The Rules of Blood-Volume Two ; Chapter 57 (273) - Empty Promises Amidst Rock Paths
By the afternoon, Blanc couldn’t hold his tongue any longer.
“Velakia,” he said, lowering his speed to match hers, “Can we talk?”
“No, not yet,” Velakia replied the next moment, “I need time to think, and Tahreni and Lendros are an earshot away.”
“They do not understand, so that shouldn’t be a problem,” Blanc sighed.
“No, but it would make it easier for me to talk when they aren’t around, okay?” Velakia explained, choosing not to look at Blanc, “Give me time until we leave the Domain and find a normal place to talk and rest. I will sort myself out by then.”
Blanc had no argument to that. It was a fair request. Almost too fair, coming from Velakia.
“But,” she began, slight worry in her voice as she interrupted Blanc’s thoughts, “I remember scratching you a lot. Are your wounds okay?”
“Those are barely wounds, Velakia,” Blanc waved her off, “Nothing to worry about.”
“Fine,” she muttered, though her tone said she didn’t believe him. “We’ll talk about those later, too.”
“As you wish,” Blanc nodded, casting her a sideways glance.
Velakia, still chewing on her thoughts, added, “But one thing I still don’t understand is how they didn't hear us? We weren’t exactly quiet.”
“Maybe months of hearing your snoring made them immune to noise,” Blanc said with a grin, eyes on the road.
A sharp slap to the back of his head sent him stumbling forward. He laughed even harder, turning to see Velakia’s face flushed crimson.
“You bastard,” she muttered, then dashed toward him.
Blanc bolted down the path, laughing all the way until she gave up the chase.
“What happened to last night’s stamina, Velakia?” he called back, grinning. “It’s almost cute how quickly you run out of breath now.”
Velakia clenched her jaw, shaking her head. “So be it, Blanc. I see you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to. I will have to remind you one day.”
“Ah, Your Highness,” he bowed theatrically. “Do forgive this lowly one.”
“Then stop lying, my snoring is not that bad,” she snapped.
“I barely slept a wink,” Blanc replied, faking a yawn.
Velakia scoffed. “Bullshit. Look at you, so well-rested. I bet you slept like a king after all that.”
“A deaf one, maybe,” Blanc said, bursting into laughter, knowing it would push her further.
As Velakia chased after him again, Lendros and Tahreni watched the two with amused confusion, laughing without understanding a word of what was said.
But at least they enjoyed the sight of their princess having fun for once.
After fifty-one days of walking almost continuously, they were used to the pace.
With the rest of the day and the night that followed going by quickly. Especially for the two, Blanc and Velakia, who, in between the moments they argued or spoke about random things, were most of the time lost in thought.
They chose to return to their past topics and past way of conversing, burying the night they had together deep in their mind for the time being.
With that event only resurfacing in their mind once all conversations died out. But whatever they were thinking, they chose not to show it one bit to the other. The only thing the two had both promised to themselves was not to repeat the events of that night.
And by the fifty-second day, right before the afternoon, after passing by the last city without stopping, they were soon face-to-face with the edge of the Domain of Blood Maiores.
What marked it, besides the fortress standing in front of them, was the steep rocky hill that awaited them, with no greenery in sight.
The entrance to the Domain of Noble Blood Zaitan was not protected by anything but the harsh elements the Domain was best known for.
But until they were to experience them, they had to get past the fortress, the only unavoidable part of the Domain of Blood Maiores.
So, Blanc Velakia, Lendros, and Tahreni approached the gate of the fortress, with Blanc casually waving towards the guard watching them approach.
“Hello friend,” he said towards the guard, “We wish to enter Blood Zaitan’s Domain.”
“Your tokens, please,” the guard nodded, placing his hand forward.
At that, Blanc picked the tokens from everyone and gave them to the guard, casually looking away as the guard checked them.
“All seems to be in order…” The guard stopped, looking at Blanc’s face, frowning.
“Is there something wrong?” Blanc asked, a kind smile on his face despite almost clicking his tongue in frustration.
“I swear, I know you from somewhere,” the guard muttered, narrowing his eyes, “Aren’t you-”
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“I am not,” Blanc interrupted him, placing three silver coins in the guard’s hands.
“...You indeed aren’t, my friend,” the guard chuckled as he threw the silver coins in the air before catching them, “Follow me.”
With a nod from Blanc, the guard turned, pounded on one of the bars of the iron gate, and waited.
The sound of chains moving resounded all around them as the iron gate slowly moved upward.
Once inside, the guard took them across the eighty-foot stone-paved road to another iron gate, which slowly opened as they approached.
“Since you are going into this Domain willingly, I assume you are aware of the dangers,” the guard spoke, “I will not warn you against them, but I am obligated to let you know that bandits have occupied many of the roads, collecting tolls from everyone trying to leave the surrounding Domains.”
“Why would they leave?” Blanc wondered, curious, as he placed another silver coin in the guard’s hand.
“Blood Seraph has been trying to expand its Domain’s borders by attacking the civilian population of the neighboring Domains, and making them flee Blood Seraph’s… wrath,” the guard explained.
The choice of words the guard used was suspicious to Blanc, but after asking about it, the guard did not provide anything else. Not because he didn’t want to, as another silver would have made him sing if Blanc had requested, but because he didn’t know either.
“Very well then,” Blanc sighed, “We will take the less-walked paths towards our destination.”
“Safe travels, Gray Man,” the guard chuckled.
