Chapter 106

Story 62. The World I Didn’t Choose (7)

Chapter 106

To my surprise, I found myself in an underground city. I could not demand the man to return my sword. I passed by him quietly because I was afraid. The man was there like a statue to execute the line of people one by one, and I didn’t dare to look him in the eyes.

As I walked away, I kept hearing the sound.

Step, slash, thump.

Step, slash, thump.

We walked down the stairs to a shadowy city. Since there was no sun, it looked dim, but it was an adequately formed city, nonetheless. In fact, it was a luxurious and extravagant place, very unlike Minurd or Alincha. I have never seen a place like this before, not even in my dreams. I gasped in shock, “Umm… So people live here? I mean, I saw that man back there… Those people who were about to be executed… But…”

As I took several steps and looked around, the disgusting odor slowly disappeared. No matter how hard I looked, I didn’t see anyone, which made me wonder how it was being maintained.

The prince looked down on the ground and grabbed my shirt as he replied, “Like I said before, don’t be so curious about everything, Juya. The only thing you need to know is that there is a city like this underneath the lake of Minurd… And that is why things are so unstable and uncertain… That is all I can let you know.”

“But you said there was a purpose and meaning behind why you brought me here…”

“Well, we didn’t have anywhere else to go, did we? What we need to do is stay right here, but not actually go into the city. We will stay here until the soldiers are gone, then we will go back up… You will then go to Hwen, and I will have to return to where I belong.”

Was he really not going to explain what was going on here?

As he ordered, we sat down on the stairs together. Our shoulders touched, and it felt erotic. A beautiful and exotic city stood in front of us, yet we didn’t enter to explore it. The lovely night sky shone brightly, and behind us, the pale people continued to be executed by the man with my sword.

“…”

The ground was still shaking slightly, and the boy prince seemed very tired. He closed his eyes and leaned against me, making me wonder if what I wanted was to be with him physically or to love him and be loved by him.

I carefully stroked the back of his head and shoulders.

“Camille?”

The boy was shaking, just like the ground. I wanted to ask him if it was really worth it for him to save me. He was risking so much… Before I could ask, the prince said, “Juya… People often say that the most beautiful life is to serve with absolute honor and loyalty, right?”

“The Innocent ones live like that… I… I used to live like that.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter who you are loyal to and what you live for. It could be for love or for religion. As long as it is for something worthy, it doesn’t matter. The problem with me is… I wasn’t born with honor. I… I just live. I do not know the meaning of what ‘worthy’ is. I do not understand what it means to sacrifice myself for another person.”

The prince looked up at me and added, “And Juya… I hope you can live like that too… I wish you could just live for yourself.”

He then kissed me.

***

It was a short and soft kiss, but I felt like I was being shocked by lightning. It was so shocking I couldn’t breathe.

The prince kissed me like he meant it. He kissed me like he was trying to show me his heart.

“… Hhhh… Camille.”

Afterward, when I glanced at him, I noticed that he had a blank expression on his face. He said, “Please go to Hwen and live happily there. I am sure people there also believe in silly things. You know, Isnilen and other things… But from now on, please don’t be so obsessively loyal to the Goddess. Of course, you should also not try so hard to deny or reject her. We…”

The prince hugged me tightly, and at that moment, it didn’t matter if he was unable to love anyone. He may be right that he didn’t know how to sacrifice himself for another person, but I believed it is possible he just didn’t realize that what he felt was actually love. Maybe he just couldn’t admit it.

I wished the boy prince could be honest to himself. I knew it was too late to inform him of everything, but I wanted to tell him the most important thing because I was his teacher.

I hugged him back affectionately and replied, “Your highness, it’s not true that you don’t have honor. You are the legitimate son of the Goddess and the king; you are an innocent. You are a Goddess’s warrior. You have the right and the ability to make sound decisions and order your men. Please… don’t be so hard on yourself.”

He had his face buried on my chest while listening to my heartbeat. He opened his mouth to say something. Was he going to tell me that he loved me?

“Juya…”

Love… Before he could go on, screams were heard from nearby.

“Gyaaa! What the hell is this!? What’s going on here?”

“Gyaa!”

“Calm down! They are already dead. These are just corpses!”

Of all times, the soldiers had to pick this time to interrupt us.

I was impressed with them for following us this far. I hugged the prince one last time and looked at the direction of the commotion. The soldiers were probably witnessing the horrid scene we had to pass ourselves to get here. When I looked back, I saw that there was a pile of dead bodies again as high as a mountain. The man with the sword has been very busy, I suppose.

It sounded like most of the soldiers were scared, but a few brothers tried to calm everyone down to continue the search for us. I became curious about how brave the soldiers would act in this situation. I rolled my eyes while the prince stood up and pointed towards the noise. He murmured, “… I guess they probably will push through to get in here.”