Cutting out the candlelight with a swing of my sword, the room went dark in an instant. I leapt out the window and made my escape, leaving behind the foolish exiled prince to think about my parting words to him. It's rather amusing, actually, for him to be so arrogant enough as to think he would be the one to kill me. Of course, that would never happen, and certainly not now when I am truly beginning to die.
Reaching my destination, I left the sword I carried with me on my bed, its weight seeming to have increased drastically overtime. I could not hold it for much longer with the way I was losing my strength so quickly, and I did not want to frighten her. Besides, I would need whatever strength I had left just to be able to meet her. Taking hold of the ehru/niko that was carefully placed on the nearby table, I did not look back as I made my way into the forest. I wasn't leaving behind anything of value to me here.
With each step I took into the forest, I felt a little less steady on my feet. Leaning against a tree for support, it surprised me to realize that I quite literally couldn't take another step forward without falling. It's a pity…I thought I would have made it at least a little bit farther.
Sinking down slowly so as not to lose my balance, I settled at the foot of the tree, hoping to regain some strength. As I sat resting, I raised a hand to my chest, feeling the subtle shape of the hairpin hidden within my robes. She will see me again, even if it's only to take back this hairpin. That is, after all, the reason why she followed me to the capital of Sa province, and allowed me to bring her here to the Sa clan estate.
Feeling the shape of the hairpin, I remember the way her hair glinted in the sunlight, and the way it cascaded down her back when I removed this same hairpin that held it in place. It really is a strange thing, for something like this to hold such meaning for me, just because she wore it. The same goes for this niko as well. Just holding it reminds me of the way she would play for me, and the music would seem to envelop me, enchanting me with all its many notes and chords. It was due to the beautiful music she made that we were first able to meet, what ultimately drew me to her first. While I have heard countless others play, and have even dabbled in it myself, nothing compares to the magic that she creates with the niko in her hands…
Hm. Look at me. Here I am, lying against a tree in the forest dying, and it is all because of a woman. It's actually pretty pathetic, when one thinks about it. For all my twenty-nine years of living on this earth, I certainly never thought that this would be the reason I would die. It's especially ironic when considering all the time I spent building immunity to poisons. The only reason I have no defense against this one would be to give myself a way out if I ever truly become bored with everything in this world and decided to leave it for good.
I have always lived my life the way I wanted, manipulating others and killing even other family members if it so pleased me, just to keep my boredom at bay. That's why it truly puts me out when people like Great-uncle Enjun interfere. I couldn't reach him from where I was at, but I couldn't let him go thinking he could get away with his interference without consequence. That's why I killed his son and daughter-in-law, to teach him a lesson. I have received some enjoyment and amusement from it, but none of it would ever last. Many were simply too weak. Others, like that foolish exiled prince, hold my interest longer, but they fall too easily for my manipulations.
And yet…up until the point I met her, I was never truly living.