Tangled By Fate

"Your legs are betraying him, not your hands. Write a letter if you have something to say."

"Writing letters?" Catherine stared at him dumbly.

'Why did I not come up with the idea first? This is so simple! If I can't face him and am unable to talk to him, I can just write him a letter!' Slapping her head, she began to write a letter immediately.

Ovior quietly observed her and pondered hard, 'I shouldn't give her too many tasks today. Maybe I should give her half a day off?'

An hour later, Sebastian got his first letter from Catherine. Her pet dove gave it to him while he was training in the training ground.

Veronica noticed him grabbing the letter and frowning deeply. She asked, "Sebastian, did you get any ill news? You don't look well."

Sebastian nervously looked at her. "Ah… no, I just don't know what's in the letter. I'm a bit worried."

"If it's not personal, do you want me to read it for you? I'll take the secrets to keep in my grave, trust me." Felix offered help.

Sebastian thought about it and then frowned. "You will take it to the grave? What if someone digs your grave and finds out the truth?"

'What is going on in his mind?' Felix wondered. "Fine, then what do you want me to do?" He reached out his hand to grab the letter.

Sebastian backed away. "No, I don't want to. You don't seem reliable."

Darius put down his axe and stepped forward. "You don't have to give it to him. I'm your most trusted companion. You should let me handle it."

Sebastian vigilantly looked at him. "Promise me you will forget after telling me."

Darius brushed away his worries by saying, "Okay, I promise I will forget whatever secret there is after telling you."

After all, he was a man of words. No matter how much of a jerk he was, he always kept his promise.

"All right." Assured by his promise, Sebastian handed over the letter to him.

Darius unfolded the letter and read it. There weren't too many words to begin with. He quickly finished reading.

"Oh, it's from Catherine. She apologized for avoiding you but you made her uncomfortable, so she had no other option. For now, she likes to keep her distance. She will think about your proposal but warn you not to have high hopes. She wants one month to think before answering. That's it. That's what the letter says."

After he was done narrating the content of the letter, he looked at Sebastian.

Sebastian was placid.

Confused seeing his expression, Darius glanced over at others who were present at that moment. They were silently staring at him.

Not being able to take everyone's silent jeer, he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"You just said everything written in that letter," Felix mentioned.

Darius nodded in affirmation. "Yes, I did. Sebastian wanted to know the content, right?"

"You promised to forget after telling him. You declared the content to us," Ironin pointed out his mistake.

Darius still didn't think he had broken the promise. He stated, "But I promised if it was something secret or super private. Sebastian proposing to Catherine is nothing new. Everyone knew about it. There is nothing private about it."

Felix decided to tell him what he did wrong. He said, "A letter for someone is supposed to be private to begin with. You shouldn't announce it to everyone."

"Huh? Is that so…?" Darius looked at the letter once again. Afterward, he raised his head and told them, "But we all wanted to know what Catherine had to say after being proposed, right?"

Sebastian strode forward and snatched the letter from Darius. He did not utter a single word and left the premises.

Realizing that he was upset, Darius went after him. "Sebastian, man, don't leave like that. I was wrong. I didn't understand that it was private. I'm sorry."

Veronica shook her head, feeling helpless for that 'huge idiot'. "So much for being a trusted companion."

"If you have time to feel sorry, trying to practice the move I showed you a few minutes ago," Felix told her.

"All right." Veronica raised her sword once again.

------

It was almost a month. Spring was coming. The snow started to melt. Veronica and the others in the Magic Tower could see green leaves growing in the trees and plants once again.

Veronica wore her armor. Arthur fastened the belt around her waist and right leg. While he did that, Veronica adjusted her helmet.

"Do I have to wear this? It's making me suffocate," Veronica complained.

They were in the hotel, preparing for the competition. Veronica would go on a match in one hour.

The field where the competition would be held was a ten-minute walk from here. All other participants were around the area.

"I can allow you to fight those rough soldiers but I can't allow you to get heavily injured," Arthur firmly stated his mind.

"I'm already covered from top to bottom. How can my head get injured?"

"Many soldiers will try to kill if you are a good fighter. They will aim at your head. Didn't Ironin or Felix teach you?" Annoyed, Arthur clicked his tongue. "I should have trained you myself."

"Then I would learn nothing. You don't know how to be rough."

Arthur pulled his face closer and murmured close to her ear, "I know how to be rough in bed."

"Don't be so shameless." Veronica pushed his chest.

She thought he was just joking to ease her. However, he didn't seem to laugh at all. His somber expression stated how reluctant he was to send her inside the ring.

He drew her body closer and embraced her body, ignoring her hard armor that was hurting him.

"Nica, you can't get hurt. If you see that you are about to lose, don't worry about anything and run away. You are already wearing a helmet, so no one will know who you are. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Veronica didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Arthur, I can be anything but a coward. How can I run away?"

Arthur told her, "Do you think your opponent will go easy on you like Ironin and Felix? They will do their best to crush you. Don't you know they will desperately play in order to win five thousand silver coins?"

"I'll play desperately too," Veronica swore. "I don't let them win the coins because I want to win them fairly. It's just that, I'm worried that I can't play well. I always lose."

"You beat Roxana in the first match. Don't you remember? You are much stronger than you think. If you were a weak person, I wouldn't let you participate in the competition. Just focus on your opponent's shoulder. Forget about everything else. Don't let them touch you. The moment they give the first strike, you are drop dead."

Arthur tried to make her feel comfortable and relieved, but he just added more worry in her tiny head.

"Am I that weak?" Veronica shuddered.

"No one hit you with all of their strength before. Ironin and Felix held back. I'm sure Roxana did the same too since they were all teaching you lessons, not fighting you in real life."

"I'll be careful." Veronica couldn't control herself from trembling. Her stomach muscles tightened. She felt like she was going to vomit at any moment.

Arthur was quick to notice her changes of expression. "You don't look well. Are you feeling ill? Do you want to quit?"

"No… no… I'm going."

"Veronica! I heard you are participating. I came to see your matches… Oh my! Are you okay?" Zinnia burst into the room and spotted Veronica's pale face through the helmet right away.

Small portions of Veronica's cheeks were visible. Her face was ashen due to nervousness.

Zinnia patted her back and said, "Hey, it's normal to feel that way. It's your first competition after all. Breathe… Take deep breaths. It'll help you to calm your nervous system. By the way, have you had your breakfast?"

"I made sure she ate a good amount. No one can fight with an empty stomach." Darius came out of nowhere and slapped Veronica's back.

"Are you trying to kill her?" Arthur stepped forward like a protective husband.

Darius raised his hands to surrender and backed away. "Wo! Wo! Calm down, mother hen! It's just a small pat and she is wearing armor. She will get more hurt inside the ring. No need to be so aggressive about it."

Arthur glared at him without a word.

Looking at Arthur's scowl expression, Zinnia hurriedly stopped Darius to say further, "Don't make it worse, or else Arthur won't let Veronica fight. I heard that she worked really hard. She will be upset if Arthur takes her away midway."

Darius covered his mouth. He shook his head toward Veronica as if to tell her that he didn't mean to do it.

Veronica had no time to think about other stuff. She was so nervous that her head was spinning.

"It's almost time. We should head out.." Zinnia urged.