"Now that you realize the Queen is unstoppable, are you here to try to change my mind, my Lord?"
Miguel had millions of reasons why he detested this woman. To him, Giselle was the root of his mother's misery. He believed Giselle and the Duke were tangled in a scandalous affair. While the duchess, Miguel's mother, was suffering from the curse of time, the two had been fooling around.
However, Miguel couldn't refute this woman's remarks. Perhaps Giselle was right. Even if Miguel rode aimlessly, he subconsciously had a true destination in mind.
Giselle.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked with a shaking voice. "What is your true intention, Giselle?"
"Are you asking because you truly didn't know, my Lord?" she returned. "Why else would I resort to such a method if not to protect the Mainland?"
"Nonsense!" Miguel's voice thundered, jumping off his steed. "You might've manipulated everyone in the council, but not me, Giselle. I know what you are aiming for isn't for the goodness of the Mainland. If that is truly your intention, then you wouldn't have made the Grimsbanne your enemy. You should've left them all alone!"
His eyes gleamed with equal anger and confusion, marching towards her until he was standing before her. "You and I knew that by provoking them, you are putting the Mainland as collateral. I will ask you again; why are you doing this? Why are you dragging the mainland and our people into such a catastrophe?"
Silence descended on their shoulders as the wind blew past them.
"Tell me, Giselle!" Her silence only added to his frustration, stretching his arm to grab both of her shoulders. "Just what is your agenda?"
"The collateral is quite small for the prize in the end." Giselle was unfazed by the tightening grip around her shoulder. She slowly lifted her chin as if to meet his burning eyes, but kept her eyes shut. "The Grimsbanne had caused this land many sufferings; they had hurt people just because they could. Their existence will continue to plague this world with nothing but fear."
Miguel's grip tightened even more, grinding his teeth. "You are doing this… for such a shallow reason?"
"For such a shallow reason?" Giselle's expression was the same, but her tone carried a tinge of mockery. "Lord Miguel, I respect you as the heir of the duke and all your achievements until now. However, do not forget I had lived a far longer life than you did. I witnessed many generations of Grimsbanne. Not because they were living a quiet life now doesn't mean they will continue that way."
Giselle slowly reached for the hand on her shoulder, peeling them ever so slowly. "You will never understand, for you had never seen the past or the future. If you knew, then you would understand why the council and most people wished them dead."
"One of those people was your mother," she added, making Miguel freeze. "It was my lady's dying wish, after all."
"Haha… what nonsense are you spewing now?" Miguel laughed in mockery, subconsciously taking a step back. "You think dragging my mother's name will make me believe you?"
"Throughout the years, I never felt the need to correct your misconception of me," said Giselle, taking a step forward this time to grab his arm. "However, this has to stop now. You should stop blaming others; stop running away from your sins. You should learn how to acknowledge them."
Miguel tried to pull his arm from her grip, but much to his dismay, Giselle didn't budge.
"You are not innocent, Lord Miguel," Giselle stressed her every word as she gripped his arm tighter. "Why did I provoke the Grimsbanne? I didn't, Lord Miguel. I wasn't the person who started all this. If anything, I am simply doing everything I can to cover the person who had given the late Maximus IV the idea of what is going on in the current."
"I am doing so, not for recognition. Recognition is nothing to me." She shook her head ever so slowly. "I am simply doing this to survive the disaster you had brought upon this land, my lord. For your mother, the lady I pledge to serve, even in the afterlife, I willingly accepted the wrath of the world just to save her precious son. However, for me to save him, I have to go against the descendants of demons and walk down the path of no return."
Miguel's heart raced, watching Giselle peel her eyelids open. The eyes beneath those eyelids were nothing but white, but he could feel the fire in them. He had never seen Giselle angry or lose her composure; Giselle was a woman who always acted as if there was no secret in the world that she never knew.
But right now, Giselle was spewing nonsense. Yet, the certainty of her voice told him it wasn't just nonsense.
Was this part of her manipulation plan?
Giselle deceived everyone, after all.
Who knew how low this woman go just to add more people to her force?
"You don't believe me?" she added calmly, blinking ever so tenderly. "Protecting you had been the duke and duchess's wishes. But alas, protecting you from the truth now will only cause the opposite effect. If you do not believe me, then you go see for yourself."
Giselle pricked the tip of her thumb until a small droplet of blood formed on it. Another soft gust of wind blew past them, and she pressed her thumb on his eyebrow, drawing it down across his left eye.
"May these blind eyes finally see the light of truth it had avoided for a long time," came out a murmur, followed by inaudible chanting.
Miguel's face turned sour at her attempt to put him under a spell. However, just as he was about to jump away from her, his eyes rolled back as if the nerve behind his eyes pulled them back. His head cocked back and his entire body froze, trembling as if having a seizure until he collapsed on his back with a thud.
*
*
*
"My lord! The land of green is in sight!"
The corner of the man's lips, sitting behind the desk inside the ship, stretched wickedly at the announcement he heard outside.
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