Hello there! I am finally able to update mine after such a long break. Hopefully I can keep updating in the next few days (if fate permits me). Anyway, enjoy and I apologize to all for this super late update! \(o)''/
Chapter 7
"It's a pleasure having you here in my humble home, Your Royal Highness," Duke Azuma bowed as he welcomed the Tsukimori prince into his residence. "Please, do come in,"
Prince Len was donned in his hunting gear. Wearing two cloudy gray cottes over his chemise, the prince also had a wolf fur-lined azure hooded cloak along with black leather hunting boots. Dusting the snow off his royal cloak, the prince let himself in. His hunting party which included the Grand Duke Shinobu, a handful of knights and the royal falconer, Sir Chiaki Tougane, who was carrying a covered up bird cage.
Removing his cloak and handing it to the servants, the prince and his party followed the Duke of the Yunoki clan towards the sitting room or more known as "Duke Azuma's study". Without further ado, the knights, lead by Sir Chiaki, left both the prince's and grand duke's sides towards the servants' quarters. The three childhood friends then silently navigated their way around the large manor.
The manor was located on one of the steep slopes of the Shimo Mountains which served as the border between Seiso and Jinnan. The large barrack-like manor was built by the pioneers of the Yunoki clan when they saw the opportunity to seize the land from a fallen member of the king's council then. The location was strategic. Located between the subalpine and mountain forest parts of the mountain, the front was shielded by the mountain forest's trees from all sides while the back was the dangerous snowy summit which was always shrouded in mist and frost. It would be hard to attack the manor, especially if one doesn't really know one's way around the thick forest.
Well, unless, you are the prince.
This was the first time Len has actually stepped foot inside the legendary manor. Although the royals paid visits to the member of the councils once in a while, but those occasions were few and far between. For the grand duke, however, it was not his first time. In fact, Shinobu visited the young duke every once in a while for hunting. Thus, that would explain why the prince could locate the manor in the maze-like mountain. Besides the other fact that Sir Chiaki, who was from Jinnan, had lived in the very same mountain when he was younger before his family migrated to Seisou. So, of course, the prince would know where the manor is located eventually. The prince had initially planned to just go around the manor but it was an added bonus with the young owner of the manor being home. They were notified of the duke's presence when Sir Chiaki sent his beloved falcon to deliver a message to notify the occupants of the manor of the prince's visit beforehand. Thus, which lead to the current situation.
'Now's a good opportunity to question Yunoki on some matters. Thank Eva that he's at home,' Len thought to himself.
The three friends arrived in front of two large oak doors. Pushing the door opened, Duke Azuma invited them all in and rang the maid to bring in some refreshments. A big leather chair was situated behind a solid mahogany desk. Papers, documents, and scrolls were neatly arranged. A large world map was framed up behind the desk on the distinct Sihir hand-painted wallpaper. Both the prince and grand duke took a seat on the armchairs surrounding a fireplace. A family portrait of the current Yunoki clan hung atop of the fireplace.
The Yunoki's current elder, Lady Hiroko Yunoki sat in a red leather armchair in the middle of the portrait. Surrounding her, not surprisingly, were her grandchildren. Two tall males flanking her side with solemn expressions were the Duke's brothers. The brunette, General Kita Yunoki was the eldest while the other dark-haired male, Sir Nishi Yunoki was the second child. Duke Azuma stood beside the general, his expression soft and gentle. His sister, the Young Lady of the house, Miss Miyabi Yunoki was clad in a pastel gown which enhanced her pecan hair and serene olive eyes. The portrait portrayed the wealth and power of the clan. It looked like any other family portrait out there, but there was so much more beneath the surface.
"So, Your Highness, what do I owe the pleasure to your visit?" Azuma questioned as he sat in an armchair across the prince and grand duke.
Crossing his legs, the Tsukimori prince was silent for a few moments, comprehending on how he would approach the Duke on his pending questions. In that moment, the maid brought their refreshments on a silver tray. Shutting the door in her departure, the prince began:
"Well, I would like to enquire you about a certain person under your services."
"And who might that be?"
