Lucian rested against the carriage window, watching the raindrops hit the glass. The pull toward Celine was replaced by a dull ache in his chest, which felt like a bad omen.

'...that's why you break their wings before they get a chance to fly away...'

Little Celine's words crossed his mind, an old memory from a time when she was just a kid.

Lucian found her tip on how to keep people close stupid. A broken bird was a useless bird, a potential wasted. It was better to tame the bird, to teach it to trust its owner and to never betray it.

She called him stupid back for not getting her genius, and he called her stupid right back, challenging her to break his wings and see how he would run away from her, and never come back.

'Every bird is different from another. I wasn't referring to your wings, dummy,' Celine's childish voice explained to him, 'I meant your gang members' wings.'

Lucian drew a small Celine with his finger on the glass.

'She didn't even meet them, yet she already judged them based on my reaction to them.'

He drew little Lucian beside her. Their cute stick figures were drawn with a few strokes, looking innocent.

'I thought saving Jax from slavery would mean I was saving him from a miserable life. He would have died a dog's death if I didn't intervene. But it turns out, it's not enough to simply give a man his freedom and expect him to go through hell and back with you.'

Lucian drew a dog's tail on little Celine, and gave her little ears too.

'He was supposed to behave like Goblin does, but his loyalty is not as blind as I expected. He thinks for himself, unlike the rest, and acts upon his own desires.'

Lucian drew little horns on little Lucian's head, and made him breathe fire from his mouth, burning little Celine's tail. He erased and redrew their stick figures a few times while tidying his thoughts.

'Should I ask the guards to keep an eye on the carriage? Who knows when Edmund will return.'

Lucian decided to act like a lonely man who had no one else to trust but Celine when he was with Celine and Edmund when he was with Edmund. Observing their every move and comparing their reactions, he could slowly piece together the full picture and make a decision accordingly.

Lucian joined Voice in watching people's lives go by, 'I hope it's Celine, who is trying to isolate me from the rest of the world.'

'Why...?' it asked, not understanding.

'It would have been nice if I could do the same to her and have her all to myself,' Lucian explained, 'You know, to feel like the only person in her world. That kind of thing... I guess I'm being greedy.'

'...' Voice's silence was louder than any words it could have spoken.

'It's not like I'm asking her to abandon her family for me, or her future, or her dreams, or her aspirations, or... her... everything. I'm not asking her for anything, actually, so why does it feel like I'm asking too much?'

'...' Voice probably begged for Celine to fetch Lucian so it didn't have to be at a receiving end of his rambling, 'What if it's Edmund, who is trying to isolate Celine from the rest of the world?'

'I will tell Celine on him, of course. I'm sure she won't be very pleased to find out that her brother is trying to separate us.'

Lucian found it odd that Edmund would enter the brothel before his eyes and not try to hide his relationship with it from him. It was as if he didn't care what Lucian thought of it at all.

'Well, as long as my life is not in danger, I'm willing to let the situation play out for a bit longer,' he decided, moving his attention from Jax's and Edmund's situation to Celine's.

Northerners with darker hair were known to have higher stamina, higher energy levels, and the ability to stay up longer without getting tired. Without having to go through Knight ranks to unlock those perks, they had it from the moment they were born.

Celine fell asleep and woke up several times during the night, checking her surroundings to see if he was back. Each time she found him missing, she would sigh and curl up. Only to wake up later to do it all over again.

She seemed more restless than tired, as if she was suffering from the same thing as him.

She was covered by the blanket, but he managed to see her rubbing her tights against the pillow. It was a thin blanket after all, easy to imagine her body shape under it.

‎──────────────────────────

Lucian returned to Celine's side after cooling off his head. She pretended to sleep and he pretended not to notice that she was awake.

He dried his hair with a towel, quietly sitting on the hard, wooden floor. Resting his head on the bed, he closed his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep, still in the wet clothes he was wearing.

'What a way to spice up things before our marriage night,' Lucian thought.

The desires that were gnawing at him from within were getting more and more unbearable. This was no longer about kissing the ugliest parts of their bodies and accepting them.

This was lust, plain and simple.

The one who fell for it first was a loser. The one who had the stronger will was the winner. The prize was nothing else but their ego, and their dignity.

"Ouch," he hissed exaggerately, feeling her feet poking his head.

"Why is little general saluting at my face, still? How is he not tired yet?" Celine asked with a sleepy voice, her head appearing next to his, staring down at his crotch, "You didn't relieve yourself? Where have you been this whole time then?"

"Can you not say something like that out of nowhere? You are a Lady," Lucian said, covering his crotch with the towel he had been drying his hair with, "Go back to sleep. I'm fine."

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