Saroma recovered from her initial shock and bewilderment.
"You want to take me away? Take me back to Constellation? "
The lights around the dining room swayed slightly in the wind, as if responding to the young lady's words.
She raised her head, her voice trembling slightly. "Is this what you really mean?"
Facing the young lady's green eyes, Thales was at a loss for words.
A faint sense of awkwardness and relief crept into his heart at the same time.
'I.
'I just said …'
Thales felt a splitting headache, but the words had already left his mouth. He could only keep thinking about this sudden idea and the possibility of carrying it out.
The prince kept rubbing his hands and observed the archduchess' expression.
"I mean, I think … you're …"
But Thales immediately shut his mouth. At that moment, the archduchess was quietly staring at him through the pince-nez the prince gave her with a gaze that Thales could not understand.
At that moment, Thales felt that he did not recognize the young lady in front of him.
"But, why should I go with you?" Saroma spoke softly. Her voice seemed to come from dozens of meters away, indistinct and indistinct.
"With what identity and for what reason should I go with you?"
Saroma turned her head gently. Her voice was steady, but her words were intermittent, as if she was carrying an unparalleled weight. "Could it be, like the promise King Nuven mentioned back then … as your fiancée?"
At that moment, the young lady's eyes seemed to have some terrifying power, forcing Thales to look elsewhere, as if the other party's expression was the most terrifying poison in the world.
The second prince had never been so embarrassed before.
Perhaps only the first time he met King Kessel could compare to this moment.
Especially after he realized that he might have said something that could easily be misunderstood.
Thales panted and hurriedly shook his head. "Hey, no, Saroma, I didn't mean for you to elope with me …"
At that moment, it was as if someone had frozen the air in the room.
The archduchess lowered her head.
"Then why?" Saroma spoke slowly, her voice turning cold.
Thales, who was increasingly embarrassed, exhaled painfully. He spent a few seconds to reorganize his emotions.
"The Alliance of Freedom, marriage, vassals, Black Sand Region, the City of Faraway Prayers." He squeezed out these few words stiffly. His words were not very coherent. "All of these are just the beginning."
"In the future, you will face even more terrifying things, such as having to make cruel choices, such as the enemy's conspiracy that has been brewing for several years …"
For example, you may eventually lose the position of Archduke, and the tragic fate that comes with it.
"You will see even more terrifying things, and you will be in the most vulnerable position. You have pitifully few bargaining chips in your hands, and even the people around you …"
When he thought of how secretive Nicholas was and Lisban's serious and solemn demeanor, Thales subconsciously stopped talking.
"I can't always protect you, Saroma, and neither can anyone else." Thales panted. The more he spoke, the heavier his heart became.
"For your safety, to stay away from these dangers …"
The archduchess raised her head slightly and interrupted the prince.
"I see."
Saroma's expression changed.
"Taking me away is for my safety." Saroma looked elsewhere and snorted with the ghost of a smile. "I understand now. That's the reason."
"I understand now."
"There can't be any other reason, can there? You just can't say that word."
'That word?'
Thales looked at her like this, and an indescribable feeling filled his heart.
'No.
'No, Saroma, you …'
"Just like in the past." The girl sighed softly. There was a hint of melancholy in her eyes. "You worry about me, love me, and pity me, just because I'm weak and need protection, just like a certain puppy.
"So you have to take me away.
"Just like in the past, this is the reason — the only reason."
Thales took a deep breath. "Saroma …"
But Saroma seemed to be immersed in her own world and ignored him.
"That's right. That's me. The weak and helpless me who closes my eyes and waits for death, forever waiting for others to reach out to me."
Thales was slightly stunned.
The girl's gaze was fixed in the air, and her voice trembled slightly.
"Do you still remember, six years ago, when I was captured by that monster, the Blood Calamity … It was full of people, or at least, human parts: eyeballs, lips, ears, internal organs, limbs, all soaked in blood. All of them trembled before your eyes … Dark, slippery, bloody."
Thales' memory was brought back to the body of the hydra, Kilika, Giza's pet. When he remembered those severed limbs, he felt uncomfortable.
He lowered his head and did not speak. He had nothing to say.
"I remember that I couldn't stop trembling, and I couldn't stop crying." Saroma clenched the tablecloth in her hand and stared at the food on the table with a pale face. "Because I could only cry. I could only cry. I could only cry. All I could do was cry and wait for death.
"At that time, can you imagine how I felt?"
The lights in the dining room flickered slightly. Their shadows also trembled.
Thales felt his tongue become heavy.
"I'm sorry, that was …" he said with difficulty.
'That was my fault.'
The prince whispered in his heart.
'It was me who caused you …'
Saroma suddenly raised her head and stared at Thales. Her gaze became much gentler.
