8 I Will Save You From That Woman.

Vincent opened his azure eyes. Sunlight shone through the mountain peak and touched upon his face. He looked down and saw Selena leaning on his chest, with Celeste snuggling in her arms.

They were both deep asleep.

The crimson battlefield was devoid of any corpses.

An orchard of vermillion flowers sculpted from blood blossomed on the sanguine earth, all the while erasing all the traces of the carnage left behind in the previous night.

Vincent narrowed his eyes when he saw Hertha walking up to them in silent steps.

Hertha gawked at Selena with bloodshot eyes and held a dagger at her nape. Eyes rippling with hesitation, she clenched her teeth as her arms trembled. Then, not finding the courage to plunge the blade into Selena's neck, she started to whimper.

She abruptly turned her head up and saw Vincent looking at her with cold eyes.

"Vincent, it's not wha--" she said in a panic.

He snatched her dagger away, "I know you hate Selena, but she is important to me."

"She took you away from me!" Hertha cried.

"I don't belong to anyone," Vincent said with a smile.

"No other woman is worthy of you aside from me!" she screamed in hysteria.

Selena's eyes shot open; she got up and sneered at her, "Yet it was I who broke him free, not you."

"Your family put him there in the first place!" Hertha rebutted. "Shameless woman! You are still engaged to my brother. You should just return to him!"

"Dare to say that again!" Selena’s eyes turned golden.

Hertha scowled, but she did not back away in fear; the surrounding air froze as a small vortex formed above her head.

"Silence! I had about enough playing dollhouse with you two," Vincent said. "Hertha, you are free to be my woman if you want."

"Vincent! No!" Selena protested.

"I want to be the only woman beside you!" Hertha said.

"Take it or leave it," he took the sleeping Celeste from Selena and walked away.

The sanguine flower bed beneath his feet burst into petals as he stepped over it. It stitched together and welcomed him in the shape of a blood-red robe.

"Delusional woman! Why would he even leave me when I am the mother of his child?" Selena asked in mockery. "Besides, you still haven't slept with him."

"I will after he marries me!" Hertha shouted.

"We can all dream," Selena laughed and followed after Vincent.

"Hope you and your child just die!!!" looking at them walking together side by side, she muttered in derangement. "My dear Vincent, I will save you from that woman!"

A hand grabbed onto her shoulder from behind. It was from Nathaniel.

He touched the unsightly bruise hammered onto his forehead and glared at her, "Is this why you knocked me out? Do you really want them to die? Especially his firstborn? The little sister I know would never do that!"

She shook her head in distress and wept, "I am sorry, I didn't mean it to...I just couldn't stand seeing her stuck so close to him!"

"Stuck close to him? Hertha! She already had a child with him!" Nathaniel shouted.

"That was before we found them!" she stomped her feet. "I won't allow any more of that!"

"Won't allow? are you even hearing what you are saying!?" he asked.

"That vile woman gave birth to a monster," she said. "My child with him will never turn out to be like this!"

"What!? You do realise he is not even hu--"

Hertha covered her ears, "I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear anything you say anymore! You are obviously on her side!!! Since you are so obsessed with her!"

"Look who's talking!" he shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Hertha sat down and hugged her knees. She wept in silence until she felt something warm beside her. She opened her tear stricken eyes and saw the face she always dreamed of in her sleep.

"I--" she said.

"Stop talking," Vincent said and tugged her close to his chest.

She embraced him back, "Do you lo--"

"Just stop talking for once," he said and placed a finger on her lips.

Celeste peeked her head over her father's shoulder and looked on in curiosity.

"Do you really want my daughter to die?" he said, placing Celeste right next to her.

"Of course not!" Hertha said.

"H..ert...ha," Celeste said and pulled on her hair with a smile.

"He...he," Hertha gave a dry laugh.

"S..tup..id..Hert...ha," Celesta said.

"What!" Hertha shouted.

"Selena probably taught her to say it," Vincent laughed.

"That vile woman again!" Hertha said.

"What about her? Do you also want her to die?" he said. "Well... the answer is obvious since you pulled a dagger on her neck."

"It won't happen again!" Hertha said

"It better not," he narrowed his eyes.

"Do you love her?" she said in remorse.

"No," he said. "But she is still my woman."

"What about me?!" she said in anticipation.

"What makes you think you will fare any better?" he chuckled and flicked her forehead.

"There is still a chance then! I will make you fall in love with me!" she said in determination.

"Want to know a secret?" he gave a mysterious smile. "Be nice to my daughter, and you might get close."

Hertha closed her eyes and knitted her brows, and by the time she opened them again, it was renewed with newfound vigour.

"I will try!" Hertha said.

Celeste leaned close to her and spread open her arms. Hertha's face twitched; she gave a forced smile and picked her up, but within seconds her hair was almost pulled out by her tiny hands.

"Ouch!" she glared at Celeste.

"Stup..id Herth..a," Celeste gave a cheeky smile.

Hertha pulled on her cheeks in return, "Humph! Need to teach you some manners."

"Good to see you two are getting along," Vincent chuckled and sat up.

He left the two, scaled up to the nearest cliff and shouted, "Selena!Any signs of Kendall?"

Selena walked beside him, "Nathaniel scouted the entire area but found no traces of him."

"Nevermind, either he died or ran away during my fight with Taurak," Vincent said.

"What should we do now?" Selena asked.

"We must leave the continent," he replied.

"So it finally came to this?" she sighed.

"We shall return," he looked back down towards Celeste and Hertha, pulling at each other's cheeks. "But Celeste needs time to grow before that."

"Why is that woma--" Selena glared at Hertha down below.

"Selena!" he said.

"Ye..s?" she asked.

"Do you know why I did nothing to her? Even after when she tried to kill you?" he asked.

"Out of pity?" she said. "I understand a docile woman like her will only--"

"She was the only one who treated me as a human back then, unlike you," he laughed.

"Vinc--" she panicked.

"Even your fiance did not see me as a monster," he added.

"He's not my fiance anymore!" she protested.

"Doesn't matter. I would really appreciate it if you and her get along now," he lifted up her chin and leaned close to her face. "Think you can do that?"