Chapter 10; The brave one

**Mellic/Asna PoV**

I went to the main palace to look for Violet. Luckily, I found her, but I stopped when I saw Duke Flenn. He smiled and walked toward me.

"Good evening, my Princess Asna," he said, kissing the back of my hand. I quickly pulled my hand away because he wasn't letting go.

"Good evening, Duke Flenn. It's nice to see you again," I greeted him and glanced at Violet, who stood with crossed arms and raised eyebrows.

"May I have this dance, Princess Asna?" he asked, but I immediately declined since I needed to speak with Violet.

"I'm sorry, Duke Flenn, but I have something important to discuss with Violet."

"That's fine. I hope I can dance with you next time," he said with a smile. I just nodded and pulled Violet away.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I'm going to the Grand Duke's mansion. Are you coming?"

"Why would you go there?"

"The Grand Duke is sick. Only Xyn is left to care for him. Everyone else has abandoned him." I saw the surprise and sadness in her eyes.

"Then where is Kalelei? Isn't he supposed to be by the Grand Duke's side since he was more loved as a child than we were?" Her voice cracked as if she was about to cry.

"I don't know, but I need to go and talk to the Grand Duke. If you're coming, come with Xyn and me."

She agreed to come along, and we were silent in the carriage until we arrived at the mansion.

We entered and climbed the stairs to the Grand Duke's room, where he lay resting. The three of us went in, with a butler watching over him.

I saw his pale face and dry lips, and how tired he seemed just from breathing. I heard Violet sob and rush to his side, fully crying now. The Grand Duke tried to raise his hand and place it on her head.

"V-Violet, A-Asna," he said weakly. I just stood there, looking at him without saying anything, then glanced at Xyn, who was holding back tears.

"I'm sorry for all the wrongs I did to you... I'm sorry for not being a good father to you, Asna and Violet. I was foolish, and I deserve to die."

"No, Father, I don't want you to die! Please live!" Violet pleaded.

"I know it! There's one way we can save you, Father. We need to bring Princess Yna to heal you!" Violet said desperately. I was shocked by her words and tried to stop her from leaving.

"Violet, stop! Princess Yna can't help you. You don't know how cruel she can be, especially toward me." I grabbed her arm, but she slapped me hard across the face.

"How could you say that, Asna? Father will die if we don't ask for Yna's help! Even if Father abandoned us, he's still our father! At least he supported us a little, even without love." She was crying as she spoke those words.

"So if you don't care, just let me do this!" She ran off, and I couldn't bear to let her go alone, so I followed her.

We arrived at Princess Yna's mansion. The Hellus family, known for possessing saintly blood, welcomed us into their garden after learning of our visit.

"Please, Princess Yna, heal the Grand Duke! We'll pay any amount," Violet pleaded immediately. I didn't like the smirk that appeared on Yna's face as she looked at us.

"Isn't the Grand Duke supposed to be imprisoned in the dungeon for his crimes? Sorry, Violet, but as a saint, I don't use my powers on *cri*minals*," she emphasized the last word. I saw Violet hold back her anger.

"Please! Have mercy, Princess Yna! I'll do anything you want if you just heal him!" Violet's desperation was palpable.

"Would you mind cleaning my heels?" Yna asked with a sneer.

"Yes! Anything!" Violet agreed, shocking me with her desperation.

"But... with your tongue. I don't want to waste my voice calling my maids to clean my heels since you're here," Yna said, making me clench my fists in anger.

"Of course, Princess Yna. It's no problem," Violet replied with a forced smile and approached her, but I tried to stop her, only to be pushed away.

"Don't stop me if you have nothing to offer." She looked at me coldly.

Violet licked Yna's shoes, and Yna secretly laughed while watching her. Why? Why are you so desperate? It's only the Grand Duke who abandoned us first, I mean Asna and you. Why are you doing this for him?

"I'm finished, Princess Yna," Violet said with sadness in her eyes as she smiled at Yna.

Suddenly, Princess Yna held her head and collapsed in front of us.

"Princess Yna!" Violet shouted as a butler and her family members rushed over.

"What happened?" her father yelled, lifting her.

"She just fainted," Violet explained anxiously.

"Maybe she's tired, so please let her rest. And also, please don't come again," Yna's father said, leaving Violet stunned.

