8 Vildred and Charlotte

(This whole chapter will be from Vildred's POV)

In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed. Everyday, the sun falls before my eyes, its warmth accompanying me and reminding me that Charlotte is still waiting for me.

Whenever I raised my head to look at the dazzling moon, it reminded me of Charlotte. The glittering stars were like fragments of our memory, decorating the velvety sky. The merciless clouds were the obstacles in my way, blocking me from approaching Charlotte.

On the first day I met her, I concealed my true feelings. Her beauty had caught my eye, but that barrier in my mind was preventing me from approaching her, I was afraid that she might inflict harm on me.

It wasn't a thought or feeling, but my instinct that warned me.

My worries proved true, but my heart for her remains.

On the first day…

"Hey! What's this flower?"

Hearing Charlotte taking the initiative to speak to me after the awkward introduction, her voice reached the deepest part of my heart, mending my broken soul.

I hesitated for a moment, worrying that I might betray my thoughts. I must never harm her. That was all I could think of right now. If someone had to be hurt, let that person be me.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Charlotte asked again as she walked towards me. Her palms were crossed behind her back and when she leaned forward, I had to avert my gaze.

Why am I letting my guard down towards him? Charlotte was concealing her heartfelt feelings, because it's the only behaviour she was taught since young.

"Father, why can't I be my true self?" When Charlotte was still innocent, she had asked her father this question.

It was also her father's words that changed her. She became more mature, more understanding of the problems that her father had to deal with.

"I'm sorry Charlotte, but I'm doing to win your mother back." Those were the last words her father had said to her when she was ten, three years had passed and even though Charlotte had never seen her father again, she knew that he had his own reasons.

To begin with, Charlotte's true identity was...

"Lost in your own thoughts as well?" I teased back upon recollecting my thoughts.

Charlotte was still lost in her own world until I called her. Shaking herself out of the daze, she replied shyly, "It's fine."

Charlotte was about to ask me on how to retrieve the flower when she realised that I was holding her hand.

Charlotte opened her mouth, but the sudden surge of warmth from my hand stopped her from rejecting me.

Instead, she gripped my palm with force as though she was afraid to let go, a light blush was visible on her cheeks as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Why?"

Charlotte asked, her eyes expecting an answer. The force of her grip increased.

"Because you're the first person I feel like caring for."

Unable to contain the feelings within me any further, I expressed my thoughts whilst pulling her into my embrace.

"Mhm?"

Charlotte panicked for a moment, but soon calmed down when I placed my palm on her back, patting her back whilst assuring, "Everything will be fine."

From that moment onwards, our relationship developed and before long, we fell in love with each other.

Everyday, I would be teaching her more knowledge about the herbs and flowers, but whenever I spoke about becoming an adventurer, she was uncomfortable even though she didn't say anything.

Realising this fact, I gradually stopped talking about it.

Even until now, there is one moment which I would never forget for the rest of my life.

The day I took her first kiss due to an accident.

It was around the second month, at that time, she had slipped. As for the reason, it was because I teased her that there was a bug on her.

"Ahh!" Leaping up in shock, Charlotte looked around and realised that there wasn't any bug on her body.

"Hey, that isn't funny." Charlotte pouted her cheeks and turned her cheeks away from me.

I was about to break out into laughter and apologise when I realised that there was really a bug on her shoulder.

"Um, Charlotte, there's a bug on your shoulder…"

I approached her to remove the bug on her shoulder, but she made the first move and saw the bug before me.

The next moment, I saw a palm flying towards my face since she got too afraid to flick the bug off at the next moment.

When I regained consciousness, I could see her looking at me in concern.

Apparently, the force of her palm might not have been that heavy, but I had fallen backwards with my head crashing into a rock.

Looking at Charlotte's apologetic face, I laughed it off and assured her that everything was fine. Even telling her, "At least you managed to get the bug off your body."

"Hey!"

Seeing Charlotte overreacting at the mere mention of bugs, I figured that she only had one major weakness. She was afraid of bugs to the extreme.

"Charlotte." I called out softly as she leaned towards my embrace.

This wasn't planned, my body just instinctively leaned towards her and before I realised, my lips were already on hers…

It was also at that moment which I realised that I should have gone further, but I guess that would have to wait until the next time I meet her.

From that incident onwards, I avoided the topics of bugs and when I saw one near Charlotte, I would shift them away silently without alerting her.

There wasn't much I could give her, but I'm more than willing to give her everything I can.

As for what happened later on, it changed the course of my life and more importantly, I had an ambition for the first time in my life.

An ambition I've never told anyone, one that would change the world...