章 25: Chapter 5 - Shades under the Yellow
Part 2
Marikit
Estate of the Auryls
Two weeks after the tragedy of Laum's small Welcoming Party
Flipping my wings here, fluttering my blue wings of there. Oh my! Oh my! It's really happening. This is finally happening.
I could not hold my wings to flip as lively as I could as I was devising how to beat that Orange-Haired Princess for good.
I could not hide my excitement at all, even this young man was annoyingly voicing out his complaints. I flipped my wings, flying around Laum while humming as we were going into the training yard. It was still early morning. The sun had just shown its vibrant lights upon the white walls of this mansion. Mansion of the Auryls is its name.
Auryls? The Dignified Family of That Orange-haired Princess's Mother side. The Late Queen Dianne of Iron Kingdom.
For two long weeks of waiting, the awaited time had finally come for me to kick that young Lady's not-so-pretty face.
Though I might not do it literally and I could say that she is a little bit of a beauty. Though I might say for sure she's on the pretty side.
Jeez… alright already. She's a beauty for sure. But not as much as I.
Whatever. I'd like to see how a beauty like her eat dust anyways.
Oh my! I could not wait.
Though some people out here were not as excited as me, I guess. Especially this one.
***
This happened earlier moments ago.
Out of my excitement, I accidentally woke up earlier than Laum early this morning. I mean 'earlier' means a lot earlier, while half of the world was still had their heads borrowed on their pillows.
He was still sleeping but even though he had no practice session with His Highness today since there's a big event that's going to be unraveled on this day, I should peck him to have a warm-up exercise to condition his body and mind now. He should do it since a big event was on its way today.
Oh yes, I did peck him about it.
Jeez..this lazy Young Man.
I put a red footmark on his dopey face which was drooling and making the clean pillow yellow.
"Hey! Laum! Wake up already"
I threw him out from the bed with a loud thud. Someone's head hit the cold hard floor in a not-so-good way.
Mission complete. So, this was the feeling of Laum's younger sister while waking him up. Quite annoying, huh?
After picking up himself, he sat on the bed like nothing had happened. He must be still on his dreams as his dopey face was still drooling.
I kicked his face once more. Another red footmark glowed on his right cheek.
"Ouch!"
"Finally awake now?"
I crossed my arms and flew near into his face. He smelled sour.
He rubbed his cheeks cleaning the white marks. "Honestly, what the world are you doing? I was in the best part of my dreams. Let me see it 'til the end."
Hmmm… that made me curious. However, based on his grinning and blushing face like it had seen heaven, he must be dreaming perverted again.
"Yaah!" I went to slap his face.
"Whoops! What are you doing?"
Tch, he managed to dodge my purifying palms.
"Grrrh!"
"W-what?" He asked scratching his face. His perverted smile was erased. This young man… I guess it's normal since he is at that age.
But yes. I am not fine with it!
I sighed. He looked seriously at me like he was going to blame me for something I never did.
"Haist… all these days I've been waking as early as the first crow's cry and now the day has come to enjoy my bed yet you…"
Oh, it's something I did after all. However, he was now complaining. What's wrong with this one? He's the one who had told me to wake him up early and now he's nagging me about it.
Jeez… I just could not understand this young man anymore. Perhaps because he is at that age. Puberty, I guess. Rebelling stage, perhaps.
My scalp mysteriously itched as I heard him talk more.
Grrrh!
I felt something unpleasant in my head like it was getting tighter like something was crashing my head from both sides, as I heard him talk more.
Finally, he became silent at once.
He looked around and saw the room was still dark. The glass window showed a little next to none illumination of the luxurious garden in front of our room. It was still early morning where the sun is yet to rise from the horizon.
The normal time for Laum to wake up when he and His Highness had morning practice is at the time like this. But as I had mentioned earlier, it was not of those days, today was an exception.
As he had witnessed that it was still early as even the ghosts were still sleeping, he looked at me. Irritation was on his face.
"I am going to sleep."
He launched himself to the bed again.
"No, you don't"
I grabbed the blanket quickly. He stared at me like he was saying 'seriously?'. And then, after a moment of staring on my eyes without blinking, he sighed. A big one. A defeated one.
"Look… I want to rest, Marikit."
He said it. His low voice stung a vein somewhere in my heart. I knew this was going to happen.
I knew him very well which made me do a defeated sigh too. I floated to approach him and as I was above on his lap, I landed.
