Arc 3 - Chapter 27: Poison in the Heart (3/3)

By the time his breath touched her ear, Yu had managed to blow Luna's mind. No words passed between Luna and Yu for a while as she stared into his eyes with her mouth open.

Yu saw that she remained silent and slowly moved his hand from her waist to her neck. After half a minute of running her fingers along Luna's neck, cheek and ear, Luna lowered her eyes to the floor.

"W-why are you saying such things all of a sudden?"

Her cheeks were still red.

"I had a feeling you had been watching me for a while, and when I saw it with my own eyes just now, I decided to come out."

Most likely Luna was watching him on Leoral's orders, not because she loved him. He had already made sure of that when he had just seen her talking to a guard.

When Luna found out about Yu's fake feelings, she regretted what she had done and started to feel guilty. Yu could read her guilt on her face.

"It happened so fast."

"It's rare to meet a girl like you. I wanted to tell you as I had a chance, if someone else had beaten me to it, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life."

"But..."

"But what? Or do you think I'm ugly by Elven standards?"

"N-no... But..."

This time he interrupted her with a laugh.

"If you like it, you can look at my face as long as you like."

He didn't let Luna talk and he didn't let her take the conversation in different directions, he set the tone.

"I wish there were no barriers between us, then we could be closer. I'm sure people on my side would love you very much."

"Barriers? What barriers?"

"You know, I am the young lady's butler and you are the duke's maid. The young lady doesn't mind, but the duke doesn't like me, he doesn't want his maid with me. If I could get him to trust me..."

This time it was Yu who averted his eyes. When Luna looked at him, she saw a face in pain.

"She is a stupid person, but she doesn't need to think. She just has to do what I want and I will think for her."

"What if he trusts you?"

"We're getting older, if he trusts me, we'll get married before we get older. I really don't want to wait, Luna."

Luna's confusion grew as the extent of his lies grew. What should she do, should she give Yu a chance?

"If you want, you can leave him and go directly to the young lady. Then there will be no barrier between us."

Here was the gamble. He didn't think she would do it, but if Luna agreed, his plan could fall apart and he could suddenly find himself in the bosom of a girl he didn't really love. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

"I can't do that, Lady Cornelia helped me. I repay my debt of gratitude by serving her."

"Don't you love me?"

Luna didn't answer. Even if she liked him now, Yu knew she wouldn't fall in love right away, but her silence didn't mean yes, and it didn't mean no.

"If I knew why Leoral doesn't trust me, then I could do something to win his trust. I think he's just jealous that I'm around the young lady."

"It's not like that."

"Do you know why he doesn't trust me? Luna, if you do, I will do everything in my power to earn his trust and prove that I am worthy of you."

His eyes widened and he excitedly brought his face a little closer to Luna's.

"Tell me, what does he know about me?"

Luna's lips trembled, then she swallowed again.

"There was a robbery in İlonya, my master suspects you. So that was the first thing I heard."

"That's why Cecilus is a son of a bitch, it's passed down from father to son."

He hid his anger. Sometimes he found it difficult to hide it, but he was usually successful in hiding his emotions thanks to his ability to act.

"My God, am I accused of such a horrible thing? I wouldn't want such rumors spread about me. I hope he hasn't told anyone else. I can't risk the young lady's reputation. M-maybe she'll even fire me..."

"Don't worry, for now he only spoke to your old servant!"

Luna suddenly raised her voice, putting her hands to her mouth when she realized the level of her voice. Both Yu and Luna looked around to make sure no one could hear them.

"Sivina is well hidden, even I can't see her."

He wondered what Sivina was thinking, watching him now. It was possible that she was going crazy behind a tree.

"With Bart? I see. Anything else? Who knows what else I don't know? I have to work to eliminate all suspicion against me."

"I-And..." Luna bit her lip. "Please don't say I said that..."

"Don't worry, Luna. What is said between us stays between us, what would be the point of us being together if everyone else heard?"

"Y-yeah..." Luna smiled innocently as Yu started stroking Luna's hair. "There's someone from Rolderhelm, there's been a scam there. They talked about what you guys did, but I don't believe it, of course!"

"You must believe I'm a thief."

Luna's eyes widened.

"T-thief? You really..."

"Yes, Luna. I'm a thief who's good at stealing girls' hearts. When it comes to stealing money or things like that, of course I have never done anything so despicable. I can't tarnish my lady's reputation with such things."

Luna smiled and nodded, relieved by the answer.

"But someone from Rolderhelm? That scares me, Luna. What kind of person is it?"

Had Denise discovered what he had done and sent men after him? It was possible, but since they were from the same world, he was convinced that even if he found out, he would be doing him a favor.

"Or... Did that idiot really come after me? How did he track us down?"

They hadn't killed Raul. When he woke up, he saw that Yu and the others were already gone and he must have been devastated.

"Although, I did offer the job to Sivina and Ana while he is with us. It's normal for him to search and find the Virgo Cathedral, but did he really come all the way here for Sivina?"

He swallowed the saliva that had accumulated in his throat, wanting to kill her if she had come here.

"His name is Raul, he said you were robbing Rolderhelm."

"R-Raul? Whor..."

"Who's that?"

Yu swallowed again. He took his hand out of the half-elf's hair.

"You know the girl next to us, right? Sivina. He liked her and when Sivina accepted the job offer we gave her, to be the young lady's knight, he thought I stole her. And then he tried to kill me. The young lady saved my life."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie to you? Luna, why would Leoral want to kill me..."

"Please don't say such things! My master would never do such a thing!"

He took a step back and released Luna to go.

"I understand that you trust him, but... I don't know, Luna. I guess I should start worrying about my life."

