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She hasn’t left her room for days.
The news rang through the entire city, concerning both the incompetent knights and the acting grand master herself, who decided to visit the poor girl’s room later that night. Jean had her suspicions, but as to whether her calling was on the dot..still leaves much room to discern.
“Knock”
“knock..”
No words were spoken, only soft whimpers coming from the other side. After standing at the door for a good few minutes, the female knight decided to burst her way in. What she saw was the least she expected..
A grotesque painting of red and raw flesh covering nothing but crimson roses..
---
A huge surge of dandelion petals emerged from a certain room out through the windows and it caught the attention of the Dark Knight, who immediately made his way to the source of the scream. One step away from the door..and the ghastly image of the granddaughter of Varka lying nearly unconscious on the floor with a rose pin gently being held in one of her hands had the strong man gagged.
Pulling aside his partner from the mess, he took a slight look at what’s beneath the pin and headed to where the target was in at that point of time.
---
As usual, the chemicals trickled along the surface of the test-tubes, sitting idly in their shelves while waiting for their turn to be observed and recorded next. The green-haired alchemist took the opportunity of the waiting time in between experiments to get herself a new set of bones to work on. As she got ready to pack up, a huge shadow greeted her from behind.
“Sucrose, we need to talk.”
---
“What do you mean Noelle is in danger?” A hesitant look struck across the deer’s face. The alchemist clearly knew what’s going on, yet her actions tried to prove otherwise.
“I’M SAYING WHETHER THERE ARE ANY SECRETS NOELLE SHARED WITH YOU SINCE RECENTLY!” Diluc lost his temper as the answers he was searching for were still hanging in the air amongst the unspeakable tension.
A long sigh came from the male’s body as he resigned slowly from the bench.
“Whatever suits you. She’s not going to make it past midnight, whether the answer of yours would be revealed anyways.”
As smoke cleared its way from the nearby roof, all that’s left on the bench was an empty vial.
---
“Outrider Amber reporting for duty!” A red flash ran across the wide grassy plains of Windrise as she hunted down wild boars for the people of Springvale to feast on. The sky was brighter than usual, a sight for the feisty girl to celebrate out in the wild.
But for the people inside, only disturbing energy remains.
With her usual rose pins clicked onto her at their given positions, Noelle breezed her way through the garden all around the cathedral, occasionally sniffing the spring flowers that bloomed under the warm sunlight.
Walking along the pavements where she would get her daily produce, she stopped by at the alchemy store just beside the place she was attending and was rather surprised at the presence of the usually confined alchemist.
“Sucrose, how are you doing in a day so fine like this?” Her maid-like demeanor shone through her, with a tint of curiosity paired up as she noticed how conflicted the alchemist presents herself.
“Noelle, are you free for a small chat up in the corner of the balcony with me?”
---
“What’s wrong? It’s rare for you to be so pensive in public..” Noelle had no idea what got the deer so jittery in her feet this early in the afternoon.
“You know.. Someone once asked me to choose between a clematis and a rose just a few weeks ago.. I couldn’t make my decision on the spot. And here I am, mourning for the loss of both my friendship and my love towards this person.. You must think I’m really pathetic..over the loss of something so trivial..” Words from the sugar cubes melted so fast into the noisy background of the morning fuss coming from the streets.
Yet, not a single word was ignored by the dutiful maid herself.
“My.. I don’t think that’s any less trivial at all. The emotions that go along with you, whether they were conveyed or not at their distinct point of time, should never be ignored and cast aside. Perhaps life is not a smooth sailing route but.. I don’t think you should ever pause to let the person you love have second thoughts than what you actually mean towards them.. If anything, as citizens of Monstadt, I believe freedom may guide the way we speak and act towards others. Even if the tales were lost against time..” Noelle was starting to drift off in her philosophical thoughts before she felt a strong pull that landed her in a rather awkward position.
“Then according to whatever you said.. Is it alright if I go against time to be together with you once more?” Two pairs of lips sealed the kiss.
Stoning after the act was over, the maid clumsily stumbled to her side and picked up her basket of food.
“I wasn’t expecting that from you at all..” A nervous laughter escaped from the maid’s now petite body, clearly bamboozled by whatever that just occurred to her just a few seconds ago.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how to take this. But I guess.. For the meantime, we could still be friends that we could confide in whenever we run into our own problems? Yeah?” With that, Noelle quickly exited the scene with a huge blush on her face.
Gazing upon the shadow that went further away from her faster than anticipated, the alchemist heaved a sigh.
“Well.. I suppose I could really give it my best shot this time after hearing your words.. Right?”