章 1: An Unworthy Death
"Isabella, wait!"
A young lean man, about 170 cm tall, still with a face of innocence, chased after his love of 2 years and stood atop The Silent Goat's staircase.
"Give me another chance! I'll work hard and give everything to you!" His pleading shout echoed in the noisy streets of Westray.
It was a regular night for most people in Westray City, and the diners at The Silent Goat were enjoying the drama happening in front of them. Isabella was on the streets. The hourglass brunette turned back.
"Status."
Her one word silenced him, for he knew what she meant.
"You're already 16, an adult, with no martial or literary accomplishments. So what if you are willing to do anything for me? You don't even have any of the Flame noble household's inheritance rights! Even if someone were to fancy you, can you take care of them?"
The people staring at the drama became silent. Some were fallen nobles, while others were commoners struggling at the bottom, so they understood him. But they were always those getting joy from others' misfortune. A few joined in his humiliation.
"Look at him and look at that lady! He's clearly a toad trying to eat swan meat!"
"What noble young master? He's just trash with no talent! I hear even his family's servants don't respect him!"
Ardor's face burned in shame, but he could not speak a single word; for it was all true. Isabella stared at his crushed self and knew she had made her point. But it didn't hurt to drive the dagger deeper, did it?
"Status is something you're born with Ardor. It's never something you can work for!"
A horse demon beast driven carriage entered the street, causing dust to fly and passers-by to jump aside. Seeing the insignia imprinted upon it gave rise to gasps from the onlookers.
"Young Master Stone is coming!"
"Is it really him? I heard he's really handsome!"
"Does he have a wife? I hear he's already 16!"
The crowd stared at the carriage respectfully as it came to a stop in front of Isabella. The door opened, and a maid exited the carriage, holding the door for Isabella and bowed to invite her in. Isabella nodded and glanced at the man inside the carriage. She looked back at Ardor once again.
"Ardor, meet Young Master Edgar Stone. You'll never compare to him, and you know that."
"But I…" Ardor hesitated, looking at Edgar. What should he tell her? No, what could he tell her? No number of empty promises would bridge the gap between a Marquees and a Viscount, that too, one with no inheritance rights or power.
"Didn't hear her twerp? She said 'Get Lost!' Now if that isn't persuasive enough for you, then want me to fix that in yer brain?"
Still seated, Edgar flexed his body and a strong aura burst out of him. It was more than just his ripped muscles. It was…
"Aura! Master Edgar has become a Peak Apprentice Warrior!"
The crowd stepped back in astonishment. Ardor had to take two because of the double blow.
'My first love left me after the years I put in chasing her, and second, her actual lover is someone impossible to defeat!' He felt lost, but he didn't want to give up. Hope still burned brightly in him, and Edgar didn't miss this.
"Come on in!" he said to Isabella, at which she promptly nodded and entered. The maid closed the door to the carriage and went to sit with the coachman, but the carriage didn't move.
Edgar looked at the beauty that landed in his grasp, just as he wanted.
"You need to end him to join me."
In panic, she asked him softly, "Is it really necessary to go so far?"
He just stared at her eyes with seriousness, not taking a 'no' for an answer. She quietly nodded. He seemed pleased at this and gave her one light slap on her backside. "Good!"
She shyly said, "I love you! I'd do anything for you!"
"Take it." Edgar handed her a custom-made small dart with its tip coated in venomous green, and a pouch with two coins. "Let his end be of some worth."
Determined to leave her past behind, Isabella took them and left the carriage. She walked up the short flight of creaking wooden stairs to stand before Ardor. He stared at her as she approached him, hopeful.
"Take this." Isabella handed Ardor the pouch.
'A gift for me?' he thought with some joy.
He slowly opened it, and a silvery gold radiance shone on his face. He looked up at her in sadness, and asked, "What's this?" He took out two coins, one silver and one gold.
The crowd witnessing the drama stared at those coins in greed.
To the astonishment of Ardor, Isabella hugged him for the first time and said, "This is goodbye, Ardor. We're done."
She kissed him on the cheek for a few seconds, and as he focused on the soft and wet feeling, her right hand moved in front of Ardor's heart as she pierced the dart which crossed the fabrics of his clothes and lightly pricked him.
