23 A Drunken Lullaby

His vision blurred as Izekiel watched the blood in front of him.

It had been a long time since some one made him bleed like that, the voices slowly started to fade away and his darkness resided along with his consciousness.

Why? 

He thought when everything became black.

It was foolish of him to take a sacred attack head on, it shouldn't have mattered whether Johanna died or not but he couldn't fathom the thought of something bad happening to her.

Izekiel wondered what caused him to become so irrational. Was it because he was married to her, or was it because of the momentarily infatuation?

No.

Perhaps this started way back, on the night he first met her.

That was a tiring day for him, a lot happened. His control over his darkness started to waver gradually as the night drew closer.

He decided to take a stroll in the enchanted garden for some peace.

It had little effect on him, that was, until he met her.

Johanna was too drunk to even properly walk, Izekiel happened to be near and caught her before she can fall and soon as she was in his arms, a wave of silence washed over his chaotic shore.

Izekiel was at a loss of words.

He couldn't come up with a proper explanation for what happened. And so he decided that it must be some sort of strange coincidence.

Johanna troubled him a lot that night, he was not used to dealing with drunken women and he wanted to immediately have her imprisoned but he also wanted to know more about her, he wondered if things were really a coincidence or not.

There was irritation inside of him, but his mind had been this peaceful after a long time and so he couldn't bring himself to stay angry with her for too long.

And soon he was drifting off to sleep without realizing, but just as his mind have sunken into a slumber, something poked his arm. He opened his eyes to find Johanna's watching him curiously.

Izekiel frowned.

"Say, mister, have you seen Izekiel?" Johanna asked, "There is no choice but follow the plot now, so...I guess..."

Her eyes turned incredibly thoughtful all of sudden.

He raised an eyebrow. No one had dared to call his name in years. The girl was completely drunk, he debated on whether he should call some knights or not.

"Why are looking for...Izekiel?" he murmured,

"There is no choice now... and also....uh, I read that he is very handsome..." Johanna sadly pouted and poked the grass, she looked guilty, "So, I just wanna see..."

Izekiel let a dry laugh of disbelief.

"Are you not scared of him?"

Johanna let out an exaggerated sigh for some mysterious reason and took a deep long gulp from the bottle of wine. Her eyes were now heavy, and a small pink blush covered her cheeks.

"I heard that he is incredibly cruel," Izekiel continued while closing his eyes, "He had killed noble houses, clans and families for his greed of power..."

Johanna wiped the corner of her mouth, Izekiel half opened his eyes and stared right back at her,

"He almost exterminated his own family," his voice became distant, "If you knew the deeds he had done, the blood that taints his hands, and the sins that have clung to his soul, you wouldn't want to meet him."

Johanna grabs the glass and pours some wine in it.

"You know nothing... what if he isn't human, but a devil in disguise whose blood-lust can never be satisfied?" Izekiel asked.

Johanna stopped as she was going to give the wine to Izekiel, she blinked once and when his words properly sank inside her a flicker of anger came in her eyes.

She took the glass back.

"You are rude!" she declared and turned her face away.

"Was I wrong?" Izekiel chuckled, but his smile didn't even reached to his eyes when he saw the grief upon her face, "Why do you want to meet him...?"

Johanna bit her lips, the words were on the tip of her tongue but something stopped her from saying them. Instead, her eyes turned teary.

"Are you sad that he is not some prince charming?" Izekiel was highly confused by her sudden change of expression, he laughed, "They call him evil, don't think about him. You should keep your distance-"

"What you even know?!" she exclaimed with teary eyes, "It's not Izekiel's fault that he-he was born in an unfair world! He did what he was told...walked upon the path they chose for her, but it was all wrong. No matter what he did, no matter how much he tried to please others, they never accepted him...and then, he...he.."

Johanna eventually started to break down in silent sobs.

Izekiel's eyes turned dark.

It was the first time he had met her, then why was she speaking as if she knew him from a long time ago?

"He is not evil," she sniffed, "...he is just hurt."

At that moment, something changed.

Perhaps he was too exhausted to feel that strange something in his heart. She was just a stranger, but at the same time, it felt like she understood him well.

She understood him too well.

Izekiel saw her properly for the first time, his gaze lingered on her for longer than necessary.

His eyes wandered to the soft long locks of her dark hair, the vulnerability of her eyes, and the tempting drunken blush of hers. 

She was beautiful.

A hundred of questions have wandered inside him, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her anything right then.

Izekiel sighed.

She had momentarily stunned him.

He did not knew how to console someone who was crying and so he let her deal with herself and reached towards the glass of wine.

Johanna clutched it tight to her bosom and looked at him with narrowed eyes.

Izekiel's lips twitched in annoyance.

She didn't let him touch a single drop of wine for some reason and kept on talking about how he was rude and how he shouldn't be judging people so carelessly.

Izekiel tried to tell her the truth but she refused to believe him.

Eventually, Johanna grew tired and fell asleep.

But sleep didn't came visited Izekiel for a long, long time, and when it did, it somehow brought the two into arms of each other. Her soft fresh scent mixed with the fragrance of wine made Izekiel relax in an odd way.

Her knowledge about him could prove itself to be troublesome, he did not knew about her and so Izekiel decided to get rid of her in the morning.

But at that time, under the waning moon, he wanted to spend the moment together with her for a little longer.