Another Life, Another Me

65. Return

"Why did you guys put Deux and Ace into the same room...? Deux would never get better by listening to screams every second of the day..." I said as the carriage I was in rolled over a few more rocks on the road.

"Deux wanted it that way, milady," Grey replied as he stared at the scenery outside of the window.

"...Why?"

"He wanted his beast taming magic to be the last resort in case Ace ever broke free..."

"Beast taming magic..."

"Yes, Deux holds extremely powerful beast taming magic, but Ace is a dragon...the odds of Deux's magic being strong enough to restrain Ace is...low."

"I see...But he still chose to stay in that room...?"

"He's a quiet person, milady, but when he feels the need to do something, he certainly never backs down," Grey said.

"It's rare to see you ever compliment someone, Grey."

"Was that a compliment, milady?"

"It sounded like one."

"...Perhaps Deux has rubbed off on me," Grey chuckled.

"Maybe."

There was silence for a while as the carriage continued to roll.

But in my mind, there was no such thing as silence.

The echoing screams of Ace's inescapable screams repeated and rewound in my mind over and over again.

And that sickening feeling of pure, painful guilt in my chest was not even on the verge of going away.

"Milady. Where have you been these past few months...?"

Grey finally asked the big question...and he did it when we were both alone too so that no one could get in his way.

"I was training," I said as I turned away from him.

"...Don't mess with me," Grey said harshly as he slammed his foot from the opposite side of the carriage onto the wall near the side of my head.

"I'm not lying," I said as I bit my tongue.

"You're telling me...that you went missing for three months...and caused an uproar in the entire nation...so you could train...?" Grey asked darkly.

"Yeah," I said as I stared at him straight in the eye.

"Milady...I'm not quite fond of these jokes of yours."

"I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I'm being serious," I said as I pushed him away from me.

Grey clicked his tongue and it looked as if though he was trying to suppress something murderous within him.

"I promise...I'll go into more detail later..." I said softly as I turned to the window.

Grey seemed like he had a lot he wanted to say in protest, but there was nothing he could say to convince me otherwise.

There were definitely things I needed to tell them...but I knew that if I told them the whole story...they would never let me have a proper sense of freedom again and would become too overprotective of me.

I couldn't let that happen.

"I'll take your word, milady," Grey sighed.

"Yeah," I replied as calmly as I could manage.

But before Grey could say another word, I silenced him.

I could feel soft vibrations on the ground that didn't come from the bumpiness of the road.