A/N: Sorry for the late update. First, I got really into Dragon Quest XI that game consumed all of my free time. My second came when I got to the Dimitri part of this chapter and was hit was a really bad case of writer's block. That boy is even given me a hard time.
Thank you livmoores (on AO3) for helping me with this chapter. It probably wouldn't have been half as good without your idea.
Blue Sea Moon 1180:
Sixteenth of the Blue Sea Moon:
Byleth tried not to show it but she was beyond relieved to have her father traveling with her and Ashe. She was never worried for hers and Ashe's safety but having her father there was a comfort she didn't know that she needed. It was like the old days where they would just wander from place to place and it was only then that she realized just how much she missed that.
Since they were traveling outside the eyes of the church, they were free to talk openly. There was so much she had to discuss with her father and yet she hadn't said anything. All day yesterday they had discussed how she was getting used to being a professor and living at Garreg Mach; she was surprised to hear from her father that maybe it was a good thing that they moved there and last month she might have agreed with that but this month had her second guessing that. She had carefully avoided talking about the archbishop and Dimitri despite those being the two topics that she wanted to discuss the most. She had no idea where to start with bringing up either of them as well as to how she wanted to talk about them.
Night had descended and Ashe had retired to the tent, he was sharing with Jeralt. Ever since he learned that he would finally be able to see his siblings he had been able to sleep soundly. Byleth wished she had acted earlier on calming that fear.
She quietly sat in front of the campfire watching it flicker, while her father whittled away at some wood carving. He had already told her to get some sleep since she was going to have the second watch, regardless of what either of them wanted, but as hard as she tried sleep was escaping her. She knew what the issue was that was keeping her awake, but she still couldn't bring herself to say anything. All she could do was wait for her father to finally get tired of the silence and get her to speak but that could take a long while, given both of their natures.
Lucky for her it didn't take too long before the silence was broken by him. Putting away his little project, he gave her a pointed stare. That was his sign for her to talk and yet her mouth was sealed shut. Her gaze drifted away from him to go back to watching the fire. A loud sigh filled the area as he got up to sit next to her.
"Okay kid, what's wrong?" he finally asked. She looked up at him for a moment before dropping her gaze onto the fire again. There was a brief silence, but it didn't last long. The father daughter pair were no strangers to long bouts of silence but when the silence was born from the young woman being lost in her thoughts it never lasted long. "Is it about the prince or the archbishop? Or maybe it's about both?" Her eyes swiftly snapped to his and he smirked. "You were really careful about talking about them yesterday."
She puffed out her cheeks as she glared at the fire, as if it were the one that had offended her. Laughing loudly, he smacked her on the back hard and her glare now settled on him, causing him to laugh harder. She couldn't bring herself to stop his laughter, she just hoped that it didn't wake up Ashe.
The lighter mood continued for a bit longer before her father dropped it completely. His pointed stare came back, and it was her turn to sigh. She knew she needed to talk as her father had already discovered the topics, but it didn't make it any easier to find the words to form the thoughts that were still all over the place.
With a sigh, she finally spoke, "the archbishop told me about how you two met." When she first heard the story, she thought about teasing her father over his recklessness but when she thought about more why the archbishop had told her that story, she had all but forgotten about that. She still had no idea what to make of the archbishop. Byleth wasn't so clueless as to not see the manipulative tactic that the archbishop used, talking about the one topic that could relate Byleth to her; and yet the professor was still so conflicted. The feelings she felt at that time had reminded her of the very small feelings that Lady Patricia had made her feel and there were also the feelings of Sothis' that were playing their part. Sothis' emotions were influencing Byleth a little, but the mysterious girl never commented on it.
Her father had been quiet for a bit, so she spared him a small glance, and he was glaring at the fire. As if sensing her gaze, he spoke, "did she now?" was all he said in a quiet whisper. He continued to glare at the fire for a while longer. With a deep breath he tore his gaze away to stare at the stars above. The silence returned and she had no intention of breaking it.
With a sigh the tension finally left his shoulder. "Long, long, so long ago I saved Lady Rhea by taking a hit for her and in return she saved my life, and I will admit in a way I still don't know how." He continued to stare up at the stars as if that moment were flashing before his eyes. "I was amazed by her kindness; I had vowed to serve her and gave up my life as a mercenary to become a Knight of Seiros. Only the goddess remembers how many years I gave to serve Lady Rhea."
