= Yoei's POV =

  Floating…

  My feet are floating.

  Have I become a ghost?

  I can feel something holding both of my arms. But when I look up, never mind. Just a pair of glowing chains making sure I do not touch the surface. My eyes cautiously gnce at the guards standing at every corner of this square room. Why would Suna go this far in treating me like this…?

  Could it be… could it be that all this time I misunderstood the affection they showered upon me? I am very certain that Suna must be doing all of this so I would not slip and fall because of the puddle beneath my feet. But there is no source of water here, did it rain?

  Oh, I just realized it when a drop of water fell and struck my foot. Apparently… the source is none other than my own eyes. Hehehe… how foolish of me. Yoei is very foolish. Yoei Bougainvillea is the most foolish person who has ever existed…

  “Lady Yoei, what's wrong with—”

  “Damn you! Have you forgotten King Suna’s order?” one guard cut the other off.

  “That’s right, we must not do anything to her. Not even ask a question.” another added.

  What exactly am I to them? Why did you stop that guard from asking me? Honestly… I like people who ask how I am doing, and I truly hate people who make me annoyed. I hope they all just di—

  “AAKH!!!”

  “WHAT THE—”

  “WHO ARE YOU?!”

  “SOMEONE STOP THIS MAN—”

  I immediately shut my eyes. Something terrible must be happening to them all. The stench of blood fills my nose again, dancing inside it. Their screams are so loud that I feel disgusted hearing them.

  “Yoei,”

  That voice… I have heard it somewhere, somewhere in the corridors of this pace. It feels like such a long time ago. I try to peek little by little. His figure slowly takes shape: armor, bloodstains, and… that is all I can see. There is not much I can see except bodies lying still upon pools of blood. I cannot even see his face because it is covered by that iron armor.

  “Yoei, it’s me. Vaelion!” After hearing that name, my eyes open wide on their own. Vaelion, a pace guard specifically assigned to watch over my chamber, is here?

  “Vaelion?” My eyes search for the proof that should be on his armor, but I find nothing.

  “Listen, Yoe— ahem. I mean, Lady Yoei. I came to save you, from this pace, from King Suna!”

  “Fool.” I said.

  “You only offered yourself as a man who will be executed. Besides, you are not Vaelion. The real one has a special emblem on the right arm of his armor!”

  “Lady Yoei, this is not the time to—”

  The man suddenly stops speaking. Perhaps he realizes something, that saving me is pointless. An ordinary human likely cannot free me from these divine chains.

  “Forgive me, Lady Yoei.”

  “Wait, what are you—”

  No…

  I don't want to see…

  My body suddenly goes numb. I cannot move anything. But everything sounds clear, my breathing becomes irregur as it follows the loud scraping of those chains.