"Until you, Thales. You appeared before me with that strange short sword in your hand, covered in blood and with a tired face." The archduchess' tone was calm, but it was difficult to conceal the rise and fall of her voice. "Just like how you went against King Nuven's majesty and pulled me away from his side without hesitation that same night."
Thales froze for a moment.
"When I was at my most desperate, you came to save me," she said faintly.
"You were the only light in that nightmare, Thales.
Can you imagine that feeling again? "
Thales stared blankly at Saroma, who was behaving abnormally. He felt rather upset.
"Just like now, again." The archduchess sighed slightly and looked at the knife and fork beside her hand with a complicated expression. "Are you going to save me again?
"Save the girl who has always been under your care and protection, save that cowering, timid, and trembling Little Rascal?
"Because this is the only image I have in your heart, right?
"So, I will never be able to be looked at as an equal by you."
Thales frowned deeply. He felt that the girl in front of him was giving him a deeper sense of unfamiliarity.
'She …'
"Saroma." Thales' voice was subconsciously tinged with doubt and uneasiness. "What happened? Why would you … ask this?"
Saroma let out a cold laugh.
"You know, for more than a month, Ciel has been trying to convince me that being too close to you is not a good thing."
The archduchess shook her head forcefully, as if she was trying to get rid of something dirty in her mind. "But I told him that since that nightmarish night six years ago, I knew that even Ciel, Lord Nicholas, Justin, and all of Dragon Clouds City had betrayed me.
"You, Thales Jadestar, would also stand in front of me and protect me without hesitation — just like you did to the calamities six years ago."
Thales shuddered violently.
"If I can't trust you like this, who else can I trust?" Saroma lowered her head and the corners of her mouth curled up into a bitter arc.
"I know you have a lot of secrets, Thales." Saroma's tone was weary and disappointed. Her voice was hoarse. "Who else can I trust?"
"I know you have a lot of secrets, Thales." Saroma's tone was weary and disappointed. Her voice was hoarse. "Whether it's your persistence in searching for records about the Battle of Eradication and the Great Dragon, your request to go out once a month to play chess, the Blood Calamity and the blue-robed calamity, and the reason why they are looking for you …"
At that moment, Thales did not speak.
But when he looked at the girl, his eyes could not help but tremble slightly.
'So …'
"But I did not tell any of them to Ciel and the others." The Archduchess took a deep breath and said, "I know that you must treasure these secrets very much. I also know that since they are your secrets, they will definitely not harm me."
"Yes, Thales, I trust you," Saroma lowered her head and said hoarsely. "I trust you with my life."
Silence.
A complicated and indescribable feeling filled Thales' heart, making his mouth taste bitter.
'Yes, Saroma is not a little girl without any characteristics.
On the contrary, she is very sensitive and very sharp. It's just that most of the time, she hides herself behind the lenses.
'No one knows, and probably no one cares.
'Including me.'
"But, Thales Jadestar, what exactly am I to you?"
Saroma raised her head with great difficulty.
Once again, the girl gritted her teeth and said, "Am I your burden? Is it a responsibility you can't shake off? Is it a bargaining chip you hold in your hands? Is it worth it for you to save me again and again? Or is it a fiancée you were forced to accept? "
Thales swore that he had never seen such an expression on Saroma's face.
It was a complicated mix of melancholy, hesitation, pain, resentment, anger, and grievance. All of them gathered in the archduchess' crystal clear eyes behind the lenses.
It was as if the Little Rascal he knew for the past six years was just a false shell, and the Saroma before him was the true face that Thales had never been able to uncover.
"No, it's neither."
She held back the tears that were almost forced out of her eyes and said in a choked voice,
"Now, I understand."
The second prince could no longer say anything. He could only stare at the Little Rascal in front of him in a daze. He did not know her, or rather, he did not care about her.
Saroma twisted her stiff neck and forced herself to stare at Thales with all her might.
There was a hint of sarcasm in her sobbing voice that she could not hide.
"You, Prince Thales, are different from most nobles. You have a unique and warm heart. You have your own principles. You can't stand the people around you suffering and being indifferent …
"That's why you always lend a helping hand to the weak, right?
"Like me."
Thales stared at her sadly. He felt a heavy weight on his chest.
Disappointment and pain flickered in the depths of Saroma's crystal clear eyes. An indescribable light was released from behind the lenses.
"You can't bear to see me being forced to decide on my marriage. You can't bear to see me in danger. You can't bear to see me facing all the archdukes alone. So you came to save me without hesitation. Just like how you returned to Heroic Spirit Palace without hesitation and faced the archdukes all those years ago.
"Of course, you still feel guilty. You feel that you have to take responsibility for sending me to the position of an archduke, right?