She wrinkled her nose as she went back to watching the fire. He told her to be weary of the archbishop and for the most part she had been, but she was getting the feeling that her father wasn't taking it as seriously as she was. He called the archbishop "Lady Rhea" something Byleth had been avoiding greatly to keep up a distance but was her father capable of doing the same? Did he even want to?
He dropped his gaze onto the fire and a small scowl darkened his face, despite the bright light illuminating him. "I might have dedicated much of my life to her but be careful to not do the same." He looked at her and she tore her gaze away from the light to meet his. "She is not to be trusted!"
Why? She wanted to ask but the word died upon her tongue before she could even think to open her mouth. She so desperately wanted to know what the holy woman could have possibly done to destroy years of trust and why her father had been so easily accepting of returning to Garreg Mach. Those questions plagued her and yet she could never bring herself to ask and she didn't even know why.
Biting back a sigh she gave her father a nod. If that satisfied him, she did not know as she couldn't bring herself to look at him anymore. The silence returned and she was okay with that.
Despite her acceptance of the stillness, it was broken all too quickly. "So," he drew out that one word until she looked at him, "what about the prince that is troubling you?" She pressed her lips together and went back to watching the fire. "He was another topic you were avoiding." After the heaviness of the talk about the archbishop she wasn't ready to start another one. "Kid, I know something about the prince is bothering you. You never stop talking about him, no matter how annoying it is to hear." She gave him a sideways glare and he just smirked at her.
With a little nudge, she sighed and dropped her tiny glare. She pulled her knees towards her so that she could rest her head upon them. The fire danced to some calming beat that eluded her.
"Have…have you looked into his eyes since we reunited?" She didn't look at her father when she asked it, but when she got no response after a few moments, she finally glanced at him. His lips were pressed tightly together and whatever teasing that he had in his eyes earlier, was gone, not a trace of it to be found.
"So, you've noticed the darkness, huh?" She gave him a nod. With a sigh he leaned back and looked beyond the fire. Sothis had made sure that Byleth couldn't deny Dimitri's darkness, but knowing that her father saw it made it even more real.
"As of late he has been avoiding me and I don't know why. I have been giving him his space, but I don't know if that is the right thing to do anymore." Her fingers dug into her legs as she recalled how desperate Dimitri was to avoid her.
He didn't respond right away and just continued to stare at nothing. With a groan he got up and stretched out his back, but she remained locked in place, unable to move. After another groan he stopped his stretching to look at her.
"To be honest kid, I don't really know." She frowned but gave him a small nod. "But if I were you, I wouldn't give him anymore space." She arched an eyebrow. "Before the Tragedy the prince had you and his father to help him deal with his problems but in a short time, he lost you both." Her gaze slowly drifted downwards and morphed into a small glare.
"I can't even begin to imagine how difficult his life had to become once you two were ripped apart." She pressed her lips together. "He must have had to learn how to deal with his problems all alone and doesn't know how to ask for help anymore." She glared at the ground as if it were the one that forced Dimitri to suffer alone.
"So" her father paused until she looked at him, "he probably needs your help and might not even be aware of that fact." She just stared at her father, unsure of what to say or what to make of all her thoughts. "So, even if he doesn't realize it, I think he is waiting for you to help him."
Her mouth hung open, but her mind was racing with too many thoughts to even think of words to say. If what her father said was true then she wished she had acted on Sothis' advice, instead of leaving Dimitri to suffer longer. Shutting her mouth, she gave her father a firm nod as she vowed to go see Dimitri as soon as she returned to Garreg Mach.
Giving his daughter a smile, he started to nudge her to get onto her feet. Once she was standing, he then started to push her towards her tent. She gave him a small frown, but his smile remained.
"Alright, off to bed with you." Her frown soon gave away to a smile as it was nice to be told to go to sleep by her father again. It had been too long since the last time he was able to wish her a goodnight.
Seventeenth of the Blue Sea Moon:
It had been two days since Sylvain's declaration and besides the clear distance that the Gautier heir had set up, Dimitri was surprised at how little everything had changed. With the exception of Dedue, he was off on his own in the Golden Deer classroom. The rest of the Blue Lions had mingled in with the Golden Deer, while he remained stuck in place. In his determination to avoid Byleth he didn't realize that he had pushed everyone else away as well.
