MISTRESS OF FLAME

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

AFTER SPENDING the whole night in the red-light district, just talking to Anya and Figa, Sollel and Hakken went back to the inn just before sunrise and a displeased-looking Cira welcomed them back. "Where have you been, Your Highness? What were you doing with that perverted hunter? He's dangerous!" Cira interrogated Sollel like a mother worried about her daughter the moment they entered their room.

Sollel took off her cloak and faced Cira. "We investigated the Duves family," Sollel explained to stop Cira from worrying as Sollel sat on the edge of the bed. "Don't worry, Hakken didn't do anything inappropriate to me."

Cira scowled. "He's still dangerous. Don't lower your guard around him."

Sollel nodded. "I won't."

Sollel's answer made the worry in Cira's eyes disappeared. "You should rest now, Your Highness. Don't worry. I will guard you with my life! That Hakken can never enter our room to seduce you."

Sollel smiled awkwardly. "I don't think he's that kind of a man, Cira."

Cira's eyes widened, and her jaw went slack. "Oh, my deities! You like him already, Your Highness?!"

Sollel quickly waved her hand to deny Cira's assumption. "No, it's not like that. It's just that we've been traveling with him for a couple of weeks now and he had done nothing but help us. I just don't think it's fair for Hakken, but of course, we still shouldn't lower our guard."

Cira looked at Sollel. "You say that, but you trusted him already, right, Your Highness? I can tell just by looking at you two."

Sollel looked down at her clasped hand. "I won't deny that Hakken is a dependable companion, but do I trust him completely? No. I don't. He had to move heaven and earth to earn my trust."

Cira bit her lower lip, her face filled with sadness. "Do I have to move heaven and earth to earn your trust, Your Highness?"

Sollel smiled at Cira, and then she got up to tap Cira's head to reassure her. "I left the moonrite in your care, didn't I?"

Cira's eyes widened, a happy smile appeared on her lips, and her eyes had become teary. "I'm so happy! Yey! Thank you, Your Highness!"

Sollel chuckled softly before she went back to sit on the edge of her bed. "By the way, Cira, remember when I still couldn't talk and I wrote on the ground to converse with you?"

Cira nodded. "What about it, Your Highness?"

"The words I wrote back then...you understood them clearly. But when I tried to converse with someone last night using paper and pen, she couldn't understand—no, more like she couldn't read the words I wrote. The whole night, I kept wondering why. Do you have any idea why you could understand it and she couldn't?"

Cira sat on her own bed and looked at Sollel, studying her while thinking deeply. After a little while, she nodded, as she finally had an answer. "This person must be young."

Sollel blinked at Cira. "Enlighten me, Cira."

Cira explained clearly. "Your Highness, the human language you used to write on the ground is what they call an old language. After Yther's destruction, a lot has changed, especially the language. The Ytherians helped the humans before with their language, and after the siege, humans didn't want anything that has something to do with Ytherians, so they completely changed the language. The only race who understands the old language now are the long-lived ones, like the elves."

But Hakken can read and understand it. "I see..."

Cira smiled. "It's a good thing that you can also speak and understand the new language."