Chapter 228: Love… is a Mess

Ralia City.

Lyca on the other hand was just enjoying her life after stealing from Long Yi. Scratch that, Lyca wasn't really stealing. It was a deal. Long Yi agreed to give her the money. Until now, Lyca couldn't really stop herself from smiling.

"Sunbathing? Really?"

Lyca turned towards her left and stared at Rue who was walking towards the lake. Shen Qi and her agreed to come to the mountain where everyone was doing their training. However, the moment Lyca arrived, she decided it would be good to visit that Lake again. The one that Shen Qui showed her.

Isn't it better to spend more time relaxing and lying around, watching the sun? She lazily beamed at Rue before turning her head back to the sun. She stared at the sun using her dark shades before she closed her eyes and let the temperature soak her skin.

It was already December, the cold from the forest, coupled with the wind contrasted the heat coming from the sun. "Tell me about the current temperature." Despite lying on the grass and staring at the sun for a few minutes now, Lyca was still wearing a black leather jacket and equally black pants and shirt.

"Fifteen something."

"No snow?" she asked. She loved the snow. Of course, she also knew that this part of the Xu Country doesn't snow during the wintertime. It was still pretty cold though. Lyca was certain that the temperature would go down to at least two Celsius or something negative. There will be no snow but the air would be too cold. This would be accompanied by winds and rains. 

"Nah. If you want snow go to the north." Rue sat next to her and looked at the lake. "It took me an hour to find you here. How did you even find this place?"

"Qui'er," she lazily said before yawning. "I want to buy the mountains and build a cabin somewhere here. I want to live in this place until the day I die."

"You arrived too early, not many people knew that you were already here. However, I already asked them to prepare themselves.���

"Hmm. How's everything? Did someone die?"

Rue rolled her eyes. "Those people survived abuse and living on the streets, don't think too low of them."

"The training was hard," Lyca said.

"I won't be able to finish a day of training," Rue said as she stared at Lyca's languid position. Lyca was using her hand to support her head as she laid on the grass and stare at the sun. Rue sighed. "You sure, we can win this?"

"We WILL win this." Lyca finally sat on the grass. She picked a small pebble and throw it towards the lake. "Using the word CAN is like questioning our ability. We have the ability to win. It's a matter of how and when." She shook her head. "I said too much. Now I feel too hungry. Do you want to catch a fish with me?"

"What? No! I don't know how to catch a fish."

"I should probably let them catch a fish for me," Lyca mumbled as she stood and started walking back to the calm. "You here to tell me something?" she said.

"Oh, yes! Yes! I — " Rue immediately followed Lyca. "We are having a problem. Some people are… you know… they are starting to complain about the training. I think it would be good to kick them out."

"Why?"

"Because they started complaining," Rue added. "They could create chaos and divide the whole group. Right now, thirty-two people are training with us and— "

"No," Lyca said as she kicked the rock, sending it towards the nearby tree. The loud sound of the rock hitting the tree was enough to make Rue stopped walking. She stared at the tree whose trunk was as thick as her leg and shivered when she saw the huge hole where the stone was stuck. She looked at Lyca, speechless. 

Seeing Rue walked next to her, Lyca put her hand behind her back. "Would you rather be feared? Or loved?" she suddenly asked.

"You— Is that 'The Prince?'" Rue asked. The Prince is a book that her twin brother used to read. Just like Lyca, he would sometimes ask her if she would rather be feared or loved. "Feared of course."

"So you wanted people to follow you because they fear you?" Lyca asked.

"Yes."

"Hmm." That would explain why Rue immediately wanted her to kick some people out. This is the reason why Rue would prefer to stay in the background. 

"Why are you acting so mysterious, all of a sudden?" Rue asked, wondering why Lyca was just nodding to herself. "Would you prefer love, then?"

"No," Lyca answered. "Love would give me obligation while fear would bound people to me because they are scared of a punishment."

"Then?"

"Nothing." Lyca shrugged. "I am not a leader." She was the wife of a leader. She was supposed to stay in bed all day and rest. Then enjoy the leader at night. "Aishhh… this imagination is really making me want to kill people." She muttered in a low voice. Sadly, this world has laws.

It wouldn't allow her to kill her enemies in one go. That would be punishable by laws and Lyca doesn't want to spend her time running around from the authorities. 

She kicked another stone and sent it to another tree.

"Hey, how do you do that?" Rue finally had the courage to asked. "I never see you practice outside before. No workouts either."

"Oh, I work out every night, alright." She casually said.

"Not that kind of work out! I meant something that would make you kick a pebble, like that."

"Oh, it's called Chakra. Superpowers."

Rue pouted but never said a thing. How could Lyca still joke about stuff like that? "You should stop acting all mysterious. Doesn't suit you."

"Really? I thought I look good like this?"

Surprisingly, Lyca's words made Rue chuckle. At first, Rue wouldn't deny that she actually doesn't like Lyca. She doesn't talk much and would just disappear and reappear as if she is not one of Shen Qui's subordinates. At that time, Rue and Ronan thought that Lyca was just someone who is working under Shen Qui. 

Someone beautiful with a few skills who is also sleeping with the boss. 

Of course, they were now aware that they were wrong. Lyca was the boss and for some reason, she doesn't like to act like one and would rather sleep and sit doing nothing. "Hey, I have a question."

"Hm?"

"You are the boss and also married to our boss." Rue started. "But the companies name and all assets were under Q's name. Doesn't that scare you?"

"Why would it scare me?"

"You know… I believe that we women should have something for ourselves. A property, our own bank account, and stuff like that. So when men leave us, we won't end up in the streets." She looked at Lyca's side profile. "What if Q decided to like someone else? I mean… we already know that there were women who would always try to seduce men like him."

"Oh." Lyca frowned. The thought of Shen Qui choosing another woman over her never crossed her mind. But now that Rue asked about it, she realized that it somehow made her angry. Just the thought of it made her chest ache. "I will kill him."

"Hm? What did you say?"

"I will kill him if he betrays me." She uttered before thinking about what she did with Xu Ke. She really didn't kill the man despite everything that happened in the past. 

"So, you are not worried because you can easily kill him. Wouldn't that break your heart though? Killing someone that you love?"

"Love…" Lyca uttered. Can she really kill Shen Qui? She shrugged when she realized that the thought of killing him is really making her chest heavy. It was hurting her. She suddenly stopped walking and stared at her left hand. The ring that Shen Qui gave her silently sat under her scrutinizing gaze. "What is love?" she asked.

"Hmmm. I think love is a force of nature. It's unpredictable, you cannot command it or control it. You cannot dictate how or when to feel it. It's mysterious as the weather and the solar system." Rue shrugged. "But what do I know? It's not like I have experienced love before. I mean… I love my brother. I would take a bullet for him. But I have never felt anything special towards someone else. I think love is just… you know… it like a collection of some wholesome emotions that you can't control. And since you can't control it, it would make you vulnerable to other emotions like hurt, anger, and other destructive stuff."

"Oh." Lyca turned silent before she nodded. "Then… killing Q would hurt me." Killing someone she… love would definitely hurt her. 

That's right. She actually thought that she is starting to fall for him. She is starting to feel uncontrollable emotions that are making her vulnerable to other emotions. Of course, this is not a bad thing.

"Then? Would you still kill him if he betrays you?"

"Yeah." Lyca nodded. "I already told him. I will kill him if he like someone else."

"…" Rue turned silent. "That is… pretty messed up."

Lyca beamed and met her gaze. "Love… is a mess."