Chapter 122 - 123
Thankfully they were asleep, he thought to himself as he finished washing his pajama bottoms with water that he had collected from the environment. He changed back into them after completely removing all traces of moisture from the fabric and then returned to the manner house as quickly as possible in order to avoid being seen by any of the house servants that had woken up early to prepare for the dukes’ departure. As he made his way back to his room, he decided that he wouldn’t allow anybody to share his bed in the future so as to avoid the possibility of experiencing any more embarrassing things of a similar nature.
He returned to find Anice and Lessa hugging one another in his absence, the former taking up most of the bed space. After what had just happened, he was much too shy to slip back into bed and so decided to get an early start on the day. As quiet as he could manage, he changed into some loose clothing, grabbed his practice sword and then hurried out of the room. Within a few minutes he had arrived outside of the manor house’s west entrance, after which he sprinted across the expansive grounds until he arrived at a copse of trees a ways away from the orderly gardens that surrounded much of the main building.
He found a private spot a few paces into the swath of trees where it would prove difficult for anybody on the grounds proper to see him. Panting lightly, he placed his sword down and began to stretch in preparation for an arduous training session. His mind was still reeling from the strange dream that had only ended a short while ago, both on its bittersweet beginning and the bizarre, heart-fluttering conclusion.
Kaila had been so pretty that the mere memory of her smile left him significantly red in the face. What was more, the dream had been incredibly realistic, much more than the terrors that usually tormented him on the nights that he didn’t enjoy an empty sleep. The kisses they had shared were just as prominent in his memory as the one he had experienced with Anice, though there had been much more to them than a simple show of affection. The guilt of leaving her behind, the longing of not seeing his closest companion for many years, the shame of enjoying a safe, healthy lifestyle while Kaila had been suffering alone in those terrible mines; unexpected attraction had paired with years of heavy emotion to prompt Alistar to act without thinking. Granted, it had been a dream, but he had still felt perfectly cognisant despite this.
Pausing from his stretches, he lowered his arms and became downcast. When confided in about the nightmares that had been plaguing Alistar ever since his father had died, Mr. Herst had said that dreams were often reflections of a person’s innermost feelings and thoughts. The reasons why the ghosts of his deceased family were constantly a focus of his dreams likely had to do with the trauma that had resulted from their loss, along with the void that had formed in their absence. If that were the case, then why had he experienced such a dream as the one from the night before?
A pang of worry settled in his gut like foul food. Kaila had made it sound like they would never see each other again, as if waiting for him to arrive were a futile endeavour. Was this his subconscious trying to tell him something that he already feared was true, that Kaila had likely died long ago? Talon had been older than his father had by a significant margin, and yet Rodei had still fallen ill and ultimately lost his life from being overworked. Objectively speaking, Alistar was simply trying to fool himself by thinking that her grandfather might have survived up until now, especially if he was doing the lion’s share of meeting their quotas. Without anyone by her side, a weak, frail girl surely wouldn’t have lasted more than a month or two on her own.
Alistar punched the tree in front of him, bloodying his knuckles as a bit of the bark fragmented and fell to the grass below with light sounds. Thinking in such a way would do nothing to help him become who he needed to be, and would only bring more hurt to his battered heart.
Staring at the bloodstains that slowly spread along the fractured bark, Alistar hardened his resolve and dispelled all damaging thoughts from his mind.
I’ll never go back on my promise.
Once his second Name Day came and went, he would leave his new home behind and do everything within his power to free Kaila from slavery, even if it meant sacrificing the peaceful life that he had been enjoying in recent years.
After healing his injured knuckles, he resumed his stretches with heightened determination and peace of mind.
Once the warm-ups were finished, Alistar picked out a sizeable tree and began to practice his sword swings against its sturdy trunk. He didn’t strike it with full force, but rather coated his blade in swordsman’s aura and attempted to scratch lines into the bark in front of him as carefully and accurately as possible.