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Lumine walked through the streets of Rome, past the children playing in and around the fountain, past the women selling tunics and jewelry, past the philosophers' houses that always overflow with noise, and past the flower gardens bursting with roses and lilies, iris’ and violets.
The stone walkways of the city diverging into two paths, one into an alley and the other continuing on further into the residential areas of the grand city. She pivots into the alley and opens the first door she sees, leading her into the house of a young man.
“Hello Venti.” Lumine bows and removes her loculus, she hangs it on the chair next to his desk.
“Greetings Lumine.” Venti runs over and gives Lumine a kiss on the cheek, to which she reciprocates.
“I’m here for my poetry lesson, it reads to be about noon on the sundial.”
He looks over and confirms her words. “Well I’ll be… Anyway! Time for your lesson.”
She takes her seat next to his desk and pulls her wax tablet out of her loculus. She flips it open and holds her stylus, rereading what she had written last time.
“So, we went over simile last time, now I think it’s time for anaphora.” Venti says as he takes a seat at his desk.
“Write a record of your poem from last time on the parchment before you erase it. I’ll add it to your records.”
He hands her some parchment, a quill, and some ink. To which she takes and copies the poem from last week, Venti likes to keep the poems she writes to read and hold onto. And she knows exactly why.
Once she lifts the quill from the paper, Venti takes it from her and puts the quill back into the ink.
“Alright then, take out your wax tablet and erase the poem.”
She erases it and looks at Venti. “I’m ready.”
“Alright now, anaphora is best explained as the repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis. It lasts for more than three lines. An example would be ‘I want to be out of the cold. I want to be warm. I want to be with someone. The phrase ‘I want to be’ is repeated to emphasize wanting to feel warm, both physically and emotionally.”
“I see.” Lumine copies down what he’s saying into her wax tablet, attempting to come up with one of her own.
The lesson continues until the sundial reads the time as the last afternoon. After a few hour lesson, Lumine packs away her wax tablet into her loculus and pulls out some snacks she packed. She spots Venti eyeing them and she offers it to him.
He grabs some of her dried apples and eats them quickly. When it came to dried apples, he would devour them like there was no tomorrow. The two are sitting on the lectus in the middle of Venti’s living room. Their hands dare to meet together as they intertwine their hands.
“You know.” Lumine begins, sorrow plaguing her gaze. “We're both 19 and unwed.”
“Yeah, most of our peers are married and some have kids.” Venti squeezes her hand and gives her a comforting look.
“Maybe I can convince father to let you marry me.”
Venti stares at her dumbfounded and surprised. “Convince your father… to let me marry you…? Wait! But how do we explain that you want to marry your poetry teacher?”
“I’ll find a way. Besides, you're one of the only few eligible bachelors who would treat me as an equal and not as property.”
Venti nods and squeezes her hand even tighter. He knows Lumine isn’t one to just treat as a commodity, like a slave. But most men just see her as such, her father has turned down so many men on the basis they wouldn’t treat her right.
“And sadly, every man who has come to claim my hand actually would treat me as an equal, he’s just stubbornly traditional!” She raises her voice, but then catches herself and silently apologizes.
“No need to apologize, and if I must fake being traditional and wanting you only to procreate, I will.“ he squeezes her hand and gazes into her golden eyes. “I’ll do whatever it takes just to make sure you have a happy and fulfilling marriage.”
“You witch…” she teases, leading Venti to pause for a second. “Having me under your spell with your captivating words, and I’d gladly stay under your work of sorcery~.”
He quickly covers her mouth and whispers in her ear. “What did you call me…?”
“A-a witch. Why?”
“So you know… you do know what happens now right?”
She suddenly looks terrified, she had heard tales from her father of witches using potions and magic to wreak havoc and bestow misfortune onto others. She was just making a joke, teasing him, but now, her life could actually be in danger.
“Follow me, Lumine.” He grabs her hand and leads her into the cellar, her body trembling with fear and helplessness.
