Chapter 16

Faust made an appearance before them. His long black hair and red eyes burned through them, and Cerise felt unimaginable horror mount in her heart. She knew that this was the man who took away her sister’s soul. This was the man who had stolen her heart and she was left empty, without any emotions, without any hope or sadness or despair. Anything would've been better than the emptiness that she felt inside. She couldn’t even rouse anger towards the man, though Cerise’s words were cold and sharp towards the Mage.

“Give my sister’s soul back,” Cerise said, and Faust chuckled at this, as though he found Cerise’s words apparently very amusing.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Faust said in a patient tone as though he were lecturing a child, and Roselle attempted to stand up on her leg but Viola restrained her.

“You were hoping for an encounter with me, weren’t you?” Faust said, as he stepped forward and touched Cerise’s cheek. She tilted her head away from his inquiring gaze, and Faust murmured.

“Beautiful like your sister. Red hair, shining bright like January embers. Well, you may despise me now, but you will become a willing servant soon enough.”

“I would never come along with you!” Cerise said, and Faust quirked a brow at her.

“Oh? You will willingly save your friends though, would you? I have a plan, and I will make a deal with you right now. I kill your friends if you don’t come with me, or I will spare them if you do come along with me willingly. It’s your choice.”

Cerise bit her lip. “That’s not fair!”

“Life isn’t fair,” Faust said with an amused grin, before flicking some of his long black hair.

Cerise looked back to Roselle, and Roselle was saying something though Cerise couldn’t quite hear her. She looked steadfastly towards Faust again and said. “I will do it. To save my friends.”

“Very good,” Faust said, before smiling amiably at her. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? It was an easy decision to make. It looks like you might get your heart back after all, and your friends still live.”

Cerise stared stoically ahead, though something brushed past her eyes; tears? Was she crying? SHe didn’t think she would be crying, she thought she purged all these tears out of her long time ago when her mother died, her sister’s soul became stolen, and her heart was taken as well. She still had some tears to shed after all, but what good did they do? She was so pathetic, without a heart, without feeling; the tears were like theatrics, her stone heart breaking. She wasn’t mourning the loss of her friends, she was crying tears of joy because they were spared. They would still live, that’s all that mattered, didn’t it?

Yet Cerise wept, with a curiously blank expression on her face while she did so.

Roselle…Viola…please come to save me, Cerise thought while she tried her hardest to forget Roselle’s face when she departed with Faust. The Princess cried and pleaded and begged with Cerise, though her mind was made up. She would not let her friends die.

—x—

Roselle cried. This was the first time she’s cried since Cerise broke her heart and reminded her that her title was nearly lost and the fact that she couldn’t use magic. It was worse this time, however, because she actually grew to care about Cerise and even perhaps love her, until Faust took Cerise away from her. She couldn’t doanythingg, stupid her, because she was powerless and she hated feeling powerless. But what can she do with an injured leg? She can’t follow after them, and Viola had to tend to or else Chimera could possibly stalk and hunt her down.

How did this all happen? Roselle felt dizzied from the prospects. Viola looked over to the ocean, before saying, “It’s not safe here. We must prioritize your safety above all else, Princess Roselle.”

“But,” Roselle said between sobs. “What should we do about Cerise?”

“There will be no rescuing of Cerise if we don’t give you proper time to heal and mend. It will be uncomfortable going back on the ship, but we need to go back to the Soreno Kingdom. Perhaps Prince Caspian and Prince Nautilus can help us with this situation.”

After Roselle had a good cry, she wiped her tears on her sleeve and nodded slowly. IT was no use crying and doing nothing. As much as she hated sitting around and being told to hold back for the sake of Cerise, she would do so because she knew there were no other options left. Sometimes a tactical retreat was necessary. Though Roselle silently promised to herself that she would get back to Faust. Somehow, someway. She will never forgive him for putting her father in a magical coma, and she will never forgive him for taking away her beloved Cerise.

They made their way on the ship back to the Soreno Kingdom without incident. Roselle had a blank expression on her face, and when Prince Caspian saw her look that way, he immediately knew something was wrong. He didn’t ask where Cerise was; he knew that somehow during the operation that Cerise got kidnapped by Faust.

