章節 19: Loathing and Longing
"I don't want to die, please…"
"No one wants to die, you're no exception." Whispered Kevin while hugging the soldier's head into his chest. He caressed the latter's hair, gently humming a tune as the dagger danced along a fair throat.
Blood spilled together with tears and something else— something pungent.
Kevin dropped the last soldier alive and cocked his head back, breathing in the frigid cold air through bloodstained lips. Hundreds of feeble souls clashed in anguish in his mind; he could hear them all.
He felt their agony, despair, reluctance, and pleas.
He could feel their struggles wane and crumble as they degraded into motes of energy. There was one mote in particular that stood among its peers, flaring with an occasional splendor.
Kevin was looking forward to what progress his meditation would bring him after refining all these souls later. But first, his eyes shifted in Jean's direction.
Like a lost soul abandoned in the cold, she sat there. Devastated.
With light steps, while scrubbing off the blood from his long daggers on a random coat of arms, Kevin approached Jean.
Her eyes were dazed, a chuckle of distress escaping her lips now and then.
She looked crazy.
Her once black hair was dyed red, a pair of eyes visible through the disheveled locks and soaked skin. Even though the mental blow was hard, Jean came back to her senses just as Kevin was but a few steps away from her.
She quickly brought her sleeves to wipe off the blood on her face— some of it must have gotten to her eyes; it stung badly, hence she scrubbed her eyes with extra care.
"Two heroes… This is what you meant by two heroes?" She asked. Broken syllabus in a voice hoarse beyond recognition.
Kevin stopped not too close nor too far from Jean, his voice calm. "People from the Solace side circumvented our military base and destroyed our only path of retreat, forcing us into a dead-end battle."
"Haha, you're a lunatic… Lunatic I say…" Jean brought her knees into her chest, rocking back and forth while muttering incomprehensible things.
Kevin didn't pay her ramblings any heed and continued. "The fighting was intense and spread to the other shore."
He paused for a moment.
She didn't reply.
He continued, "Our soldiers were brave and unafraid of death; exchanging one life for their own, taking another down if lucky. I snuck to the other side and detonated the bridge; no one noticed me reaching for the rear of the formation."
"Are you done?" Jean lifted her head and glared at Kevin, her eyes redder than should be. "Leave."
She spat one-word void of emotion.
She was utterly disappointed.
She would much rather the base was besieged and the soldiers defected like cowards. At least that way, some of them would have a chance of making it out alive.
She hated how little people like her father and this young baron thought of the lives of knights and soldiers.
This entire system was corrupted from the roots if even a sixteen-year-old was thinking this way.
"As long as you understand," Kevin waved his hand, believing she wouldn't mess things up or expose his strength too much. No matter how much she loathed his actions, their relationship was there.
She needed him as much as he needed her.
Moreover, Marquis Armstrong and Marquis Louis will soon arrive and take control of the situation, they will end up in opposing camps.
He didn't know to which faction his father belonged in the court before but now he did, all thanks to Kyle.
Perhaps Jean knew beforehand but kept it to herself.
As she watched Kevin walk away, Jean bit her bottom lip and scratched away at her head like mad, hesitating whether to speak or not.
"That man Kyle; has a twin brother." She softly mouthed the words, "he will surely come to find you for trouble in the future."
Kevin waved it off carelessly, not taking the matter to heart. As for Jean, she lowered her head after speaking so much, she felt like this bit of information was enough to pay Kevin off for saving her life from the crazed bombardment of the other two.
"Why would the gods choose him of all people?"
She wondered to herself, slowly curling up in the blood and snow as fatigue overcame her body.
…
From dusk till dawn, Kevin walked his way back to the small Riverside Town.
Its residents seemed oblivious to the war but a few miles north.
Perhaps they knew but didn't find it in them to care or worry anymore.
Was it their trust in the army of their nation or something else that provided them the courage? Perhaps it wasn't courage but sheer stupidity or the lack of a better place to call home.
Kevin felt entitled to believe in the latter.
No stationed garrison guards, no patrol officers, no early shifts or late night laborers.
This is Riverside, as poor as the word could describe.
Kevin slowly walked down the habitually silent streets and briefed the closed windows with his curious eye.
What has his father accomplished for these people? At first glance; nothing.
Give it a second or a third glance, it doesn't seem so simple.
The denizens of the town didn't know that their supposed lord strolled from the main gate to the other end this fine morning, but even if they did, not many would care. It could be said that his rise from the dead didn't have as much of an influence on these people as it had done further inland.
Kevin very quickly made it back to the baron's castle and strolled through the bleak gates. From the window of the study high above, an old man caught glimpse of Kevin's silhouette and rushed downstairs to greet him.
The front gate to the castle snapped open as the old steward rushed out, documents in hand, frameless glasses bouncing on the bridge of his nose.
The old steward bowed his head. "My lord, these are the papers you requested; all of these are young and promising talents from the settlements under our name in the north," he handed the papers over. "Allow me, I'll have the kitchen staff prepare breakfast while I stand watch over their actions."
Having a clear, long sigh of relief, the old steward rushed back into the castle.
All is good as far as the young baron made it back safe from the war.
The old man didn't even question the blood on Kevin's body; it was all too natural of a sigh for someone who just came back from battle.
Kevin smiled faintly. Then, his ears picked up the faint noise of low shouts and rushed footfalls coming from behind the castle, quick to assume these were a byproduct of Lexia working hard on training.
Then, he realized that he didn't prepare a gift for this little sister of his.
For a moment, he was torn between leaving in search of a suitable gift or stating the truth. After thinking about it, even if he left now, the steward had already seen him return.
Sighing, he decided to let things play out naturally as he circled around the castle, a bit of a foreign feeling in his heart called longing urging him on.
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