Chapter 23: Golden Feather
At the time, Rihannan refuted Hertia’s words inwardly, but she did not speak her thoughts out loud and drank the tea quietly instead. However, Hertia laughed lightly, reading the lines in Rihannan’s face.
“Rihannan, you don’t believe me. Look, I put on my battle armor shortly after the birth of my child and dashed straight through the battlefield to keep the crown that rightfully belonged to me. And what of your mother? Wasn’t your mother, who was usually so gentle, kept her beloved man by her side by all means? Keep my words in mind. Igor is the same. He won’t give up on you so easily.”
But the Queen… she was wrong. She was wise and all-knowing beyond her years, yet she knew nothing about her son.
Her words only gave Rihannan false expectations of a happy ever after.
Igor Cesca, he was a cruel man. Knowing he could not see his future heir with her, he abandoned her, used her as a scapegoat to remove her power, and stripped her of her status until she had nothing.
And so while the sailor believed in Ataraxia, the little young girl did not. She had died, her belief of the world perished beyond saving for all she saw was nothing but darkness.
“Mary.”
Mary turned her head at Rihannan’s call.
Rihannan watched the whirling sea. Igor, he was like the sea. She fell for the way his surface sparkled, but failed to see the unknown that rested in his depths.
“Yes, Miss?”
“It’s a little chilly. Could you please head to the cabin and grab my shawl?” Rihannan said, crossing her arms.
“Yes! One moment, please.”
Mary hustled straight to the cabin to pick up the shawl.
A moment later, Rihannan took out an item she kept close to her.
It was a golden feather.
From the moment she received the golden feather and up until her death, she kept it as treasure. It was foolish of her to keep it now.
Rihannan closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and threw the feather on the deep blue sea. The feather, it floated atop the waves, but soon sank and disappeared without a trace.
Not long after, Mary came back and brought Rihannan her woolen shawl.
“Actually, Mary, come to think of it, I think it’s better that we go back inside. I’m feeling a little chilly and I think I’m coming down with a cold. I’m sorry for the trouble…”
Rihannan gave a weak smile.
“Oh, Miss, it’s quite alright. If you catch a cold, now that’d be a big problem for the both of us.”
Mary headed towards the stern of the ship with Rihannan and soon arrived in front of the cabin. Mary’s footsteps was large and ahead of Rihannan. She stood at the side waiting for the young lady, and the moment Rihannan opened the door, there was a commotion on the port.
Two people riding atop a horse stopped at the docks. They shouted out loud, but their voices could not reach the ship that had left the sea minutes ago. A young boy riding the horse jumped off, but it was too hurried to the point of causing the horse to trip over.
Soon after, the boy clamored and argued with the sailors. By gesture alone, it seemed like an order to turn the ship around. Annoyed, the seafarers surrounded the boy threateningly to stop his loud and violent protest. A much older man who followed the boy jumped off his horse and pulled out a knife from his waist.
Mary gasped at the sight, her eyes keen.
When Rihannan heard the clamor slightly, she stopped in her tracks and looked up at Mary.
“Mary, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing much, Miss. There’s a bunch of guys at the harbor behaving like thugs. It’s nothing we need to worry.”
Mary pushed Rihannan towards the cabin, not wanting her to witness the sight.
“If they wanted to get on the ship, they should have arrived earlier, else they’d be late. What’s wrong with them? Anyway, there’s a lot of people in this world who have no common sense, Miss.”
“Did that really happen?” Rihannan looked at Mary and smiled.
The two ladies entered the cabin and closed the door behind tightly. In the middle of the door was a printed image of Ataraxia soaring into the sky.
Meanwhile, in the harbor, the boy looked at the distant ship with a blank countenance. Behind him was a man confronting the frenzied sailors alone with his trusty sword.
The sailors, they grew livid at the boy’s excessive demands and the man’s subsequent threats to the point that they too pulled out their weapons. As the sailors narrowed the gap gradually, the man with his trusty sword whispered hurriedly to the boy behind him.
“Your Ma… Mr. Igor, do something about this, or we’re both going to die!”
But the boy’s eyes were glued to the sea, uninterested in anything but the ship leaving Arundell. And then, he opened his mouth.
“Go and apologize. Give them your bag,” the young boy said, eyes remaining unmoved. This would not have happened had they left minutes earlier.
“But…”
“Then go and take care of them all by yourself.”
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