How isolated he had made himself had become more apparent when Professor Hanneman had gathered everyone together and Dimitri and Dedue had stayed off to the side. Claude had easily taken over the leadership role of the Blue Lions that Dimitri had left vacant. Dimitri was supposed to be a leader that was his birthright and yet he was failing at it. It was already hard enough with Felix challenging his authority but now he was just abandoning it and all because he was weak. The voices didn't waste this opportunity to mock him about it, as if he had needed to give them more fuel.
When the class broke up into groups of three, he was amazed at how quickly the groups had formed. In the past he would have had no trouble forming a group as his friends would flock to him but now only Dedue had stayed by his side. Felix naturally was going to avoid him like the plague, and with how things were going with Sylvain it came as no surprise when he formed a group with others. Ingrid had been a real shock when she had joined another group, but he knew he was the major one at fault and of course her distrust of Dedue couldn't be ignored.
In the end Marianne had joined him and Dedue. She was a sweet girl, who really cared about Ashe, but it was still a painful realization. He really didn't want this distance between him and his friends, especially not after they were finally getting close again. Everything was so painful, but he couldn't stop what he was doing; he just hoped everyone would be willing to forgive him after he was finished.
With Byleth gone, Dimitri had hoped to take the opportunity to reach out to his friends again. He felt terrible for having to do this when she was away, but he knew if she was there, he wouldn't have the courage to do so. Even though he really wanted to be close with his friends, he struggled to find the motivation to do so. Byleth was the only one he really needed to avoid and yet he couldn't step forward. It seemed so unfair to avoid her and no one else but it wasn't like he really wanted to avoid her in the first place, if only he wasn't such a weak coward.
During lunch Dimitri saw it as the perfect opportunity to mingle with his friends again. At one table sat his friend with some of the Gold Deer. A small smile grew on his face as he approached, but the closer he got the heavier his footsteps became.
Eventually, his footsteps became too heavy for him to keep going and he stopped short of reaching their table. Silently, he watched his friends talk and none of them seemed to notice him besides Sylvain, who gave him a flat stare. The smile dropped from his face. He wanted his friends again but what right did he have to such a thing? He wasn't avoiding his friends on purpose, but it was a side effect, so maybe it was best that he continued to avoid them? If he got close to them again, he could easily imagine that it would make it even harder for him to avoid Byleth, so despite his feelings it was probably for the best that he continued to keep his distance from them.
Like the coward he was, he sat at a table away from everyone and Dedue had joined him. He wished Dedue wouldn't isolate himself too, but he knew it would be pointless to say anything about it. Swallowing his sigh, Dimitri ate his meal in silence. It had been four years since he had last tasted anything but as of late food had become an even blander taste; and it was starting to affect his appetite greatly.
He knew Dedue was watching him, pushing his food around and yet he couldn't bring himself to really eat. His thoughts were broken when he heard a tray being placed down in front of him. Swiftly, his head snapped up to see who it was, Mercedes. Not even aware of her greeting he looked at the table, where their friends sat, and Annette was there talking with Lysithea. Unsure of what to say or how to make sense of her actions, he could only stare at Mercedes, who smiled at him as she sat down.
He opened his mouth several times and closed it just as many. Not a single thought won and thus he couldn't think of a thing to say; he didn't even greet Mercedes. If she was bothered by his actions, she never showed it, not that he ever expected her to do so.
It wasn't long before Mercedes helped to break him free of his thoughts by starting a small conversation with Dedue about their lunch; and he was incredibly thankful for it but never voiced it. She flashed him her typical smile after a few more seconds of him staring at her and her smile was quite calming. It was wonderful to see her smiling again and he knew Byleth had worked hard for that, while he foolishly chose to ignore the healer's suffering. At the thought of the woman, he so longed for, his heart dropped along with his gaze.
"Are you worried about the professor?" Mercedes asked and he looked up at her for a moment before he dropped his gaze back onto his food. Yes. No. He wasn't sure. He knew she was fine; she did have Jeralt with her, after all. But he found himself constantly thinking about her. He knew it wasn't because she had left, he had been thinking about her constantly since he started avoiding her, which just made Sylvain's words all the more painful. He knew full well of her suffering and yet he viciously ignored it.
