Chapter six

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MAYA.

You need to leave! I managed to use all my strength to talk to Red's brother whose name was still a mystery.

"Whoa, she has a voice after all." I only came to see you because of the way you dashed into that pond.

Are you okay?

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry, now please can you take your leave? I said my hands in a prayer."

"You know you should converse more often, you have a very sweet voice." He said, moving jovially, walking away from my sight and smiling buoyantly at the appearance of the room.

Was he enjoying this?

I held my head in frustration as my assistant Sam, also observed, worried about the situation.

"I've heard you but please leave now before..." I almost revealed his name.

He pointed a finger at me, obviously knowing that I almost mentioned Red.

Red, right? Are you so scared of Red? I'm his brother, so you don't have to worry if he sees me here. In fact you ought to give me a befitting welcome.

He said smiling and leaning closer to my face. I turned away from him and walked away from his sudden approach. "Somehow, I just felt like he was going to put me in a mess and I didn't want to accommodate him."

"Okay then, stay, but please don't talk to me!" I instructed and slapped myself in my head for all the words that had come out of my mouth in just how many minutes.

"My name is Inigo by the way, he said and while I turned to walk away from him."

I saw him.

He was standing there watching me.

How long has he been there?

Am I going to get punished once more?

Oh no...

His inflexible face, staring at me so fiercely like I committed a crime worse than what I think I did. If I were to be hit would I recover? I bet I wouldn't, all because of this ingrate or Inigo, whatever he calls himself. Red walked slowly towards me and I shivered as he came closer. He raised his right hand towards me and my heart thumped, but then the hand pursued my face and reached to my forehead.

He smiled while he set his hand down. What do you want Inigo? Why are you disturbing my dear wife?

I almost coughed to the words that came out from his mouth, when did I become a dear wife?

Well, I accidentally pushed her into a pond the last time and I thought she would be sick due to the cold so I just came to check on her. Inigo said with a wide grin on his face.

"Sounds like the both of you are really friends, huh?"

I became fearful and weak with each question he asked, hearing that familiar tone of hatred.

I was going to die now!

It's not what you think, Red. Inigo stated with a stern face, "I'm only bothered because I was at fault and she is my friend after all."

"Oh, oh, I see." Is that all? He asked Inigo who nodded, leading himself out of the room. "And somehow, I wanted to follow and not face the wrath of Red's nature."

He didn't do anything for a few minutes, just pacing around me but now confronted me with a smile that filled his entire face.

So you can speak?

✰⍣✰

RED

I walked into Ingrey's capital majestic bastion, a fortress as strong as Goliath, not once have we submitted to any other power in all the foreign regions, just the Red Manor alone had subjugated ten regions not compared to when we gather with the king's army. Forty-five in total and our ascendancy still continues, we gather to oversee the homelands with our Berserk blood as the supreme and absolute.

"Over the years, one of the nations that were still running vast and wild without our authority and interference was, Mystics."

"Despite the fact that the nation was scattered, and had no legitimate monarch, its people were still loyal and faithful to their lineages." It was said that their sovereign was alive and well, with benefactors and supporters from different rebel groups that were willing to bend the knee at any time. It was like they had some kind of force backing them up and adding to their strength.

I hesitated when I got to the majestic entry of the imperial dinning, if I was going to have a spat with my brother, I needed to be cautious and stubborn about it. "In spite of the counsel I was giving myself, I knew deep down that Ralph was stiff headed and I would never win a barney with him." If you thought people feared me, then Ralph was the real devil behind the scene.

I summoned confidence, and entered into the room, reaching the elongated golden table in the midst of bloody red walls.

King Ralph!

I called out at full volume, drawing the attention of my brother whose face was cold and emotionless to my arrival.

Red.

Gabrielle said and reached out to me, spreading her arms for a huge hug along with her brunette hair having the height of a one months old puppy, obviously the one leading her astray with the way she wavered like she was going to be taken by the wind.

