The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

32 - In The Shadow You Cast - Part 2

Eric Celeste's Point Of View

I stare quietly at the sleeping figure in front of me.

The doctors managed to stabilize her... they say she has a very strong will to live, so she will be fine they say. Again... I cannot do anything...

She's covered in bandages. Only her shoulders have been spared the injuries because of the Guard Captain's mantle... but... this is too cruel... Even if she makes it through this... even if she heals up without problems... she will be covered in battle scars on her arms, chest and a couple on her back...

How do I announce this to his Highness? How do I tell him that her skin is tainted, and that she would never be able to wear a low cut dress? How do I tell her that she will likely have her engagement canceled, and that she will never be married because of this?

...After everything she has been through, I wonder how she can sleep so soundly and so relaxed... she looks peaceful while seemingly covered in a veil of moonlight shining in from her window...

Again I sit in the shadow and watch over her from the sidelines...

I wonder when it turned out like this... I was never bad at anything. I always did my best. I fought hard to get stronger than Lionel, and I worked hard on economics and diplomacy so I could be a good Lord, and a good aide for the Crown Prince...

I was always better than Lily at fitting in. Even when I pretended to be quiet I gained friends... I always fixed the bridges Lily burned as well... I was always in the light that encompassed the crown prince... I could always look at Lily who was pushed into the shadows whenever we were compared... so why did it change? When did she get a light of her own?

Why was I in the shadow though I'd worked so hard?...

Or am I, like she had been, just sharing the light of his Highness without making my own?

---*---

Morning arrived with a pale grey light and a light rain. Lily's room was dark, as only a stripe of light moved between the nearly closed curtains. I hadn't slept. I couldn't sleep... after everything that's happened.

The doctors did say she probably wouldn't wake up... but at least I'll stay here until anything happens outside...

The Zocrian Army arrived last night and set up camp by the outer rings of our castle... all 2000 men...

In comparison our castle could usually muster around 1700 fighting men... but most of those were gone for the northern passage along with my father...

At the moment we had most 500... Marquess Folcon Guimont, our enemy, wasn't alone. He must've gotten assistance from someone else as well... were we really going to war? Would we be okay? If we were attacked right now... wouldn't we fall? No matter how you look at it... the number gap is just too big...

I soft rustle shook me from my troubled thoughts... and in front of me Lily sat up as if she wasn't in pain at all. Her expression was distant and didn't suit her otherwise cute face...

Our eyes met, and a painful silence appeared between us as she studied me.

...

"Who are you?" I asked those words without thinking them through... but the person in front of me was definitely Lily... but it wasn't Lily... Lily could never... never be like that...

"...A ghost... I suppose." Her voice was still and calm like the pond on a windless night. Her frail female body that was weaker than usual seemed almost ethereal when she said that...