"The Deadly Melody."
Duke Yunoki's tea cup paused in midair. Silence enveloped the room. Grand Duke Ousaki merely sipped on his tea while the prince stared intently at the quiet duke. A few minutes ticked past when the duke finally lowered his cup back on the saucer. Rearranging his coat, Azuma gazed at the prince, his face gracing a calm smile.
"Before I disclose the information to you, may I know the reason as to why you would like to know about this particular person?" Azuma inquired.
"I know that she's one of us, Yunoki," Len answered, "And yes, I know that the Deadly Melody is a female."
"Seems like someone did their homework," Azuma mused. Standing from his spot, Azuma strode over to his desk. Grabbing a piece of parchment and quill, he scribbled down an address and name. Handing it to Len, the duke sat back down on his chair and answered:
"The Deadly Melody is indeed one of us. I have never met her fairy or know what instrument she wields. But," Azuma pointed to the parchment in Len's hand, "her 'associate' might be able to tell you more. He's the one I always go to for her services."
Glancing at the parchment, the prince comprehended on his next move. On the paper, written in Azuma's elegant cursive handwriting was:
Maestro Hiroto Kanazawa, 22 Énekes Street.
A few hours later...
A firm knock on the duke's door indicated the presence of a guest. Azuma set down his documents and removed his glasses, rising up from his seat, the duke said:
"Enter."
A tall figure clad in a dark forest green cloak tread in, shutting the door quietly behind him. The guest's black leather boots left small puddles of melted snow on the study's floor. Without waiting to be seated, the mysterious figure made himself comfortable on one of the armchairs in the spacious room. The duke let out an annoyed sigh and took the armchair opposite to the one seated by his 'guest'.
'So much for peace and quiet. Why do all these random guests keep showing up?' Duke Yunoki sighed inwardly.
"Let's get down to business," a deep baritone voice came from the hooded figure. Before the uninvited guest could continue, Azuma held up his hand to silence the other party.
"First of all, by courtesy, it should be me who starts this conversation as you are my guest, even though you are very much uninvited. Second, please remove your cloak. I very much would like my favorite armchair to be dry when I settle myself back there after you depart," Yunoki said amiably.
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the mysterious guest removed his cloak, revealing tousled emerald hair and irritated gold eyes. Ryotarou set his sodden cloak on the table between them and settle back to his seat. He was clad in black from head to toe, his dual blade glinting dangerously in the candlelight of the chandelier.
Smiling bemusedly at the vexed assassin's face, the duke started, "So, what do I owe the pleasure of your sudden visit? Judging by how crude you were, I sense it must be some urgent business."
Ryotarou eyed the duke wearily before replying gruffly, "It's about our allegiance in this 'war' we are participating. I have a few pending questions on some information I have uncovered on this war."
"Mm-hmm. Do you have the information at hand?"
Ruffling through his hunting bag, Ryotarou produced an old diary. The pages were yellowed and tattered at the edges. The black diary was held together with a single wool string. The title which was amazingly still well-preserved, spelled out two names in cursive letters:
Eva and Eve
The names of the two legendary fae sisters endowed the cover of the diary. Raising a curious eyebrow, Azuma took the diary gently and flipped to a page which was marked by Ryotarou with a white ribbon.
'Seven warriors shall battle, for the hand of Eva and Eve. Only one shall be left. Only one shall conquer. The crown shall only be rewarded when the true warrior stands before Eva's throne. With the purest of tears, mixed with Withania blood, shall Eva and Eve stand before the victor. Deepest desires, secrets shall be unraveled, bear naked, the purest and darkest shall judge. Many have succumbed to their desires, few have succeeded.'
O.S.
"Interesting," mumbled the young duke. Looking at Ryotarou, Azuma inquired softly, "Where did you find this?"
"Minami's Antique. I just happened to stumble upon it thanks to Sarafina."
At the call of her name, a scarlet-haired fairy appeared on Ryotarou's shoulder. Her sparkling green eyes contrasted her short fiery hair. Clad in a simple shimmering chartreuse dress, the fairy smirked at the duke. Her golden wand was endowed with small diamonds, spiraling up the entire wand, making it refract the candlelight in a soft orange glow.