"And there is the stunning queen of all of Ingrey, I said kissing her hands."

"Oh, please don't fib." I'm certain the Sadin you fetched back home is the major dialogue of the Red Manor and the rest of Ingrey. She instigated, taking her station.

How did you know? I enquired with a grin on my face and she opened her mouth in awe at my candid retort.

"A beautiful venom if you ask me." The king of Ingrey stated his voice sharp and deadly like his right eye, radiant red."

"There you are brother, I almost didn't see you." I retorted sarcastically, trying to retain an unruffled character while taking a seat in front of the queen.

"Why haven't you diminished her yet? Ralph interrogated instantly."

He wasn't the type to beat round the bush, and that was what I detested the most. Diminished is a very beautiful word for kill, don't you think? I countered, intentionally beating round the bush too.

This is a grave matter! He yelled as he flung the silvery cup in his hands towards the far front, standing and pushing the chair aside. Do you want the Prophesy to repeat itself you idiot?

I'm not killing her anytime soon. I responded not meeting his unforgiving focus, making his right red eye glint with that whispered berserk danger you hear about in the castle walls."

The Queen, seen this, shook and stood to compose the situation.

"We can discuss this calmingly, no need to cause a fight."

Gabrielle, Leave.

He said to her like he was disgusted with her attendance. She stood, startled at his words and tried to say something else but then, remembered who she was married to and ran along the hall.

You would risk the existence of our kingdom again for a woman that I told you not to go after? Ralph relayed the words with frustration.

I didn't say I won't kill her, did I? I just don't need everyone watching my back like I'm not capable of making my own verdicts. You shouldn't burden yourself about her; I have her under my control.

He eyed me for a moment, not sure what was going on his mind or what he was going to say next. Ralph was different; he was the only brother who couldn't submit to anything. "People said he was the replica of my father; they said he accurately inherited our fathers' dominative personality and character."

Is this all about your thirst and desire or is there more to it? He questioned. You are fooling yourself if you think that you change her, her mission is once again to murder you. She will never love you.

I felt his words sink deep and evoke a memory that I'd been living for. I know......"

"Good, remember, we are the most important beings in Ingrey, only we can continue a generation of berserks, without you and without me." Our berserk is nothing! We need each other for the sake of generations to come, we need us both. Ralph explained, the redness dissipating from his eyes as he stared at me pleadingly.

I understand.

I said accepting the gravity of his words and speculating why I wasn't agreeing with him. The last thing I wanted was for the past to reveal itself to my face again. I had the Sadin in my hands now but killing her felt like the toughest thing to do.

I and my brother's powers were interlinked and the fall of one, would render the other useless of his agility. My death dissolved his powers, making him lose his agility to fight back our enemy. This was a bond my father placed between the both of us, so we wouldn't wrestle for power. I watched all this happen with the last gaze I took and I remembered cursing myself for falling in love.

Yes, someone has kindled that fire of revenge in me, reminding me once more about the past and letting regret wash over me.

✰⍣✰

She really can talk.

She froze as if she did something wrong when I approached her with another question, none she could answer. Answer me? And look at me when you speak to me. The Sadin raised her head gradually, her lips were quivering in fear or was it anxiousness?

I...I....

"What is my name? I asked."

"Master...."

"Just say it without the master."

She swallowed and continued, appearing to contemplate her words as her hands were shaking continuously. "Sweat growing profusely on her forehead like the answer would be the end of her."

R-ed, your name is Red.

I could feel her heart beating tremendously, the plan of frustrating her dissolved, to her; it felt like a life and death situation. I wasn't even in the mood to stir up that fear in her, I wasn't always like this. "Maybe it was because I was conflicted between keeping her living or ending her young life."

"From now on, when I ask you questions, you reply with an answer." Do not nod your head to reply me, use your mouth more often. Understood?

