Chapter 186 - 'The Killer'
186 “The Killer”
‘Is she talking about our...past?’
Cathain thought and stood still with his sword on his hands; not being able to extended his hands to touch her face or wipe away her tears.
As he recovered his memories, he remembered all those visions he had till now.
How Eleanora was treated coldly by him and how she suffered.
‘I know... It’s justified for her to hate the past me as he treated her worst, but i rather she takes revenge then pushing me away like this repeatedly.’
The sword tassel in Cathain’s sword jingled as cold wind blew by, and Eleanora kept staring at him coldly before she turned her gaze away.
‘Hah, why am i venting my emotions on a person who doesn’t even remember his present life, not to mention past life...’
“It will take Mendel some time to catch up with us, Let’s leave; Your Majesty. I will help you escape first and then escape too if i get the chance.”
Eleanora spoke as she turned to walk ahead and Cathain clenched the sword in his hands.
.....
“What if you don’t get the chance to escape-”
As soon as Cathain spoke, his red eyes widened as he saw Eleanora turn back suddenly and charge at him with her sword.
SLASH!
Red blood splashed on Cathain’s face as he turned his head to see a slashed off neck of the Rua’s soldier, who managed to dodge Eleanora’s previous attack.
He tried to sabotage the emperor from behind but Eleanora managed to sense it and acted fast.
For a moment, Cathain felt his breathing stop and stared at her with amusement.
Where Eleanora glanced at Cathain with her cold blue eyes again as she sneered at him.
“Don’t be pathetic anymore because of this lowly emotions, Your Majesty... You would be injured by now if i didn’t sensed this upcoming!”
Eleanora spoke as she turned around, not caring either if he is following her or not.
‘Don’t be pathetic, Empress... You are nothing to me and you will never be!’
‘You will never get anything from me!’
Cathain become stunt as a sudden voice rang inside of his head and he looked around to see either someone was speaking or it was just his illusion.
‘Who was talking- Agh!’
Many broken images started to flash on his mind as a sharp pain occurred, which felt like his brain was actually cracking down by someone.
‘We have been trapped by Rua Army! Their target was the empress from the very beginning!’
‘I, Eleanora Cathain De Valentino; The empress of the Valentino empire... Will rather die then surrender to you, Mendel!!’
‘The empress is still in mental trauma, take good care of her; Your Majesty...’
‘Your Majesty... Don’t you think the empress acts all high and mighty, looking down at you all the time?’
‘It’s time to teach her a lesson... Won’t you listen to your Jena?’
‘Also... The Dalton duchy, they are planning a rebellion. The Duke wants to take away your empress and never let you see her again, Your Majesty;’
“NOOOO!!!”
Cathain roared and fall on his knees in the middle of their escaping as he coughed blood.
Which shocked Eleanora and lost at the same time.
“What happened to you again?! THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD LEAVE FIRST-”
“DON’T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME!!”
“Huh? Who?”
“Your Majesty! Calm down!”
Eleanora panicked as Cathain kept yelling with his eyes clenched off tightly, refusing to open.
Then she used healing magic on him, who was kneeling on the ground and cupping his head and ears with both of his hands as the voices inside of his head started to get louder.
“NO ONE CAN TAKE HER AWAY!”
“I WILL- I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT SEPARATES US...”
‘Why is he getting more out of control? The more i use my powers the more unstable he is becoming, what’s happening?!’
‘What should i do now?’
Eleanora become frustrated as her healing powers wasn’t working on him.
“Sush! Calm down... No one is taking her away, she is here... With you, Calm down,”
Eleanora tried to console him and as she expected, he calmed down a little.
Cathain himself couldn’t understand what was happening to him or why he was acting like this.
He felt like he couldn’t control his body and it was being occupied by someone else’s memories, who is not him.
Not the current him in those images which he just saw, who couldn’t express his emotions openly to her and feel inferior, full of insecurities.
“Your Majesty, Get up... We will get caught at this rate! Try to get up, please!”
‘This can’t go on like this... We need to move faster,’
Eleanora spoke as she helped Cathain to get on his feet, who just let her guide him.
The voices in his head was all broken memories but he started to feel then more clearly and the more he understood, the more suffocated he started to feel.
‘Just a little more... We will reach the east soon-‘
.
.
“Long time no see, Dame- Ah, my bad. You have become a commander now, Your highness.”
“I haven’t seen you since the Republic War... Is the emperor injured?”
Eleanora gritted her teeth as they was once again surrounded by the troops of the Rua Army.
‘Thirty knights with magic powers... Each one is as strong as lieutenant general’s. It will be exhausting to face them,’
The knights laughed as they felt happy to see Eleanora, who was the reason of their failed strategies being helpless infront of them.
“That’s even more great... Let’s begin then, Your highness, the crown princess!”
The lieutenant colonel from Rua army spoke as he unsheathe his sword and charged at Eleanora, who was supporting Cathain to stand still.
‘Damn... Why does all my bad lucks come together?!’
