Chapter 56: [Dawn of Tears]
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First of all, Rheina doesn't have any idea where the hell she is right now because all she could see was nothing but tall trees and some bumpy and rocky road along the way.
Not only that, it's in the middle of the night but she had no worries about that since darkness is her companion as she grows up and training to be one of the best as she would be the one who would take the mantle to become the Matriarch of her household and the Leader of Arcanum De Fleur.
'Enough of those thoughts! I need to focus on finding that brat! Just where the hell was he?!'
She keeps on thinking what really happened to them and why the heck she ended up outside in the middle of nowhere when the last thing she remembered was when both of them are inside that chamber and because of the blood that was accidentally spilled on the glass chamber, everything went blank…
Also, for what Rheina observed within her surroundings the moment she woke up, she believes that she wasn't within the Chevalier territory anymore.
'However, I could tell from the surroundings that this place where I am right now wasn't that far away from the Chevalier Territory, but this place is really confusing! I feel like I am just going circles around here!'
While walking, or much better, stealth around as she didn't want to leave any traces of her being in this place while looking for a certain missing brat along the way.
Rheina didn't know how long she had passed out, but she remembered that they both entered the secret place towards the Hall of Legacy before dawn and right now, it was around midnight if she conclude it, so she might have passed out for a couple of hours already before she woke up from her state of unconsciousness.
'I feel famished as I haven't eaten anything before, we go to that place and just wake up from that sudden ordeal that I didn't expect to happen in the first place.'
She sighed as she continued to stealthily move her steps around this thick forest and because she trained her eyes within the darkness, she could move as she pleased.
After a long hour of searching around, she halted her steps and rested for a minute while panting heavily.
'Phew! I'm really tired but I couldn't just stop here! I need to find him before the suns up!'
She took a deep breath as she puffed out her chest to relax herself.
*CREAK!
'What in the—?!'
She became alert as she felt a sound of a twig broken from somewhere and she prepared her fighting stance while looking around and was about to use her stealth when she heard a familiar voice from behind.
"So, here you are. You just woke up? I grab some foods that I manage to find within the place. How are you feeling?"
Rheina; 'F*cking hell! I didn't sense him at all! Was he there the whole time?!'
From behind, Eclipse came out from the shadows while holding some fruits that he managed to pick up within this place and Rheina turned around to take a good look on him.
When the assassin saw that he wasn't injured and seemed alright, just a little bit messy with all the leaves around his head, she sighed in relief.
'He's safe then.'
Eclipse, on the other hand, noticed how the woman seemed to relief the moment she saw him, and the world-hopper knew that this woman was searching around just to find him.
He finds it odd, for some reason.
He snapped from those useless thoughts as he walked towards her and presented some [edible] foods that he could find in this place.
Eclipse; "Here. Have some. I know you haven't eaten yet and you've been unconscious for a couple of hours because of what happened inside."
The assassin take a look at what the young boy brought in to her and she didn't know if she would feel grateful or what but there is something worries her about.
As much as she wanted to know and asked the young boy where he went but she couldn't bring herself to question the young boy when he looked like someone who just rolled on the ground to get some food that he's holding with and offers to her.
'He might have changed from his previous attitude that everyone knew and became calm and indifferent not to mentioned, a sly one but it seems like there are times when he could be this caring though.'
Rheina took the food that was offered to her and checked if these foods were really edible because the assassin couldn't trust Eclipse for food hunting in this kind of situation.
It's not like she worries of being poisoned or something, but Eclipse is a noble child and she bet the young master wouldn't be able to differentiate between edible foods or not in the forest.
As she opened the leaves that served as the food's cover, what she saw astonished her.
'Is he really a noble child? I get that his mother was a commoner and maybe she teach her child some practical knowledge, but I couldn't believe this much extent!'
If other people saw what's inside these leaves, they would only guess that it's only some plain nuts and berries because of their appearance but for a trained assassin like her, that wasn't the case.
"Sir Eclipse, are you sure that I could take this?"
Eclipse; "Just take it. You need it more than I do and besides, I haven't thanked you enough for protecting me from that sudden explosion back then."
'Pfft! This kid sure is cute sometimes! I wonder if he and my baby brother Rexton could be friends with? Thought I doubt that would happen.'
Now that she thought about it, their main priority for them to secretly enter the Hall of Legacy was for the [Dawn of Tears]!
"S-sir Eclipse—!"
Her sentence were cut off when Eclipse turned to looked at her straight into her eyes and said; "Don't worry. I got that covered."
When Eclipse said those words, Rheina's eyes flashed of hope as she looked at the young master and she tried her best not to tear up.
The food almost got fallen on the group if she didn't manage her reflexes but still, she couldn't help but trembled with mere joy.
"A-at…. L-last…. *sob! *sob! ….. M-my brother…. —!"
Eclipse; "Calm down for now, Rheina. Although I managed to find the [Dawn of Tears] while you were unconscious, it wasn't completely…. Yet."
Rheina managed to calm herself and looked at Eclipse with a frown when she heard those words.
"What do you mean…. Not complete yet?"
Eclipse looked at her with a serious expression; "Have you forgotten what I told you before? The [Dawn of Tears] wasn't just an elixir at all. From your investigation before, you told me that it's an elixir created by mixing two different bloodline powers bestowed by the God's blessings, right?"
Rheina composed herself while they sat in front of the bonfire they created earlier, and she looked at the young boy with a serious expression.
"Yes, that's correct. That's what I learned from my investigation. Is there something a problem?"
Eclipse frowns as he shook off his head as he crossed her arms around his chest as he sighed before he continued.
"While that might be true however, the [Dawn of Tears] that you know from your investigation and from a certain someone, which is the jacka** of a Crown Prince, the only one that stored inside the Hall of Legacy was none other than the formula itself."
As if someone struck a lightning from where Rheina was seated and she carefully looked at the young boy's expression to check if he was lying but with the third young master's serious expression, the assassin knew that the young boy wasn't lying.
"T-then… w-what…"
Eclipse sighed as he placed his hand at the woman's shoulder to calm her down as he saw how vulnerable she is right now because of what Eclipse said.
"That's why I said it's not completed. Here's the question. How come the Crown Prince knew about the effects of the [Dawn of Tears] and how come he knew that it was inside the Chevalier's Hall of Legacy? Also, why was it that inside the Hall of Legacy, only the sealed formula for that supposed elixir was there? Don't you find it odd?"
When she heard the young boy's reasonable questions, the assassin tried to analyze everything that she heard so far and for that moment, an idea struck inside her thoughts, and she looked at the young boy with an agitated expression.
"Is there a possibility that…."
She mumbled under her breath because she doesn't feel like she had the strength to continue to explain further if the conclusion she gets were right or wrong.
The assassin hoped that she was wrong in her conclusion, but she couldn't rule out those possibilities because those are the conclusions she could think about.
'That's because…. If those were true, this could be a problem!'
However, her hopes shattered when Eclipse said those words, the conclusion she had….
"You have fallen into a trap, Rheina Clandestine."
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