Eyyyy~ it's been a while. Tee-hee (^_^メ)

~~~~~

"Gusion! Stop running around!" He heard his older brother Aamon told him as soon as he ran off.

The naughty eight-year old Gusion just looked back and stuck out his tongue before using his newly discovered skill— Incandescense— which was his ability to teleport and dash in a short distance.

Today was the birthday of the crown princess of the Moniyan Empire— Silvanna— that was why they were in the Celestial Palace for her birthday banquet.

And Gusion hates banquet— or more on like, he hates socializing with other noble kids.

All he wanted was to practice his skills— dagger skills and not the boring magic spells from the Elders.

Gusion continued walking until he reached the Western Expanse. This was actually the training ground of the Moniyan Knights.

His eyes twinkled in delight because he would be able to kill some time here until the banquet was finished.

He took off his suit and it revealed the dagger holder that was attached to his waist.

Gusion was practicing his Sword Spike and Shawdowblade Slaughter to the creeps but then as he threw one of his daggers, it missed and nearly hit a figure that passed by.

"Harley!"

A female voice was heard out of nowhere. The figure that supposed to be hit by his dagger was gone and was replaced by a top hat.

But he noticed that a long haired girl was holding his dagger.

Since his dagger— Light Ray— had his magic rune, he was able to move towards her without any difficulty.

And there he was standing in front of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

The girl had long magenta hair in braids, green eyes, and a remarkable hairpin with blue feathers.

She was wearing suit and pants.

A dame?

Out of nowhere, a little boy re-appeared with a top hat. He immediately glared at him and pushed him away from the girl.

"Stay away from my sister!" The little boy shouted while glaring at him.

"Harley, that's bad. What did I say when talking to other people? Don't raise your voice." The girl kneeled in front of the little boy and fixed his hair.

Then the beautiful girl turned to him, "I'm so sorry for my little brother's behavior." She smiled at him and handed him his dagger, "I believe this is yours?"

Gusion wasn't able to speak and was just staring at her but he was able to get the dagger from her.

"Are you all alone here? Wasn't it dangerous for you practicing alone?" The beautiful girl added.

It must be her sister's instincts kicking in. She's like an older sister.

"I-I'm used to practice alone. I prefer practicing alone." Gusion answered shyly.

The beautiful girl smiled again, "Oh, that's amazing. But you still need to be careful."

Gusion noticed the brooch that Harley and the beautiful girl were wearing.

Even though he skipped a lot of lessons, he knew that the symbol the brooch they were wearing was the symbol of the Vance family— the ducal family of the North.

But why they aren't look like each other? But she called him little brother?

The little brat looked like four years younger than him and was still glaring at him.

The beautiful girl was much taller than him, so he assumed that she was older than him. Maybe she had the same age as his older brother Aamon.

Around fifteen, maybe? So we have seven years gap.

"Young Master! Miss Lesley!" A group of knights arrived, wearing the uniform of Vance knights.

So her name is Lesley. Gusion thought. What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl like her.

"I already found Harley. Thank you for your help, everyone." Lesley told the knights. "Please help him escort back to banquet. I need to check the area again."

The knights bowed and escoreted Harley back even though the latter was throwing tantrums.

He heard Lesley giggled at the sight of her little brother while giving him some small waves.

She turned to him and gave him a small smile but he stopped her.

"Wait!" Gusion exclaimed.

Lesley stopped and looked at him, "Hmm?"

"Uhh... Will—" His throat became dry, "—will you marry me?"

Lesley was too stunned to speak for a minute before she let out a hearty laugh.

On the other hand, Gusion felt insulted because for him, there was nothing funny with what he said.

She was still laughing while wiping some tears in her eyes, "Oh my goodness, it's been a while since I laughed like that. Goodness."

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious! Marry me." Gusion repeated.

Lesley looked like she was about to laugh again but she tried to stop herself. "Aren't you too young for that?"

"Young marriage isn't new in nobles and aristocrats." He reasoned.

And that was true, some kids of his age were even engaged already. Their parents have already decided their marriage partners.

But Gusion wasn't worrying about that because the Elders wasn't paying attention to him because he was being rebellious.

"You should enjoy your childhood, young man." Lesley gave her a sad smile. "Do what you want."

"But I want to marry you." Gusion frowned at her.

Lesley chuckled, "You're still insisting on that."

But he looked so determined and the beautiful girl must have seen that.

Lesley chuckled once more and took a deep breath, "Alright, if you are really determined mardying me."

Gusion's face lightened up, "Really?"

"Yeah, sure." She kneeled in front of him to face him and patted his head, "You can marry me when you get taller."

=====

"Bullshit." Gusion cursed as he brushed off the branches in front of him.

Fuck those Elders! Fuck my ancestor for bringing this fucking curse to me!

He just turned eighteen and he eloped from the Castle Aberleen. He had enough of the Elders and his older brother Aamon who was the duke now when their father passed away three years ago.

He recently discovered the curse in the Paxley family, and unfortunately, he was the bearer of the curse now.

What a fucking life.

To end all of this, he needs to find the Heart of Anima— a part of the Twilight Orb to end this fucking curse.

"Bullshit for my great-grandmother for being crazy about love. Didn't even think the next generation of her family will suffer. Bullshit." Gusion mumbled as he continued to walk in the never-ending forest he was in.

But maybe, being crazy in love was really a characteristic of the Paxley family.

Because he was still crazy for a girl named Lesley whom he met only once and not to mention it has been ten years when he first and last saw her.

Gusion didn't know how long he was wandering inside the forest. He was thankful he practiced a lot in the woods when he was younger so he was used to hunting animals and camping.

But unfortunately, the seal of his curse was slowly breaking and now the pawns of Kalon was following Gusion.

Really, fuck this life! Gusion thought as he killed the demons of Kalon one by one.

He was already too tired of running and fighting that he wanted to die already.

It may be impossible but I want to see her again at least before I die. Gusion thought as he closed his eyes while he was being surrounded by the demons.

Until he heard a gunshot.

The demons were startled by the loud sound of the gunshot and they all looked at the direction where it came from.

From there, Gusion saw a figure with a long braided hair holding a sniper rifle.

And there he saw the woman he had been dying to see again.

Under the moonlight, he saw her beautiful face once again but she was wearing an eyepatch now but it didn't made her less beautiful.

She became more beautiful even. How did she do that?

But his daydreaming was cutoff when he realized that the demons were now targeting her.

He immediately teleported towards her and grabbed her hand to run away.

They ended up in a cave and the demons were not around anymore. Both of them were panting from running.

"What are you doing all alone here? It's dangerous." Lesley said. She seemingly didn't recognize him but it felt like a déja vu to Gusion.

"I could say the same thing to you." Gusion said while looking at her, as if he was memorizing every detail in her face.

She still had her beauty mark— a mole under her right eye— and her remarkable hairpin with blue feathers.

"What are those creatures? I don't encounter them until now." She asked while fixing her blue suit.

"Some demons." He shortly answered.

Lesley silently started a fire for some heat because the night was getting colder. They were both silent while sitting and staring at the fire in front of them.

"Don't you... recognize me?" Gusion asked softly, just enought for her to be heard.

That made Lesley looked at him and she frowned as if she was trying to remember him.

It took her a few minutes until her face lightened up, "Ah! You're that young man from the Celestial Palace! The dagger boy?"

Gusion cringed with the term she said but he nodded nonetheless, "Yeah, that's me."

"What a coincidence. It's been ten years I think?" She said, amazed.

"Yeah, ten years..." He trailed, "How old are you now?"

"Twenty-five?" She answered in confusion, "And you?"

"Eighteen."

"Oh, I'm seven years older than you. I feel too old." Lesley said, "Must be the reason why my sister's instincts took up earlier."

He glared at her, not liking the term sister and before she knew it, he was already beside her.

Lesley was startled that she was about to stumble from where she was sitting but he caught her on her waist to support her. They were now facing each other and their faces were too close.

"H-hey, y-you're too close—"

"My name is Gusion." He cut her.

"Alright. Gusion, you're too close—"

"I do hope that you still remember what you said ten years ago, Lesley." Gusion cut her again while staring at her.

Lesley frowned a little while trying to remember what he was saying.

Gusion then pulled them up to stand. He was still holding her waist while they were standing.

Ten years ago, Lesley was taller than her and his height was just about her neck before.

But now that they were standing in front of each other, Lesley's height just reached his shoulder amd he was much taller than her now. She was even tilting her head upwards while they were looking at each other.

After a while, Gusion saw that Lesley's eyes widened. Maybe she remembered now what she said ten years ago.

"I am much taller than you now." Gusion smirked at her while still holding her waist and held her chin, "Marry me, Lesley."

