“Ran-sama, don’t tell me it was…” as if Belle realised that she had said too much, she immediately covered her mouth.

 

Ran’s expression twisted. 

 

That bitch! 

 

She clenched her fists to the point her knuckles turned white. Holding back her frustrated tears that had gathered in her eyes at bay, she turned to face Belle, coming ever closer to her breaking point.

 

“Tell me! When was it?  You have been with me all the time,” Ran questioned Belle.

“I...” Belle had never thought that she would question her.

“In the Garden! Where else?” Nora yelled.

“You mean when you pushed me into the water and I almost died?” Ran didn’t hold back the sarcasm.

“What’s the point of you being alive anyway?” Nora spat.

“I almost drown! Belle had to support me back to my room. How did I manage to poison you?” 

“How should I know! You obviously wanted to take revenge!” Nora responded without thinking.

 

Silence spread around.

 

“So, Nora, according to what we have heard, you attacked first. Then, right now, you accused that weak girl somehow poisoning you in retaliation over your murder attempt,” a lean Elf named Parvian spoke based on his understanding, at that point, he sneered at her scornfully, “You really have some nerves! How shameless!”

“No one asked you anything, Sissy!” Nora spat.

 

The elf’s expression contorted, a malevolent sneer pasted to his face. Without prior warning, his body flashed as he launched himself toward Nora. Nora did not falter. She raised her fist and swung back. Fire collided with an ice wave. The two opposite elements exploded and the resulting shock waves shook the spectators. Disregarding their surroundings, Nora and Parvian started a fierce fight with each other.

 

The others could only watch the fight, not participating. While Rikku and Dorian were watching coldly from the side, Ran was standing still with eyes closed and tears that had been held at bay came streaming down her face. 

 

How vexing! 

 

She couldn’t fight. She couldn’t retort as intensely as she would like to do. She also couldn’t tear Belle apart right now, right there. So, she cried. She let all her anger, frustration and desire flowed away along with her tears. Her nails that were digging deep into the palms of her hands, dripped beads of blood, staining the ground.

 

Patience and self-control. Patience and self-control were the two things she never had much, no matter which life. Her strong emotions wouldn’t allow those things. When she loved, she loved to her doom. When she hated, she hated to a cinder. Right now, her hatred was too vast and overwhelming for her comfort. She had tried to live cautiously, trying to keep herself under control, not letting loose of those strong emotions she felt. However, right now, she couldn’t do that. She was too distraught to even try. But, she didn’t want to feel that way. She only wanted to go back to her boring and pathetic self. She didn’t want to be in the middle of any mess. She didn’t want to interact with these people. In fact, she didn’t want to interact with anything or anyone. However, what was done was done.

 

Under her breath, she chanted 8 words with fervour. I can do this. Everything will be alright. Again and again, she repeated these words, trying to convince herself. Meanwhile, Rikku peered at her, watching as she softly rocked herself while mumbling. 

 

He couldn’t understand why she was like that. Although she had her temper and she was a bit on the vicious side, he was convinced that she wouldn’t do a thing to innocent people. Then, why would she keep everything bottled up inside? Why did she want to hide so badly? It didn’t make much sense to him.

 

The battle didn’t last long for Kan Yune stepped in and interfere. He trapped Nora and Parvian into 2 holy barriers and separate them, livid. Nothing seemed to not be going his way. The commotion had alerted the whole town. Furthermore those two had destroyed the front of the castle through their fight.

 

Thus when the high priest stepped in to stop the fight, the atmosphere had plummeted. And the people who were responsible for Nora and Parvian, knew that everything was over for them. They were one step too late. Since they had failed to keep them under control, the only thing left for them was pain and death. Those heroes had just doomed them.

 

“Enough!” Kan Yune spat out, having trouble with controlling his tone, “You are Heroes of this world. How can you fight amongst yourselves?”

“That bitch poisoned me and you want me to reward her? Fat chance! ” Nora snorted.

 

Ran had had enough. She wiped her tears, calming herself. She couldn’t let her emotions affect her like that if she wanted to achieve her goal. Right now, her first priority was to find a way to break apart from this group eventually. Decided, she straightened herself, gaze firmly fixed at Nora. 

