She was the princess locked in the tower, he the black knight arriving under the cover of night.
The only remaining question was why Sean hadn’t simply kidnapped Rosalia directly, and why he had decisively acted when the hero was clearly overwhelmed.
Nelly carefully observed Sean’s condition. Arrows protruded from his shoulder and right arm, starkly white against the black background.
“This is…” Nelly’s voice was hoarse.
“The viscount actually called archers, and one of them was a low-level mage who used arrows to trigger the wall’s explosive runes,” Karl coughed as he stood, not in much better condition.
Nelly took a deep breath: Has the Viscount gone mad? What if Rosa was caught in the explosion…
Carl let out a scornful sneer, which turned into a violent coughing fit, with blood faintly visible on his fingers covering his lips.
“Lord Siro, please ask him to leave,” Rosa slightly raised her chin, trying her best to maintain a princess’s demeanor.
The Viscount said dryly: “Please forgive me, Your Highness, everyone present saw…” He glanced at Sien and strangely fell silent.
Rosa took a deep, audible breath. Before she could speak, Sien suddenly said: “I understand. Please at least keep my presence here a secret and do not cause trouble for Your Highness.”
“Sien!” Rosa sensed something and trembled, tightly gripping his arm. She almost ground out through gritted teeth, her syllables fragmented: “Do not leave me.”
Tears rolled down Rosa’s cheeks.
She tried to smile and shook her head: “No, it is precisely because of this that I fell in love with you,” she paused, “and will always love you.”
Sien and Rosa’s gazes met. Their eyes were intoxicatingly green, hers deeper with the hidden light of a forest lake; his was a broad green lake at the end of the plains, calm and peaceful. But when they looked into each other’s eyes, the different shades of green surged with the same intense tide.
“Promise me to live well,” Sien suddenly took half a step back, creating distance.
Rosa stubbornly shook her head, gripping his arm, her voice becoming hysterical: “No… do not…”
“Promise me,” Sien’s tone remained gentle but with a hint of severity.
Rosa just shook her head. Sien turned to the Viscount Siro: “Please.”
The Viscount’s face turned ashen, gritting his teeth and nodding.
Sien looked tenderly at the girl he loved, using his uninjured left hand to gently separate her fingers, one by one. Rosa could barely stand, all her strength concentrated on the two fingers still clutching his sleeve.
“Please,” Sien calmly asked for her final promise, slowly blinking, once, twice, as if counting down Rosa’s surrender.
The sleeve slipped from Rosa’s fingertips, and she collapsed to the ground, closing her eyes, her expression suddenly like a stone carving, devoid of all emotion. She then slowly opened her eyes, leaning to press Sien’s palm against her cheek, whispering: “If time could rewind, if everything could start over, please come and kidnap me earlier. Or… you could become that knight transformed into a white eagle, flying into my window and taking me away.”
She raised her head, the night wind blowing through the wall’s crack, carrying dim starlight, tousling her hair, the remaining light merging with her eyes. Rosa smiled brightly: “Or perhaps, I would not wait for you to rescue me in the tower. I would escape that cage myself, flee to a forest where no one is present, and I know you would be waiting for me there.”
“But please, my knight, remember to come and take me away.”
“As you wish,” Sien knelt on one knee, devoutly kissing the back of the princess’s hand, “Your Highness fears the darkness, but please endure a little longer before I arrive.” He turned with the composure of stepping onto a tournament field, walking into the starlight and sea tide through the tower’s gap.
After that, everything seemed like a puppet show seen through water to Nelly. She saw Rosa standing unsteadily and walking towards the wall’s break, only to be pulled back by Melissa.
When she came to her senses, she was already in the Viscount’s carriage, its wheels slowing down and stopping in the city’s central courtyard. Nelly instinctively followed Carl off the carriage towards the tower building and to the door. The white-haired youth turned around, and she almost bumped into him. He raised an eyebrow, silently examining her before saying: “This is my room.”
Nelly came to her senses, mumbling an apology and walking towards her room in her memory. Her trembling hands took several attempts to insert the key into the keyhole. She entered the room, but someone followed her in. Turning back to see Carl, she said confusedly: “This is my room.” He suppressed a frown, speaking coldly: “Are you out of your mind?” Nelly instinctively rubbed her forehead, closed her eyes, and took several deep breaths, her senses gradually recovering in the misty night. She took a breath and said in a hoarse voice: “Maybe.”
She didn’t know why she was so shocked. There were scenes of separation and farewell in the plot before, and she had only felt slightly sad after seeing many such scenes. But Sien and Rosa were different… Perhaps it was too sudden, or perhaps their bond was too strong and pure.
The golden-haired knight in white robes and the snow-white eagle fell together into the deep valley, while a figure in black clothing strode towards the boundless sea and sky.
At this moment, Nelly inexplicably felt no weight of death. If in a world of repeated cycles any death, meeting, or parting was inconsequential; if he was destined to die countless times for various reasons, or to die peacefully, would this passionate sacrifice have any meaning? Ultimately, did the existence of this world have any meaning?
She turned and sat on a low stool by the window, looking up at the stars that had witnessed everything. Nelly softly asked a strange question: “Is Sien dead?”
Karl’s expression was momentarily peculiar. He stepped closer, and the faint light from the window gradually freed his features from the night. He calmly answered: “Yes.” After a pause, he hesitantly added: “Do you think I did something wrong?”
Nelly gave a bitter smile and shook her head: “Sorry, that’s not what I meant.” The night clouds passed outside the window with the fog, the light and darkness changing suddenly. Her gaze settled on Karl, her voice very soft: “Thank you for saving me.” She felt a bit embarrassed and slightly lowered her head, her hair falling beside her ears.
Karl’s fingers spread slightly, as if restraining the impulse to tuck her hair behind her ear. Nelly looked up. Her tone was unprecedented in its gentleness, almost tender: “Come to think of it, you’ve saved me many times. Thank you.” She had never spoken to Karl in this tone before; in front of him, she had always been vigilant and calm.
Karl turned his face away, his voice calm: “As compensation, can I get the answer to that question?” Nelly was stunned, leaning back against the wall in silence. “Let’s change the compensation,” he spoke again, a hint of laughter in his voice.
She looked at him in surprise as he came closer, breaking through the distance until he was right in front of her. He propped one hand on the windowsill, slightly leaning down towards her. Close enough to count each other’s pale eyelashes. Until the red eyes beneath the eyelashes turned somewhat dissatisfied, meeting her gaze, Nelly finally felt the soft touch on her lips. He took a kiss as compensation. Before Nelly could react, Karl had already straightened up, looking down at her with a smile: “If it were someone I didn’t care about, I wouldn’t bother to protect them.”
