Kiz didn’t know how she had managed to run out… She only knew that she had run all the way into an abandoned storage room deep inside the castle.
This was a quiet place, much like the wine cellar, where almost no one ever visited.
After the door closed, she slid down against the wall and sat on the floor.
Then… she buried her face in her knees, her shoulders shaking violently.
Her sobs echoed in the cramped space.
And then she remembered Elia’s words: “It’s just the contract.”
Just. The. Contract.
Those four words stabbed into her heart like knives.
During the time she had spent with Elia, she thought they had already transcended the contract… She even thought Elia genuinely liked her.
So it was just the contract after all… And she was just a little blood bag to maintain the contract’s stability… or perhaps a little toy to vent desires on…
The thought made Kiz cry even louder.
She, she was just… just so worried about Elia… That’s why she had lost control of her emotions back then… And then… Elia actually…
Then, Kiz remembered the first time she saw Elia, that little Saintess with golden hair looking so flustered in the mirror. She was really cute.
And the pain when Elia reversed the contract and bit her neck. At that moment, she really wanted to tear that demon to pieces.
And the warm feeling of Elia holding her while sleeping… The way Elia bullied her every day, then gently comforted her… The utterly panicked, nearly insane look on Elia’s face when she herself was poisoned.
And the most important one… Elia’s domineering yet gentle tone when she said, “You’ll always be mine, Princess Kiz~”
Were all of those… fake? All because of the contract?
Kiz didn’t know.
All she knew was that she had truly fallen in love with Elia.
She didn’t know when it started.
But by the time she realized it, she was already hopelessly in love.
That’s why she was so scared, so angry when Elia said she was going to throw her life away… At that moment, she really wanted to tear off Elia’s limbs, so she truly couldn’t leave her.
But even so, she understood Elia’s pain.
Those nightmares, those memory fragments, that feeling of her mind being on the verge of breaking… She hadn’t experienced them herself, but she could imagine it.
But! She really couldn’t let Elia go to her death.
She would rather die herself than see anything happen to Elia.
Kiz lifted her head and looked into the dark corner… The tear stains on her face weren’t even dry yet, but new tears were already flowing.
“Elia… you idiot… sob sob…”
Back in the Sleeping Palace, Elia sat by the window, looking out at the night.
The wounds on her body still hurt, but she didn’t heal them.
She… wanted these wounds to remind her of what had just happened.
How could she have said those things? Those hurtful words…
Elia covered her face.
The look in Kiz’s eyes when she left contained anger, sadness, and, of course, what hurt Elia the most… despair… despair towards her.
What should she do? What on earth should she do next!
In her past life as a man, she had argued and fought with her brothers. No matter how badly they fought, they would still be good buddies and brothers the next day.
But this situation was different! First, both she and Kiz were girls. The guys’ methods might not work here.
Second, she and Kiz liked each other… It was a relationship somewhere between friends and lovers… And when people in such a relationship argue or even fight, the probability of never speaking to each other again is extremely high.
No, no… She couldn’t accept a life without Kiz by her side.
So, Elia took a deep breath and stood up.
She had to go find Kiz.
Whether Kiz wanted to see her or not, she had to apologize.
However, just as she reached the door and was about to open it, she suddenly stopped because she heard footsteps outside the door… The next second, the door was pushed open.
It was Kiz… Kiz had come to find her on her own.
Seeing Kiz’s appearance, which clearly showed she had just been crying her eyes out, Elia’s heart felt as if pierced by ten thousand arrows.
“Kiz…”
“Don’t speak. Let me talk first.” Kiz’s voice was hoarse.
She walked step by step to stand in front of Elia and said, “I’m sorry.”
Hearing this, Elia was stunned.
“You… what did you say?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you earlier, and I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“No, no, no, no! I’m the one who should be apologizing… I shouldn’t have said those things, and I especially shouldn’t have ignored your feelings and…”
But Kiz placed a finger on Elia’s continuously moving lips, cutting her off, and then said, “I know you’re in pain. I know you’re being tormented by those memories to the point of madness… I also know you want to investigate because you don’t want to keep living like this.”
Elia tried to speak again, but Kiz interrupted her a second time.
“But! I really can’t let you go to your death… I really can’t! We’ve both calmed down now, right… So let’s plan this out carefully together.”
“We’ll attend the meeting together this afternoon, okay?”
Looking into Princess Kiz’s expectant eyes, Elia remained silent for a long time.
Then, she chose to pull the little princess into her warm embrace.
“Mm, okay…” Elia said softly.
Hearing this, Kiz’s tears fell again.
But this time, they were tears of happiness.
In the time that followed, the two checked each other’s wounds.
Elia’s arms were covered in bloody scratches from Kiz’s nails, some of which were still bleeding, and the bite mark on her shoulder had already begun to turn purple.
As for Kiz, there were a few scratches on her cheeks… After all, Elia’s nails weren’t short either… The other places had mostly healed, but she had deliberately kept the scratches on her face from healing.
“By the way, why didn’t you heal the wounds on your face?” Elia asked.
“I wanted to keep feeling this pain until we truly made up…” Kiz said with great seriousness.
This made Elia’s heart clench again… So she reached out and gently stroked the scratches on Kiz’s face, saying, “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too… I caused a lot more wounds on you.”
“Heh, I never thought I’d actually lose in a hand-to-hand fight against you… The vampire physique is no joke.” Elia teased.
“Hey hey hey, it’s Blood Clan! Not vampire!” Kiz said, but she laughed as she spoke. “Forget it, call it whatever you like.”
Next, Elia began using magic to heal the wounds on her body.
Watching the scratches on Elia’s arms slowly healing, Kiz suddenly said, “Leave them.”
Elia was taken aback. “What? Leave them?”
“Yes, these marks. Keep them.” Kiz nodded.
“Why?”
“Because it’s like the cross on your hand… Ah, the ones on my face still need to be healed after we make up, since I am still a princess after all.”
Elia looked down at her right wrist. The blood-red cross was still there… She smiled and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll leave them.”
After holding each other for a while longer, Kiz finally spoke. “Hey, Elia, let’s officially make up… and never fight again.”
“Mm-hmm.” Elia nodded heavily.
The two looked at each other and both smiled.
Sigh… The farce was over, and peace was finally restored… But they both knew the problem wasn’t solved yet.
The Holy Grail Order was watching from the shadows, Elia’s memory fragments were still tormenting her, and there was still that “Wolf” organization eyeing them covetously.
But at least now they were together, and they could face it together.