Yes. She answered before turning her back and walking away from me. I really wanted to call her back, but I shouldn't. I also wanted to kiss her, but it shouldn't happen too. I would have to take her life for the sake of Ingrey and its people. It would be better if I dissipate from her day after day.

I moved to my study and settled down with only thoughts of her on my mind, before I heard the mild knock at the door.

Enter.

Savage walked in with a neatly packed box.

"Master, the castle sent an invitation for the Welcoming festival which is on the third day from now."

I bobbed at him with my eyes gawked at nothing in particular, "And also, he said as he brought a box closer to my desk, the physician sent this for the lady Maya."

I coughed when I heard what he said and I stared at him sharply. Who is Maya? Savage faced me fearfully, thinking he had committed an offence and fell on his knees.

"Master, please forgive me."

No, no. Rise. You said?

He stood and repeated it. "Um...it is for the Lady Maya."

How did you know her name?

Um, she told me.

I nodded slowly to what he said trying to recognize the fact that I was the only one who hadn't heard that voice of hers. And now I didn't even know her name?

Maya, her name left my lips and the remembrance of how she called mine interlinked.

I unbolted the box and removed all the items, one was encrypted on the bottle as lotion, another was drug and the last one was for bathing. I called for the maid whom I authorized to serve her and she came in immediately, wiping her hands on her apron.

Where is....where is the Sadin?

"She's currently having her bath, she would soon be through, Master."

This liquid needs to be included in her bathing.

"I will....."

No, don't worry. Leave, I will meet her myself.

She was draining the excess water from her hair when she saw my reflection in the mirror, her eyes fell to the ground which was evidence that she knew of my presence. Fortunately for her, she was already in clothing but that didn't mean I couldn't put it off whenever I wanted. I walked closer, staring at her wet lips.

"Read the instructions on the bottles before you use them."

Okay, she answered.

It was the strangest thing I'd ever heard. You know how to read, don't you?

"Yes, I do." She said in a warm and pure tone.

Good. Have it. I extended the box to her and she stretched her hand into picking it from me. Her fingers brushed mine slightly and she shifted it immediately. After she collected it from me and turned her to apply it, that was when I realized the birthmark wasn't there. "A dark birthmark that Sage had was missing on her neck. I approached her and shifted her hair to search for it."

She felt tampered with, I could see it written on her face. The mark wasn't there, could it be, she wasn't the one? My hands held her chin up in inspection, exact likeness....I couldn't be mistaken.

Do you see her in me? She asked and I became enfeebled at her sudden question, for it wasn't just the first time she asked me something but her question was rather deep.

Because, I do not...She completed.

"Lies..." I spat , those lies won't affect me once more.

Please forgive me.

Enough! I never want to hear your voice again! I said and I felt something fall on my hand like droplets, I was too furious at her words that I didn't see immediately that the droplets fell from her eyes.

Master Red, she said as she was trying to say something.

Then, what are you if you aren't her? You are another one right? She sent you huh? I shouted!

She moved back in fear, her lips begun to quiver, she must have seen the glaze of red in my eyes. It always seemed to appear anytime it had to with the past and present. I followed her and held her in a tight grip, while my mouth fell into hers.

I kissed her.

I kissed her like I have been wanting to. What exactly was stopping me? I wanted it myself.

I brushed her lips together with mine and I created a path that she trailed. My hands held unto her face and brought her closer to my body where the kiss became soft but intense, heat filling the air. I began to take her hungrily, and she responded carefully. I broke the kiss to allow her breath because she looked like she needed it.

You're not her? I asked. Prove it to me will you?

How? Her voice, shaky.

I didn't have a response to give because even I didn't know. I sauntered away from her, headed back to the study and I felt her soft footsteps follow behind. And when I got to the study, I heard glass chatter on the floor, I faced up to see the Sadin whose her hands were over her chest.

The glass was on a table beside the path to the study, she must have pushed it while following behind.

"But then, I saw something else."