashed upon the rocks, and the sea breeze brought the scent of the sea.
The song of a siren resounded from the rocky cliffs near the cove, where the Sleeping Giant's head should be. He was curled up and sitting at his side with a satisfied smile.
Their senses were constantly filled with facts that they were indeed on an island at night.
But then, those senses shift the further they walk towards the cove. Not long after...
They don't even remember they were walking, or that there were three of them who were supposed to be walking together.
-------------------------------------------
Min Cheng was at a funeral.
He seemed to have been crying for a long time, so much that his heart had started to get scratched from all the heavy breathing and sobbing.
It bled, and felt so painful that he just wanted to take it out of his chest.
The person at the funeral was no other than his gege. His poor gege, who bled and bled through his stomach.
There were flower petals all around, but nobody attended his funeral besides Min Cheng.
Nelson Ou was his name. Ou was his father's surname, while Nelson was the name his mother gave him. He was named after Nelson Mandela, possibly the most famous figure in South Africa.
However, since it was a Western name, most people called him Ou. He was already given bad treatment due to his mother being African-American.
So, even his mother started calling him Ou, possibly realizing that it was a mistake to give him a foreign name too as it only adds fuel to people's discrimination towards him.
The coffin was about to be buried. There was a rope tied to it in order to slowly lower it once someone released it.
Min Cheng reached out to the coffin first.
"I'm sorry, gege….. I'm really sorry. I hope you have peace now wherever you are."
He untied the rope, and the coffin started to lower and lower to the ground. Min Cheng noticed something beside it.
There was a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums. Yellow was the usual color for friendship, but white and yellow chrysanthemums were used for funerals and death.
He picked it up, and placed it to his gege's chest as the equipment lowered him. But as he put the flowers—
"You think I'd forgive you that easily? I can forgive everyone else, but not you."
The dead Nelson Ou held on to his hand, the two of them holding on to the bouquet. Soon, vines grew from the stem of the yellow chrysanthemums...
And start wrapping them together!
"Gege, let me go! I'm sorry!"
"If you're really sorry, then you shouldn't let go. You have to join me." Nelson Ou spoke with his mouth sewed shut, and his eyeballs were missing.
He was really dead, and this was done to him by the mortician. His hands clasped around Min Cheng tightly were as cold as the coldest night.
"I can't….. I…. Let me go!" Min Cheng tried to yank his hand away, but the flowers and vines kept growing around their arms.
Connecting them to be together until death.
"Do you not regret what you did to me? You promised that you would always want to stay by my side, forever. You're a liar!"
"I'm not lying….. Sob…" Cermin was crying now. "I do want to be together with you…. But not like this. I never meant for this to happen. I wish I never hurt you!"
"But it's too late….. I can't change the past anymore….. It's hopeless."
The flowers were now growing up to their shoulders, and Min Cheng kept on struggling. However...
Nelson Ou wipe his tears away with his free hand, and spoke in a softer voice.
"Since it's too late, why can't you just stay with me? I know you're also in pain. All you need to do is accept me, accept that there's nothing left in life but this."
He took Min Cheng's other hand and clasped them together. "Us. There's only us left."
Min Cheng was being pulled into this alluring thought of dying with his gege. It had existed ever since he died, and never really went away.
The only thing that was stopping him, was…..
"But you told me not to die. That you don't blame me…. And that you want me to keep living…." Min Cheng said, blinking as the flowers reached his chest.
"I changed my mind. I can't take this anymore, Ah-Cheng. It's too lonely and painful without you. I need you by my side."
Min Cheng closed his eyes, and decided to—
-------------------------------
Kai was busy painting someone. That someone popped her bubblegum as she sat on a lavish sofa, asking:
"Is it done already?"
"Just a bit more, jiejie." Kai said. "Please stay still."
"Pop! Just make sure I look good at the end." She just popped her bubblegum again, and shifted to another position. Her feet dangling lazily at the edge of the sofa.
Kai was annoyed, and eventually scratched the canvas several times.
"You know what….. I have always thought that Ronin was being futile for seeking revenge. But now that I remembered I knew someone like you..."
He showed the picture. It was in tatters, full of blood red lines.
"I can see the appeal."
"Hahaha! You don't even know who I am. You don't know if I'm still alive, or if I even remember what I did to you."
She took out a lollipop and lick it. "I could be an old woman at this point. Had a good life, a wonderful family with children who loved me. While you're just a never aging boy."
"I am not a boy. I'm an adult." Kai gripped his paintbrush with anger.
She then took out a lighter, and lit a cigarette while sucking the lollipop at the same time. "You're nothing but a weak little boy to me."
The paint was made of oil. It was flammable.
She saw Kai looking at the lighter, then the many paint cans, and laughed.
"Alright then. You wanted revenge, right? Will you be willing to burn with me just to get that revenge?"
Kai had also long thought about it ever since it gained the memory of his death. It was all her fault, and wanted her so badly to burn in the pits of hell...
Even if that also meant going to hell and dragging her to stay there forever.
Kai reached out for the lighter.
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