Chapter 135: Brainwashing…? I Would Never~
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 time in a long time.
'How does she...?'
On the outside, her expression frowned visibly, but not to the extent that her emotions were truly at, at that moment. No one could have known what had happened that day over 4 years ago; it was meant to be between her and Alora.
Between her and the one she loved the most.
And what scared her more was the statement that accompanied it:
'You see, the last person who should ever find out at this moment is Esme.'
Why can't Esme know?
What secrets do the twins hold that make it so that her relationship being exposed could be detrimental 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. Meanwhile, I had long plopped my bottom onto the rocks beneath me, 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 me 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 monument to check out Esme 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 come over for some 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 me with a faint pink tone skirting her cheeks.
Coming up to me, 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 came to sit beside me.
I didn't even need a reason, nor did I care for the reason; just her sitting by me and blessing me 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 time around, she waited a moment, then admitted to something mildly amusing, "Vanessa bullied me 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 meant getting one up on Vanessa.
I must admit, I'm the one to blame 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 me?" 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 moment. 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 come out.
No matter what.
Even if it meant her death~
Oop.
Bad thoughts.
Tehe.
My fucked side almost showed itself, whoopsy.
Shaking off the wraiths that had latched onto my mind momentarily, I swivelled my eyes towards Hilda's. Hilda tried to hide them away from me, so I clasped her chin between my fingers and swung her head towards me, "I was messing with you. You didn't mess up. I forgive you."
"Eh?"
"Just sit there, look pretty, and let me 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 me, releasing herself from my hold. But she didn't hide away this time 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 messed around with the cute girl's emotions, I never stopped paying attention to the waters...
Nor to the sensation of Esme'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 monument 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, Esme followed closely behind them at the back of the pack.
Her blistering, golden eyes thrummed with a pang of hot, messy 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.
Esme 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 moment.
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 flames hidden beneath her skin.
---
The Captain's Cabin.
Standing around the main table, the cohort awaited Nemora's words in silence. At least, it seemed 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 time for anyone to question her. Vanessa, especially, had her eyes on Yulei.
Nevertheless, a minute later, Nemora began the meeting 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 monument-" 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 moment, 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 me 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 remember what our language is called?"
What...
"Have we forgotten its name?"
Since when...
"Or, have we never known it?"
...did I ever even learn the name of our language?
I...
I can't remember.
Nemora leaned over the table and slammed her open palm over the book, over the page containing the newly drawn, detailed replica of the monument, "Because I can tell you this, I don't know. And if I did know, then I can't remember. But that makes me wonder, if I don't know the name of my language, if I can no longer remember 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 come from her.
"What if we lost access?"