Chapter 5: Chapter 4 – Determination IV

「Princess Rosaria?!」 Hero shouts in disbelief, forced to hold back.

「Damn it, Hero!」 she yells with agitation. 「Why?! Why do you have to do this?!」

「I must correct what is wrong! It is my duty to rectify this blasphemer!」 Hero exclaims.

「No!」 Rosaria screams, and with a short pause, she continues with a softer voice, 「no it's not. Hero, it's me you want, and I know that I'm a princess, but... I also cannot help, but... doubt」

Her eyes start tearing up as she slowly approaches him with slow steps.

「Why... why can't you just leave me alone?」 she asks with tears running down her face.

Hero lowers his sword and softens his gaze.

「The Kingdom needs you! I need you! What does he have that I do not?!」 he asks.

Rosaria gets closer to him and touches his face. With another sob, she says, 「You wouldn't understand, Hero. You really won't」

Feeling her hand on his cheek, Hero closes his eyes and leans his face sideways into her palm, taking a long breath.

「Neither I nor you can change prophecy, this is fate」 he says. 「Why do you resist? Why did you suddenly run to Xalvari without a word after the war? Are you also condemning me for siding with the Kingdom?」

「Hero... you did what you thought was right. All of us were so close... me, you, Elena, the elf Princess, Xal... even the late Tank... we were all friends... it is but a pity that things ended up the way they did」

Hero opens his eyes and resolutely meets her gaze.

With a firm nod, he says, 「Let's go home, Rosaria. I can't let you be led astray anymore」

「Hero...!」 Rosaria pounds on his chest armor. She looks down, only now noticing how she has no shoes on but just has her bare feet against the gravel. Dirt and grime have stuck to her toes, stinging her skin. The princess has been soiled.

She takes a breath and raises her head.

「Just give me a day... Can you at least give me that? Just let me get packed up and say my farewells」 she asks softly while looking up at him.

They stare at each other in silence for a long while.

Hero exhales and his shoulders relax.

「... Alright... but, just until evening. I'll be here tomorrow, waiting for you」 he says.

「Thank you, Hero」 Rosaria mutters.

Xal who is watching them exchanges gazes with Hero and scoffs. They then both watch in silence how Rosaria walks back inside the house without giving Xal an ounce of attention.

Once she's inside, Hero swiftly turns around, his long red cape swirling around dramatically. He orders his men to pack and retreat. Before taking a step, he says, without looking back, but loudly enough for Xal to hear, 「Xalvari, you have been convicted of kidnapping the princess, and I will see to it that the privileges you gained from defeating the Demon King with me are removed」

Xal scoffs and says, 「What privileges? The ones you kept all to yourself after I was no longer needed? A bunch of backstabbing beggars on the leash of a celestial bitch you turned into」

Hero whips his head back, glaring at him.

「Make no mistake, I'm only letting you go with a punishment this light because of the princess」

With heavy steps, he starts walking away, his cape fluttering in the wind.

「Self-righteous freak!」 Xal swears under his breath before entering the house.

§

Inside the house, Rosaria is watching Xal rushing around, opening every cupboard and rummaging through the closets, emptying everything inside them to the floor.

「Xal...」 she calls out to him, 「Xal... Xalvari!」

After multiple failed attempts, Xal finally stops in his tracks and turns, 「What?」 an ice-cold look in his eyes causes Rosaria to falter and take a step back.

Trembling, she can't help but stutter 「I-I-I'm sorry... I'm only causing you problems, aren't I? They think you've kidnapped me... I... maybe it's best I do go back... but... but if you...」

She looks at him with expectant eyes, but Xal looks away with annoyance.

「Sorry for what? I don't blame you. Those fools have been out for me ever since the incident. I don't care what stupid labels they've put on me」 he says.

Rosaria lets out a small sigh of relief.

「What happened out there? Since when have you hated everything and everyone? What's going on?」

「I've hated those wretched fools, including Hero, ever since joining the party. I just stopped hiding it」 he replies.

「What...? So you've been pretending...?」 Rosaria asks, almost speechless. She takes a step and gulps loudly before continuing with reluctance, 「then... w-what about me...?」

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Xal stares at her in silence for a brief moment before letting a sigh escape his mouth.