I looked up.
"Do you want to win?"
I asked him. He lied himself to the bed without the blanket which I dropped into the floor. That made me fly above him but I went into his belly this time. "The duel is today. Do I have to remind you?"
I sat. The warmth of his tummy radiated into my little body somehow. The ups and downs of his stomach were comfortable somehow. Don't get me wrong. I always sleep with Laum and I always lay my small body on the warmest part of him, his belly. Besides, I have my reasons why I have to sleep with him.
"I know. I want to win but to duel with a woman, a fine young lady, a princess no less, I'm having doubts with it."
See, I knew exactly where this thing ended.
I wanted my Laum to be pumped up with the battle ahead of us, yet he was unmotivated by it since it conflicted with his 'gentleman's codex' or 'gentlemen's rule, whatever he called it.
Who the heck planted this nonsense on his mind? I bet his old hag did. His 'Nanang', grandmother. Laum having a solid grip with this kind of mentality, 'Lady's first' or 'Chivalry' things, he would surely not willing to fight an opponent of the opposite sex. A female. It's okay. I'm fine with it but there should be a limitation on this 'Gentlemen's Codex'.
I should rewrite this Codex when I have the time.
What warrior should hesitate when it is revealed that his opponent Monster is a female?
Laum would.
Once we were sent out by Rajah Suliman, his father, to eliminate a ghoul who was getting some high scores on the livestock at the village next to ours. After doing some simple investigation, we found out the ghoul's den was in a cave near the village and we also found it was nurturing its cub. Ghoul's cub, huh?
So what happened? It took us weeks to decide to kill the ghoul and its cub. It took the whole village to persuade Laum to eliminate the thing. He almost cried as we battled the female ghoul.
Now, how about doing a duel with an innocent pretty maiden, a princess no less who is next to the crown?
This was expected that Laum could not bear the idea of having a duel against Samantha. These last two weeks, after the tragedy of the Welcoming Party brought by my new comrade Johan, Laum would talk to Samantha to dissuade her decision about the duel. Showing himself worthy to stay in the mansion or having me being on his side could be done in a more practical and rational way.
What's more rational than having a duel with the princess who was looking down on you Laum? Huh? Tell me!
There's only one right thing to do. Crash her down and let her eat dust.
Grrrrh!
Calm down me. Calm down. I'm cool now.
How naïve my Laum is.
It had been decided. Samantha's burning desire to burn you down in a literal way is inextinguishable. There's one thing we could do about it. Pay her the same amount of desire of putting her down. Besides, it's an unwritten law the protagonist should have a duel with his heroine. It's always like that.
But following that some kind of rationality, it would fall like that Young Princess is his Heroine.
No.
No!
No, that can't be!
Change this fate, Author-Kun or I'll hunt you in your dreams!
Laum is only mine. No, Laum is only MINE! M-I-N-E.
Perhaps I should do something on Samantha instead. Perhaps cursing her not to find her special someone forever would be… hehe-hehe.
No, no. If I were to talk about this thing called 'Love', I should trust more on Laum's Naivety and Dumbness. I am quite sure it's not going to be easy for him to find his special someone. It's more easy for him to find the needle hidden in a stack of hay. I am sure that the time for him to pursue his love is still far away. With that, I can take care of him without worrying.
Why should I worry about it?
It's my responsibility to take care of him. That's all.
I have to be with his side no matter what.
Back to our current scene, Laum was on his bed. I sighed.
If he's not willing to fight against the princes, then I will give him a reason to. A good reason. Respect to a lady which he's bragging at.
"I've something to show you," I said it to him. He turned his face at me. His eyes were questioning me.
"Like I said, just get up and do your training."
I went to his right hand and pulled it. It was heavy as expected since I am only a pixie, you know. But still, I wanted him to get up. "Grrrrrh!"
"Okay. Okay…"
Finally, he was on his feet. Then, he changed into his own attire, the tribal vest and his trousers the old seaman gave to him. Pair of sticks on his back. Everything was done inside this room and we went out and which brings us back to the beginning of this part.
Remember, I was humming while we were on our way to the training yard.
After walking the maze of hallways for some minutes, we reached the training yard. The sun was already slightly above the horizon but the shades were still lurking around the corners.
I sat on Laum's shoulder. I was still humming.
Laum stood at the entrance of the training yard which was still many steps away from the center of it. The shadows of the pillars hid us from anyone.
