Chapter 129: Chapter 129

Landing on the patio of his room in his castle, Eren walked inside while shifting back to his human form and headed straight towards the bath, not only was he feeling dirty and sweaty but also tired, it felt as if life wasn't giving him any chances to catch his breath and kept on coming at him with one attack after the other.

On the bright side, his bath was already prepared for him, warm enough to be bearable, and cold enough to stay freshening; just the way he liked it, he was already bare to his skin with his clothes in his hands, throwing them carelessly on the stool, he stepped inside the large pool made of polished black marble, the water was mixed with scented oils, making it smell like the forest, like the earth and the soil and the trees and the bush and the moss and the dew, all together, he inhaled deeply while closing his eyes, relaxing a little, for there was only one scent which he loved more than the forest's and it belonged to a certain girl that he seemed to be unable, and unwilling, to stop thinking about.

Sara, the girl was going to be the end of him, Eren thought while throwing his head back to rest on the edge of the pool, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips, it still felt surreal, she was alive, real, he touched and felt her, she wasn't an illusion that would fade away, she was real, and she hated him.

The fear in her eyes when he told her about the Gods, the hesitation and certainty she was trying to hide, and the way she stood, for hours, watching the shack from afar, unable to go near it.

Eren sighed at his last thought before opening his eyes to stare at the old man who stood in front of him, dressed in black as usual with a glass of warm blood in his hand.

"You look troubled, my lord.", Joseph handed the glass to Eren who took it without delay, the shadows’ lord needed to feed in order to strengthen his dark magic, otherwise, he won't be able to balance the creation energy, he didn't want to think about the consequences of the possible imbalance, the unbearable pain, so he gulped the entire cup at once before licking his lips, unsatisfied.

Not needing any instructions, Joseph went back to the room to bring the jug of warm blood he prepared for the young lord as well as a chair, placing the chair in front of the pool, he refilled Eren’s glass.

Not driven by thirst this time, Eren drank his blood slowly, savoring the smoothness of the thick liquid, it was one of the times when he would appreciated a glass of alcoholic blood, just to get his mind to relax a little, but alcohol was something he promised himself to stay away from since the time it almost made him force his fair lady.

"Something is troubling you, Young lord..." Joseph spoke in a very calm and slow tone, his voice matched his appearance perfectly, Old and wise, but there was more than wisdom into his voice as he stated the obvious fact for Eren, there was also that hidden concern he always carried within him for the young lord.

Eren stared at the ceiling while his legs were crossed under the water and his arms spread on the pool's edge, he contemplated the question for a while, thinking back about the hardships he was facing and the next step he should be making.

"Many things, Joseph...", That was the fact, Eren thought to himself, there wasn't just one thing at a time to worry about, there was an entire world, a world he, on his own twisted and cruel way, was trying to make better.

"Do you remember, Young Lord, the days back in the forest when you were young?" Joseph asked while pouring Eren another cup of the warm alcoholic blood while thinking back at the young boy he spotted at the edge of the dark forest many years ago, the boy was no more than two years old, suffering from deadly injuries, the human scent filled the air around him, indicating they were the ones responsible for his state, the same boy was the savior of the dying shadows empire, the abandoned and deranged hybrid made his way up to be the lord of the shadows’ edge, a ruthless, cruel, and strong lord, but sometimes, some rare times, the old man felt as if he was seeing the young boy who was tortured and chased by his own family, not the weak one, but the lost one, just like that moment in the bath, he looked lost, exhausted with the world's weight on his shoulders.

"How can I forget?! " Eren said with a bitter smile, how can he forget, for weeks he was starved and tortured by the humans before he was discarded at the edge of the black forest, not to survive, but to face the worst possible death, to be devoured by the monstrous demons, Eren wondered how did humans have the audacity to call the demons bloodthirsty and monstrous while they tortured a boy who was no older than two, then threw him to the demons, Eren may have been too young but the pain and horror were also too great to be forgotten, he remembered every hit, every whiplash, every cut, every pull, every burn, but mostly every word, and the scary part about it all was, they thought they were doing the right thing, the good thing.

"If you survived those days, I am sure you will survive these as well...", Joseph spoke in a matter of fact, believing fully in the Young Lord.

"That is the main problem here. Back then, I was driven by a survival instinct, I was more of a wild animal, that instinct, combined with my past memories of pain and anger pushed me forward, to fight my way through everything, and at the time, I hated the humans, but all of that had changed."

"What changed, Young Lord?"

"I did, I guess." Eren said while staring at the red liquid, "It feels like I was wrong all this time, it feels as if everything I did was a mistake that complicated things even more.", Eren moved his eyes which were as red as the liquid he was consuming to look at the closest image to a father he ever had, Not many knew but Joseph was Eren's mentor, the safe closet for his secrets and feelings.