「Rosaria.」 he says and pauses for a moment before adding, 「I had already dropped all pretensions ever since they did what they did to me. In spite of that, you still came running to me. Now, whether you go back to him or not is your own decision」

He then goes back to ransacking every cupboard and shelf in sight.

「B-but wait, is it really true? Has Hero really gone crazy?」 Rosaria takes another step with her hand on her chest.

「All those blessings have gone to his head」 he says, hand diving into a deep, tall cupboard and making the contents fall on the floor, clanking and rattling. 「With each passing day, he becomes more of the goddess' puppet. I have a theory in mind, but now is not the time to explain」 Xal says.

Rosaria looks around, noticing the messy state he's leaving the room in. All kinds of items, cups, plates, rings, bound notebooks, all removed from the shelves and cupboards lay scattered all over the floor.

「What have you been doing for the past few minutes? I can pack on my own」 she asks.

「What does it look like? I'm packing for myself, I'm getting the hell outta here!」 Xal responds and walks off into the bedroom without sparing her a glance.

The princess follows him with jumping steps, taking care not to trip on anything.

「Huh? Do you actually intend to escape Hero? You should know it's impossible! Where do you think you can run?」

「That freak is going to kill me next time he sees me. I need to get as far away as possible. I can't tell you where. Not before you decide who you're going with. God damn it-!」

His frantic movements cause him to bump into a large mirror, knocking it down. It smashes on the floor with a loud crash, leaving broken pieces of glass all over the floor, some sliding and tumbling towards Rosaria.

Seemingly unperturbed by the broken mirror, Rosaria, raises her slender eyebrows. 「Kill you...? What are you saying... Aren't you too hasty? There's no way he—」

「The man you once knew is no more! Why can't you see that!?」 Xal shouts, interrupting her.

Rosaria falls silent and goes into deep thought with a conflicted expression on her face.

「What do you plan to do... once... he finds you?」 reluctantly, she poses a rhetorical question, having closed her eyes before fully confirming her fears.

「Kill him before he kills me, what else?」

「What!? There's no way we-, I mean, you, can do that!」 stumbling on her words, she hisses while feeling her chest tighten. Clutching it, she sways on her feet.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, she mutters to no one in particular, 「W...what should we do? Can we really defy the heavens?」 her voice comes out trembling.

Xal finally stops packing and meets her eyes.

「Don't worry, I've got a plan」

He then turns around with an ominous mutter 「I will defeat them all...」

Rosaria doesn't fail to hear that, her beautiful face turning grim, and a cold shiver runs through her body.

Watching Xal's back, smaller and looking emaciated compared to the Hero's, she feels like she can't recognize the man she thought she knew since they first met several years ago before venturing out to kill the Demon King.

A squeezing sensation starts welling up from within her abdomen.

She turns her gaze to the ground, almost not recognizing her own reflection in the small piece of broken glass at her feet. She hugs herself tightly as if to protect herself.

「Why did it come to this...? I just...」 she mutters to no one in particular.

「You're at a crossroads, Rosaria」Xal interrupts, walking further back into the room.

Upon hearing this, she raises her head only to meet Xal's cold, sharp look, causing her to reflexively take a step back.

「But I don't want to kill Hero!」 she screams.

「Fine. Then go back. I won't blame you if you go back to the happy and comfortable life」 he says, idle-mindedly pushing aside a box that stood by the mirror with his foot. 「Take a bath at the palace, have your attendants scrub your back clean, and groom your hair. Have them grant each one of your wishes, then forget about me」

Memories of her and the Hero start coursing through her mind. She remembers how they met, how infatuated and lucky she felt about being the only woman privileged enough to stand alongside him, to be with him. How happy she was that he could take her out adventuring and explore the world. The dangers they went through. How safe he made her feel.

【No, I...】

She bites her lips and walks towards Xal, her feet stepping on the broken glass and leaving bloody prints in her wake. She reaches out and coils her arms around Xal's body in a full embrace.

「Don't say that,」 she mutters, streams of tears rolling down her cheeks.

She looks up at him with determined eyes and musters a smile through her crying eyes while bearing an expression befitting of a small girl bravely recovering from a painful fall - hurt but not discouraged. Her eyes light up when the two's gazes meet.

「Let's escape, but you need to start calling me Rosa already ❤」

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