Burdens(Erehisu)

Chapter 26

The prince stared at the immense, bare-muscled, red titan behind Eren in disbelief. The port, which resided most of Hizuru's naval force, was wiped out in a blink of an eye. "Tell me, you bastard, what were you planning." Focusing his attention back at the brunet, Eren's green eyes glowed brightly in the dark, gloomy afternoon as he was drenched in the rain. Knowing that he was outplayed, the prince slowly rose to his feet, drew his Katana from his side with his trembling right hand, and pointed the sharp end of the sword at his opponent. Looking apathetic, the Prince said in a low, dull voice. "To destabilize the Island."

The silver blade of the Katana clashed against the pouring rain as the wielder stood in place, not moving a single fiber of his being. The black hair prince stood patiently in his fighting stance as he waited for an opportunity for exploitation. In the freezing rain, each of their breaths emitted the cloudy white gas visibly. Picking up his pace, Eren charged at the Prince at full speed. Preparing himself, the Prince took one step backward. As Eren drew nearer, the Prince took another step back. And when Eren was just two steps away from him, the Prince decided to leap forward with his Katana held above his head and swung the heavy metal steel down at his opponent with no remorse.

The heavy silver blade cut right through Eren's left shoulder, bringing the beast down to his knees as he held onto the blade that was embedded deep in his flesh. Taking a step back, the Prince sliced his opponent, drawing out his sword stuck in place. Eren's face planted onto the wet, metal steel of the deck. Wimping in pain. Just as the Prince thought Eren was knocked out, the wound on his left shoulder began to heal. The smoke evaporated from the clear-cut open wound and obscured the healing process.

"Heh....is that all you got?" Eren called out coldly as he glared at the Prince.

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"Eren, are you sure about this?" The irritated person hissed behind the brunet as he swung his head from side to side, looking uneasy. Tightening his grip on Historia's hand, Eren let out a frustrated sigh before replying calmly as he faced forward. "You know, horse face, by having you fidgeting around does more damage to our cover than your worries of the devised plan that we have." Jean tensed, then, taking Eren's word, he let go of the matter. Noticing Historia's been peeking around the street market, Eren said, "Why don't we stop by some of these shops?" Historia looked at Eren, confident that this was the best option, and said, "Yeah, let's do that. It'll help us to blend in better anyways."

Under the cool afternoon breeze, the Eren followed Historia as street shops enthralled her. Captivated by the ancient architecture of the front face of the small wooden store, Historia and Eren instinctively walked inside. Inside the brightly lit confined space, the desks, wooden boxes, shelves, and front table were adorned with items, ornaments, kimonos, silverware, and ancient, artistically crafted accessories. While Historia was enthusiastically looking around the shop, beaming, Eren caught the eye of a wooden hair stick. Swooping the hair stick up with his hand, Eren's eyes were drawn to the carved-out marble flower at the end of the stick; above of the small, light green marble flower attached two strings that interlocked with their own respective white marbles. Besides the marble parts at the end of the dark wood hair stick, there was not much weight. 

Looking over to the blonde, Eren noticed Historia was pinching her chin as she stared down at a batch of Kimonos in front of her.

Eren then took this opportunity to move beside her quietly, gently held her golden hair bun in place with his free hand, and slid the hair stick deep into her neatly tight bun. Eren then carefully adjusted the hair stick inside the golden bun to ensure that the marbles were clearly visible, took a couple of steps back, and scrutinized her bun with the hair stick. After staring at Historia for some time, satisfied, Eren nodded to himself, smiling.

Coming to the full attention of Historia's mix of puzzlement and embarrassment, Eren flustered in the realization that he got carried away. "Oh, sorry. I..." Struggling to form words to convey his thoughts, Eren attempted a fake cough before continuing. "Anyways, I wanted to see if the hair stick looks good on you. Why don't you see it yourself?" Historia, who's surprised by Eren's gesture, shyly nodded her head before she turned around and started looking for mirrors.

Eager to see the accessory that Eren gave her, Historia impatiently looked around for large-sized mirrors inside the clustered, confined shop. Having no luck and growing frustrated, Historia was on the verge of accepting the gift from Eren anyways without looking at it herself. 

But when Historia stumbled across a small table of mini mirrors for purchase, Historia hastily grabbed hold of one of the small mirrors and examined herself. The light green flower marble distinctively stood out along with her golden hair. The two white marbles that were attached to the strings reflected brightly against the lights of the shop. Historia then moved the mirror in her hand around the hair bun to have a better look at the hair stick. Satisfied, Historia's blue eyes beamed in delight as she stared at the mirror in front of her hand.

Eren was looking around the shop as he waited for Historia's return. When she did appear behind the clustered ornaments, Eren saw Historia was smiling brightly at him as she held out her hand in the air that was grabbing tightly on the hair stick. "I assume you liked it," Eren said as he closed the distance between her. Historia then launched into Eren and gave him a hug, or rather, a tight squeeze with her arms to show her over joyfulness. "Okay, okay, you're squeezing me too tight, your majesty," Eren said in a half seriousness and a half teasing tone. Historia let go of Eren, looked up at him, and said, "Thank you, Eren!"

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I need to pull together a schedule soon, lol. Schoolwork, exams, and tests have disrupted my schedule greatly. But first thing first.