He gave up on pushing his food around and shoved it aside. Dedue had stopped eating because of him and Dimitri was glad for his friend's concern and loyalty as well as hated Dedue's self-sacrificing nature. Dimitri didn't get up, as much as he just wanted to go to the training ground and empty his mind in what little time they had left before class, he didn't want to force Dedue to stop eating and so he remained seated. After some gesturing from Dimitri, Dedue went back to finishing his meal, a bit reluctantly though. Mercedes never commented on the prince's lack of appetite and it was just another thing from her that he was grateful for.
After a few minutes Dedue had finished his meal. Dimitri knew that his friend had rushed his meal because of him but he said nothing as he knew Dedue would just deny it. Mercedes was still taking her time eating and didn't seem bothered that the men had rushed theirs, and Dimitri couldn't help but think that she was too patient with him; everyone was really, except for Felix and Dimitri appreciated the curt man greatly for it.
As he got up, he made sure to give Mercedes his proper thanks to which she brushed it off, but he was already expecting that. Once he was at his full height, she stopped him. "I am sorry to trouble you," she started and paused when he shook his head, to which she smiled. "But I was wondering if you would be willing to teach me some swordsmanship."
He was about to ask her why she didn't ask Felix but that thought quickly died. Even if Felix actually did agree to teaching, Dimitri couldn't imagine the swordsman being a very patient teacher. Still the thought was somewhat amusing.
"I do not mind teaching you," he said, and she flashed him a larger than normal smile. "But may I ask why? Do you not want to be a Bishop? Sword training is not necessary for that exam if I recall correctly."
The smile left Mercedes' face as she looked down at her food. He was about to apologize when she spoke, "I do…but in the last battle I realized how powerless I was by just focusing on Faith magic." The hand that held her spoon, tightened its grip as she locked eyes with him. "I want to help as many people as I can and I realized that if I focused only on Faith magic, I won't be able to do that."
He gave her a nod when he saw her resolve burning in her eyes. "I also want to not only impress Professor Byleth by expanding my skills when she returns but I also want her to know that she no longer needs to worry about me." He had nothing to say to that so all he could do was give her another nod.
Eighteenth of the Blue Sea Moon:
It didn't take long to reach Castle Rowe. The count was there to welcome them upon their arrival but he did not stay very long. Ashe had been smiling all throughout their travels but as soon as he laid eyes on Count Rowe and was told that his siblings were waiting for him, he was sporting the largest smile she had ever seen from him and she couldn't help but smile as well. A nice warmth settled in her stomach as she watched a butler escort Ashe to his siblings.
Byleth and Jeralt didn't receive anywhere near as warm as a welcome as Ashe did. None of the servants would properly look at them and the count even glared at them before he left. Such receptions were nothing new to them and it was something they usually received whenever they had to deal with nobles, but it did manage to bother her greatly to experience it from a Faerghus noble again.
Not wanting to deal with anyone Jeralt left to attend to their horses, leaving her alone to search for Ashe. Ashe had always talked about introducing her to his siblings and he brought it up a lot on their trek over, but she didn't know if she should visit them so soon. She wanted him to have some alone time with them but being alone in such a hostile environment wasn't ideal either.
In the end, she decided to wander around the castle with the excuse that she was lost if anyone asked her. Her little adventure was going relatively well as most people seemed to avoid her (and she helped them do so), but her adventure took on a sour note when she had run into the count. The hostility she felt from him when she was with her father was nothing compared to what she experienced alone; she had almost forgotten what it felt like to be hated for no reason.
With narrowed eyes he glared at her as she tried to walk past him after giving him a proper bow. "You are Byleth Eisner, correct?" he asked with his voice completely flat. Instinctively she stiffed but quickly relaxed her body so that he wouldn't suspect anything.
She and her father had introduced themselves when they first arrived, so it wasn't surprising that he knew her name, but he spoke it with such certainty that it didn't seem right to her. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to face him. All her uncertainties were hidden behind her blank expression.
"You were Prince Dimitri's mistress, were you not?" Despite not wanting to show anything, she couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at him. "From what I was told you were chased out of the Kingdom." Desperate to maintain her nonchalant attitude, she smothered her face to her standard expression but in order to release some of her nervous energy she clenched her fists tightly and was unable to open them yet.
He raised his chin slightly to look even more down upon her and she started to bite her cheek in another secretive attempt to release some energy. "Unable to gain influence in the Kingdom you decided to try your hand at seducing your way through the church?" That line felt like a slap to the face and her composure fell apart. "And now that the prince is back in your life are you going to try and worm your way back into your old position?"
She didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. Biting her lip, she stared at the floor so that she wouldn't glare at the lord. She tried to prevent her body from shaking by clenching her fists as tightly as she could, but it did very little in that regard.
She could feel his gaze on her, but she refused to lift her head. With a loud scoff, he finally left but she still kept her head low. Squeezing her eyes shut she fiercely tried to calm her emotion, but it only managed to upset her more, but that was more than likely the result of her having no idea how to calm herself down.
"Byleth," Sothis started in a soothing tone.
"I'm fine," Byleth snapped faster than she was expecting too. As if she was looking at Sothis, she looked off to the side to avoid the imaginary gaze.
She could feel Sothis' concern and it wasn't something the professor wanted to deal with. Raising her head, she looked in the direction that the count had walked in and thankfully he was out of sight. Soon a chuckle ripped through her before she cut it short with a violent shake of her head.
"It's nice to see that the Kingdom's nobility hasn't changed in the four years that I was away! They still think a child could be so cunning and devious!" The smirk that she wore when she said that quickly fell away, when she realized that the bitterness hadn't gone away. Once again, her gaze fell to the floor.
"Hey," Sothis called but Byleth didn't react to it. "How about we go check up on Ashe and meet his siblings?" The former mercenary remained quiet, but she did do a small bob of her head as a nod.
Getting direction from a servant was a challenge. Hearing her being called a whore behind her back strangely brought her a small warmth of nostalgia; of course, it was nothing compared to the anger it brought as well. She couldn't help but wonder what they would think if they knew that the prince was avoiding her, would it change their thoughts? She did highly doubt that. While she tried to walk through the castle with her head held high, she did fear that someone would eventually blame her for the Tragedy of Duscur; she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it if someone accused her of that.
She stopped dead in her tracks and stared eyes wide at the floor as a new fear penetrated her numbness. Was it possible that Dimitri was avoiding her because he didn't want rumors spreading that his mistress had returned? Did that rumor bother him a lot more than it bothered her? Did he not want people thinking that she was his mistress because he could do so much better? Those thoughts didn't last long before Sothis shut them down. Sothis words were comforting if not a bit confusing. She kept mentioning how there was no way in the Eternal Flame that the prince wouldn't want people thinking that Byleth belonged to him. Byleth didn't really understand it all but she happily accepted it so that she wouldn't have to think about that fear for much longer.
It took a while but eventually she made it to the room that Ashe and his siblings were staying in, she stood outside the closed door, her hands glued to her side. The point of her little adventure was to give Ashe some much needed alone time with his siblings and she wasn't sure if she had given him enough.
With a lot of insistence from Sothis, she finally worked up the courage to knock. Her knock sounded especially loud to her, despite her still hearing sounds from the other side of the door. When she realized that it might be best to avoid Ashe and his siblings so that they wouldn't get tangled in a mess of rumors that surrounded her, the door was swung open by a boy that nearly looked like a splitting image of Ashe but he had brown eyes and was obviously shorter.
The two stared at each other for a moment before Ashe's voice broke their little staring contest as both looked in the direction that the voice was coming from. "Adriane, who is it?" asked the older brother as he walked into view. He gasped when he spotted his professor. "Professor! I was wondering where you went." He rushed to the door to push it open wider and started to gesture for her to enter.
His smile was positively blinding and all the discomfort she had been feeling, instantly vanished. As soon as she was in the room she was introduced to his siblings. Adriane had been the younger brother that stayed relatively close to her upon her entry, his large eyes were watching her carefully, but he never said anything. Alisha was the name of Ashe's younger sister and her brown eyes were so pure that she reminded Byleth so much of Dimitri when he was that age. Alisha managed to put Byleth's heart at ease in a way she hadn't felt in weeks.
"You are even prettier than Ashe said!" Alisha said as she walked over to the other woman. With a bright red face, Ashe screamed out his sister's name, but the young girl didn't seem to care. "You could be a princess with how pretty you are." Ashe screamed out Alisha's name again and again she didn't care as she held out her doll to Byleth. "Will you play dollies with me?"
Byleth took the doll and looked at it for a moment. When she was growing up, she often saw girls with such similar toys. She never wanted one because Dimitri was never interested in them, but now that she was holding one and saw the excitement in Alisha's eyes, she couldn't help but wonder that she might have missed out when she was a child. Alisha's smile was infectious when Byleth agreed and the former mercenary found herself forgetting all about her worries when Alisha began to drag her further into the room and towards an area filled with toys. Adriane had finally left Byleth's side to rush on ahead of them to "set up" the play area.