“Who’s that?” Blanc frowned as two more silver coins flew in the guard’s direction.
“A ghost from what I’ve heard, nothing else,” the guard’s metal armor clanking as he shrugged his shoulders.
Blanc could only nod, half annoyed by the bribe amount he had to pay, “Thank you, friend.”
“No, suspicious-looking friend, I must thank you,” the guard bowed lightly before returning inside the fortress walls, letting Blanc and his companions look towards the hike they had to make to arrive at the closest resemblance of a straight plane.
Two hours later, by the time they managed to complete the mile-long hike up the hill with no harm coming their way, they watched how miles and miles of rocks, small and big, white, gray, brown, or black, covered everything in sight.
Around thirty miles away from them, behind a hill perhaps even bigger than the one they climbed, towering gray smoke rose towards the sky.
“The city of Prida,” Blanc pointed towards the smoke, “That’s where we are heading. I suggest we find some place to rest here, where there is sure to be no bandits, before we head towards the city in the morning.”
“Are you sure?” Velakia asked, her pulse quickening lightly, “The trees we had to sleep on looked more comfortable.”
“Either here or in the city,” Blanc replied, looking towards the smoke, “But we won’t get to it until late in the night, and there will be nothing open, no inns to sleep in, no stores to buy supplies.”
Velakia sighed, knowing she had to respect her promise soon.
After Velakia translated Blanc’s words to Tahreni and Lendros, they all agreed to find a nearby place to rest.
After finding a straight enough spot for the night, they cleared all the small rocks they could find, placed their four tents in a square, and after bidding each other a good night, they all went inside their own.
After entering his tent, the one that towered over all the others, Blanc retrieved the marble from his bag and summoned the bed stored within it.
As he sat down, his heart lifted at the familiar scent that lingered in the fabric, the scent of his wives.
He pulled off his tunic, placed the blanket in his arms, and lay back as darkness settled around him like a second skin.
He wasn’t truly sleepy; he’d rested a day ago, but he wouldn’t mind relaxing for a while. Maybe a nap. Maybe just silence surrounded by that familiar smell he longed for so much.
Perhaps it was the lingering scent, so vivid, so warm, that had him sniffing the blanket like a hound for an entire hour.
For that hour, he lay there, and Blanc forgot completely about the conversation he and Velakia had postponed. Only when he heard the soft, quick footsteps approaching the tent did the memory return.
Too late to get properly dressed. Too late to cover up.
Velakia slipped inside, quiet and fast, likely to avoid being seen or heard by Lendros and Tahreni.
Her pink colored eye seemed to glow faintly in the dark, and in the way she looked at him, Blanc couldn't help but curse at his lowered guard.
It would be no wonder if Velakia thought he planned on waiting for her like this, topless and comfortable in the bed.
As Velakia entered Blanc’s tent, she could only stare at the man half-naked on the bed, waiting for her.
For a moment, as her pulse quickened at the sight in front of her, she perhaps grew deaf.
But when she saw the scratches on Blanc’s body as they healed slowly, she forgot what she came there for and rushed towards him.
“By the Vita,” she muttered, “Let me clean them for you.”
“What?” Blanc asked, taken aback by the speed she approached with, “Ah, the scratches, do not worry about them.”
“I do worry about them. A scratch should’ve healed by now. These are wounds,” Velakia grabbed the water flask Blanc had placed on the ground near the bed and opened it as she sat down on the bed near him, “Now be silent, and let me clean them.”
No words left Blanc’s mouth, since the next moment she began pouring water over the wounds, making him hiss in shock at the sudden cold attacking his skin.
Velakia took a clean part of her tunic and ripped it off, revealing the side of her abdomen.
“What are you doing?” Blanc asked, baffled, “Those were good clothes.”
“And those are wounds that need to be cleaned,” Velakia replied, wiping the dirt and dried blood near the wounds. “How did I lose control to do such a thing?”
“I went overboard as well,” Blanc waved her off, “Don’t worry about it.”
“I do worry about it,” she sighed, as she began pressing harder on his skin, “Look at this mess.”
“It hurts,” Blanc placed his hand atop hers, stopping her, his eyes locked onto hers.
“S-sorry,” she stuttered, looking away as she began wiping more gently.
Blanc remained silent, turning his eyes the other way as well, before his eyes slowly turned towards the ripped hole in her clothes, looking at the skin below.
A memory of how he kissed her abdomen that night as he went lower, and lower, and lower.
He shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought. But the damage had already been done, as his body listened to his thoughts perhaps too quickly for comfort.
And Velakia noticed the… change in Blanc as her eyes moved downward.
“Sorry,” Blanc muttered, looking towards the edge of the tent, “My body acts on its own.”
But the sensation of Velakia cleaning his wounds stopped, so curious as she didn’t say anything, he turned his face back towards her.
And.. their lips connected.
For one second. Two. Three. None let go, but instead went deeper into the kiss.
Blanc wanted to stop her, ask her what she was doing. But he didn’t. And as she moved her hands slowly inside his pants. He moved his hand inside her tunic.
And before they knew it, they removed any piece of clothing any of them had on. And before they knew it, the promise they made to themselves not to do it again vanished like sand washed by the waves.
The difference this time was that no instincts ruled over their bodies.
As their bodies became one, as their lips became one, as soul, flesh, and body began moving in unison, they were well aware of what they were doing.
Volume Two ; Chapter 57 (273) - Empty Promises Amidst Rock Paths
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