"Celine, you're a Rochefort, not a fool, blinded by false love." Edmund called, looking into her eyes, trying to make her understand, "For how long do you plan to chase a man who claims to love you, but only when it's convenient for him? Did your self respect fly away in the wind too?"
"It sounds like you've been badmouthing me before your brother, again," Lucian said helplessly, holding Celine's shoulders, massaging them from behind her, "I told you nobody will understand what we have, but us."
Celine approached Edmund, her expression fed up as she grabbed the spear leaning against the wall.
She raised it over Edmund's chest, making Lucian wonder if she planned to beat up her brother and if Edmund would allow it.
Women were weaker than men, unable to become knights. It had nothing to do with their intelligence or will, only a natural limit of their bodies, similar to hay heads, but worse.
Lucian thought that maybe it were her blessings that made her people respect her, but as he watched her swing the spear, using the blunt side to strike Edmund's arm, making a cracking noise, he knew it was not the case.
A normal spear would have broken in half against a golden rank knight, so how did she manage to break Edmund's bone?
Edmund raised his sword against his sister's spear, blocking an attack, but it looked like a toothpick against a mighty tree. The blade broke as it came into contact with the spear's tip.
A blessed weapon.
It was Lucian's first time seeing one in action. Even in the royal army, you could barely see one of those. They couldn't be wielded by just anyone either.
Strength alone would not suffice, your affinity with the earth's core had to be strong enough to bear the weapon's destructive power.
Women were great blessings holders, capable of boosting the army's strength. It was mandatory during war for them to pray for their nation's victory.
The opposite of blessing was a curse, a power to weaken the enemy, not strengthen. It was still a mystery how it worked, but there were many jokes about some men turning weak in the presence of their wives.
Lucian had never seen a curse manifest to such an extent, and had no idea what training one would need to achieve what Celine was doing.
He gulped when another crack was heard from Edmund's other arm, the same treatment as the other one.
"Celine..."
Celine didn't listen, and moved to break Edmund's leg next.
Edmund clenched his teeth in pain, not daring to utter a sound. He received another strike, until his leg snapped, and he could no longer hold himself up.
A horn's blow echoed through the air, signalling the royal army's arrival, stopping Celine from continuing with the other leg.
"Is this enough of a Rochefort for you?" Celine asked Edmund, throwing the spear at Lucian's feet as she passed by him. Like it wasn't a blessed weapon, but a stick she was playing around with.
She avoided Lucian's touch and walked away. "Men," she cursed, "All the same, pathetic creatures, not even worth the air they breathe."
Her voice became more and more distant as she walked away, "Why do I have to keep proving myself to them over and over again? It seems like until I kill myself to please you all, you'll never be satisfied."
Her lonely back looked bigger than it was, as if she could carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, and the world was testing her to see how much she could take.
While Lucian was barely catching up to Edmund's golden rank, Celine took care of him so easily that she made their duel seem like it was a practice match for children.
She was a Rochefort first, a woman second.
Lucian realized that her heart would always be split in two because of her position.
He didn't have any duties to his family, not understanding what it felt like to have to choose between your family and your personal happiness.
She loved to act weak and helpless, but had no place in the world where the weak belonged. She didn't have a place among the strong and powerful either.
Lucian picked up the spear, approaching Edmund, "What else could she be hiding from me?"
He had no idea she had the strength to face a knight, a golden one at that.
Edmund didn't answer, his gaze was fixed on the ground as if he were in deep thought. His left leg was still untouched. She left it for Lucian.
Instead of breaking his leg, Lucian stabbed him in the chest, close to the heart.
"Arghh!"
'She's still protecting him.'
Lucian listened to Edmund's painful groan, but finding no satisfaction in it.
'Always forgiving, no matter how many mistakes Edmund makes, she's still ready to give him a chance to redeem himself. Is it the same for the rest of us? Will she forgive me if I mess up too?'
Celine didn't know Edmund tried to kill Lucian, thinking Lucian wouldn't have a chance if Edmund was serious.
Lucian would have been dead if he didn't have a back up plan.
If only he could reveal her the truth about how he survived the near death experience.
But he couldn't do it. It would expose his deepest secrets, and she seemed to be hiding some of her own as well. Her heart also wasn't fully devoted to him.
She wasn't an infuriated girl like Edmund made her out to be. She didn't blindly follow Lucian. Most would have eloped like his mother did to be with his father. Celine would never abandon her family, no matter who or what she would have to face.
It made Lucian a bit jealous of the Rochefort house. Not because of their wealth and power, but because they had the other piece of Celine's heart.
While other students wanted to escape their duties, responsibilities, and the pressure of being an heir, Celine embraced it. She rebelled against the society, but never her house. It was clear as day that she was a proud daughter, not ashamed of her heritage.
Edmund smiled in pain, "Like father like son…they say. I heard...he killed himself and his wife to save his son from a life of debt and poverty...but is it really true? Or did he do it after his wife tried to escape from him?"
"My parents loved each other dearly," Lucian said, pulling the spear from Edmund's chest, "Looking into my past won't help you find any weakness to use against me. If you are jealous that Celine took revenge on my behalf and not yours, then maybe you are not as special to her as you thought you were."
"On your behalf? No, it's my punishment for breaking a promise," Edmund laughed in agony, "What do you want? Do you plan to lock her up in a gilded cage as well? Like your father kept your mother?"
"I'm smarter than that." Lucian splattered the blood from the spear on Edmund's face, wishing he could kill him without consequences.
The wound wouldn't kill Edmund, but it should be painful enough to make him shut up.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Lucian is more obsessed with Celine, that's an undeniable fact now. He just doesn't allow his emotions to get the better reaction out of him like the free spirited Celine. (๑•́ ₃ •̀๑)
Sorry for those, who hate simp MCs.🙏
Do you like it that Celine's not completely infatuated with him, yet? Or do you hate it?
Her background doesn't allow her to fully give herself to him, yet.
But we all know that Lucian can be very persuasive and the more he shows his true self to her, the easier it will become to sway her heart. But the boy is too afraid she would run away from him if he did…sigh.
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