Misery of Heriotza

B i l a n g XX

"Inay, what are they doing?" I asked my mother while looking at the two foreign human. "They've been here almost every week." I whispered when my mother signed me to quiet down.

Her red eyes look at me with such tenderness. Her white hair is the original of mine.

We've been living in this forest since I started to think. Dito ako nagkaisip at dito kami nakatira ni Inay. I don't know what is our origins but we are not mere human.

I look again at the two human. Inay told me that the lady is a noble birth and humans have such class. The titles are the human's worth. While the lady is a noble woman, the man is a common birth.

Inay said since she knows it by just looking at the clothes they are wearing.

The two human are in bliss while looking at each other and slowly closing the distance of their head. After facing each other without a distance, the man move away and I can hear the lady's giggle.

I look at my mother and she smiled at me.

".. love you." The man said.

"What are they doing?" I asked. She pat and carress my head.

"They are inlove." She said and grab my hand. "Human tends to feel those emotion to one another, either hate or love, dislike or like." She said, I just look at her listening to her teachings.

"Are we capable of those emotions?" I asked. My look at me straight in the eyes.

"I don't know." She whispered. I look down on the lake and saw our reflection. "I've never felt those emotions. Who knows?" She said.

I nodded.

Days had past and the two human are still seeing each other with blissful faces.

I almost believe in love because of those two human. I do not know if it changes my prejudice or I just had a knowledge, but one day, nagbago ang tingin ko sa uri nila.

The man full of bruise running to nowhere calling someone's name, it's probably the lady he loves.

My eyes is directed to the human but when I saw same kind following him with long swords, I already knew that he is being chase.

"Hide Heri." Inay whispered as she push my head back to the bush.

On the same spot, he found the lady. The lady's blissful smile turned into a worried face when she saw her lover full of blood.

"What happened?" The lady asked as she anticipate the coming of the man. "Is it.." It seems like she know why and who is chasing the man. "Is it father? I told you we should just elope!"

"Tiana.." The man whispered as he called the name of the lady.

"What are you scared of? Let's go!" She tried to pull the man with her but the man didn't move.

"She's here!" The man said shouting. "Just spare me!" The man kneeled to the people who just came. "You can do whatever you want to do with her.. but I don't have money."

"Eubert!" The lady started to shed tears. "What is this?!"

"She's daughter of a noble, you can asked a good ransom."

I bit my lower lip and look up at mother. I don't understand anything but the blissful faces aren't there anymore.

When I saw my mother's reaction, she's smirking while shaking her head. She look down on me and change her smiled.

"You see.." She kneel infront of me. "Human may whispered sweet words in you ear but they will be turning their back on you when calamity comes." She said. "You should never expect anything from hypocritic humans Heriotza."

Hundred or more years may have passed but mother's teaching are still stuck in my head.

"I don't understand why you are helping those humans." I said to Kale. He's reading and signing on his papers. He didn't even look at me when he answered me.

"They are most of the powerful nobles in the capital." I said.

"They're not powerful since they are doing something horrible just to get higher." I said.

"It's not that they want to get higher.." Kale look at me behind his eye glasses. "They are just greedy."

"Then why are siding them?" I asked and flipped my hair to the back rest of the sofa.

"Because they'll be a big help in the future." He said. "Aren't you the one who told me that?" He said and tilt his head. "To become the strongest monster is to finish the small monsters first."

"Right." I nodded.

Two years of slacking yet he learned something.

"I just don't really understand why humans have to attack their own kind for their own good." I said.

"Because that's how it works." He answered again.

"Since the Imperials are chasing down the corrupt nobles and factions, they'll look for a lower class person to blame." He said. "Instead of letting them do the same tricks over and over again, I'll go against the Imperial and cover up for the corrupted nobles."

"And?" I asked. Won't he just let himself be on danger?

"I'll just illiminate one corrupt person and it'll cover everything." He said. When he noticed that I don't understand his words, he focus on me, leaning his hands on the table. "I'll illiminate the most corrupt noble.. since the corrupt nobles is just getting too much tax from the commoner, I'll let them take the eliminated corrupt's money by disguising it as commoner's tax." He said. "It may sound complicated but since the eliminated corrupt has nothing left, he'll be the stepping stone of the other corrupts."

"You're just fooling everyone." I said. He shrugged and look at me confidently. I smiled at him.

A beast is thinking like a beast. I like it.

"You're a human after all." I said and leaned on the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. "I see humans, but the word humanity seems to be a myth." I look at him. "Stepping on others just to get on top huh?"

He's now busy again with his paper works. I smiled and shut my eyes.

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