Roselle rested in a spare bedroom, waiting for her leg to recover. Caspian would sometimes drop by and read her poems and stories from books from the Soreno library, but none of them cheered her up. She could only think about Cerise and what Faust could possibly be doing to her. She shuddered at the memory of the man’s red eyes, which stripped her bare to her vulnerabilities.

When her leg recovered, Roselle tried to practice her swordplay, though her footwork was clumsy and she couldn’t perform the dancing flash step that she could do before. Caspian sparred with her occasionally, though he could tell that Roselle would never be able to perform her flash step again, which means the Grand Duelist title could be easily taken away from her now.

“Where could Faust be?” Roselle wondered aloud.

Prince Caspian put a hand on her shoulder. “There is a way to save her. I had Viola investigate and he’s hiding in a swampland forest where the Philosopher’s Stone is being kept. Along with Cerise. He intends to enact some sort of ritual, something that he’s intending to use Cerise for. Your leg has recovered, though you don’t have to join this battle if you don’t want. There are some battles you can’t win, and…”

Roselle gave Prince Caspian a cold look, and he remained silent. After a while, the coldness in gaze dissolved into tears, before she said. “I can’t give up. I mustn’t give up. My whole life’s ambition was to become the best and never let the impossible stop me. But oh, I’ve been brought down from the heavens and down to the earth; just a pathetic little girl who can’t save the one who’s important to her.”

“We will track him down,” Caspian said. “Together. “Princess Nautilus, Viola, and yourself will be one a rescue team to recover Cerise from Faust.”

“Thank you, Caspian,” Roselle said, sniffing as she wracked out the last few sobs. “I can still fight. But…I wonder if Cerise…”

“I don’t know what happened to her during that time,” Caspian said. “But we’re going to save her. All right?”

“All right,” Roselle said, before suddenly clasping Capsian in a tight hug. Caspian seemed surprised, though he slowly embraced her and helped calm her tears.

—x--

“Your friends should be coming for you,” Faust said in his manor while preparing a kettle of tea. He poured a cup for himself and then for Cerise, who was dressed up in a gothic lolita attire that became her. However, no matter what Faust put before her, she would not eat and drink. Faust noticed this, and let out a sigh.

“If you’re not going to eat or drink, you will starve to death,” Faust said not unkindly. “I can always reanimate your corpse, and trust me, that’s not a pleasant experience. At least while you’re still alive as my servant, you have a choice. As a mindless corpse, all control is relinquished and our will and mind are manipulated by someone else.”

Cerise’s lip curled. She hated Faust. She wanted to throw the tea in his face, the plate of biscuits at him.

“I will never serve you,” Cerise spat, while Faust looked amused.

“You did it to save your friends, but what does being a martyr serve you? You’re needlessly causing your own suffering. Having immortality together wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

“I can barely stand a minute of you,” Cerise said. “Let alone an eternity.”

“Suit yourself,” Faust said, before tipping his cup towards her. ‘Cheers.”

Cerise finally relented and drank her tea. It tasted like ashes.

Cerise hurled the cup away from her, and Faust looked up and frowned.

“Don’t do that. That was a good china cup, you know.”

“What was in that tea?” Cerise said before Faust chuckled humorlessly.

“Something to soothe you to sleep,” Faust said. “I hear you screaming form unpleasant dreams at night.”

Cerise heart thumped in her throat.

“What do I say?”

Faust shrugged.”Incoherent things. Sometimes you’ll call for your sister, then your mother, and eventually for Roselle. Tell me, how important is this Roselle to you?”

Cerise remained silent, before saying, “She means the world to me.”

“I think it’s about time that I paid her a visit,” Faust said cheerfully, straightening his gentleman’s tie and turning to leave.

“What’re you going to do?” Cerise asked before Faust smiled towards her.

“Nothing, in particular. Just want to know about this person who has so enamored you.”

“Don’t do anything to her…” Cerise whispered, “Please.”

“Well, I can keep that promise,” Faust said cheerfully. “The others, however, are fair game.”

“No. No!” Cerise said, though Faust swept out of the manor and kept her bound in the chamber. She watched him depart, and Cerise wondered how they would manage to defeat a madman like Faust.