I stopped humming.
We were like a statue in the dark, like the ones we passed earlier. The tiny chirps of the morning birds were so audible blended with the sound of someone's breath. Someone was taking in and out air rapidly. Someone was catching his/her breath in the middle of the training yard.
That scene was what we had witnessed.
She was there. Pretty face soaked in sweat. Bangs hindered her eyes, holding a wooden training sword into her hands. She was swinging it up and down as she adjusted her breathing on the movement of her small arms.
We watched at her for a while.
How about it, Laum?
I would like to question him. But there's no point. He got what I wanted him to see. Her determination, her seriousness, her hardships, and perseverance.
She deserved more than to be treated like a lady. She deserved more than that. Laum must pay respect to her, on what she really is. More than a lady, a princess but a young woman with her hardships and determination.
While Laum was watching Samantha, I glanced at his face. Since I was sitting on his shoulder, he did not notice.
"So, what now? Are we going in?"
It made him blink. He turned his face in my direction. And, he sighed.
Surely he got it. Sure he understood what I wanted him to see.
She was doing her best and Laum must not disrespect it. He got to show him the same eagerness she was giving.
"Then…" He finally uttered a word when a rattling sound caught our attention.
We turned immediately our heads where the sound came from. It was from the training yard where Samantha was practicing swinging a sword.
A wooden sword was laying at Samantha's front. She was still breathing hard, trying to catch her breath.
She was almost shining as the sun's ray showered all over her sweat-soaked body.
She exhaled, a deep one, enough to reach our ears from the distant. She moved to get the wooden sword but she stopped hearing someone.
It was a small chuckle. Not mocking but a friendly one. It came from the young man which I was sitting at.
It was too late for Laum to cover his mouth with his fist. She had discovered that someone was hiding his image under the shadow of the pillar at the entrance way of the training yard.
The sound of the early birds dominated the moment while Samantha was cautiously staring on our way. Since we were at the shadows, perhaps Samantha was not certain who was in the entrance of the training yard.
She stood up straight and sooner, she demanded us to show our face.
"Come out"
Laum bitterly shook his head and sighed. Laum was definitely caught watching a fine young woman on her morning practice session.
Good for you, Laum. More reasons for her to beat you up.
Whose idea is this, by the way?
He faced up and I looked at him while shrugging my shoulders.
"Go on" I encouraged to face his own death.
He sighed again.
"H-hey…"
Laum walked out from the shadow with a bitter smile on his face. As for me, I was sitting comfortably on his shoulder while grabbing his ears.
"It's just only you and…" Samantha said, paused as she turned to me. She smiled at me. "Marie.." I noticed there was a sound of relief on her voice.
"Humph!" My response on her smile. Who is Marie, for God's sake?
I thought Laum would hear hurting words from her. I thought Laum would be dead as he was caught peeping the princess. I thought it was bad but I guess it was not. The princess was good.
Still, there was the coldness on her voice while she addressed to Laum. However, I bet Laum grew slight immunity about it.
"What are you doing here? His Highness had told you his not giving you a practice today, hadn't he?" She continued.
"Ah… yes. But I could ask you the same, you know." Laum replied.
We already knew about the practice of His Highness and Samantha on the mornings which is earlier than Laum's practice session with His Highness.
She turned her eyes away.
Laum eyed the princess's expression. Then, he nodded. He would not pry anything if it's not needed.
The princess walked away from Laum. Then, she turned around to lean her back against a pillar. She was crossing her arms like a boss.
While she doing so, Laum moved to get the wooden sword the princess was swinging earlier. Samantha was looking at him like she was demanding him no to move any further but Laum still did so.
"You're not planning to win the duel against me with this thing, are you?"
He asked as he picked the wooden sword. It was blunted. Its wooden blade was too blunted.
She cast her away from her eyes on us. Perhaps embarrassed. I could not help to laugh seeing the usual boisterous attitude of the princess was not taken away from her. How cute she was.
She remained unspoken. Silent as she leaned her back on the flat-squared surface of the white stone pillars. Perhaps, she was too tired to argue.
Laum took his chance to speak.
"We don't have swords back in our village. We are so humble that the metalwork would create only humble metal weapons like a bolo. Like the one my father wielded."
Samantha looked at us. Laum must have caught her attention as he spoke about his father or the bolo. I did not know.