He felt that prick but didn't pay attention to it, still lost in bliss.
'She's given me a kiss! A kiss! After all this time!'
Ardor felt his years of chasing after her, heeding to all her demands, the punishments he had to face at home because of her and many more were worth it.
But unbeknownst to him, some green venom entered him through that prick and soon entered his bloodstream. It began coursing through Ardor's blood vessels, going towards his heart.
She stepped back, and as he felt empty inside, she kept each coin in his right and left pocket, and left for the carriage while saying, "It's young master Edgar's gift for you. Use it to get yourself some good clothes, maybe have a house of your own, then a girl will marry you!"
The money didn't feel that valuable to Ardor anymore. That faint bout of joy went away as well.
The coachman swiftly commanded the demon horses to move. Ardor stared at the carriage that soon vanished after taking a turn. With a saddened gaze, he muttered, "Looks like you really want to leave me for good…"
Meanwhile, the venom reached its target and quickly began destroying his heart.
"Argh!"
Pain assaulted his mind from his heart beyond the limits of his mental tolerance. As the onlookers stared in shock, Ardor coughed out a mouthful of blood and held his chest, then fell to his knees.
His blood vessels dilated and bluish veins appeared on his skin. He soon twitched and fell to the ground.
One man immediately ran towards Ardor and quickly took the gold coin and the small dart. He ran for his life. The teen had fallen on the left side, so he ignored the silver one in the left pocket. The other greedy people chased the thief for the gold coin.
"Should we inform the Flame's that their Fourth Young Master is dead?" An old man muttered. "Even though he's not favored, they wouldn't sit back and watch him die like this…"
They each held their suspicions about the cause of his death, but none were interested in standing up for him. The crowd stepped back and distanced themselves from Ardor's corpse. They didn't want to get involved between the two noble families.
Ardor's body was quickly turning cold, but then, invisible to everyone, a giant ethereal hand held a translucent humanoid figure and descended from beyond the skies.
The hand crudely stuffed the humanoid figure into Ardor's body. But unknown to the owner of the giant hand, the translucent figure of Ardor was still present in his body.
Faint white light shone from it, healing Ardor's body and unknowingly fusing the two souls present. The hand soon vanished from existence.
Ardor's body twitched.
Just as the owner of The Silent Goat, a potbellied middle-aged man, arrived here, after learning of the incident at his restaurant, Ardor suddenly moaned.
"Ghost!" a few young people screamed and ran away. The older people looked at Ardor with confusion.
Ardor's eyes slowly opened as he struggled to get to his feet. He had a splitting headache, but he didn't want to remain lying down on wood in his own blood. The pot-bellied man immediately shouted at his waiter. "What are you staring at? Help him get up!"
The waiter foolishly nodded and immediately went to help Ardor up and took him upstairs to a private room with the owner. The onlookers dispersed as they suddenly didn't feel interested anymore.
What 'young master'? Hadn't he coughed out blood and fainted after being rejected by his crush?
The pot-bellied owner had an ingratiating smile on his face as he carefully asked Ardor, "Young Master Ardor, what happened back there? I nearly thought The Silent Goat was done for! Please don't involve us common people in your disputes."
Ardor lay on the sofa and kept moaning in pain. Hearing the question, he stiffly replied, "Who? Where? Who am I?" he muttered. Then, remembering the man's question, he replied, "I uh… just had that… ah… sudden pain then, th-then everything went black!"
The owner somewhat understood it, but still replied, "Don't worry young master. I'm sure you'll find a wonderful woman willing to accompany you."
Ardor's brows raised; those words puzzled him. But an intense headache assaulted him, and the process of fusion of the two soul's memories began. It knocked him out cold.
The owner saw this and didn't panic. He spoke to the waiter, "The young master needs more time to recover. Stay here until he wakes up. Don't let anyone enter… or else…"
"Yes, boss! I'll do it." The waiter nodded like a hen pecking rice. With a somewhat scared face, he looked at Ardor and brought a chair to sit down next to him. The owner soon left as the potential crisis was over.
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