NOVEL NEXT Chapter 219: Knight, Herald, and Friend.
“I’m not jealous!” Agis shouted
“That’s not what you said last time.” I giggled, starting to have fun messing with him. Although my soul was quite literally burning, it seemed as though the dragons presence, and now more or less absence, made the biggest difference. With it gone I felt an almost euphoric peace.
He growled, glancing at me before clearing his throat. “You made her a promise in exchange for her power. Similarly to how you are my herald… You are now her knight as well… So… We need to decide which one of us you are more loyal to… That determines the hierarchy of how we are allowed to interact with you. Otherwise, there will be problems…”
Rafi stuck her tongue out at him again before turning back to me. “Siya, siya, I’m your favorite right. I know he’s hot but you're super adorable too. And I don’t think you’re that shallow to fall for him just because of his looks.”
I slowly glanced at him and felt heat rise in my cheeks as I was still under the effects of the dragon's blood, possibly even more with how much of my soul it torched while we were fighting… Although it was seemingly restoring itself quite quickly.
“Oh come on, Don’t look!, DON'T LOOK!” She yelled, waving her hand in front of my face. “Don’t be tempted so easily, there are plenty of guys more attractive than him.” She slowly turned, staring at him out of the side of her eye. “My fiance was way hotter, even when his face was covered in blood.”
I took a deep breath and tilted my head back. “Can we just get to the point… I don’t want to argue about how hot he is...”
He scrunched his eyebrows together. “Argue… So you disagree then?”
I let out an uncomfortable groan, looking back at Rafi for help, but she just curiously waited for my reply, as if she was turning on me… Or planning on messing with both of us from the start.
‘Aunty indeed…’ “You’re both acting like children…”
Rafi only smiled brighter. “It’s part of my charm.”
Agis on the other hand seemed dejected, suddenly looking like a puppy that had just received a scolding.
‘What is my life…’ “Do I have to pick?”
Agis sighed. “That would be most helpful yes… Since I brought you to this world and have been with you the longest I tried to make myself superior, but she is much older… And when that dragon showed up it just made everything more complicated.”
“So I didn’t hear from either of you for so long… Because you were both fighting over who got me?” ‘I think he mentioned something like this last time… but I didn’t think it was this bad…’
“Yeah, pretty much.”
I pinched my nose, rubbing my eyes before covering them and thinking for a moment. “I mean. Agis is right, he did literally bring me to this world.”
Rafi suddenly pointed at him. “He was going to peek at you naked!”
“What….” ‘Is this just her messing with me again?’
“It’s not my fault the dragon melted her clothes off!” He yelled in protest. “And I would have turned around!”
‘They really are acting like children…’ “I honestly believe him… Besides… When we first met you literally ripped my shirt off and… Inspected me…”
She just waved her hand. “Yeah, but I’m a girl so it’s fine.”
“Is that how that works?”
I sighed as I turned back to Agis but he was suddenly turned to the side with a shade of pink in his cheeks.
“See! He’s a creep! Why would you choose a creepy man over me!” Her voice was starting to break, and I could honestly feel my heart starting to break with it.
“You guys are being unfair…” I whined.
Agis closed his eyes for a moment, “Whatever you choose is fine… I expect you to fulfill your oaths either way… All of them…” He turned and vanished.
“You think he’s mad?”
Rafi turned with me to where he was standing, both of us staring in quiet contemplation. “No… I think he’s just embarrassed because we were talking about your naked body.” She said bluntly.
I groaned again, glad that he was at least gone and no longer able to hear her say things like that. “Rafi listen.”
Her eyes filled with tears as she stared up at me. “You won’t go back on your promise, will you? You promised…”
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t dare, but I couldn’t resist patting her head and giving her another big hug. “I promised you that I would be here for you and not die remember? Not that I would always follow your orders. Of course, I’ll keep my promise, but do you know why my promise is different than all those other ones that people made to you and broke?”
Her little arms pulled down on my shirt as she looked up at me again, seeming to shrink even smaller. “I’m going to give a different answer than you so get to the point and break my heart already…”
My breath stopped for a moment and seeing her like that almost made me start to cry too. “I was going to say that it’s because I made that promise as your friend, not as your knight…”
Her eyebrows moved together as tears started falling down her cheeks and she immediately hid her face, poofing her big hat onto her head and hitting me in the face with the pointy tip.
“So… Did I break your heart?”
“OF COURSE NOT!” She shouted. “If my heart was broken don’t you think I’d be crying!”
“O-oh… Yeah, of course, that makes sense…”
She let go and backed away, pulling the brim of her hat down so I couldn’t see her face, but I could still see the glittering white flecks disperse into the air as they fell from her right eye, and the thick black mist swirl as the tears fell from her left eye and mixed with the abyss. “I’m not crying… I’m using my magic to strengthen your soul with my epic powers over dark and light.” She sniffled.
‘So freaking cute… It’s like I have another baby sister.’
She vanished into thin air, and with Agis having also left I was alone in the torched abyssal death plane that was my soul…
“Mm…”
Unfortunetly it seemed I couldn’t just wish it back to being pretty. I let out a deep sigh. ‘As far as the gods fighting over me… I don’t actually think I have to choose. I doubt Rafi will keep bullying Agis after this, and I’ll keep working on both goals… I can’t actually help her until I get stronger anyway… That ghoul was one of the weaker demons wasn’t it?’
I sighed, watching the flames slowly start to die down and flicker. ‘I really hope this doesn’t affect my personality…’