Hilda's heart sank.
'How?'
That was all her usually struggling brain could think of as it expanded to its full potential for the first ti in a long ti.
'How does she...?'
On the outside, her expression frowned visibly, but not to the extent that her emotions were truly at, at that mont. No one could have known what had happened that day over 4 years ago; it was ant to be between her and Alora.
Between her and the one she loved the most.
And what scared her more was the statent that accompanied it:
'You see, the last person who should ever find out at this mont is Es.'
Why can't Es know?
What secrets do the twins hold that make it so that her relationship being exposed could be detrintal to her?
Hilda could barely comprehend the reality that Vanessa knew, let alone analyse the scale behind the threat.
So...
"Okay."
...she decided to go.
Hilda would disobey Nemora's orders for the sake of her intimate relationship; for the sake of her love.
---
"Haa..."
Vanessa inexplicably sighed with relief under her breath once Hilda left the Captain's Cabin. She had unknowingly carried the burden of her knowledge for too long, and now... Now, maybe things could be better.
Maybe.
Biting her teeth down onto the nail of her right index finger, she chewed mindlessly whilst being vividly aware of the eyes staring into the back of her neck.
Hildekar and Lily.
But not Yulei.
Not her.
'Fuck it all. Fuck it.'
---
"You see anything?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Shut up."
Elden and Jill's antics lingered in the background. anwhile, I had long plopped my bottom onto the rocks beneath , crossed my legs, and lazily stared into the distant waters with vastly dulled emotions.
The fear and worries that the engraved words had thrust into were clearly baseless. It may be a threat that has long passed. Or, it might have been a threat specifically targeting the person, or people, who had been here in the past.
Every so often, I'd glance backwards at the other end of the monunt to check out Es and give my heart a jolt of spiciness, but other than that...
Nothing much.
...or not?
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A series of footsteps coming from the direction of The Canary echoed from below. My eyes swivelled over with a brief flicker of tension, but relaxed upon spotting my sexy lover.
My lips lifted ever-so-slightly, but I didn't get up to greet her.
Instead, I left it to Nemora to deal with Hilda. The lass had to have co over for so reason, but I wasn't the leader of this cohort. Or so I thought, because within seconds of chatting with Hilda, Nemora sent the lovely lady prancing over to with a faint pink tone skirting her cheeks.
Coming up to , Hilda tidied her black skirt under her ample bottom, and relaxed herself down by my side with a lady-like manner of sitting.
"...What are you doing?" I blurted out that question with an exasperated, yet undeniably joyful voice.
I couldn't deny it.
I was happy that she ca to sit beside .
I didn't even need a reason, nor did I care for the reason; just her sitting by and blessing with her beauty was enough to send my heart gushing into another wave of frantic beats.
"Sitting."
"I can tell. But why...?"
Hilda cheekily grinned, curled her knees up and hugged them, resting her breasts over them simultaneously, "Because I want to."
Sighing, "Fine, but why are you here?"
This ti around, she waited a mont, then admitted to sothing mildly amusing, "Vanessa bullied into coming to you guys."
Bullied, huh?
I can barely imagine that scenario. The Hilda of old would have fought with teeth and nails, till the brink of death, if it ant getting one up on Vanessa.
I must admit, I'm the one to bla for Hilda's passiveness these days.
That's what years of brainwas-
Ahem!
Years of training does~!
I lazily responded with, "Do you have anything to say to ?" then nudged her with my elbow.
Shuffling her thighs, Hilda drooped her head apologetically, "Sorry..."
"For what?"
"...for not staying on the ship and failing to listen to your orders."
I chuckled at Hilda's self-deprecating tone. It couldn't be further off from what she should be saying at the mont. She shouldn't even be apologising, because, technically, I hadn't directly ordered her to remain on The Canary.
Had I done that, she'd have never co out.
No matter what.
Even if it ant her death~
Oop.
Bad thoughts.
Tehe.
My fucked side almost showed itself, whoopsy.
Shaking off the wraiths that had latched onto my mind montarily, I swivelled my eyes towards Hilda's. Hilda tried to hide them away from , so I clasped her chin between my fingers and swung her head towards , "I was ssing with you. You didn't ss up. I forgive you."