Eleanora thought as she hugged the weak Cathain tightly in her arms and activated her magic shield barrier to prevent him getting injured.
‘The barrier can’t stop them from long... The longer i use a magic shield, the fast my powers will be drained,’
“YOUR MAJESTY! WAKE UP! WE BOTH WILL DIE IF YOU ARE LIKE THIS!!”
“CATHAIN!!”
BLAST!
Eleanora magic sheild blust out with extreme force and the Rua’s enemy troops was forced to step back because of her destructive magic power.
Her magic barrier broke as it couldn’t withstand the force of thirty highly skilled swordmasters attack at one time, without her fighting back.
Which made, Cathain come back to his senses a little as he tried to get up with the help of his sword.
“Am okay... You-You don’t have to worry about me-”
“As a knight, it’s my duty to protect the emperor; Your majesty.”
Cathain’s face dropped as he heard her words and spoke in a low voice.
“...Yeah, I understand. I won’t be a burden on you, Don’t worry.”
A bitter smile appeared on his face and unsheathed his sword to fight beside her.
Eleanora looked a little hesitant as she wanted to say that he is not a burden but then decided not to.
‘It’s better to stay this way, then...’
She decided not to think anymore and gritted her teeth as she started to fight hard to finish it fast.
Eleanora knew things will become unpredictable if Mendel joins and knowing him, he will never let go of Cathain because of his prejudice.
‘Hope we can make it out in time,’
.....
.
.
.
As time went by, Eleanora started to feel exhausted as it was becoming harder for her to fight against those experienced lieutenants.
Eleanora used a lot of her powers and Cathain was already sick, which resulted her being at a disadvantage.
Also, The voices in Cathain’s head was getting louder and he started to see things, which didn’t even appeared in his vision before.
‘Elee...’
After managing to take down the normal knights without using his powers, Cathain glanced at Eleanora; who was using both mana powers and physical energy to fight.
As she sensed his gaze and observed that except the lieutenants, who are trying to take her down; there is not many soldiers left in the field.
‘He should escape now....’
Eleanora gestured him to eacape but suddenly Cathain felt his body froze on the spot he was standing.
He just moved his hands lazily to knock down the few knights, who was trying to attack him as his red eyes turned dark.
‘You’re nothing, Empress. Even if you bear me a child, your child will be nothing like you. If you dare to hurt her again, I will make sure you regret it.’
‘I didn’t do this, I swear, I didn’t kill your baby. I didn’t even want to be here anymore.’
‘I was giving up, letting you have the queen just like you always wanted.’
Cathain started to feel dizzy as his vision become blurry and he kept swinging his sword crazily.
“Augh...”
Eleanora felt fearful as she felt the enormous change in his mana powers.
‘No- if he goes crazy again... He might blust out his all mana and burn down alive! Just what is happening with him?!’
“Your Majesty- CATHAIN!!!”
She called out his name out loud but there was still no response from him and he kept on groaning.
“CATHAIN!!! HAH!!”
Eleanora coughed blood as she over used her powers and tried to rush toward Cathain, who was slowly losing his all senses.
‘I, Cathain De Valerian Valentino, Emperor of the Valentino empire, along with the majority agreement of the nobles present;’
‘Divorce the empress and take away my name from hers, as my wife and empress of this empire.’
‘Take her down to cells...’
The more those voices in his mind got clear, the more horrified Cathain’s expression became.
He stared at Eleanora, who raised her sword which was decorated with blue and silver gemstones.
But in his mind, he saw a image of himself raising that same sword.
Eleanora was yelling something at him as she tried to get away from the knights but Cathain seem to not hear anything from his surrounding.
‘I will never forgive you for killing me and my child, Cain...’
The same words kept repeating in his mind again and again, as a girl in a shabby white dress with lifeless blue eyes flashed in front of his eyes repeatedly.
Instead of the Eleanora, who had a long blue cape draped over her shoulder and wore a black coloured knight suit.
He blankly stared at her tiny figure as her sword continued to shed the enemies blood without any mercy.
Bright red bloods kept splashing on her snow white face as the snow under her feet turned crimson red because of the fresh blood.
Making her look like a bloodthirsty person, who was standing above a pool of blood.
‘You have been found guilty of the charges against you. The murder of the empire heir and harm to the queen.’
“CATHAIN!!! WATCH OUT!!”
Eleanora’s rushing figure, which was trying to reach him out, with her widened blue eyes reflected on his dark red eyes.
But again, he was actually seeing something else.
Which made him unable to react.
‘Therefore, with the power held within me, I, emperor of the Valentino empire, sentence you, Eleanora La Dalton, former empress of the Valentino empire, to death.
Your sentence is to be carried out immediately.’
The beautiful blue silver sword was raised up with a swooshing sound and it’s sharp edge reflected the light, before it fall down with a great force to end the life of it’s own master.
Cathain sensed someone to attack him from behind but he didn’t wanted to move, as a tear drop left his red eyes silently.
‘So, it was me... Who killed us;’
“CATHAIN!!!”
SLASH!!