"Bolo. My father wielded one, hanging on his left side, a large, heavy knife used for cutting, obviously. He has a 'Kalasag' or medium-sized shield on his back. Bolo has the same purpose as the 'swords' but it's different. Usually, it's a single-edged, short, and curved. The 'swords' I have seen so far in these lands are straight, double-edged, and have sharp tips like a diamond."
Laum examined the wooden sword. He turned to check it from the handle to the tip. I knew he was not an expert of weapon, especially the bladed one since he carried a pair of sticks for beating. However, I bet he could see how they wielded the weapons like swords.
"Are you done yet with the talk?" The long talk of Laum must irritate her. "Then, give it to me."
Now, she's asking for the wooden sword.
"I think you should try another weapon. It's unfit for your small hands. The handle is too big for you."
Hearing his recommendation, her eyebrows met. Her eyes squinted. She glared. Since I was sitting on Laum's shoulder, I was glared at too. Then seeing me, she turned her eyes away.
"I am not giving up on this." She walked close to us. "And I am going to win the battle without a weapon, just with my small hands."
She grabbed the wooden sword from Laum's grip and passed us over.
"I am not handling Marikit that easily. "
Laum replied as she was on our back.
"Then, I'll turn you to ashes if I had to."
That sent chills into my wings and spine. That moment I understood. When Laum argued to His Highness about the duel which the winner will keep me as a reward, Samantha said it was for my safety. If Laum were to lose the duel, I must be left here so no one would see me outside. But I know there's something more about it. Something that is involving me, a pixie.
And I have a bad feeling about it.
For the first time I saw Samantha, there on the underground throne room, I knew she was more to be aware of than his own father. She's more dangerous than her pretty looks.
I know there's something about her.
Hearing this treat from her made Laum sigh.
"I would like to avoid a duel involving turning to ashes especially with a princess no less – " Samantha cut his word to insert.
"Don't make excuse for your –" Laum butted in and continued his words.
"But I have admired how serious you were earlier. And I don't like the idea of leaving my partner here."
Laum looked at me.
"I don't want to be left her alone, too." I confidently said to him with a smile.
Samantha had no words. She fell into silence.
"We're going to give all what we have. We're partners, after all. If I have to win and become your retainer just to have Marikit stay on my shoulders, I will."
That is the agreement of the duel. If Samantha will win the duel, she will have me and Laum will be thrown out from this kingdom if Samantha will not turn him into ashes as she had promised.
However, everyone in the mansion will be happy, except for Samantha, if it turns out that Laum won the duel without having cooked parts of his body as he will be staying in the mansion with me as a retainer of the princess.
To be honest, even I don't like Samantha, I like staying in this mansion. Especially the delicious food.
Especially the sweets and the pastries that ash-haired Gil prepared.
Wait, I'm going to wipe my drool. Just thinking about it made my tummy growl.
Therefore, staying in the mansion would be the best-case scenario for both of us.
Samantha laughed, mockingly so, as she heard Laum's aspiration to win.
"To think my first ever servant is from the strange land whom I never knew and seen. Well, if ever you're still intact and won the duel, I guess I would need some advice on having a pixie." She eyed me and smiled once more. I shivered seeing her smile. "I will get things I needed."
Finally, she turned around and put the wooden sword on its rack.
"Better practice now. There might be no tomorrow. See you later at the Yellow Blade Field."
With a grin, she left us at the Auryls Mansion's training yard with an eerie silence. With a chill seeing how she grinned.
Hmm… it made me wonder how such a pretty face was wasted in making such an evil grin.
But 'Grrrrh!'. That orange-haired princess. That young lady! She's getting in my nerves. Well, she's totally already in my nerves, to be precise.
"We'll make her eat dust, right Laum!"
Without my intention, I was putting my anger on someone's ear. I was grinding Laum's ear so hard at the moment.
"Ouch! Ouch! My ears!"
"Sorry, Laum! Sorry."
But instead of getting pissed off, he actually made a warm smile for me.
"No, it's okay. I understand. Thank you for standing by my side as always."
Jeez… there he goes again. Being emotional and sentimental like a child. Jeez...
"It goes without saying."
"We'll win later."
Jeez.. why this young man is saying the obvious as always?
"Like I said, it goes without saying."
He laughed again, lively as the morning light. I guess I have lightened his mind this time.
He nodded. I flew around him. I flipped my wings and then landed on his shoulder again.
I smiled.
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