"I am afraid I messed things up beyond repair.", Joseph looked at his lord and, for a second, saw the little boy he once found in the woods, the boy was moaning in pain, calling out for his mother, a vulnerable wounded child he was, Eren learned to mask that vulnerability of his under layers and layers of cruelty and strength, but Joseph knew better than anyone that his feelings were like a hole inside, a hollowness caused by his childhood traumas and the lack of love and affection in his life, he knew that the void inside was there no matter how much he tried to hide it and cover it, it was for no use, the void was always there and the old man feared that it would swallow the little boy one day, the hole should be filled and not hidden.

"Only death is final in this world, Young Lord, as long as there is life, there is also hope with it..."

"Have you ever been in love? " Eren asked, finally satisfied with the amount of blood he had consumed as he laid back in the pool staring at the black ceiling.

"I have..."

"And?" Eren was curious to hear what went wrong with his mentor's love story because surely, he wouldn't be in his bathroom serving him with blood while looking like a dead corpse if things went well with his beloved.

"Not all love stories end up happily, Young Lord, some are doomed to fail no matter how much you try to make them work..." Joseph saw the curiosity mixed up with sadness in Eren's eyes.

"She was, the most beautiful woman I ever saw, you could look at her all day and never grow tired of it, she was also, very strong, had a will of iron and a heart of gold, I always loved her, but I never showed it to her properly, I was waiting for things to settle, for the right moment to come and tell her, And that was my first mistake." Joseph sighed, the memories of the past drawing a sad bitter smile on his old face.

"My love to her seemed like it wasn’t a priority to me, even though it was, but I kept on delaying it, telling myself that I should set things right first, but while I was hiding away from my feelings, her heart was being claimed by someone else,  I tried everything after that but it was already too late, I thought I could give up on her, and just wish her the happiness she deserves, But I couldn't..."

"And what happened to her?" Eren asked, his thoughts going to a certain fair lady whom he wanted to fix the world for, what if someone stole her heart?

"She....Suffered..." Joseph looked at his hands, guilt flashing through his eyes, "she suffered a lot, and it was my fault, I was selfish and bitter, and... I did something I wasn't supposed to do, At the time I thought it was subtle and, Harmless, but my small doing had consequences, and consequences led to consequences and it led to her unhappiness and eventually her death..."

"I am sorry to hear that..."

"So that is the big problem Young Lord, You are in love?"

"No...." Eren said with a small smile upon his face, being in love with his fair lady was no longer the problem, he wasn't fighting it anymore, he was embracing the most beautiful feeling he ever felt, but he was afraid, terrified, of the idea of losing her, of the idea of the world separating them, of death taking her away, of someone taking her away.

"Love is the only thing that is right, Joseph, while everything else is wrong..."

.....

“Welcome back, Miss Dahlia.” The guards greeted the black haired girl who nodded back, her eyes meeting theirs as a sign to acknowledge each and every one of them, the black haired girl wasn’t a smiley one like the princess, but she didn’t need to smile or lather her words with politeness to warm their the hearts of those around her.

Sara walked inside the castle with her back straight and her head held high, it was morn already, and even when she said that she would be gone for a day or two, Sara knew she couldn’t stay away that long with everything going on and everything she learned, so instead of taking a day or two for herself, she only spent a couple of hours with Eren before heading towards the shack.

Sara thought that after so long she would be able to walk inside the shack again and bury her father, honor his remains, but she couldn’t, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even go near the shack, and instead watched it from afar with a huge lump in her throat, she wanted so bad to cry at that moment but couldn’t do that either, it was the kind of pain that couldn’t be express and had to be endured until the very end.

Once she couldn’t take the sight of the shack any more, Sara walked back to the castle, her heart heavy and sore, she was still trying to wrap her mind on everything that Eren told her, starting by the fact that Henry knew about her lie, and she knew it won’t be time before he learns about her truth, she worried about his reaction, and the possibility of him separating her from her sister.

Someone tried to poison her, using the same venom as the one that killed her father, which made her suspect that it was the same person, since she came to the castle, Sara tried to look for the one who poisoned her father and the queen, but all she found were those who didn’t do it, her sister and her brother, Henry locked her father but he never intended to kill him, nor the kind queen.

The ice queen knew about her, but Eren reassured her that she wasn’t going to blow up her cover, the first generation Gods were after her energy for some reason, as well as the only remaining second generation God, Nov, she understood why the shadows’ lord was that strong, he was no longer a mere hybrid of a demon and a human, he was a hybrid who possessed the power of a Goddess, she didn't understand how exactly was he able to balance the dark energy and the creation energy inside of him, he said something about the perks of being half a human, something she didn't quite understand but a lot of things did make sense after his explanation.

To think there was so much corruption in the world, Sara sighed internally before walking inside her room, she was in need of rest but she didn't even dare to think about sleeping, not while knowing about the Gods trying to hunt her in her dreams, instead, she chose to take a bath before going to check on her sister and her brother, filling the bathtub and stripping herself, she stepped into the hot water, just the way she liked it, her tensed muscles were finally able to relax, she closed her eyes while lying in her tub, enjoying the blissful silence, trying to give herself the required peace of mind she needed to figure some things out.

Sara thought back about something that Eren said, about when she was in the podium talking to people, apparently, she wasn't the only one who was curious about the mysterious man who kept on throwing salty comments during her speech, she couldn't see him from where she stood but Eren could, according to him, the man was a human, purely a human, he was wearing a cloak and a hoodie but Eren was able to notice a very small detail that gave Sara a good guess about who the culprit was.

The water in the tub started to cool down but Sara was far from being done, she didn't usually waste a lot of time on bathing but she felt like she needed a little bit of extra time with herself, doing nothing but tending to herself, thinking, contemplating her next move, and just enjoying the calmness and solitude after all the recent events, focusing on her core, Sara tried to heat the water through her body, and not long the water was hot again, taking the bar of soap, she started lathering herself in the smooth perfumed foam, the heat and the steam did her good, Sara thought while testing the softness of her skin around her shoulders and arms, it was flawless, unlike her scarred face, Sara thought to herself.

"A penny for your thoughts..." Sara turned to face Nara while crossing her hands over her breasts, she was too deep in her thoughts to notice Nara coming in, maybe because Sara never thought of her as a threat to be wary of.

"Oh no need to hide yourself and act all shy and embarrassed...", Nara rolled her eyes before walking toward the tub while rolling up the sleeves of her very simple dress, taking the bar of soap from Dahlia’s hand and replaced her, especially on her back where she couldn’t reach "You always help me with my baths, have you ever seen me shying away from you? Plus, your body is not something you should be embarrassed off, it can make the Gods jealous..." Nara said while lathering Dahlia's back in soap, inhaling the beautiful scent of jasmine which her friend seemed to prefer.

"My princess, You shouldn't..." Dahlia tried to object but was cut right away by Nara who slapped her hands off.

"Oh please hush, This is the least I can do..", Nara said with a soft voice, while staring at a very significant birthmark on Sara's back.

"Thank you for this, My Princess..." Sara was finally able to relax again in the water while Nara was around, Beside a certain someone who pulled her out of a river, no one saw her naked, for some reason she felt vulnerable and hurtable while naked, clothes were another layer to her, one that hides her from the eyes, But Nara was her sister, Sara thought, she would not hurt her, and all the warning bells in her head were nothing but exaggerated paranoid and unhealthy thoughts that needed to be put to rest.

Even those emotions she saw in her eyes in the podium, or before it in the room when Eren was around? A small part of Sara mocked her, but the loving sister in her shushed it right away.

"It is me who should thank you, Dahlia, and I didn't, not appropriately at least." Sara turned to face Nara who was sitting on her knees with a small smile, they stared at each other for a second, each reading the different emotions going through the other's eyes.

"It was but my mere duty, and if I have done it better you wouldn't have been captured in the first place, Thus, you really don't need to thank me."

"Oh, don't tell me you allowed Henry's nonsense to seep into your head." Nara rolled her eyes once again while grabbing a bottle from a near shelf, she poured the liquid in her hands, rubbing a little before applying it on Dahlia's black silky hair, the last trying to object only to be stopped by Nara's dry glare.

"You have beautiful hair, Dahlia, you should let it grow a little longer.".

"I, prefer it this way, My Princess.".

"But why?".

"It is easier to move, to fight, easier to take care of and clean, it saves me a lot of time.".

"And? ".

"And... " Sara sighed "And it intimidates those around me..." Nara chuckled at the inside joke, remembering the day when some Duke heard about the princess' new female advisor and decided to play his game on her, his face was priceless when he was met with Dahlia's ‘bold’ appearance.

"Take my advice and let your hair grow a little, you would look more beautiful..."

"Looking beautiful isn't one of my needs, My princess..."

"Stubborn little thing..." Nara smiled before washing off the soap, the foam descending off Sara's silky skin smoothly, stepping out of the bath, Nara helped Sara into a long bath robe.

"Did you need anything, My princess? " Sara remembered she didn't ask why the princess was in her room in the first place.

"I need to make sure of something... ", Nara answered with a smile but only after few seconds of thinking...

"Oh, and what is that Your Highness? "

"That you were okay, Of course..."

YOU GUYS DO REMEMBER THAT SARA HAD A BIRTH MARK IN THE FIRST CHAPTER RIGHT? THE ONE FAE MENTIONED TO THE KING.

SO TELL ME, WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN, WHAT WOULD NARA DO?