ALL NOVEL Chapter 176: You Are Not Him
Beneath the shelter of the tall trees of the forest, the gentle wind blew, making Cahira's beautiful jet-black hair sway and rub on her teary cheeks. She was standing while staring directly at the person in front of her while standing at the destroyed vegetables he ravaged.
Cahira brushed the tears on her face. "But it's not your fault, I am the one who assumed it. I am the one to blame." She gently smiled at Leal while trying to hide the overwhelming pain in her eyes.
On the other hand, Leal's body shivered as he slowly walked back. He screamed as he ran away from the scene. "I despise you! I despise you so much!" With great speed and with both anger and overwhelming guilt written all over his young beautiful face, he fled back to where he came from without even looking back.
"Prince Leal!" With great concern on her face, Cahira called for him. "Don't run in that route! It's downhill!"
However, Leal continued blindly running down the path. Every moment, his motion became faster due to the shape of the terrain, making it extremely hard for his small body to regulate his momentum. As the realization occurred, panic instantly arose on Leal's face as he tried to slow his movement down, but he was just getting faster and faster.
"Stop! Stop!" He whimpered as he saw the end of the route he was heading to. A cliff.
As he ran in terror, he did not notice the roots sticking out from the ground. One of them knocked his foot making him tumble to the ground. As he landed, he rolled through the ground while screaming in pain before lunging in the stony part of the edge of the cliff.
The young prince fell to the edge of the cliff that could have been the cause of his end. However, he was lucky enough to get a hold of a root sticking out from the rocks.
Leal's dirty face slowly rose up, but he could not climb up and raise his entire body hanging in the air. He pointed his left hand in the air and activated his only skill, Mystic Thread, but the only thing that he manifested was a single weak, white web coming from his index finger.
The panic on his face intensified as he stared at the web he created swaying in the wind. "Help!" He screamed with a voice filled with horror. "Someone help me!"
For a brief moment, he looked down and tears immediately came out of his eyes as he saw what was beneath, the only thing that he would land on were stone spikes.
"Take my hand!"
Leal raised his head upon hearing the soft voice coming above. However, he showed not even a hint of relief upon seeing who it was. "Don't you dare touch me, curse! You are the reason why this happened! You cursed me!" He screamed while ignoring the hand handing over him. "Help! Anyone! Help me! Is anyone of the scouts hearing me!"
Ignoring what she just heard, Cahira leaned closer toward Leal while extending her hand. "Just take my hand already! No one is around, if there is even a single scout nearby, they have already helped you, it's just me!"
"Stay away from me, you filthy curse!" Leal tried to pull himself up, but his hands were starting to shiver. "I will never accept any help coming from you! I hate you and you can never make me acknowledge that you are my sister! Never! You are a monster!" He screamed loudly. "Hel-"
"Listen to me, you annoying, awful prince!" Leal was cut by an irritated voice coming from Cahira.
"Hah?" Leal stared at her with great surprise on his face.
"I hate you too! You are an arrogant prince who thinks so highly of yourself and has no problem hurting anyone just because you felt like doing so!" She screamed while looking at him with great pain in her eyes. "You destroyed the things I considered as my treasures! You destroyed the plants I spent a lot of time and effort growing! You destroyed Queen Ayani's letter, one of the things that makes me believe that someone cares for me, despite what hurtful words everyone says about me! And most of all, you ruined the wonderful image of prince Leal to me... Prince Leal is gentle, kind and a loving person... just like his father, King Asmit." She shook her hand while handing it to Leal. "You are not him, you are not the prince Leal I know. But... I will still insist on saving you even though I hate you so much... I must, because that's what Queen Ayani taught me."
Leal's jaw dropped while staring at Cahira, after a few moments, his left arm moved, and reached out for her hand.
On the other hand, some spectators were just watching while hiding in the thickness of the trees as the incident transpired. Waiting for the right time to intervene. Five elves wearing white clothing were staring at the two while squatting on the huge branch of a tree.
"Should we step in now, Prince Hien?" Asked one of the elves while staring at Prince Hien.
Prince Hien slowly shook his head. "No. It's fine." He stood up and expressed a gentle smile while staring at the two people beneath, while the cursed child was pulling the third prince of Erela out of the cliff. "Quite interesting." He turned his back. "I'll be taking my leave now, pick Leal up before he reaches the cliff. Don't let him cross it alone because I don't think he can cross the cliff in that state. As much as I want to pick him up myself, I don't want him to know that I have been following him. That's a little bit too much for a loving big brother that I am."
"I understand, Your Highness."
Upon reaching the ground, Leal lay down on the rocks while chasing his own breath. On the other hand, Cahira sat down on the stony ground a meter away from Leal.
For a whole minute, both of them remained silent while just feeling the gentle touch of the wind. Nothing could be heard but the chirping of the birds, the flow of the water from the river nearby, and the movement of the trees as the wind blew.
Slowly, Cahira exhaled before shifting her gaze to Leal. "I should not have said what I said, I am fully aware that it was very disrespectful to say such things to a princ-"
"I don't care..." Leal stood up and turned his back to Cahira. "It doesn't matter to me." He said as he started to walk toward the route toward the kingdom while limping and trying his best not to make any groan. "I'm going home, this place is ridiculous."
Without even looking back... Leal left, leaving Cahira behind just watching her with concern on her beautiful face.
"Prince Leal?"