18 Bloody Lake

The Archduke woke up feeling fresh. He thought that this was the first time he slept well since going to war when he became 17 years old. 

As he got up, he noticed Titania lying beside him. He couldn't believe how defenceless the girl was. When he thought that he was going berserk as soon as he woke up due to the headaches. But instead, he got a good sleep with no other voices bothering him. 

As he roamed his vision, he saw that they were in an unfamiliar cave. The cave is big enough to shelter them from the rain. 

"Did she bring me here?" 

All Sylvester could remember was the voice inside his head calling him a murderer and a monster. He couldn't fathom how the frail young miss brought him to the said cave, but there was also no other way on how they ended up there. 

His forehead creased upon seeing the demi-human beside his horse Ebony, 'Right, we brought that.' When Sylvester got up and checked the premises, he saw a lake near the cave. 

They must be at the foot of Sierra Mountain, is what he thought as he continued walking around. The lake's colour is gorgeous, like the sky; the reflection of the sunlight makes it look like it's sparkling. 

"Huh?" 

Sylvester saw his reflection and took notice of how his clothes changed from what he was wearing yesterday. "What happened?" 

He immediately turned around due to his fast reflex upon hearing footsteps. "What are you doing? Sneaking from behind." He heard Titania giggle as she sauntered towards him.

"Do you feel alright now? You're burning yesterday." 

"Burning?" 

Titania sat on the side of the tree near the lake, "Yes. You had a fever." Sylvester followed the young lady with his eyes. 'I had a what?' the last time he had something like a 'fever' was when he was training his poison resistance back when his Uncle Althalos was still alive.

Since his Uncle thought that the Coventrys would send spies to poison his nephew if they knew he was still alive, he was aware that everything would be difficult when he left the boy alone. 

"Yeah, like a hot pot." 

Sylvester couldn't understand what Titania said, "And you cured me?" 

Titania's eyes twinkled as she looked back at the man, "Indeed! I can use Titania's healing magic now. Impressed?" The young lady gave Sylvester a smug look which made the man chuckle out of nowhere. 

This baffled the young lady; seeing the fearsome Archduke laugh so genuinely, she thought it might be the end of this world soon. 

Upon realizing how awkward it became, Sylvester cleared his throat, "I don't really care." The abrupt changes in the Archduke's mood continued to baffle the young fairy as she stood up and followed the man from behind. She thought he'd probably get angry if he knew that she got robbed and all their rubis were gone. 

They got back at the cave and started packing their things, "You should let the demi-human go." 

"What?! No!" Titania reacted strongly as she hugged Bonbon and hid him from the Archduke. "He doesn't have a place to go back to!"

"I don't care. Let the demi-human go."

"I shouldn't have healed you! You stinky cheapskate!" 

Titania ran out of the cave with Bonbon in her arms. This made the Archduke let out a sigh as he continued to pack their things, but then he noticed something odd. Their rubis are all gone. "How could this be?" He tried to flip their bags and searched for the rubis, but he saw nothing. 

Sylvester again sighs; it's not that important for him since he still has many of them in his manor. And food wouldn't be a problem because he's an excellent hunter. 

"Let's find that brat." He tugged Ebony's lead, making her follow him out of the cave, although he was stunned by the fact that Titania created a fire all by herself and even brought him to a cave far from where they were. 

The Archduke remembered an abandoned village near where he is; that's why he wonders why Titania chose a cave instead of one of the uninhibited houses in the village. 

He remembers the name; it is called the Village of Crus. Most merchants lived there before, and because of their continuous travels, they have deserted the village. They might have found another much better village. 

As Sylvester arrives at the village's gate, the villagers react violently as they scream. Away from the Archduke. This baffled him; he wondered why there were still people there and why they were terrified of him as if they saw a demon walking through the gate.

"Did you come to take back the rubis we stole from that girl?!"  His forehead puckered upon hearing one of the villagers shout that, 

"You did what?" Now that explains why their rubis are all missing.  "We didn't want to help a devil like you!" 

