Chapter 96: He who holds the horn.

Chapter 96: He who holds the horn.

Alice felt the itch within expand outward, creeping along her limbs until it made her fingertips twitch. Granted, by the time it reached her fingers the itch had taken on a whole new meaning, it ate at her like fire. But she held herself back. Not yet, not just yet.

“Then, my second question.”

Gabriel had set several milestones for her in the past, goals she had to reach if she wanted him to answer whatever questions she had. Being officially acknowledged by the duchy, getting acknowledged by the imperial family, getting her first title, getting married, and taking over the duchy. Three of the five were completed, so with her first question answered she had two more she could use.

“All those years ago, why did you choose me?”

This was the question Alice was most eager to ask, the one she wanted answered the most. Back in the orphanage all those years ago, when she first stuttered out the fateful question. All the other children lowered their heads, looked away in silence as they left her questions unanswered. But Gabriel had raised his head and looked directly at her, wordlessly agreeing to her request before she even made it.

At the time, she was ecstatic, she would no longer be alone. Most people would just think that Gabriel was an orphan so following a basically abandoned illegitimate child was still better than remaining in the orphanage. But then the other children that were assigned to her were taken away one by one, lured in by better positions or by threats. But Gabriel never left.

And the more he showed, especially with what she learned now, the clearer it became. He could have left whenever he wanted, he could have probably left the orphanage on his own and still lived a grand life. But he didn’t. He stuck with her, no matter what was offered. She posed him the question all those years ago, but it was clearly him who chose her. But why?

“...”The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

Gabriel was silent for a moment, the two looking at each other. It was... an inevitable question. There would come a day when Alice would ask him something like this, and he had given his word that he would never lie to her. It was strange. It was such a simple answer, in the past he would have been able to spit it out without hesitation.

But now, as he was looking at her and had the words on the tip of his tongue, he felt that he didn’t want to tell her the truth. But in the end, he had to tell her the truth. Partly because the fourth tenet of being a good person was to always stay true to your words, and partly because she deserved to know it.

“There was no special reason. I was a weapon, and a weapon needs a wielder. You were just... there, the first recognizable person I saw, and I knew what you would become so it was only logical. At best there was some... pity would be the best word for it, pity for the end you would meet. So I figured that since you were going to be my wielder, I should at least help you change that ending, that way you would be able to wield me for longer.”

It was... heartless. A cold reason. There wasn’t really anything special, she just so happened to be there, just so happened to be the first. What if it had been Marion, or Leonardo, or Francis? What if he had met them first, would he have gone with them as their weapon? If it was the him of the past then it would be likely. But then he would never be more than a weapon, he’d just remain a tool in this second life as well.

“I see.”

Alice’s response was simpler than he expected. Then again, Alice had always been smart, quick to pick things up. She’d probably formed a few guesses over the years, she knew him better than anyone else after all.

“But you know what, Gabriel?”

Alice’s arms rose from Gabriel’s waist, resting on his shoulders as she folded her hands behind his neck. She looked straight into his eyes, the corners of her lips pulled up into a natural smile, the old, and by now worthless, truth unable to cause even a dent.

“I will choose you. Whenever the chance comes up in the future, I will choose you. And I’ll do it because I love you.”

“If I am the one who turned you into a person, then you are the one who made me human. All I have, all I am, comes from you.”

The fingers that fiddled with his collarbone moved. Alice was just an abandoned illegitimate child, and she would have remained that if it wasn’t for Gabriel. She could only rise because he had given her his hand. She took hold of his hand and moved it away from her waist, allowing it to rest on her chest, a rhythmic thump spreading from her body to his hand.

“This heart only beats because you gave it the chance to. Were it not for you, there would be nothing but a black pit in here. I want to give a heart to those who now are as I once was.”

She was the abandoned illegitimate child, she knew what it was like to be abandoned, ignored and scorned by the world. The emptiness, the darkness inside, the sinking feeling as you just accepted it and let go of yourself. She wanted to save them from that.

When she saw Teresa come running in with that bleeding child, that was the thought that struck her. That child was like the past Alice, and this was her chance to be what Gabriel had been for her. The beating heart that he gave her, she could pass it on to others. What he made her, she would make others.

But there was more. More that she wanted, that she desired.

“I want the north, Gabriel. Beyond the Barong duchy. The frozen mountains, the glacial lands beyond it, I want them all, for that is where you were born.”

The lands where Gabriel became a person, the lands where Gabriel first truly looked at her, she wanted them. She wanted to hold them close and dear for all eternity. But still, there was more.

“But the north isn’t a good place to keep orphans, its not a good place to train adults or raise children. So I also want the south, the west, and the east, Gabriel. The Vritara duchy, even the lands beyond, I want every patch of land graced by the warmth of the sun. Wherever the wheat and flowers grow, wherever the forests shine verdant, I want it all. No matter where you and I stand under the bright and warm sun, I want us to be able to smile and say ‘We are home’.”

Home. For the Alice of the past, the word home was synonymous with a dark and cold room where she was locked up all alone, left to cry with no one to hear. For Gabriel it was a dreary and monochrome room, at times a cave, at times a car. Always bleak, always colorless, home was just another blot of ink on the page.

Alice wanted them both to have a better home, together.

“Gabriel Sakra Indra. My Gabriel. My angel. Help me.”

Gabriel’s hand felt numb. The pounding of Alice’s heart was transmitted directly to him through his hand, it reverberated throughout his entire body. It felt like fire in his palm, racing along his veins until it filled his very being.

Home.

A foreign word, to both him and her.

He could tell that she had been thinking about it for a while, she’d probably been working on the idea while he was still just a tool. How long had she been looking at him like that? Digging out his weaknesses so that she could cover them up one by one, fill his cracks until he became whole.

His hand clenched, clutching Alice’s dress. He wanted it. He wanted her. His elbow bent and he pulled her close, stealing her lips with his own. She gave him fire, she made him fire, and he felt that he could not go on unless he shared that with her, unless they were both fire. And within the flames, there was an answer.

“Let’s make a home.”