5.26.

“She’s clearing up the mess they made so she can focus on making sure the transition phase between sole monopoly to shared ends smoothly.”

Click.

Just in time, the entrance of the door opened.

“I’m back.. Lilian, Ro? Welcome back!” Schwii greeted. Her hair frazzled, dress charred in some soot in certain places.

“Schwii!” Lilian jumped off the couch and ran towards her.

“Welcome back.. what happened to you?” Ro titled his head.

“Nothing much, just some conflict.. Sequencee?” Schwii, receiving Liliain’s hug, noticed him looking at her with an ashen face. “Are you okay?”

“Schwii.. you..”

“Hm?”

“Where were you..?”

“Lilian, is it alright if you gave us some time?”

“Sure..” Lilian reluctantly removed herself from Schwii.

“Thank you.”

Schwii beckoned Iona to attend to the two who had just returned, and pulled Sequencee into his room. She shut and locked the door behind.

“Sorry,” she said in a soft voice, back pressed against the wall.

“What happened to you.. your dress, hair.. why didn’t you respond when I called you..?”

“Oh, that. You see.. I blew up the gate.”

“What gate?”

“They had a new gate set up closer to Rika Nation, that was how they were able to move between Leviath demon nation and Rika Nation so quickly. Hence, I blew it up. In that way, they would have to sacrifice more resources if they ever plan to bother us.”

“Then..”

“I used my pendant as the catalyst of the explosion. The last pair we have left is with Iona, you should’ve called her if you were that worried you silly,” Schwii chuckled.

Sequencee fell on all fours.

Schwii got down on her knees and held his shoulder.

“Did you think I went away?”

He nodded slowly.

“Sorry.”

Schwii wrapped her arms around him. Her scent filled his nose, the chaos in mind numbed, his heartbeat settled, the warmth of her presence returned.

“Schwii, thank you.. I’m sorry for being rude.. I’m sorry for.. everything,” tears shed from his eyes, digging his face into her shoulders.

“I love you. I really do, but I’m also jealous,” Schwii, stroking his back, said in a sentimental tone. “I want you to be mine alone.. but it seems, that just can’t come true, can it?”

In each other’s embrace, their worries and fears sought refuge. With no solution other than to move forward and adapt, the curtain comes to a close of one ordeal; another one unfolds.

===

The smell of ammonia and iron perfused inside a decrepit shack. Lancet, clothes torn, arms full of whip marks showing obvious bleeding.

“So while my sisters died, your sister is still alive and well?” ‘his’ sonorous voice rang.

“Ah.. uh..”

Crack. Whip.

“AAHHHH!!!”

Crack. Whip. Crack..

“Ah..”

The man threw the whip aside and walked out of the damned pen. He shut the door behind him and drew in a breath of fresh air to clear his lungs of the smell.

“You did well to take care of yourself,” he said, golden eyes blazing in sordid passion.

Sean Stravince, the first son of the Stravince Count’s family, who was also Azaleas and Rose’s eldest brother. Pointy gray-red hair with aspects of twirls, a muscular figure with a wide body and broad shoulders.

The general of the knights' order under Stravince county.

From the outside, the Stravince family looked like the perfect home. Lavish mansions, rich lifestyle, and bountiful opportunities for a better future. Internally however, it was a family full of disagreement and polarity. From Rose’s fiery temper, to Azaleas’ dark empathy.

Sean Stravince was not any different. Anyone who knew him at a personal level would soon learn one of his peculiar traits–his sadistic tendencies.

“Sir, are you certain of visiting Rika Nation? With the news of the accident proliferating at such a pace, it would do you no good to appear where the incident happened. Contrarily, it might harm your image.”

“This family doesn’t care about those trifles. That man inside, bring him out and make him presentable before I return.”

The butler could only bow stiffly and leave to call the priests, no word of his could possibly persuade this master. Sean made his way over to the large plaza field where his knights trained. He was greeted by the members there as he passed, showing a nod to acknowledge their presence, he entered the central tent and found the vice commander busy handling reports.

A girl whose short hair shimmered like the fading colours of gold, emerald eyes focused on the documents before her.

“What is it?” Leanne asked, not even batting an eye at him.

“I’ll be leaving for a temporary matter, during this period, you’re responsible for putting someone in charge of managing the order.”

“Understood sir.”

Sean walked over to the table and grabbed the nearby whip.

Crackle!

He flung it towards the vice commander.. however, it simply just bounced off some sort of ephemeral crystal barrier.

“I’m not into this kind of thing sir. Do this any more, I’ll hand over my resignation letter.”

“I never gave you any permission to leave.”

Leanne didn’t respond. While she understood the danger of being around this person, she needed the money. It just happened that this position had a high pay, the trade-off being the lack of humanism.

Sean made an open announcement to the knights that he would be leaving for Rika Nation for personal matters. The news of Azaleas’ and Rose’s death had already spread to them, so they knew it was a topic which they shouldn’t carelessly bring up.

“Don’t do anything stupid when I’m gone,” he announced.

“I won’t,” Leanne muttered.

“I’m not talking about you.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re coming with me, I told you to assign the management role to someone else.”

“But sir..”

“Do you want a pay cut?”

Her eyes rounded like saucers. Sean left the knights and Leanne to settle the matter of selecting a proxy commander while he himself went back to the mansion to get ready.

“Leticia Estia. I wonder how much you have grown these three years.”

She who was to be pronounced as his spouse initially by the count disappeared three years ago. Back then, he abstained himself from ‘playing’ with her in hopes that when she was no longer able to escape from him, the joy he would gain from enjoying her screams would multiply innumerous folds.

His lips curled up just thinking about it.

‘I’m waiting for the good news Thrumen.’