Helplessness gripped the lady's heart.
Did he forget? Did he abandon me?
Such thoughts entered her mind, but she quickly dismissed them. The guard that she had come to know in all these days.
He wasn't someone who would forget her even if he was stabbed a hundred times over.
As she tried to take in deep breaths and get a hold of her thoughts, a small golden object soaring through the skies entered her sight. The small object popped up in front of her and started frantically floating up and down.
"Uh...?"
The lady felt a strange urge to touch the orb. As her fingertips poked at the glow of the golden object, mana was sapped out of her like a flood. The lady winced at the unimaginable mana drain as the golden object changed form.
Platinum hair and a beautiful green dress, with long, pointy ears and wings sticking out her back, the golden object turned into the fairy Titania. Her guard's companion.
"Hey!!" Titania screamed out loud. "What did you do to him, huh!? Why can't I sense him at all?"
The lady's eyes shot open.
She had already heard that this fairy was bound to her guard by their souls. Manifesting was a tall order, as long as they were on the mortal plane, the fairy wouldn't be able to move much further away from her guard.
Yet, she had not just lost her form but was also unable to sense him.
As the fair tugged at the lady's veil with her tiny arms, the gears in the lady's mind turned and twisted.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtRealization started to dawn upon her. Horror filled her eyes before being replaced by amusement.
"He's not in the mortal plane."
"What?" the fairy stopped.
The lady jumped up. In a rush, she pulled out a bag and started filling it with the supplies in the hidden room. From healing potions to mana ones, she began to shove everything one could need for survival.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Fairy!" the lady screamed. "I heard you're very strong and smart."
"Ah.. well, yes, of course, hehe~" the fairy scratched the back of her head while avoiding the lady's gaze. Her guard had told her that the fairy had become childish and easy after being locked away for years, it seemed to be true.
She pushed away her sympathy for the little fairy and decided to use her to the fullest.
"Please check this place for traces of demonic energy. It would probably be weak, nothing more than a teleport spell, I believe."
"D-demonic energy?" the fairy blinked a couple of times, and then spoke up again. "You think my partner was taken away by a demon? Why? You seem to know something, were you expecting it?"
And just like her guard had said, the fairy was also terrifyingly sharp.
"It's just a hunch, but I believe a promise that this kingdom's founder had made has been fulfilled."
Whether such a promise existed or not. Whether the demon king would truly come or not. Such thoughts had turned into a matter of debate over the span of five hundred years but denying it was a fool's errand at this point.
She had long since given up.
From the moment she found herself being forgotten, the lady had resigned herself to her fate.
To fulfill the promise made to the demon king, why else would the imperial family use that wretched spell? She knew it, yet she denied it. She was but a cursed existence with no purpose, she truly believed that death suited her more. Being sacrificed suited her more.
Before she knew it, her thoughts had changed.
'It would be better for the world if I was gone,' had turned into 'It would be better for him if I was gone.'
She was willing. She was willing to give herself up and let the world be. She was happy with the memories she had made at the end, and though regrettable, she had also cried her heart out over the one who would eventually forget.
Yet, selfishly.
Selfishly, the world decided to take him away.
How stupid was it? Not only did the Imperial family unfairly decide to wipe her off the world to save face, but they also failed horribly and ended up giving away the one person she had wished for the happiness of. The one person who had brought her happiness. Her person.
It wasn't just the fault of the Imperial family, nor the demon.
The entire world was to blame.
The lady finished packing everything up. Dozens upon dozens of plans unfolded in her mind as she slowly, steadily reached the most optimal route.
At the same time, the fairy returned.
"I feel demonic energy here! You better explain what is going on."
The lady smirked.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAs she had expected. Her role had been taken away by her guard.
"You need your partner, and I want my guard."
Under the veil, a madder shade that no one could see had filled the lady's eyes.
"We're going to get him back."
The fairy smiled and broke into a peal of laughter.
"Oh my, I misjudged you," the fairy's words were suddenly dripping with malice and hate. "I thought you were a little sparrow, but you turned out to be a gutsy cuckoo. I like your boldness. The thought that 'you' could help 'him' is already too bold."
It was a voice that the lady quite liked. The fairy was more interested in her than her guard, even after hearing that he had been taken away by a demon.
"Very well, my partner's muse," the fairy said. "Let's go get him back."
When she conceded. When she tried to lay low, why couldn't the world learn a lesson and stay in its lane?
The lady's heart trembled again as her eyes glowed.
The glow was the same as her guard's, though she was unaware.
It was the same glow that her guard held when he was out to show off his strength.
Stupid, stupid world.
Now she was not going to give up on anything.
It had made an enemy of the wrong person.