He closes the cellar door and lights a candle. The candle reveals the several cauldrons decorating the room, the herbs and other assortment of ingredients add life to the walls and shelves. He sits her onto a stool and takes a few paces back.
Now, Lumine is gripping her tunic as tight as she can as she holds back tears. The one she once saw as a source of comfort and joy, now she has to fear for her life in his presence. She can no longer hold back tears and Venti whips around and runs to hug her.
“Hey hey… you’ll be ok.” He says calmly as he tries to comfort her, his words laced with honey.
She looks him in the eyes and quietly speaks. “What are you going to do to me…?”
“I won’t hurt you, I wouldn’t dream of it.” He begins. “All I’m going to do is this.”
He drips a potion onto her head and carefully holds her upright so she doesn’t fall over. “There we go… it should take just a moment…”
“What did you pour on me…?!”
“Look at your hand.”
Lumine looks down at her hand and sees the scar she had on it disappeared, same thing with the battle scar on her chest. “How did you…?”
“Healing potion, I noticed your hand had a scar on it and wanted to help clear that up for you. Like I said, I wouldn’t dream of hurting you.” He leans in and kisses her forehead, cupping her cheek with his hand.
“I might be a witch, but that doesn’t mean I’m evil or want to hurt people.” He looks her in the eyes. “I tend to keep a low profile and I panicked when I heard you call me a witch.”
Lumine leans closer to his face, the fear from before melting away. The two kiss and accidentally fall off the stool, knocking over a potion bottom which falls on her.
“Lumine!” Venti sits her up and starts to panic.
Within seconds, Lumine tackles him with a cuddle and a lot of kisses. Venti decides to stay like this, it’s not like he didn’t enjoy the attention. Eventually, he sits back up and takes a look at the broken glass.
“Ah… the effects of the one that fell on you are temporary. It just makes you really clingy and affectionate, that’s all.”
“Well that’s good…” She clings to him with her arms and legs. “Mmm… pillow…”
“L-Lumine?” He panics to support her as she dozes off to sleep.
He sighs and leaves the cellar, being extremely careful not to drop her. Eventually, her father picks her up and takes her home. He checks the sundial, which shows a time of about 9:30pm.
A few days later, Lumine shows up at his house with a gift basket and her father in tow.
“Good day young man.”
“Hello sir.”
“Hi Venti!” Lumine hugs him and hands him the basket.
“Oh? What’s this for now?” Venti smiles and tilts his head.
“Well young man, I’m glad to announce that you have my daughter's hand in marriage. Take good care of her and she already has all the skills needed to be a mother.” Lumine’s father says, a proud tone in his voice.
“Thank you sir, Lumine, come on in.” Venti opens his door even more and Lumine enters.
“Goodbye father! I’ll be good!”
“Bye Lumine, behave for your new husband!” Her father yells as he walks off.
Venti closes the door and picks her up, happily spinning her around and holding her. “I can’t believe that ruse worked!”
“I can’t either, dear!” She laughs. “But I’m so glad it did!”
“Oh and before I forget…” She pulls out some parchment and starts to read off a poem.
“There wouldn’t be light without dark, there wouldn’t be warmth without coldness, there wouldn’t be comfort without pain, there wouldn’t be me without you.”
“I love you Venti. Or should I call you master~!”
Venti laughs and sits her down. “Just Venti is more than ok! And I love you too Lumine. The poem you wrote to me is beautiful and I can’t wait to start our new life together!”
“Same here. Does this make me your familiar now? Do I have to meow for your attention~?”
“No it doesn’t, but if you want to be I’m not complaining~.” He laughs.
“But in all seriousness, we have to keep me being a witch a secret because I could be killed.” Venti’s laughter stops as his expression turns serious.
“I know, but I wanna have some fun with it when it’s just the two of us ok?” She has a serious expression as well but it’s broken when she pokes his cheek.
“Stop teasing me!” He laughs while she pokes him.
“All right dear. Should we get to the cellar?”
“I think so.”
They hold hands as the two of them head into the cellar, marking the start of a new chapter for the two.