Meanwhile, Titania went to the house of the woman she met yesterday, Bea. She arrived and saw no trace of the human, she thought it must have gone to the village to pick something to eat. Her house is still creepy, although it's already the second time she sees it. 

"Let's find her and thank her." 

She began walking towards the Village with Bonbon still in her arms, "Can you talk?" 

Titania continued asking Bonbon if he could talk and would teach him some words, "Say, Sylvester is stupid." She giggled, but it didn't last long after she heard a commotion in the village. "Who are they bullying now?" 

She rushed to peak at the gate, and there she saw the Archduke standing in the middle and surrounded by angry villagers. "What is he doing?"

"You dare show your face to the people you've abandoned?!" 

Titania's eyes widened as she covered her mouth with her hand after seeing a woman slap the Archduke right in the face, "That must have hurt." 

"You're worse than the demons!"

"You chose your own safety instead of helping your people!" 

Titania couldn't bear hearing those malicious statements from the villagers and was about to butt in until…

"Yes. I did." The Archduke stared at the woman with his cold and deadly eyes. "It wasn't me who took the oath to protect you all. It was my father." 

"You became the dog of the Coventrys and has forsaken us!" 

The people kept throwing eggs at him, and when he was about to unsheathe his sword, it made them stop and terrified. "Why would I choose a stranger's life rather than myself? I'm not a god." 

This fueled the villagers' anger, and they were ready to strike him in the head, but Titania reacted quickly and used her magic to pull the Archduke towards her. 

"What the hell are you doing?" 

The Archduke, who seems out of it, didn't answer. Titania sighs as she pulls the Archduke away from the village. She thought that those people must really hate the Imperial Family. As they reached the cave, Titania snapped her fingers in front of the Archduke to get his attention.

"We shouldn't stay here any longer. We still have a mission to accomplish, right?"

The Archduke gave her a cold stare, making the young woman frowned. 'Why is he acting like this?'

The two rode Ebony in complete silence. Titania would play with Bonbon from time to time just to ease the boredom she was feeling. 

Although she couldn't brush the thought of what the Archduke said to the villagers before. That he chose to be Lennox's dog instead of taking the throne for himself. 

"Do all demi-humans can speak?" 

Her random questions weren't answered by the Archduke, and he just left her hanging. "You're boring. Can we move faster?" Sylvester ignored Titania; he was scared that he might say something inappropriate and make the young girl's mood turn sour. 

They quickly arrived in the deserted Xynnar Village, the village on the other side of Sierra Mountain. Sylvester thought it wouldn't surprise him if all the people had fled away because of the demons. 

"What the? They have crows on their windows too." 

Titania's mouth gape in awe, she thought that the woman Bea was just a weird fellow, but that doesn't seem the case. "Is it tradition? Hey, please answer it." She kept bugging the Archduke to quench her curiosity. 

"They use the blood of crows to make a protective spell." 

"That's weird." 

They continued riding Ebony until they had passed the Xynnar Village. The two got off to take a short break, "I'll find some water." When Titania was about to rush off, Sylvester quickly grabbed her arm, making her stop.

"Don't. There's a lot of demons wandering in this place." Titania smiled and made the Archduke frown, "You don't really learn your lessons do you?" 

The young fairy didn't listen and still rushed towards the lake near the entrance of Sherfield City. Bonbon followed her from behind, and when she was about ready to be amused by the sparkling water in the lake, her stomach turned upside down as she covered her mouth. 

What she saw was not a beautiful lake with sparkling water reflecting the sunlight. Instead, it was coloured in red and dead bodies were floating everywhere. The stinky smell made her feel dizzy. 

She backed off and lost her balance, resulting in her falling to the ground. Seeing corpses is not a new thing for her, but someone like her wouldn't certainly want to get used to that. Bonbon trembles as he draws closer to the young lady. 

Titania could feel her legs losing strength due to the gore view; it makes her want to skip any meals from now on. When she was about to stand up, an unknown object flew through her way, but she immediately crouched down to avoid being struck by that thing. 

"What was that?" 

She turned around and looked at the unknown object; she couldn't suppress her screams, and Bonbon hid in her dress. What they saw was something that would scare any average human. 

It's a human head.