Chapter 25 - OPEN YOUR EYES

"No, I can walk on my own." Veronica didn't want to burden him any further. She didn't want to show him her spoiled side either.

"Then, let's head to the town." Arthur held her hand and walked out of that place.

When they left that place behind, Arthur said, "All right, you can open your eyes."

Veronica finally opened her eyes and found herself in the town. It was a quiet area but the lights inside the houses were turned on. Arthur was standing beside her. He looked a bit sweaty. His shirt was drenched in sweats. "What happened to those people?" asked Veronica.

Arthur seemed upset. "Is this the only thing you can ask? You could have asked how I'm doing?"

Veronica hurriedly said, "No, no, I didn't mean to sound uncaring. I know you are okay since you are standing right in front of me. But, I didn't hear anything from them." She was embarrassed that she didn't ask about him. She was being ungrateful. However, she badly wanted to know what happened to those murderers.

"I killed them," Arthur's reply was bluntly straightforward.

Veronica's eyes widened in shock. "This can't be…"

Arthur explained unhurriedly so that she wouldn't misunderstand, "If I didn't, they would have hunted us down and killed us both. They would have chased us till the end."

Veronica couldn't calm her heart. Ever since last night, the only thing she was seeing was dead bodies. She couldn't understand why they were dying and why they were being killed.

Feeling frustrated, she asked, "Why would they?"

Arthur asked her back, "Why did they try to kill you?"

Veronica hesitated before answering, "…I saw them killing someone."

Arthur explained, "So, you were a witness. Most certainly you would talk about it when you went back to the town, right?"

Veronica declared, "Of course, I would! What they had done was wrong!"

Arthur concluded, "That's why they tried to kill you. Since they saw me, they had to kill me too. And that's the very reason I had to kill them."

Veronica lowered her body. She mumbled, "So, it was my fault. If I didn't get mad at you and ran away like an idiot, it wouldn't have happened. You had to commit such sin because of me!"

Seeing her miserable state, Arthur lowered his body as well. He needed to wake her up from her delusion. "Wait, wait, wait, did you run away because you knew this was going to happen?"

Veronica vigorously shook her head. "No, I wouldn't have done that if I knew this would happen."

Arthur stroke her back and assured her, "Then, it is not your fault. Whatever happened was an accident."

"But…" Veronica paused and decided not to argue with him. Since he stayed outside more than her, his knowledge was far greater than her. She acknowledged it.

She spoke with determination, "Fine, I will carry the burden of your sin. This way, after death, you don't have to bear the burden of killing a group of men."

"Carry my sin? Ahahaha!" Arthur burst into laughter. He had never heard such a funny thing. "Sometimes, you say the most amusing thing, princess. I'm starving. Let's go home and eat something."

As he stood up, Veronica wiped her tears and looked at him from the ground. She was amazed at how his words calmed her down.

Only then, she saw red color in his waist. It took her a few seconds to realize that his clothes were drenched in blood. She screamed, "Ahh! You are injured!"

Arthur replied, "It's nothing."

Veronica argued back, "What do you mean it's nothing?! You are bleeding!" This was the first time she had seen so much blood. Her mouth widened in horror.

Artur didn't seem to be too affected by his injury. He stated, "Let's go home and take care of it."

Veronica's worry didn't lessen by his words. She voiced her concern, "But if you lose too much blood…"

Arthur snickered and assured her, "I'm not a flower that I'll die so easily."

It suddenly felt good seeing someone worrying about him. It had been a long time since someone was truly worried about him. As he saw her being worried, he thought it wasn't bad getting injured once in a while.

"But, humans die so quickly," Veronica lowered her head and muttered softly.

How many deaths she had seen in two days?

A normal woman would have had a trauma seeing dead bodies here and there. That's why Arthur made sure she wasn't looking at the bloody bodies.

Arthur patted her shoulder and assisted her to get up. "Nothing will happen to me…"

Veronica interrupted his words. "Wait, let me take care of it."

"Hmm?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You? Do you know how to dress a wound?"

"No, but I can do this," Veronica seemed determined as she declared. She gathered her hands in front of his waist that was injured and placed her palms above the injury.

Arthur saw a sliver glow coming out of her palms. The light gradually turned brighter. His eyes grew wide and his golden orbs quivered in shock. He mumbled, "…You… are a…"

.........

There was a special room. The floor was adorned with white and black marble stones. The ceiling was too high to be noticed in the dark. At the front of the room was a huge statue.

In front of the statue, there was a woman who knelt on the floor praying silently. The woman was wearing a cream colored dress and a white robe. Her shiny blonde hair was hidden under the robe. There were thirteen candles around her.

While she was praying, one of the candle lights moved violently for a second and then became still.

The woman immediately opened her eyes. Her blue orbs fixed on the candle where the fire was unnaturally unmoved. Her small, pink lips parted for a moment before she came back to her senses.

She abruptly stood up and strode toward the door. She forcefully opened the door and headed out. There was no one in the huge building except for her. Her bare feet didn't make any sound as she walked.