Chapter 404: What If I Say I Love You?-II
The bright sun shone over her golden hair and for a moment, Ariel placed her hand on the crown of her head, unable to stop herself from chuckling when she felt of how hot it had became. She thought about the freshly baked bread, thinking that she herself was slowly becoming one with how hot her head had became.
"Would you like some tea?" The maids who had befriended her all was excited to have her drink but Ariel shook her head.
"You can drink, I still would like to finish drying the rest of the clothes."
The maids smiled as they bowed and left. They were all delighted to have someone like Ariel who was bubbly and helpful. Even though most of them were servants, Ariel treated them like they were humans with dignity.
Ariel herself still had some hateful servants who was jealous of Arabella’s current position but even them couldn’t hate on Ariel in the end as she would still help them in moment of great trouble as though it was nothing.
She had became an existence that everyone would constantly love to have around and she herself didn’t know of this for a long time.
Wiping her wet hands on the apron tied around her waist, Ariel stared at the white blankets and softly inhale the fresh scent of lavender, the toasted laundry, and the... odd scent of familiarity that make her skin crawl and chilled.
She noticed how although it was just filled with so many sounds and noise earlier, suddenly everything had became completely silent. It was a far too uncanny that even someone like her whose magic hadn’t been honed to perfection could feel what had gone wrong.
Almost immediately, Ariel moved backward, ready to find someone who could help her, at least perhaps to find a place with more people as it was dangerous to be alone now.
Her feet was ready to bring her to the servant quarter which was close to the knight’s training hall. There would be numerous knights there, ready on their swords and she could defend herself as well in a bigger space.
But then...
"Ariel," a voice called out to her. The usually soft voice that would have sounded so melodious and tranquil if not for the hatred that the person had always carried through his life.
When she turned, her green eyes sunk with fear. Her heart felt as if it had been dipped to ice cold water as she pointed her hands forward, "How is it possible?" She muttered while pointing her finger at him, "How... that’s not possible you... you could not step out of the castle, Morpheus."
Morpheus’s green eyes and silver hair, her tall figure and straight posture that seemed trained for decades...
They are all. They are all so... vivid.
It wasn’t her hallucination bore out of fear, it was him in flesh!
"I would spare you from the details," he pointed out. "But I am here to bring you back. Back home."
"Home?" Ariel repeated his words and stared at the ground, staring at his shoes to make sure he wasn’t a ghost, "But why? You must understand that the castle isn’t my home. This place is. Where Arabella is... that is my home."
Morpheus’s gaze didn’t once flicker, he seemed cold despite his outreaching hands or his words about going back home.
"You are lying again," Morpheus whispered, "I know well that you have always been lonely, Ariel. Arabella is different from you. She is your sister but you know that there are something that separate you from her and that always makes you lonely. She won’t tell you her hardship, she will protect you with her flesh, and she would suffer alone. But you? You are always kept in the dark which make you question whether she truly loves you or perhaps, she simply find you untrustworthy, someone too weak to help her."
The clutch on Ariel’s hands strengthen. She stared at Morpheus’s face, horrified. Pale as ghost. She wasn’t horrified by his existence no more, it was his words. His words that seem to have read her deep from her heart.
"No, I am lonely that Arabella never once reached out to me for help but," she paused and added, "But that’s because I wish to help her the way she helped me. I want to be someone who she could reach out to so she wouldn’t have to feel alone. I’m not lonely."
"You are lonely, isn’t that why you have always reached your hands out to me? Because you see yourself in me," Morpheus uttered and Ariel clenched her hands.
"I do pity you and I do see myself in you. But unlike you I wouldn’t hurt people to satisfy my lonely heart. I just hope that I could have helped you. Offer you an understanding as everyone seemed to steer away from you."
Morpheus’s eyebrows turn taut as he clenched his outstretched hands, "Are you saying that you cared for me because you pity me?"
Ariel stared back at his eyes and tilt her head, "Pity isn’t a pathetic emotion. Pity doesn’t mean they see you weak. Pity comes from concern and care."
"Then you care for me," Morpheus said, "If you care for me then you would come back to me to the castle."
"Care doesn’t mean that I would give up on everything for you, Morpheus. A lonely soul, a heartbroken person, someone who had always been disappointed by the world, that is who you are. But would that ever excuse the sins you have made? The way you killed others- I have heard it all- I didn’t... I didn’t want to think that you are capable of that but the truth isn’t something I could avoid. For it you have to pay for your sins."
"So you want me to change," Morpheus smiled as he walked forward, "How about if I say that I love you? Would you then go back with me? Go home to the castle of sorcerers, to stay with me. After all you love me too, don’t you Ariel? Why stay far away from me if you wish to fix me?"
And at that... Ariel’s heart thump.