Just before leaving, I saw Princess Yna look at me with a smirk, which made me seethe with anger. The knights escorted us out, and I noticed Violet was in a daze, then collapsed to her knees, crying heavily.

I held her tightly as she sobbed. This world is too cruel. It reminds me of those dark days in my previous life until I met Sally and decided to stand on my own two feet.

"Please don't cry, Violet. I'll do my best to help the Grand Duke, so please don't do that again." This time, my own tears fell, not Asna's.

"I'll protect you, Violet, no matter what. Because you're my sister."

"Asna..." she hugged me tightly as the rain poured down heavily, and we quickly ran back to the carriage. We returned to the mansion and shared my plan with them.

"I'll take care of finding a cure for the Grand Duke," I said.

"But Father has no money left after the imperial palace took everything as payment for his crimes," Xyn replied.

"I'll handle it. Don't worry about the money. Tomorrow, I'll start searching the empire." I looked at the Grand Duke, who was clearly weak. I hadn't mentioned that he'd been poisoned after being summoned to the imperial palace to pay for his wrongdoings. Xyn had told me everything.

We all stayed in the Grand Duke's room, watching over him. I noticed that Xyn and Violet had fallen asleep, and I signaled the butler to leave for a moment.

I stood silently, watching him.

"Asna," he said.

"I want to apologize again for being a terrible father to you. I know I didn't fulfill my responsibilities well."

"With all due respect, Grand Duke, do you think apologizing will change anything?" I'm not in a position to forgive him. If only he knew that Asna has long been gone; I wonder how he'd react, though it's too late.

"I know, but I want you to know that I regret what I did, and apologizing is not enough."

"Then there's nothing more to discuss. I'm not the Asna who can still forgive. For now, I'll stay until you recover, but after that, I'll leave."

"I understand if you want to go, Asna, and I can't stop you," he replied.

"And one more thing, Grand Duke: forget that you ever had a daughter named Asna."

"W-Why? But I can't forget you, because you're my daughter!"

"You've done it before; surely, you can do it again." I saw shock and regret in his eyes. As I said, I'm not in a position to forgive him because I'm not Asna. It's better if I leave, as the real Asna had wanted, but her love for her family held her back.

"Asna?" the Grand Duke said weakly.

"I want to leave this family."

For now, I'll stay to make sure everything is alright, especially for Violet's sake. I'll give her half of my money. I've earned a lot from my weapon designs.

I'll protect her while I'm here, but once this problem is solved, I'll leave. I look forward to fulfilling my dream of living a normal life, and I can't wait.

******

"Is everything ready?" I asked Albert, my butler.

"Yes, my lady. Everything you need is prepared." I got into the carriage and bid farewell to Violet, letting her know I was leaving, but paused when Xyn called out to me.

"Asna! Be careful!" he said. I simply nodded, then climbed into the carriage. I had a long journey ahead of me, and I wasn't even sure if I would find what I was looking for in that place, because according to Xyn, everyone here in Saint relies on hope.

But I hope to find something in the place I was instructed to go. We had already left the empire and were deep into the thick forest.

I was surprised when the carriage suddenly stopped. I decided to step out, not expecting that we were surrounded by bandits. Tsk!

"Good day, miss. Perhaps you'd like to hand over what's in your carriage, and there won't be any problems," said one of them, a wide grin forming on his thick lips.

"Sorry, but you won't get anything from me. It's best you let us pass."

"And do you think it's that easy—" BANG!

"How—how are we not able to see her attacks!" one of the bald bandits exclaimed in shock as the one I punched flew backward, unconscious. I'm not very skilled in deadly combat, but when it comes to self-defense, I won't back down—I'll just put them all to sleep one by one.

I used aikido, though I also know judo and karate—as long as there's no blood involved, I just need enough stamina to knock out these ten burly men. And they were aggressive, too, attacking five at a time before I could even finish dealing with one.

Good thing I wasn't wearing a gown, because I'd be done for if that were the case. I really miss wearing pants and jeans, and this outfit I borrowed from Xyn—good thing it fit me.

Thankfully, they were only armed with daggers and not swords, so I could still dodge their attacks.

