"How about..." the Emperor said. "Taking her as a personal maid for the young lady?"
"A maid...?"
Hades leaned back and crossed his legs. It was something he could think about.
"I'll bring it up with her," Hades said. "The one who decides the punishment won't be me, but my daughter."
"I understand," the Emperor said.
Sighing, Hades shook his head.
His friend had taken his words to heart and had acted as a wise ruler. From using the incident to boost the empire's image, and softening the blow on Anatolia, he had handled everything from public sentiment to public greed.
The best move, in Hades' opinion, was to ease their anger in the most flamboyant way possible.
"I think you still went a bit too far with doing things without asking my son-in-law first."
In no time at all, the Emperor had given the adventurer Dusk the status as high as a Marquis by turning him into the hero of the incident.
"Aren't you deciding things too fast too?" The Emperor asked. The one that these two talked about was still unconscious, yet they had already made him a hero and a son-in-law.
"Hah?" Hades scowled. "So, you think he will say no? Do you think he CAN say no? I'll go to war!"
"Sure, sure," the Emperor said. "Well, this will give him all the backing he would need. No one in the Empire can say a word now."
Pulling a fast one, the Emperor had made it easy as pie for the Acacias to pair their daughter with the man of her choice.
She kept mentioning things about him being her 'wife,' in an attempt to please their daughter, the Acacias had already planned the official engagement and all the procedures that came with it without letting her find out a word. And now, even the minute issue of the wife's status was solved.
Not a moment.
His daughter had not left that man's side for a moment in the last ten days.
They didn't think they were being hasty. The thought didn't even enter their minds.
It was natural, yes. Their thoughts were the most logical.
If their relationship was strong enough for her to stay by his side for ten days, there was only one conclusion.
His daughter would definitely be happy.
Hades looked at the Emperor and sighed.
"I am still very pissed at you."
"I understand."
"You know what, Aegis, come here."
Hades beckoned the Emperor over with his fingers. The Emperor didn't find any fault in his old friend's casualness and walked over willingly.
"I have to do this to be satisfied, even a little bit."
"What do you?"
The duke clenched his fists. He twisted his entire body to the back.
The Emperor's eyes widened—
And Hades' fist came crashing into his jaw.
The Emperor held his head as a muffled.
***
A muffled sound of strings rang out.
Softly, gently, their tone reached my ears and pulled me out of my deep slumber.
As the pace of the plucking picked up, the notes grew louder. A lament that seeped deep into my soul, and pushed me up from underneath.
It felt the burdens on my consciousness were being removed my eyes slowly fluttered open.
My body ached as the hazy sight of a dark room filled my gaze.
The sounds of the strings grew bolder. What seemed like a lament just moments ago was now a call, and then, an elegy, an ode.
As the song grew clearer in my mind, the sight around me returned.
Pain coursed through my veins, but it wasn't unbearable.
My eyes searched.
Just like the song, my heart called.
I was looking for my strength. The strength that filled me before I had let myself go.
The strength that let me be weak.
Slowly, I shifted my gaze to the sides.
Sitting over the window sill was a lady with a fluttering veil. The guitar in her hand continued to sound as the night breeze seeped into the room, playing with the drapes and her white hair.
My heart pounded faster.
it wasn't the room underground anymore, but one up above.
The lady that the world was forgetting, no longer had a reason to hide.
The song continued.
Under the moonlit sky, the lady poured the words of her soul. It seemed angry at times at the world, yet happy about something else, a farrago of emotions.
One that kept me rooted to my spot.
Under the moonlit sky, the lady seemed more beautiful than I had ever seen her.
Over and over, her intonation changed. She swayed at times and leaned back at others, captivating me with her every breath all over again.
Then, it stopped.
All of sudden, the lady stopped.
her hands hovered over the strings as she stared at the guitar.
I shuffled off the bed and slowly walked over, careful to not make a noise.
The lady's song was incomplete.
There yet remained an emotion she hadn't expressed, an elegy she hadn't sung, an ode she hadn't hummed.
I stopped behind her.
The sight of the moonlit sky and the lady in between it all.
My hands moved over her back, coiling over her. My palms touched the back of her hand while my breath landed on her nape.
The lady didn't say a word as she felt my touch.
I led her hands over the strings, and with my palm grazing her back, she pressed down on the next frets.
The lady leaned back and rested her head against my chest.
"This pounding in my heart, you feel it too," she said.
I closed my eyes as the lady started plucking the strings again.
Soft. Gentle. Passionate. Blooming.
Words failed to describe her sounds.
Emotions failed to capture our feelings.
It was something that only the two of us felt.
No one but us.
"Say, what's your name?"
"Eugene..." I whispered. "And you?"
The lady shifted her gaze toward me. My fingers intertwined with hers as the sounds of the guitar lowered.
"Lethe."
Lethe.
"Eugene... this feeling, do you know what it is?"
The lady asked.
My lady asked.
The strength that I seek.
The gaze that I desire.
The feeling that I shared.
I slowly pulled away the bottom of her veil and leaned closer.
Under the moonlit sky, the voice of the lady's soul finished its song.
Under the moonlit sky, two lips overlapped.
This feeling that we felt.
What could it be, but
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