A Walk with Eternity-Chapter 52: Temperament

Syvestian was more or less... unbothered. In his eyes, she was still a child. Hell, he’s a hundred centuries old already. He beamed a smile at her as he grabbed her hand. He pulled her to her room before she could actually sleep outside.

Rue, on one hand, couldn’t contain her smile as they walked inside. Not a minute later, they were able to arrive by her bedside. Syvestian pulled her to the bed, placed his hands on her shoulders, and gently pushed her down to sit on the bed.

"I think you pushed yourself too hard..." Syvestian mumbled, and his voice was all Rue could hear. It was soothing her, making her more drowsy than normal. She looked up to him, and he’s wearing a relaxed blank face.

It was his usual expression. His hands, however, felt gentle and careful when holding her.

Her smile widened, pleased by how gentle he is with her.

He’s treating her like a complete babe, but it doesn’t bother her at all. She’s about to take advantage of the way he sees her. If she’s a child in his eyes while doing whatever she wants, it’s not so bad, isn’t it? Unless he tells her off about her spoiled actions, she will do whatever she wants.

"I’m alright," she simply says. She then crawled to her bedframe, lied there, and turned to him. She pats the space next to her and said, "Put me to sleep, come."

Syvestian stared at her for a moment before giving in to what she wanted. There was no thought in his head whatsoever, his mind was blank, and his body was reacting. His left arm stretched out and Rue rested her head there, moving her body closer to his.

This was how close they got when they were kids. This was how they used to sleep when they were eight years of age.

How nostalgic... Syvestian thought, looking down on Rue’s pleased expression. His other arm made its way to her waist, gently pulling her closer once again. This surprised Rue, but at the same time, she felt giddy. Her heart fluttered like a butterfly.

He smiled, rested his eyes, and relaxed his body. Something about this makes him completely relaxed and unguarded.

"Let’s get some sleep. We have training tomorrow..."

Rue smiled and hugged him back.

While many lay in their bed for rest and slumber, the night was still young for the capital city. The demoness was by the very top floor of the clock tower in the middle of the town square, where most people are still awake and lively.

She sat there, looking over the people who were having fun by themselves.

Nilsine had been hiding in the city for the past few weeks, growing accustomed to its lovely atmosphere. Aside from the fact that she has to hide away from adventurers and hunters because Rue told her to not cause too much trouble when the Solstice is nearing. She built connections here and there in order to properly survive here.

Now that some have known her to be connected to the empress, they wasted no time.

Just like the bartender at the pub she met Rue in.

"Your Highness..." It was Harold, an old man with a wide range of connections in the sirenian underground society.

"Any news?" Nilsine didn’t bother looking behind her.

"Yes, they informed me that a few men that have matched your description. They’re in a group accompanying a few child slaves. They also have that same one-wing eye logo you gave us," Harold says with a small smile. "It seems they’ve infiltrated the empire right under our nose. The empress wouldn’t be too pleased to learn about this..."

Damn right, the very same group that kidnapped her when she was a child is back here in her empire taking siren child slaves for their own benefit, Nilsine thought to herself, smirking at the irony.

"Oh, by the way," Harold continues, remembering that it would be best to tell her this new intel she found. "Guests from the Slora Empire have arrived today as well. It’s a group of seven people, including the crown prince... and the vampire you told us about."

"Huh?" Nilsine turned to Harold this time.

Kian is with that bastard...?

"Seven people? Have you identified which families they’re all from?" she asks, but Harold shakes his head in response.

"No, but they’re all from different races. One is a faerie, one is a dwarf, one is an elf, one is a beastman, and the last one is a human."

That line up... Nilsine was taken aback. No... No way...

She was in complete denial. After what she saw back in Slora before she left, such a group would be impossible... Yes, they could be different people. However, just to be sure...

"Is there a way I can enter the Palace by early morning...? Where I can be permitted to enter the training grounds..."

If it really is them, they should be training early in the morning, she thought.

"Well, there is, but are you able to change your appearance for that sake?" Harold asks. Nilsine raised a brow.

"What for?"

Harold forced a smile. "Because you can’t be a mailman with that body."

"Oh..."

A few hours passed and it was five in the morning. The dim sky was slowly turning brighter each minute, and Rue watched it from the window. She was the kind to wake up right after the sun had risen. She trains only when there’s a chance for her to train. Her servants know this and avoid working near her chambers so early in the morning.

Before leaving to prepare himself, Syvestian woke her up.

"Rue... Wake up and prepare."

His voice felt more soothing, and it didn’t feel like he wanted to wake her up at all. She did, however, manage to wake up despite only having six hours of sleep. She is already preparing for their first training session together after a while.

She wore a white shirt, black high-waisted pants, and some leather boots for better movement. She tied her long black hair up to a ponytail as well. Right after that, she made her way to the training grounds quietly.

"Oh my..."

"Is that the empress?"

Some of her servants were shocked seeing her awake so early in the morning, and all ready for training at that. It was unlikely of her at all, but maybe this is just one of those rare days that she decided to work out for a change of pace.

"Aren’t the guests from Slora in the training grounds as well?"

"Well, yes..."

The servants were nervous. They know their empress quite well.

She hates dealing with people the most, especially so early in the morning. People who serve her breakfast in particular have it hard, as she often lashes out when there’s something wrong about her meal. She has quite the temper, and they often walk around her in eggshells.

However, even with a nasty temper, she was never unreasonable.

A few more minutes and Rue had arrived by the training grounds. She saw all six of them there, complete and ready, except for Yves.

"Good morning~" Milera and Ezio greeted.

Rue smiled at them and greeted them back, "Good morning, have you all slept well?"

"We did~ How about you?" Dolunay chimed in with a wide grin. She was clearly teasing her.

Rue could somewhat understand what she meant by that and tried to not show how embarrassed she was in her face now learning that they saw them together last night by the balcony. Ah... I can’t believe they saw us...

She turned to the men; Kian, Lysander, and Cimmerian, to hide her obvious embarrassment.

"You know, you could have just told me that Yves came with you all," she says. "Imagine how shocked I was. I nearly tripped over myself, panicking."

They all grinned collectively.

"That’s for the element of surprise, Your Majesty. It wouldn’t be the same if we revealed his presence ourselves," Kian teased.

"Oh, and you panicked? Holy—I risked that. Me and Cim won against all of you now," Lysander says, looking over to Dolunay, Milera, and Ezio.

"What?! No way! You should have cried!" Dolunay obviously in denial that she just lost the bet they made.

"Huh?" Rue was confused for a moment, but then an idea sunk in her head. "Did you just bet on what my reaction will be once I see him?"

"Yup, and I can’t believe we lost," Milera calmly answers her question, sighing on one side. She turned to Lysander and asked, "Well, what punishment do you have in mind?"

"Hmmm, let me think—"

His sentence was cut off, all eyes saw a figure behind him.

"I have an idea."

Before they could even properly react, Lysander was pushed in one corner by the same person, meters away from them. Holding Lysander by the throat, the figure’s appearance changed. From a brown haired man with a normal build, to a tall woman with a curvy body.

And he couldn’t believe the person in front of him.

It was the same red headed demoness they came here for.

"What the hell, Nilsine...?!"

Even when he was struggling to breathe from her tight grip in his neck, he couldn’t help but think.

Holy shit, she’s hot.