"No, don't worry!"

Luna started to raise her voice, luckily there was no one around except Sivina. When she grabbed Yu by the shoulders, he grabbed her hands and pulled them off his shoulders.

"Don't worry, Luna. I will do my best to prove myself and stop that criminal, and don't worry, the young lady will protect me. Let's leave these unpleasant matters and go back to our places without worrying anyone. We'll talk later."

Luna nodded. Yu watched her as she turned and walked away at a fast pace. When the half-elf girl entered her own camp and disappeared between the tents, he turned around and looked for Sivina, who should be behind the trees.

When Sivina came out of her hiding place, her face showed no emotion, but the expression in her eyes was like she watching a pitiful creature.

"Why is your face like that?"

"What did you just do?"

"I was trying to get something out of Luna. There was a robbery in İlonya, and when Leoral discovered our gold, he thought it was me."

"You played with a girl's emotions to find out. I don't approve of it. Luna is a very naive girl, what you did is very wrong. Now she will have innocent dreams about you."

"It's a small price to pay on the road we want to travel. Leave it to me to feel guilty about it."

He could have gotten Luna out of the way somehow. Before that, he had other things to think about.

"Are you talking about the gold we brought? We told you we brought it from Rolderhelm."

"When you were in İlonya, I told you I was a creditor. When you left, we visited those who had not paid their debts to my family, and we made a fortune then."

"I didn't know that."

"No one knew except me and Yurine. I'm not sure if I would have gotten our debts without Yurine. The roarons knew, though."

The roarons saw the gold coins they were carrying, but they didn't know what money was, so they weren't interested. Yu told them not to talk about it, so they forgot about the gold, which they were not interested in anyway.

"Did one of the roarons betray me? I don't think so. I don't believe they would betray me. Even if they don't love me, they will keep me for Yurine."

"Did one of the roarons tell you then?"

"I don't think so. I found out from Luna that Leoral talked to Bart. Bart must have somehow found what we hid. Then he went and told Leoral."

Bart didn't trust Yu either. Both Bart and Leoral were uncomfortable with Yu being around Yurine. It was only a matter of time before they did something to drive Yu away.

"What Bart has done is treason, I will expel him from the cathedral, and I hope Leoral dies soon."

"A wish that doesn't sound good."

"I don't care what happens to those who try to separate me from my daughter. I will not leave Yurine."

Their plans were beyond Leoral's absurd desires. They would not give up their big dreams and their cause for progress because of Leoral or anyone else.

"The roarons are on guard duty, but can you stand guard with Ana in our tent? You can do it in shifts."

Raul was scaring him, he had to be cautious.

"Yes, we will."

"Thank you. It's good to have trusted friends like you. If you hadn't told me that Leoral had spoken to you, all our plans would have been ruined before they started. Damn it, I'm so open to blame I can't even defend myself. If Yurine came to my defense, they'd say I got into her head. I get angry just thinking about it."

"It'll all work out, I know Yurine won't want to leave you. After all, daughters are fond of their fathers." Sivina narrowed her sea-green eyes and gave a big smile. She was really beautiful. "The only thing that bothers me is what you did to Luna. I want you to sort it out as soon as possible."

It was the first time he had ever heard Sivina speak to him in an intimate way. He stopped for a moment. They trusted Yu, loved him, while he would sacrifice Sivina and Ana if necessary.

"I will feel worse if you are this good to me, but I like it when you are like this."

When he returned to his tent, he saw Ana standing at the entrance. He left Sivina with Ana and went inside the tent.

"What did you do?"

Yurine greeted him running. When he sat down to rest, she was on his lap again.

"Leoral's maid, the half-elf, she was watching us. Sivina and I went to her. I had a talk with her."

"What did you talk about?"

"Leoral heard about our theft," he said in a whisper. "He somehow put the pieces together in his head and suspected me. Bart was with him, I think, and somehow he must have found out about our gold and told Leoral."

Who else could have betrayed him? He put Link on the list of suspects, but he would deal with Bart first.

"Those traitors! Yu, I'll punish them!"

"I'll take care of it. Just stay by my side." Yu lowered his voice a little more. "But we have a problem, Raul is here. The pervert tracked us down."

As he spoke, he picked up a knife and brought it to his fingertip. He wanted to make his finger bleed, a few drops of blood would be enough, but he was afraid to touch the knife to his finger.

"Raul? I told you to kill him... Wait a minute, what are you doing?"

"I'll mix the black blood in my veins with the crows' water. I wonder what effect it will have on them."

"Yu, it will hurt."

"Just a few drops. Let me not feel the pain."

Yurine held Yu's wrist and cast a spell. When Yu felt no pain, he gently pricked his finger with the knife. He poured three drops of blood from the thumb of his left hand into the water of the caged crows. The black blood dissolved in the water and disappeared.

The small wound on Yu's finger was healed by Yurine in a few seconds.

"I wonder what will happen to them in the morning. Maybe we should have given the blood directly."

While in the Wizarding Academy library, he had researched alchemy and learned a few things about poisons. If he had poison running through his veins, he could try new things with poisons.

"Raul... Yu, this is important. What are we going to do about him? He's here to hurt you."

"What's more, he told Leoral about our theft at Rolderhelm. We will eliminate him immediately, I can't let him talk to Sivina and Ana."

After laying Yurine on the bed, he went to the exit of the tent and stuck his head out. He was looking to see if Kigaro or Dimen was here.

"What's the matter, Mr. Valarfin?"

Sivina was not here, but Ana was on guard duty.

"Where did Sivina go?"

"He gave me first watch, she is in her tent."

"I understand. Call the Kigaro, it's urgent," he said and went back into his tent.