~~~~~

A short update everyone. Hehe.

Okay, this will be a long note— it will be up to you if you will read it or not but this is the reason why I haven't updated for the last months.

You all know how stressed I am in my work, right? I was really thinking of resigning from work already— like I was already searching online for new jobs but I got offered by the other department (which is design department) to just transfer to them instead of resigning from my current company and I accepted it.

So around October, I already informed my heads about this and they tried to negotiate with me but I already firmly said no. My psoriasis was triggered a lot of times already and I haven't have any proper sleep because of stress so I was really decided to leave the QS department.

And I thought I would have lesser workload when I informed them about transferring, but dear goodness... NO! Instead, my senior gave a LOT of NEW workloads instead of transitioning or turnover of my workloads to my colleagues! What the actual fuck?!

Especially this November-December since it was year-end so the departments involving money (which are finance and QS) were really busy because a lot of subcontractors were rushing because of 13th month pay. Plus the rush awarding of packages, monitoring updates, and the irritating Contracts department! My blood is boiling, goodness.

I have low blood but I felt I would have a high blood because of them.

So there, hopefully I can transfer to the design department this January so I can be more free to write and less stressed because finally, I won't talk to any subcontractors once I transfer to design department. Yay! What a dream come true for an introvert like me. HAHA.

So yeah, that's the reason. I'm so sorry for not updating. I'm enjoying my vacation to relax and I still don't know when I will update MLPDNM and Saved. But don't worry, I'll finish those two books but it might take a long time so please bear with me.

Thank you for still staying with me and I hope you're still with me in 2024. Love you all (◍•ᴗ•◍)✧*。