8 Capitulum 6 - Her Past

Right after the awkward dinner, Lunox was then led to one of the castle's sleeping quarters. It might have been that she was not sleepy or might it be the effect of sleeping in the Twilight Orb for years that made her traumatize. It may be the latter, as she was already scared with the fact that she might not be able to wake up after she takes a rest.

So there Lunox stayed awake, alone in the room, no one to keep her in company except for the comforting aura the lamp gave out.

---

"Well done, Leomord," Vexana praises him as she walks back and forth before her throne, thinking.

"You are very welcome, my Queen," he bows before her; one knee on the ground and the other supported his bent body. His left arm rested on his kneeling knee as the other held his sword, the Oath Keeper, by his side.

There was a long stretch of deafening silence before Vexana's light footsteps broke it off.

Leomord glances up to her, curious of what was in her head this whole time.

"You seem to have fallen, Leomord," she utters, her chin in her hands, looking at him with an icy glare.

"I beg your pardon, my Queen?" he is taken aback by what she had just said. Fallen? For whom?

She laughs dryly, shaking her head before saying, "don't make me laugh. You know exactly who I am talking about."

He absolutely had no idea who she was talking about. Who? Who is the person that made his heart beat once again? Why does he not kno--

"Lunox," Vexana mentions the name of the maiden his mind has been buzzing about. He cannot stop thinking about her. Is he, really? Does he, really?

"Please do not make me laugh as well, my Queen. This is not a good joke. I do not do love," he coldly says under his breath, when his mind begged to disagree with what he just said.

"Well, then. If you do not love her, you are willing to take her life for the life of many, yes?" she challenges him. Her eyes had a doubtful and questioning glint.

Take her life? What does that suppose to mean?

He was silent for quite a short while, making Vexana decide on his feelings instead of him.

"Your hesitation makes you vulnerable, Leomord. I can truly see the feelings you try so hard to hide, inside your eyes? What had happened to my trustworthy and stone hearted loyal knight?" she said.

He was unable to answer her simple question. Indeed, what had happened to him? When and why has he become like this?

For that short span of time they have been together, he was sure that she wasn't able to creep through the high walls built around his cold heart. No, she was not. Also, they have only been together for hours. He could have not fancied her after that short while.

'Really? For hours? You seemed to have forgotten, Leomord,' his mind whispered to him in riddles. Why is this happening?

"Alright. Fine. Let us all stick to the fact that you do not have feelings for the girl," Vexana's statement pulled him out of his reverie, "then you kill her."

He could not answer. Not to even just shake nor nod his head his head for a simple answer of yes or no.

"Bring me her heart, and we all get to live peacefully once again."

That silenced his thoughts. Live? Peacefully? When should that happen? When would that happen?

He only stared at her with a questioning look in his eyes. His eyes which were now easy to read, at least for Vexana.

"I can see and read the question in your eyes, Leomord, you were not this readable as before. Even when you were still living," she said.

He did not answer, he just listened to what she had to say.

"Lunox. The Enlightened One. Her soul is a pure as she is. Her heart is as pure as she is. She is comparable to that of a crystal. Pure and luminous. Transparent and bright," Vexana narrates, "it is only an unsaid myth. A legend. That she, too, had suffered from distress and misfortune."

Lunox? Why has she experienced such cruelty when all she did was to do her duty? She should have not, for she does not deserve it. Her smile flashes in his head. Her innocent smile. As if it were untouched by the savagery and unruly waves of the nightmare called reality. What has she done for her to experience such?

"The myth says that many years ago, when the Land of the Dawn was young, two naive people met and fell in love," Vexana said, sadness engulfing her tone.

"They were not bound to fall in love, as said so in the book of Destiny. She was meant for someone— something, rather— else and he too, was meant for something different. Their love was an unforgivable sin. Love was something they shouldn't have felt for each other.

"But not heeding to whatever their destinies has to say, they continued to love. Forbidden love, as they all call it."

For some unknown reason, every word that came out of Vexana's mouth impaled him like daggers, each word after another, twisted in the dagger deeper. His chest seemed heavy, and the air seemed a little too thin. He couldn't breathe properly. Why does her story hurt him so?

"All was well until tragedy struck the girl's life. Her mother, the queen, died. And soon after, her father left the world as well. Then in came more unfortunate events.

"Love makes you selfish. It renders your capability to think properly for others' sake. It makes you think only about yourself and for your partner. This is what destroyed her. Love did.

"Unbeknownst and oblivious to whatever her fate was, she continued to love him.

"It continued on until one night, as she was peacefully sleeping, her dreams left her and in came her nightmares. This particular nightmare shook her faith and hopes for the both of them.

"She was told that loving him was a great sin. That she should have not loved him. That their love was not written on the book of Destiny—"

"I believe that is enough crap, your Majesty," Leomord cuts her off by standing up. The feeling inside his chest was too much.

"Leomord! How dare you—!" she exclaims.

"How is loving a great sin? Tell me, your Majesty? Is this another joke? Because if it is, it is not funny!" he explodes. His does not care if he is disrespecting his queen. This is all he just had to say.

Since when was loving someone a great sin?

"And why are you telling me this?! This is not related to me nor to Lunox!" he said.

Vexana only sighs under her breath before sitting down on her throne with a worn out look on her face.

"How I wish, it were not, Leomord," she says sadly, "how I wish it were not."