 

“You keep on yelling about me poisoning you, but how did I do it? With what? When? You seem quite dashing for a sick person,” Ran shot questions after questions.

“Slut! You know exactly what you did to me!” spat Nora.

“But we don’t!” Dorian declared.  

 

Hearing his words, Nora clamped her mouth shut and just glared at him. As if she would tell them! She scoffed, facing away from the group as she spat out, “It has nothing to do with you!”

 

“It obviously has everything to do with all of us! You’re the one who started such a big scene, burning and attacking people left and right!” Parvian spoke, the ridicule in his voice thick and cutting.

 

Listening to the bickering around, Kan Yune was running out of patience, he swore in his heart, he’d make Nora pay for this senseless tantrum, “Who was with her? Who treated her? Tell me everything!”

 

Nora’s butler stepped forward, “Sir, Nora-sama was fine after meeting Ran-sama by the lake. The morning after, she had a fever like everyone. During the night, she complained of some rashes and itchiness…”

 

“SHUT UP!” Nora roared.

 

Kan Yune ignored her and waited for the rest of the explanation, so the butler went on, “I waited on Nora-sama during her bath and nothing seemed abnormal. Yesterday evening, …” the butler paused. He was too embarrassed by the situation to continue speaking.

 

“Yesterday evening what?”

“Yesterday evening, Nora-sama was in serious pain and complained about her lower stomach. I called a priest over and…” the butler paused again.

“And then what?” It was Dorian’s turn to roar. He just wanted this to be done and move on already.

“You say another word and I will kill you!” Nora hissed.

“Go on!” Kan Yune stated coldly.

 

The butler swallowed hard. He couldn’t believe someone like him had to take care of this kind of things so he closed his eyes briefly and just spoke of what he knew, “Nora-sama’s lower half was damaged.” 

 

He saw Kan Yune frowned and knew that he couldn’t hold back from explaining the naked facts, “Her lower half was rotting as if it was dead for weeks. The priest almost fainted.”

 

When her butler didn’t heed her demand to stop his explanation, Nora’s rage boiled over and she threw a punch. Unfortunately, she was trapped inside a holy barrier and her attack couldn’t reach her intended target.

 

“Healing spells couldn’t be used right away, so he had to cut away the dead tissue until the bones before healing the wound. Fortunately, the necrosis barely touched the bones, however, Nora-sama lost some functions. The priest couldn’t do anything for that at his current level and recommended that Nora-sama receive further care in the Capital.”

 

For a split second, all was silent before a towering laughter echoed. It was Parvian’s laughter, and he continued on laughing until tears came out, ridiculing her, “So, you actually caught something nasty somewhere, but you have the guts to blame it on someone else? You even dare to call others slut! How ridiculous!”

 

Snickering could be heard all around. Everyone looked at her with disgust and ridicule while Rikku was taken aback. He then glanced at Ran who was standing there, any expressions she initially had during the time she cries before gone from her face.

 

“What a good poison!” Ran took her chance and spoke out of the blue, “Am I not vicious? This poison, I obviously had the time to brew while drowning in a lake.” She spat out, mockery evident in her tone and expression.

 

Then she turned to Belle, not pausing for a moment, “Or was it when I was busy collecting roses in the garden? I must have obviously poisoned her without touching her. Belle, don’t you know how? Weren’t you holding me at that time because I couldn’t walk?” 

 

Ran’s mocking questions caused Belle to flush, and bow her head down, hiding her cold eyes whilst clenching her hands into fists. 

 

Ran didn’t care and kept inquiring, “Belle, don’t you have an idea? Didn’t you imply that you saw how I did it earlier? Maybe you saw me made it whilst you were going through all the flowers and plants I had collected, or perhaps you saw it whilst watching me making soaps and hand creams, which is it? Oh, what about the samples I have given you? Shouldn’t you show it to the other as evidence? After all you have the proof of my ‘poison’ with you. Why won’t you talk about how vicious and dangerous I am now?” 

 

Ran didn’t wait for an answer, she immediately turned to Kan Yune and said, “See, I can poison someone without contact nor anyone noticing, I’m obviously a threat to other mighty Heroes,” Without warning, tears sprang up from her eyes and flowed down her face once again. But she still stood straight as she spoke with quivering lips, “So, why don’t you kill me right now and here! It will save time for everybody.”