Chapter 8: Fall

I woke up that day with a smile on my face, feeling the sunshine through the curtains on the balcony.

I have never felt so light and carefree after a very good night's sleep in so long. It makes me want to stop time and stay still in this comfortable bed forever.

"You're awake?" I almost had a mini heart attack when Lei suddenly talked beside me. He had been standing beside the door in my room which I didn't notice earlier while I was busy staring at the view on the balcony.

"Uhmm," I wanted to say that I want to sleep again, but quickly changed my mind when I realized that the sun was above the horizon already.

He gave me a cup of water and went outside to call the maids who were waiting there for me.

Like yesterday, they assisted me through everything and then brought me to a late breakfast. Lei already had breakfast so I was left to eat alone at the big table. But I didn't care nonetheless, the food can accompany me better.

Venedette didn't come today. According to Sir Fred, she traveled to another city to give the request to Halma herself, the Queen of the Island, her grandmother, about my inauguration as her pupil so I will be allowed to stay in the castle with them.

Von, on the other hand, always visits Lei during the day.

I was left to the maids most of the time and I learned a few important pieces of information about the island.

Important stuff like who is Halma and facts about the royal families, the name of the villages, and sometimes they even show me images of the whole map just so that I could point out which is which.

The maids taught me some other lessons aside from information about the island. They also told me stories about the world's history and stories about love from several books because I can't read.

If only I could read then I can last in this place forever reading everything that I needed to know from school which I didn't have the chance to attend because I ran away from the orphanage.

During the three days that I've been living peacefully in this mansion, I also asked around why the young maids are always looking at Lei.

And as it turns out, He wasn't just Von's best friend or a pretty butler. But moreover, he came from a prestigious family of well-known assassins. Assassins are widely respected in this era because according to the maids, they changed the insight of superhumans who used to value strength more than techniques before. His family begged to differ and promoted precision and skills, earning them a permanent position in the royal family as their trusty royal guards.

Since then, I promised myself that I'll work harder to achieve status if ever I grow up just so I can stay with Venedette forever.

Remembering our promise, I trained to see what I can do with this 'magical' necklace every day, trying to know its secrets and how it works.

"Time to see what I can do with you today," I murmured to myself as I scanned the gemstone of any abnormalities.

But unlike before when its powers really came out, this time I just found nothing even after trying for several days already.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Maybe I need more time and knowledge to make this work? I don't know. I just want to be of use when Venedette finally comes back.

The gemstone is like a mix of crystal and stone of the same cyan color, in short, a semi-crystal. Almost opaque but when I raise it to the sun, some light reflects and some rays pass through obtaining the color of the gem.

This gem, according to the maids, is an uncut gemstone that looks like a broken fraction from a whole uncut gemstone which includes Venedette's gemstone too.

The two completes a whole and that is why I decided to call this a fraction.

I took off my necklace and held it tightly, trying to recall and redo the things that happened that day. I want to know what I can do with you... gemstone.

How to use your powers, please, let me in.

While I was busy concentrating (more like talking to the gemstone), Von let himself in my room, stomping and saying in a loud voice, "why are you still here!?"

My brows furrowed at his rude interruption in my room, "why are YOU here?" I shot back at him.

The door opened again and Lei went inside, following Von.

"My family owns this place! I have every right to be here!" Von shouted at me, harshly grabbing my necklace off of my hand and threatening to fly away with it.. that just ignited another fight between us two.

"What's your problem!??" I said after grabbing my necklace back. I tried to not hurt him as much as I could while preventing him from holding my necklace any further.

"You! You're my problem! You're so annoying and full of yourself! What made you think we'll accept a monster like you!? You killed a general in Mascarene! What are you planning to do to my mom, huh!??" He kept on hitting me while I just focused on blocking him because even if he doesn't like me, I respect the fact that he's Venedette's son and I don't have any right to hurt him.

I knew that our relationship wasn't good but I didn't know it would come to this!

Von managed to grab my necklace by its tread and threw it outside the window to the right... the one that leads into the cliff, where the island ends.

I lost all my practical thoughts and threw myself outside the window, following the necklace and regretting the fact that I went easy on that little brat!

Von and Lei, on the other hand, looked at each other in shock after seeing Gem jump off the cliff by the window.

"Von!" Lei's voice thundered in the room, catching the attention of the maids nearby.

"Lei do something!!" Von was on the verge of panicking while Lei tried his best to assess the situation.

On this island, only the royals could fly, but Von is far from being able to control his flight completely. What more while carrying someone else?

"Why did you throw her necklace there!?" Both of them panicked as the maids started to swarm in the room, asking for what happened and shouting for help from inside and outside of the manor.

"Von follow her!!!" Lei instructed Von but the boy kept shaking his head, "I don't want to risk my life to save that monster," he kept on insisting, "this is better! we'll just say she jumped on her own! we didn't know anything about it, Lei. Tell the maids she told us that she wanted to die so bad! Lei!" Von said, getting hysterical.

"Do you want to be a killer Von!!!? This isn't right!! You've got to save her! Your mom cares for her!!!" Lei tried to reason out with him but the boy was stubborn.

"No!! She's stealing mom away from me! I don't want her here! It's better if she dies!! Don't you want what's best for me, Lei?"

Von is a famous bully on this island. It started a year ago when his sister died because of an outsider that put poison in her drink. Ever since then, he never talked to anyone whom he doesn't trust and decided to push people away from him.

"Von! You're the only one here who can fly! You've got to save her! Think of your sister, do you want to be a murderer like that outsider who killed her? Tell me! Do you want to be a murderer!!?" Lei tried to shake some sense into his corrupted brain.

Von followed his advice and thought of his sister and how he regrets so much that he didn't get the chance to treat her right before she died. He recalled the image of his parents crying over and over again at her funeral and realized that it might happen again when his mom found out that Gem was killed.

He was so jealous when Gem first came on the island in his mom's arms, inside a giant stone, but more importantly, it was Venedette's smile that made him even more jealous of her.

He'd always try his best to make his mom smile or laugh, but Venedette can only give him a fake smile and a fake laugh despite his efforts. And seeing his mom smile so wide just by being with Gem, his jealousy took over his thoughts, making them blind and almost evil.

Von stopped thinking and was pushed by Lei through the window following Gem. He didn't rebel this time, he was sure of what he's going to do despite being unsure if it'll work or not.

"Damn you, Lei! I'll only do this because I don't want to see my mom sad again!" He exclaimed, maneuvering his fall to be faster so that he could catch up to Gem in no time.

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