Byleth didn't know how long she spent with Ashe and his siblings and she didn't care. During her time with them she didn't have to think about any of the issues that had been plaguing her, she was free to forget them and she did. His siblings were so sweet, and she was happy to see that it was a trait that ran in the Ubert family.
At some point all the Ubert siblings had tired themselves out and Byleth had to tuck them in; well she managed to tuck in Adriane and Alisha, Ashe proved to be too difficult to do so without waking him so she just threw a blanket over him. She didn't really want to leave them and wanted to spend the night with them since they looked so at peace but she knew her father wouldn't approve and so she reluctantly left. When she left the room and discovered the hallway to be dark, she realized that it was a lot later than she realized.
While her first walk through the castle had been uncomfortable, she now wandered through it with some peace. A small smile had danced upon her lips as she made her way towards her room, but it didn't stay long. Right when she was about to turn a corner, she could hear voices and instantly she was on guard and pressed herself against the wall. Once upon a time she wouldn't have been so guarded but now she couldn't trust mysterious voices at night, in a place she wasn't used to.
"It disgusts me that the poor count has to give board to two wretched church officials," a male voice said. "This whole situation is the fault of the deplorable church! Lord Lonato didn't need to die!" Byleth pressed her lips together and closed her eyes as she recalled that man in his final moments.
"I heard that the woman that came, took part in the battle against Lord Lonato and even helped kill him and she's the one teaching his poor son," a woman's voice said. Byleth bit down on her lip as it was a painful fact that she couldn't deny. The man's scornful slur reflected greatly, her internal struggle.
"It getting worse!" The man stopped his cursing and Byleth held her breath. "That woman is also supposedly the prince's mistress." The man gasped. "You know the one they say helped with the Tragedy because she was growing impatient with how long it was taking for her to gain power."
Byleth turned out the man's curses as she bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. She squeezed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to drown out the others' voices. She was just a professor, she barely had any influence in the church, nowhere near enough to stop a battle; she wasn't even powerful enough to keep her students out of that battle. What more did they want from her? Or what kind of woman did they think she was? And she was barely sixteen when the Tragedy happened, how can they believe that she had played some part in it? She would never do that! She loved King Lambert and Glenn too much to have even entertained such a thought. She didn't want power! Why did everyone think that she did?
When Sothis' words were able to break through the chaos that was Byleth's mind, the former mercenary finally had the thought to run away. No thoughts came to her as she ran and that worked out just perfectly for her. She wasn't sure how she managed to find an alternative route to the room, her and her father were staying in, and she didn't give a damn to figure it out.
All thoughts to being polite were gone as she slammed open the door and startled her father. At the sight of him, she felt everything leaving her and she dropped to her knees. In an alarm, he rushed to her side, but she didn't say anything to calm him; she couldn't even think of anything to say.
Delicately he helped her to her bed and once she was upon it, she felt everything come back to her. She glared fiercely at the floor, but it gave away to a loud groan. Her body shook and she didn't know what to do nor did she know how to stop those people's words from repeating in her mind. She swallowed the scream she so desperately wanted to release and buried her face in her hands as an attempt to try and seal it away.
Her father's words never reached her. She wasn't even aware of his presence anymore as she rocked her body. Her mind echoed with the shouts that she would never release, that she was a child or that she was a simple professor.
Everything came to a sudden stop when she felt arms wrap around her and pull her towards someone. Slowly she pulled her hands away to see that she was being pressed against her father and that he was whispering calming words to her. It took another second for everything to leave her again and she collapsed against him. Not a single word escaped her as she didn't dare interrupt the sweet words that her father was so freely sharing. It took her some time for her to forget those awful things she heard and just focus on her father and how safe she felt by his side.
A/N: Still struggling a little with writer's block so I apologize if the next chapter is delayed. I also got into JoJo so that's also sucking up a lot of my free time.
On a side note, and this probably a late note, but I finally got around to posting my other Dimileyth story, "Salvation at the Hands of a Demon". It is rated mature so read at your own risk. I promise to not update that one until I update "Blue Eyes" again to make up for the late update.
You guys stay safe and healthy!