"Good to see you again, Azuma-sama," Sarafina mocked bow.
"It's a pleasure to have grace us with your presence," Azuma smiled, "I am sure Alonzo would like to see you too."
Without further ado, a tanned and ebony haired fairy appeared in front of Sarafina. The male fairy reached for the other fairy's hand, lifted it to his lips and flashed a flirtatious smile towards the smirking female.
Kissing the back of her hand, Alonzo smiled, "It's good to see you again, sister." Rising to his full height, Alonzo was a head taller than Sarafina despite being her younger brother. Sarafina scowled but was soon replaced with a cat-like grin.
"Of course, dear brother. Shall we get back to the business at hand?" she purred.
Nodding in agreement, Ryotarou broke the two fairies interaction. "We should indeed. I have no idea it was there all along until Sarafina suddenly glowed and floated towards one dusty corner of the store. The book somehow resonated with her presence as I could distinctly hear a soft hum coming from the diary."
Azuma nodded silently and started to show a slight interest in what Ryoutarou was indicating.
"I flipped through the pages but all of them were empty except for that one page I showed you," the assassin continued, "I thought you might know a stuff or two on what that paragraph implies besides the facts that I already know of or whoever this mysterious messenger is."
The Duke of Yunoki clan was silent for a few moments, his gaze far off. He seemed to be complementing on whether or not to divulge some information he had obtained to Ryoutarou beside the ones he shared last time. Finally, coming to a decision, the young duke smiled devilishly.
Suddenly, the entire room was shrouded in darkness. All the lights had been extinguished and the thick curtains blocked the silvery light of the moon from entering the room. Ryoutarou knew something was off when he noticed the duke's sudden interest in whatever the book contained. Remaining still at his position, the assassin drew out his two blades strapped to his side, finding comfort at the serpent embellished hilts. Mumbling a silent command to Sarafina in his mind, the young lad's eyes scanned the room cautiously.
WHOOSH!
A dart came out of nowhere and flew directly at Ryoutarou. Being the nimble feet man he is, he managed to leap away by a hair's breadth from the incoming attack. More darts aimed at his direction, accurate but narrowly missing its target. Thanks to his long training under the Master Schatten in Land of Sihir, Ryoutarou had no problem moving around in the darkness by merely listening to his surroundings.
The cat and mouse game stretched on for a while and Ryoutarou was starting to get irritated by it. Concentrating hard, he detected a slight movement at the southeast corner of the spacious room. Charging towards his assailant with confidence, he didn't anticipate what came next.
Ryoutarou found himself pinned to the ground a while later by an unnatural force, despite most of his effort. He knew struggling was useless as the invisible restraints will just get heavier and tighter. The lights came back on and Ryoutarou found himself staring at a pair of worn out leather boots. Raising his head, his gold eyes caught a pair of butterscotch.
Eyes widening in surprise, Ryoutarou choked out, "Hihara-san?"
Those warm pair of butterscotch eyes Ryoutarou once knew were now veiled with something darker. He could see the conflict behind them but he knew, he could not to anything because his friend had made a choice. His fellow comrade back in his youthful days was gone.
Someone foreign had replaced that boy he once called his best friend.
"Good job, Baron Hihara, and Bea. I knew you will see it my way,"
Azuma Yunoki came out from the shadows, his silver flute glinting in the candlelight. Alonzo floated beside Yunoki, his face indifferent to his sister's chosen's state. The duke gave a nod to the baron, who looked conflicted for one second before becoming blank. Squatting down, Kazuki mumbled:
"Sorry."
And Ryoutarou went limp.
A/N:
Hope you enjoyed that! My writing skills are rusty thanks to months of numbers shoved in my face that I haven't been able to even spell certain elementary words properly (you won't want to know what...). Please R&R and don't forget to check out FATEDOWN THE CRIMSON PATH by my lovely cousin and friend, Tohsaka Rin. Love you all and may you have a pleasant day ahead! 3
xoxo, SPR
