"How could you do this, Gentiana?" The oracle blinked away furious tears from her eyes as the messenger sat still with silence. Her stoicism was infuriating. How could she possibly sit still and not utter a word?! "How could you betray us like this?!"

Gentiana remained silent, much to Lunafreya's anger. She had an explanation as to why, but she feared the oracle's response. The young oracle knew nothing of the joys she had come to experience with the daemon vessel known as the chancellor, and had Ravus not have dug deeper than he should have into the matter, then Lunafreya would have never found out in the first place. The troublesome brother of the oracle stood blocking the door, ready to fight Gentiana should she attempt to escape. Gentiana sent a venomous glare his way. Things would have been a lot easier if he just would have left it alone.

"Gentiana!" Lunafreya desperately tried to wipe away her tears as she screeched the messenger's name. "Answer me! Why?!"

It was at this time Gentiana opened her eyes to look at the oracle, the first time she had done so ever since she arrived. Her green eyes stayed on the fuming oracle for a moment, then turned towards the window. "…I have not betrayed you."

"Oh?" Ravus approached the messenger, placing his sword down into the marble floor beneath. How could she just say that, that she hasn't been deceiving them all this time? The scorn within his eyes was intense. "You say such a lie knowing you've been caught fraternizing with the enemy?"

"It is not a lie." Gentiana could feel her voice waver. She had so much to tell the two… there was so much that they didn't know about him, so much that they simply didn't understand about the chancellor's reasoning for why he was doing what he was doing. There was a heart underneath all those layers of daemons, and that heart beats just as that of any other human being. With a single sigh, Gentiana looked up at Ravus, exciting him to grip his sword tighter with the intent of slicing her should she aim to attack. Regardless of this, Gentiana slowly looked over to Ravus, shutting her eyes once more. "You simply don't understand."

"What don't we understand?!" Lunafreya snapped walking right in front of the messenger, hot tears still rolling down her cheeks. "How could you possibly justify such a thing?!"

Gentiana fell silent again, turning her attention away from both Fleuret siblings, much to the vexation of both of them. She just wanted to leave, to escape somewhere, to greet her darkest of knights. But at the same time, she wanted things to clear themselves, for this not to end in shambles like Ardyn assumed it would. Lord knew that wasn't at all what she wanted.

"…Your silence is you greatest giveaway." Ravus wandered towards Gentiana, and handed her a simple photo.

The messenger looked at the photo briefly, then glared at Ravus. The imperial mercenary forced the photo towards her once more, this time revealing the picture underneath. Gentiana could feel herself break out into a cold sweat as the full view of the picture became visible.

Ravus's face took on a more stoic look. "Look familiar?"

The chancellor was in the picture, seated on a wooden chair with the messenger herself sitting in his lap. She remembered how she cradled his neck in order to be as close as possible to him, her head resting on his chest. She recalled how sweet he was that day, how he had lacked his usual sarcastic nature that day. On that one day, the usurper felt most like a human, the usual corpse-like and daemonic aura he emitted completely gone. But above all, Gentiana remembered how happy she was that day. That day had been how it started, the beginning of her yearning to see him each and every day, even if he were none the wiser of it. The messenger bit her lip, fighting back the lump forming in her throat. She knew what the oracle and the mercenary wanted her to do. They wanted her to abandon him, to leave him all alone again, but in doing so, she'd be betraying her own heart's desires, a feat that she would surely come to regret. She tore her eyes away from the picture, clenching her jaw. She would not utter another word.

"Is that not you?" Ravus inquired dropping the photo to the floor at her feet.

Gentiana said nothing, prompting Ravus to continue pressing for an answer. He took one more imposing step towards the goddess, to whom she didn't even flinch.

"Is that not you with the imperial chancellor?!" He demanded, raising his voice at the messenger.

He slowly rose his sword to where it was a few inches above the photo. Gentiana quickly glanced at the photo, then to the weapon, and then back to the floor. That picture… meant so much to her, yet if she were to show just how much it meant to her, then the two siblings would surely be able to label her as a traitor. Gentiana continued to hold her tongue. Ravus let out an irritated grunt at her lack of a response. "You still choose to stay quiet?!"

Lunafreya huffed furiously as Gentiana still didn't respond. It wasn't even the fact that she was spending time with chancellor Izunia that made her upset at the time, it was the fact that she wasn't even answering any of the questions they had. All she wanted to know was why. Ravus, now thoroughly annoyed with the messenger's stubbornness, stabbed his sword through the photo beneath, making sure to cut straight through the chancellor's face and to the marble flooring. He then looked back at Gentiana, who still refused to look directly at him. "To think you were hiding it in plain sight too… as a… tch… bookmark."

Gentiana winced as the photo was damage. It was painful to simply watch that photo get cut, it truly was. An angered tear rolled down the messenger's cheek. She was frustrated and angered, mostly at herself more than anything else. Why had life decided to be so cruel to her? Why had it dealt her the bad hand and prevented her from keeping both the oracle and the usurping king?

"Gentiana, out with it." Lunafreya grappled Gentiana's chair, pulling herself closer to the messenger. Her blue eyes sparkled with a certain fierceness despite the fresh tears still damp on her face. She just wanted to know why and what the two were even talking about. "Please… tell us."

"What is it that you want from me?!" Gentiana snapped, rising quickly from her chair.

The messenger could no longer keep her cool. She had to know what they expected of her. Did they want her to deny it? Or did they expect her to state her loyalty? They both should already know the answer to any question they asked her, for they were the ones that caught her. She would do no such explaining.

She was simply the messenger here. Nothing more, nothing less.

She didn't know what answer would allude to non-conflict oriented matters, but it was too late to keep quiet. She had already broken her own silence. Staying quiet wasn't an option anymore. She could no longer bare the two of them scolding her like a mere child.

"What we want," Ravus spat, grabbing Gentiana's shoulder, "is the truth.

"…I've told you as much of the truth as I can. I am not against you." Gentiana walked towards the door, brushing off Ravus's hand. Both siblings watched the messenger approach the door, yet soon Lunafreya started after Gentiana.

"But, you're not with us either, are you, Gentiana?" Gentiana paused at the doorway, holding the door wide open. She slowly turned her head back to face the young oracle, another tear rolling down her other cheek. She stood in utter silence looking at Lunafreya for countless seconds until finally she turned away. It was painful to see that the oracle now harbored a sort of distrust for her, but it was brought out by her own hand. She could do little to change that now.

"M-my oracle… I'm… Neutral." She said as more tear trickled down her face, "I'm neither with nor against you."

Ravus rushed after his sister and the messenger. "You cannot be neutral! You must be on one side or the oth-"

"The see me on whichever side suits your fancy.' Gentiana left the room at that, closing it behind her.

"Gentiana!" Lunafreya rushed out of the door after the messenger only to see that she had vanished.

"Urn! Where did she go?!" Ravus raced out of the room, searching high and low for Gentiana, but wasn't able to find her. She had left the place entirely in search of the chancellor, in search of her daemon: Ardyn Izunia.

(Just to let you know, this is the MEDIAS RES of the story.)