"So, you pity me, sympathize with me, help me, and protect me." Saroma tried her best to make her sobbing sound like a sneer, but she was obviously unsuccessful. "But to you, I'm just one of the countless weak people you've pitied and saved. Whether I want to or not, there's nothing more."
In the next second, the young girl clenched her fists tightly. Her arms trembled slightly, as though she was enduring a great deal of pain.
The dining room returned to an uneasy silence.
There were only two breaths left. One was trembling and unstable, and the other was long and dull.
Saroma clenched her teeth. Her eyes behind the pince-nez were soaked with tears, and her chin trembled slightly.
Finally, a tear fell from the corner of her left eye.
Thales closed his eyes. He sighed and bowed his head.
Saroma clenched her teeth. She extended her hand and wiped away the tear on the left side of her face, trembling but determined. However, she could not stop the tear from falling from her right eye. "So, you will never put me in the same world as you. You will never treat me as, as your, your …"
She could not continue.
Saroma turned her head to the other side so that Thales could not see her tears.
"This is the whole meaning of 'taking me away'. A few weak people who urgently need to be saved are no more than you saving any puppy on the street. Because this is my position in your eyes."
"Saroma …" Thales sighed. He used all his strength to force himself to speak. At the same time, he deliberately avoided the topic he did not want to talk about the most. "Maybe you shouldn't think so much. We are partners who have always fought side by side …"
"Partners?"
"No."
"You said before that Lyanna Tabark is like a brilliant diamond that shines brightly under the sun. You can't forget her." Saroma laughed coldly with tears in her eyes. Her expression was mournful and resolute. "In comparison, Saroma of Dragon Clouds City, no, Little Rascal of Dragon Clouds City, is probably just an annoying and incompetent weakling, waiting for your charity and protection."
Thales clenched his fists.
"Of course not." He clenched his teeth and squeezed out a few words. "You … You are different to me."
"Different?"
The young girl took a deep breath. She took off her glasses and wiped the tears off her face forcefully.
Saroma shook her head and snorted coldly with a choked voice.
"No, Thales, it's been six years. I know you too well.
"Maybe you haven't noticed it yourself. The women you truly admire and admire are only those who are strong, independent, self-centered, and radiate a dazzling light. Your eyes will only light up for them."
Thales furrowed his brows.
"For example, that duchess. Even though she is thousands of miles away, she can still make you admire her from the bottom of your heart. For example, that female officer Jines. As a teacher, even though you haven't seen her for six years, she has never faded from your heart. For example, the Fortress Flower. She is a warrior who stands in front of the storm like an iron wall."
The second prince took a deep breath. He only felt that his tongue was stiff.
"Even the female vampire you're talking about, the one who betrayed you and pushed you into a corner, the ugly one called Serena or Tarina."
"At least she is strong and terrifying. She can make you extremely fearful and inexplicably vigilant every time you mention her. Then, you place her in the most important position in your eyes."
Saroma put on her pince-nez again. Her eyes were slightly red and swollen.
"Only people like them can attract your attention and make it hard for you to forget them. Only people like them can stand in front of you, look straight into your eyes, and talk to you as equals and independently." Her tone became calm again, but the emotions in her words were cold. "And that girl who only knows how to hide in the library, obedient to the vassals, terrified of politics, and trembling in the face of difficulties, she can't …
"She can only hide in the corner of your eyes forever. She can always be protected, led, pitied. She can only be helped by you, receive your grace, and be saved by you forever.
"She can never stand in the same world as you.
"Even someone as noble as you, even someone as kind as you, is actually no different from my vassals. Only strength can make them submit. Similarly, only independent and self-reliant women can make you look at them. Just like that female warrior from Black Sand Region not long ago."
"And if I am just a weak girl, I will receive contempt and disdain from the vassals. When it comes to you, it will be pity and sympathy from a superior."
Thales had nothing to say.
He really wanted to tell her that it was not like that. He wanted to tell her that all of this was unnecessary speculation.
But …
Thales remembered what Ginghes, the female official, had told him before.
"Most of the time, it is because of Your Highness' constant care, consideration, and companionship that the lady will feel that she is safe and let down her worries and vigilance.
"But the problem is, she is not safe.
"She should not feel that way either."
'Yes, Little Rascal, Saroma. What is she to me? Responsibility brought about by guilt? Sustenance kept because of pity?
Or because of her … '
Thales raised his head and looked at the girl's beautiful face. It was slightly red against the background of her platinum hair. He only felt a sense of oppression in his heart.
The little girl who raised her head in a daze in the library seemed to appear before his eyes again.
'It's been six years. When I brought her out of that hall, I probably did not think that this day would come.
'But it's been six years. I thought I knew her very well.
I thought I was helping her, protecting her, planning for her on my own wishful thinking … '
Thales sighed. 'But in truth, I never understood her, and I never tried to understand her.
