Chapter 42: Chapter 42

2 months later

Days passed and she simply looked out of the window in just a daze, her eyes were unclear and there was little to say for she did not speak at all. When footsteps echoed in the background and someone sat beside her, only then did she look up making the onlooker's heart clench with pain.

She was not crying anymore, she was not sad anymore for when she looked at him her entire being lightened with happiness but she was still suffering silently.

The child smiled and simply stood on the bed suddenly and then crossed over to sit in the person's lap, burying her head in his chest.

Her safe haven.

Kharsan had held onto Rue for hours that night and his voice soothed her again and again that everything was over. They would not come for her.

That he would not let anyone touch her.

His arms were somewhat stiff but Rue did not care for in this world she did not trust anyone anymore. After the gory screams and wails followed by gunshots passed, many of the people who took care of her had been killed and she persisted in attending their funeral.

She was an orphan in this world without anyone to take care of her and those who did... died such horrible death, she had never seen blood, never encountered screams, and not fathomed what darkness was so this time her shock was so severe that the doctor who came to look at her just told Kharsan that it was not serious and she would slowly recover in sometime.

Every single day Kharsan came and took her outside, read some scary stories when all she wanted was to know whether Snow-white kissed the Frog Prince and became a princess or not.

She also wanted to kiss a frog and become a princess, she looked at Kharsan in disappointment sometimes...he was not a frog and thus she could not be a princess.

A flick to her forehead made Rue come back to the present and look at the male infront of her.

"Come with me..." She held his finger and happily nodded her head, following him out to the garden. They harmoniously walked together with the angel once in a while peeking at the person much taller than her, Kharsan looked at the shy azures stealing glances at him and his chest tightened.

"Rue..."

She looked like an angel when she tilted her head as if to ask what did he want to say yet the words were struck in his throat and refused to come out.

Serene winds blew and the boy watched his companion pluck white daisies in her own world as soon as they reached the gardens, she even brought her own basket today to collect them, sitting amidst of flowerbeds where birds chirped and the huge orange tree hid her from the soft rays of the sun, she was truly an angel.

The wind blew soft silk hair tickling that pink face and Rue scrunched her nose twice until Kharsan could not bear anymore and gently cupped her cheeks to tuck the strands of hair behind her ear.

"Rue father and mother are returning today."

He was simply sitting down beside her and looking at the angel whose face was shy and eyes twinkling as her eyes widened with joy.

She was weaving a flower crown for him with little fingers making patterns and face often frowning when they entangled. It took her sometime to do it and for all those moments he simply watched her in her own tranquil world without any sense of time.

Rue stood up when she was finally done with them and then slowly walked towards Kharsan not paying attention to the ground beneath her or surroundings around her as she was lost in the green crystals that were breathtaking.

But before that crown could adorn the mafia's head, fingers clasped her shoulders gently as he took it away from her and then instead of wearing it himself decorated it in her hair.

"Rue I am leaving."

She was smiling so beautifully when she heard those words and little by little that smile was extinguished being replaced by an emotion so heartbreaking that he could not look into her eyes.

She held onto his sleeves as if to ask what did she do wrong and Kharsan could not answer.

"Come here" When he opened his arms the girl with tears dribbling down her irises flew to him with the flowers falling off her forehead. She clutched on to him and cried hopelessly.

"Rue, I am going to begin the heir's training and when I return... it would not be the same for now its Kharsan but later it would be the ruler of Villars." He wrapped the little child into his hold and sighed.

If only possible then he hoped to still be able to talk to her.

Mikhail and Diana returned that day and when Rue held onto Kharsan not letting go with desperate cries she could only be consoled by the boy himself who kissed her forehead promising to return.

But he did not return for the next eight years and relations of past were forgotten in dust of time.