"Eh?"
"Just sit there, look pretty, and let enjoy the view." I peeked my eyes downwards for a split second at her breasts, lingering just long enough for her to catch my impure intentions. Shyly nodding, Hilda turned away from , releasing herself from my hold. But she didn't hide away this ti around.
Anyway, I didn't actually stare at her voluptuous breasts.
I'm not that much of a freak.
Though, admittedly, I am one.
While I teased Hilda and ssed around with the cute girl's emotions, I never stopped paying attention to the waters...
Nor to the sensation of Es's eyes staring daggers at my neck~
Are you feeling jealous~?
Ahem.
Forget that, for now. My attention remained on the waters, watching for any irregularities, whether Curses spewing from distant Heathens or any anomaly that could potentially appear.
"..."
But, thinking about it...
"..."
...isn't the monunt an anomaly-
"Done. Everyone, back to The Canary. We'll converse once we've returned." Nemora snapped her book closed and ended our temporary escapade on this checkpoint of sorts.
---
Staring through the few stray strands of snow-white hair at the backs of the two overly familiar girls, Es followed closely behind them at the back of the pack.
Her blistering, golden eyes thrumd with a pang of hot, ssy emotion.
The heart sitting in the depths of her chest beat frantically at their uncomfortably close positions; she didn't like it.
No, that was understating it-
She hated it.
Es could barely understand why she was feeling like this.
In the past day, since she'd completed her Ascension to the Third Step, the warmth that previously filled her chest upon witnessing her sister's face or even imagining it, was spreading like a wildfire.
But it wasn't just spreading; it was intensifying, burning her from the inside out with each passing mont.
And now, having been forced to watch her sister and Hilda, the stupid maid, stick that close to each other...
'I hate it.'
...she could only squeeze her hands tight and repress the amalgamation of wrathful lightning wrapped in flas hidden beneath her skin.
---
The Captain's Cabin.
Standing around the main table, the cohort awaited Nemora's words in silence. At least, it seed like most of them did. All but for the one blankly staring into her arms in the quiet of her wheelchair.
Yulei's pale-beige hair scattered loosely across her torso; the girl hadn't spoken a word ever since their entry into the Sunless Skies. But it wasn't yet ti for anyone to question her. Vanessa, especially, had her eyes on Yulei.
Nevertheless, a minute later, Nemora began the eting with:
"I have a question for you all."
I turned my gaze back at Nemora. Her icy green eyes surveyed the cohort with an eerie calm that upheld her dignity as the leader of our group.
"The words engraved on the monunt-" Opening her book, she tossed it to the middle of the table, revealing its contents to us all. The symbols of the unknown language were familiar to those of us who had seen them face-to-face, but to the others, it was a brand-new sight, "-do any of you recognise them?"
Everyone was quiet for a mont, but the answer was obvious:
"No."
"Never."
"Nope."
...
No.
The consensus was that it was an entirely unfamiliar language to us.
"Then, I ask you this."
Nemora continued it with the second half of her enquiry—with a question that instantly rattled to the bones in a frigid cast of be it fear, anxiety, or a mixture of both.
"Our language, the one we speak, what is it called?"
I...
"Do any of you rember what our language is called?"
What...
"Have we forgotten its na?"
Since when...
"Or, have we never known it?"
...did I ever even learn the na of our language?
I...
I can't rember.
Nemora leaned over the table and slamd her open palm over the book, over the page containing the newly drawn, detailed replica of the monunt, "Because I can tell you this, I don't know. And if I did know, then I can't rember. But that makes wonder, if I don't know the na of my language, if I can no longer rember it..."
She cast her eyes over us, through us-
"...what if we once knew what this language was?"
"I know it sounds ridiculous, but we, as nobles of grand families, had access to all the information in the Domain of Light. To all the languages of old, to everything-"
Nemora paused.
"-right... We did."
She corrected herself.
"We used to have access."
She began drawing a theory that I'd consider mad had it not co from her.
"What if we lost access?"
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