After taking down all of them, I felt completely out of breath. Sh*t! It's not true that you can fight off a hundred people and still look like a stand-out, as if it's nothing. I only fought ten, and I already feel out of breath. And these guys were huge!

I glanced at the coachman, who was just staring off to the side. I signaled for him to get the carriage moving, and we left. That fight really wore me out. My whole body was aching, too.

I closed my eyes, and after eight hours of travel, we finally arrived. The place was sprawling and crowded, with various goods being sold. But something else caught my eye.

"Why are they here?" I thought, spotting Princess Yna with all her male leads. The crowd around her was delighted to see her.

I watched as her body glowed and she healed the people around her. I ignored them and moved on. I went to the place my informant mentioned, where I was supposed to find someone who could help me.

I covered my nose as a foul smell assaulted me. The people there were staring at me, clearly starving. I stopped when I saw a very thin child holding a dead rat, eating it. I couldn't help but feel nauseous as my stomach churned at the sight.

The child just looked at me, then continued eating the rat in his hands.

"What is that, child?" I heard a voice and immediately hid, peeking to see who it was. Wait! I think I know him.

It was the man I saw in the garden with Yna. The one called De*ath!

"Here, take this... it's yours now," he said, handing the child a piece of bread. He left after giving the bread to the child. The boy was about to eat the bread when I stopped him.

Even though I was disgusted and felt like throwing up, I pulled the child over to the water nearby.

"You need to wash up, child. Food doesn't taste good if you don't rinse your mouth first," I said, handing him some water.

Thankfully, he was obedient. I took him to a nearby hotel and got him some clothes. I didn't want that disturbing image of the child to stay in my mind. That's just how I am! So don't judge me. It's actually good that I helped him.

"Thank you," the child said to me.

"It's nothing. Here, use this money to buy yourself decent food," I said, handing him a small bag with 5,000 gold coins.

"That's a huge amount!" he said, surprised. With just 2,000 gold, they could already buy a house. I'd saved so much money that I didn't even know what to do with it.

"Alright, child, I have to go," I said, ruffling his hair before I left. I could still hear him thanking me, but I didn't look back—even though I smiled a little to myself.

I now stood in front of the store I was looking for. I knocked, but no one answered, so I decided to open it myself. Inside, I was greeted by rows of bottles filled with medicine.

Is this the time when they're only starting to invent medicines? Xyn did say that people here rely solely on the Saints. That's really sad! I mean, I passed by a narrow alley here and saw people who were practically on the brink of death.

"Hello?" I called out, but there was no one, and the place was creepy enough to be a horror house.

Still no answer. Is this even a store? Why is there no one here? I called out again but got no response, so I thought of leaving. But then I bumped into something, hitting my nose on whatever it was in front of me. I looked up and—

"Is there something you need, my lady?" Tsk! Out of all the healers, it had to be Death himself. He offered me his hand to help me up, but I didn't take it—I could stand on my own.

"I need medicine. Something for poison," I said.

"Poison?" he replied.

"Yes. Can you give me the medicine?" I kept my irritation in check because I didn't want to stay in this creepy place any longer than necessary.

"You look wealthy. Why don't you go to a Saint? I'm sure they can cure you—"

"Are you done? I'm busy, so don't waste my time, sir. Just give me the medicine." I placed my money on the counter. I didn't even care if it was a lot; I just wanted to leave quickly.

"Okay, okay," he said, as if conceding. He approached a cabinet and took out a bottle of medicine.

"You just need to boil this in hot water and make them drink it every day until the poison is flushed out of their system." I nodded and was about to leave, but—

"May I know your name, my lady?" I turned to him and gave him a glare.

"No!" I snapped, then left, hearing his laughter behind me. I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"I just want to know your name, my lady." I didn't reply, instead pulling out the shotgun I had in my bag.

"BANG! BANG! BANG BANG!" See? Easy! If he doesn't want to open the door, then he shouldn't try to lock me in here because I'm in a hurry.

I pointed the gun at him, trying not to show that my hand was shaking. Okay, Mellic, stay cool to make him afraid.

"Ba*stard! Don't you dare ask my name. I hate strangers," I said, giving him a middle finger before lowering the gun and stepping out.

'I don't have time for those romantic scenes because I'm not a fan of it.'

To be continued...