I only treated her as … '
"Have you forgotten, Thales?" Saroma stared at the already cold broth on the plate and snorted, seemingly subconsciously. "You told me before that you don't want me to be forced to become what others want me to be."
You want me to become the person I want to be. "
This time, the Archduchess of Dragon Clouds City did not hesitate. She looked up without hesitation.
"So …
"I refuse, Thales."
The girl did not turn her head, nor did she look elsewhere. She looked straight into Thales' eyes and said in a firm tone.
"I will not go with you.
"If I listened to you and left obediently, retreated, and rejoiced, then I would forever be the little girl you helped."
"I've had enough of being a little girl, Thales." Saroma exhaled. With a pale face, she pressed her hand on her lower abdomen. She gritted her teeth, and her gaze was firm. "I've had enough of being 'your' little girl. I've had enough of being taken away from danger by you and living in a greenhouse."
Saroma's eyes shone with a cold light. Behind her lenses, she released an indescribable coldness. "And, as the Archduchess of Dragon Clouds City, I will not and cannot leave with a Prince of Constellation. No matter what kind of difficulties and obstacles I face, powerful enemies, and fierce battles, this is my home. I was born here, and I will die here."
'Until one day, I can stand face to face with you.'
'Thales.'
She said quietly.
The dining room returned to silence.
The archduchess and the prince sat on both sides of the dining table, facing each other quietly, as if the food on the table was just for decoration.
After what felt like a century, Thales finally spoke with difficulty.
"Saroma …"
With a sense of disappointment, he did not know whether it was for himself or for her, he said in a low voice, "Alright."
The second prince heaved a long sigh. His gaze was gloomy. "I understand."
Saroma chuckled and let go of her hand on her abdomen. Her expression relaxed a little.
"I'm fine."
The archduchess seemed to be in low spirits. She shook her head.
"I know," she said faintly. "I know you're just being impulsive sometimes."
Thales frowned slightly.
'She …'
"You're not alone, Thales." Saroma stared out the window with a complicated expression, as if she was looking at a painting covered by a veil and indistinguishable.
"You still have your country and your people behind you.
"Have you thought about the consequences of kidnapping the Archduchess of Dragon Clouds City?" The archduchess shook her head with a smile, as if she was trying to dispel his mockery. However, that smile seemed rather difficult to Thales. "You took me away from my troubles, but it will only bring more people and even more terrifying disasters."
"If you come back to your senses," Saroma sighed and said, "If you reconsider this choice, you won't say that again, because the reason you want to save me is the same as the reason you can't bear to see them suffer and suffer.
"In this world, there's probably no girl who's worth paying such a huge price for."
Thales clenched his fists.
'No.
'You, you're different, after all.
'You're …
'You're …'
At this moment, the door to the dining room rang.
"My Lady, Prince, forgive me for disturbing you," Count Lisban's sonorous voice rang steadily. "May I come in?"
The strange atmosphere in the room seemed to have been broken in an instant.
Thales and Saroma quickly composed themselves, adjusted their state of mind, and welcomed the regent in.
Count Lisban was still dressed in his solemn attire. His expression was indifferent. It was as if he did not see the archduchess' reddened eyes or the prince's dejected expression.
However, the moment Lisban opened his mouth and listened to his unusual tone, Thales had an ominous premonition.
'As expected.'
"Your Grace, Prince Thales, the messenger crow from the City of Faraway Prayers has just arrived."
Lisban's words made the two's expressions turn serious.
"The Alliance of Freedom's Elders' meeting has just ended. The first probing letter has been sent to the City of Faraway Prayers, proposing to lower the tariff."
Saroma sucked in a cold breath. "So …"
Lisban nodded. His gaze was solemn. "The Archduke of the City of Faraway Prayers, Kulgon Roknee, has issued a warrant to mobilize all the military forces and resources of his direct territories and vassals. At the same time, he has recalled the wandering sentry troops stationed in the Great Desert to seal off the borders leading to the West."
Thales' pupils shrank slightly.
The image of the long-haired archduke with a strong temperament in the Hall of Heroes reappeared in his mind.
At that moment, Lisban's expression was incredibly solemn. "At the same time, he has sent a large-scale official diplomat group, which will arrive in Dragon Clouds City in a few days."
Thales and Saroma looked at each other. Their emotions were in turmoil.
The prince raised his head. "Roknee didn't just send out an official diplomat group to greet us. I guess he already knows that Black Sand Region has sent someone over?"
Lisban raised his eyebrows slightly and snorted softly, as if he was blaming Thales for his actions a few days ago.
"Please be prepared, both of you, no matter who is behind this chess game." The regent's eyes swept over the two of them. His words seemed to carry the power of a brewing storm, shrouding the small dining room on this side.
"It has already begun.
A storm is coming. "
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