"I hate you!" Conan grumbled, hugging his knees with his back against the wall of the hallway where he fought Aries. Beside him was Aries. Just like his disheveled hair, Aries was just as bedraggled as him with dirt on their faces and clothes. The lines between their brows deepened, glaring daggers at the wall across from them, almost digging a hole in it with just their gazes.
"I hate you just as passionately," she huffed, her arms resting over her knees.
Silence descended on the hallway, with neither of them talking for the longest time. The anger in her eyes slowly faded, clicking her tongue in annoyance.
"You shouldn't have done that," she mustered the courage to speak after the prolonged silence. "Not because Abel cannot die, you can always resort to the extreme."
Aries lowered her eyes and rested her chin on top of her arms. "I understand a�?Abel had longed for death, but that was in the past. Don't kill him."
Hearing her voice that cracked in the end, Conan frowned. He also lowered his eyes, unable to argue with her just like moments ago.
"Life and death might have little value for you or for Abel. I am not the one to talk when compare to you, I had only been here for over two decades. Two decades... I barely lived through that, so I can't imagine living a century or two," she continued in a quiet and somber tone. "Even so, don't take life and death lightly anymore. You, my brother, and Abel... always get riled up when I inflict a minor scratch. What makes you think I don't feel the same when you get hurt?"
Aries then turned her head to him, resting her cheek on top of her arms. "And it hurts when you hurt each other or yourself. Don't do that to them or to yourself. It was this world and other people's job to hurt you, not yourself. That's what I learned this past year."
"I'm sorry if I reacted that way. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," she added under her breath, but sincerity filled her voice and eyes. "There were more actions I could've taken, but I can't reverse the time. I can only own up to my actions."
Conan stared at her soft eyes and let out a shallow breath. He bit his inner lower lip, peeling his eyes away from her. He cocked his head back until it was touching the wall behind him.
"It's not your fault, it's me," he whispered, making her lips curl up a bit. "It was my fault, and I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I felt better after beating you," she humored, causing his brow to arch.
"You didn't, I did. Look at yourself." Conan snorted, looking at her in disbelief. Silence fell on them once more as they stared at each other.
"Pfft --" Aries burst out in laughter at the same time Conan did. "You look hideous."
"Haha! Do you think you look pretty right now? You look like a witch!" he intoned, chuckling as they insulted how they looked like a mess right now.
Their waves of laughter echoed across the empty and barely lit hallway. Roman, who was leaning against the end of the hallway, staying on standby lest their fight would become bloody so he could intervene, smiled. His arms were folded under his chest, listening to them in silence.
'Haimirich... is truly different,' he told himself, retracting his back from the wall to walk away as silently as possible. 'I can't say it is way better or worse, but it's definitely a home for some of them.'
Aries and Conan kept laughing, not knowing about Roman's presence all along. When their waves of laughter subsided, they drew a deep breath and let it out sharply.
"We're silly," she mused, shaking her head mildly. "How can we fight like children? The last time I fought someone like that was Davien."
"The former crown prince?"
Aries looked back at Conan and nodded. "Mhm. He is smart and a respectable man. But no one knew that behind that public image lies a ridiculous man who used to grab his sister's hair when our banter gets heated. It would be scandalous."
"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," said Conan and shrugged, peeling his eyes away from her to the wall across from them. "I read his records and achievements. It's hard to believe he can be like that."
"He's a man full of surprises. He was many things, but among those things, he's overall cruel," she answered, setting her eyes at the light in front of them. "Maybe that is the reason I was drawn to you at first."
Her eyes squinted for a bit when she smiled. "Do you remember the first time we met at the world summit?"
"Mhm. You don't know how stressed I was back in that place."
"Abel scared me out of my wits," she continued while carrying the same subtle smile. "And then you appeared, nagging him as if you aren't afraid of getting your neck snapped. But what amused or baffled me is that you didn't even console me with words. Back then, I thought your words were the cruelest, not the murder I had witnessed or the fact that I escaped Joaquin's clutches only to fall deeper in hell."
Conan smiled bitterly. "What is the point of reassuring you just to give you false hope?"
"Exactly." Aries nodded. "They were the cruelest, but also the best consolation I received. It might sound strange, but I thank you for that time. People always lie, but you... you didn't. At least, for the first time in years, someone was honest with me and was kind enough to hurt me with a painful truth than coax me with a lie."
"Perhaps... that is also the reason I stuck around even when you kept betraying me," she added.
"I didn't betray you."
"Mhm, maybe you didn't." Aries drew a deep breath and looked up. "Maybe you did since you kept shoving me in Abel's side... but even so, I was thankful. If not for those times, I don't think I will get to see the beauty that lies behind the terrifying mask of a man branded as a tyrant."
She then cast him a side-eye. "You were just as important to me. You were my best friend, and even when we fight just like earlier, I don't really hate you. I still want and will always cherish you... till the day I die."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel