DEAREST

PART 2: FAITHLESS HERO, Ch. 5

5

If any demonic presence still persisted, I wouldn't have stuck an eye. I did it, fortunately, although I'm not sure how much I've slept. The fact that I'm opening my eyes from a deep sleep means that I could rest. I see a tall vertical line of soft yellow light in the midst of darkness. The door of my room is slightly open, and I can hear light footsteps in the antechamber.

As soon as they give me a mirror, I detest the wound in my neck. It's a little curved, like a smile. A mocking smile, I think, in a mental grumble, and then the handmaid brings me all the necklaces that can fulfill the task of covering it. Over the bandage that surrounds my neck like a rope, I have put on a thick black velvet necklace decorated with tiny crystals and rubies. The collar covers the bandage completely, but even so my neck is stiff.

Luciana, sitting in front of me, knows that she can't comment on it.

She is wearing a black suit, with a dark shirt underneath and a tie with a crystal in the center. She doesn't seem to show any resistance to this type of clothes, and, in addition, she adapts to this style perfectly, as if she were made for it. I guess it's the last of her interests to see what she'll wear in a day, unless it's related to combat. For me, it's unusual to see a woman wearing conventionally masculine-style clothing, but in her the meaning seems to be completely redefined, so I take the opportunity to plan and design her outfits as they look best for her.

At the same time, when it comes to conventionally feminine clothing, she seems lost.

"It was a good idea to wear a... what's the name of that kind of...?" She asks, looking at my velvet choker necklace and pointing a finger at her own neck.

"A collar," I reply, expressionless.

"Yeah, collar," she repeats after me, nodding, and then she clears her throat. "A collar, with, uh... those... little things in there..."

"Crystals."

"Mm."

Then she ducks her head, and takes her cup of tea delicately, with both hands, using her index, thumb, and middle fingers.

I can't help but smile a little, while I stretch my hand to take a strawberry macaron from the leveled tray. But, before I put it in my mouth, an idea crosses my mind.

Even though she has shown to fight well, and apparently can manage on her own, I can't let go of the fact that she has done all this simply because I took her out of a tower. She's sitting in front of me, ignorant of what happens in my mind. We are completely different. I'm always at one end of the scale: either I'm too apathetic or I feel things too deeply. However, it's likely that, in the same situation, I wouldn't have gone so far as to want to serve the person who helped me escape. And, being honest, I shouldn't take all the credit. It wasn't me who took her out of the tower. When I returned to the castle, I asked my handmaid to go back to that house and take the person who was in the tower, of course, without saying a word to the owner. My mother must have felt so much remorse for what happened to me and for allowing everything to escape from her hands, that I can faintly remember her telling the handmaid to obey to everything I said, even if she believed that what I was asking was part of a delirium. Of all the things I must have said during those moments and that I can't remember now... she followed through that. When I got back on my feet, I moved to the villa, and forgot all about it, until now. And this is what I want to ask her about at this moment, but I'm afraid of ruining the atmosphere. Because of that, I turn my eyes to the window, and I try to think of something else.

"The properties of crystals... is it a skill transmitted with atavistic magic or something that's studied?"

My answer to her question is immediate, and my tone is as flat as if repeating the contents memorized off a book.