316. Ravenna’s Combat Master Part 2

Six Months Later, Corridor, Raven Wing, Imperial Palace, Capital City.“Why did he suddenly call for me when I had such a perfect training schedule set up for the Little Raven?” Faldeus muttered to himself.

He had been double-checking the weapon inventory and noted a single, sharp dagger missing from the rack. As he navigated the ornate corridors of the palace wing, he crossed paths with a young maid wearing spectacles. He signaled for her to stop. “Ah... Miss Alice, do you happen to know where the Little Raven has wandered off to? She’s over an hour late for our session today.”

“Huh? Her Highness said she will finish her preparations to leave for training well over an hour ago,” Alice replied, her brow furrowing with concern. “She should be in her quarters. Would you like me to go and fetch her, Mister Faldeus?”

Faldeus simply shrugged, waving a dismissive hand. “No, no, it’s fine. I’ll go speak with her myself. I have a meeting with High Priest Caldus later anyway, so I was planning to push back today’s training regardless.”

With that, he turned and began walking toward her private chambers. As he approached, an ominous sensation began to prickle at the back of his neck.”I haven't felt this way since the Simbala Plains,” he thought grimly, “back when everything I ever knew was lost to me forever.” His pace quickened. As he turned the final corner, he noticed something alarming: there were no Imperial Knights stationed at her door. The post was completely abandoned.

“What in the hell is going on here?” he muttered.

Foregoing a polite knock, he took the liberty of using a lockpick from his belt, forcing the mechanism until the door clicked open. He burst into the room only to freeze. Ravenna was sitting rigidly in a chair, the missing dagger gripped tightly in her hand, the blade hovering precariously over her own thigh.

Faldeus moved with the blurred speed of a seasoned warrior. He lunged forward, catching her wrist in an iron grip. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?!” he roared. “That’s a real blade, for God’s sake!”

“I know! And I need it!” Ravenna shouted back, struggling against his hold.

Faldeus didn't budge until he had successfully pried the weapon from her fingers. Ravenna’s voice turned agitated, her breathing shallow. “I’m going to use it to set everything straight!” She jumped up, reaching desperately for the dagger, but he held it far out of her reach.

“What are you even talkin—” Faldeus started, but his words died in his throat. Through the torn slits of her dress, he caught a glimpse of the Apostle Mark etched into the skin of her inner thigh.

“Wait... no way. You’re...” He stopped, his expression shifting from anger to a grim, heavy understanding. He forced her back down onto the sofa. “Sit. Tell me everything.”

As she slumped back, fighting a losing battle against her tears, Faldeus knelt to her level. “I am your teacher, aren’t I? Do you really believe I would ever let you do something that wasn't for your own good?”

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“I... I was going to carve it out,” Ravenna muttered, her voice trembling. “It’s all because of that stupid mark. Everything is ruined because of it.”

She began to sob, the words tumbling out in a broken rush. “I can’t join my siblings in their lessons, can’t go to the Imperial Noble’s academy. I can’t even step foot in the Solious Church with the family. I... I crave things I shouldn't. I have urges and hatreds that go against everything a Solarius is supposed to be.” She buried her face in her hands. “Just like brother Nolan says... just by being born, I made Mother’s health weak. I am nothing but a monster and a disgrace.”

A heavy silence followed her confession. Faldeus reached out, gently patting her head with a somber smile. “Are the requirements for being a monster really that low these days?” he asked softly.

Ravenna looked up, her tear-streaked face filled with confusion. Faldeus reached for the top button of his shirt, undoing it to reveal a jagged, dark Apostle Mark wrapped around the side of his neck.

“A... a Gilnto Apostle Mark?” Ravenna stammered, her eyes widening in shock.

Faldeus kept his steady, knowing smile fixed on her. “Tell me then, Little Raven. If you’re a monster for your mark, what does that make a bloodthirsty bastard like me?”

“Let me ask you something, Little Raven. Do monsters not have lives? Do they not have hearts?” he asked, gently flicking her nose.

“They... they do,” she whispered, her voice small.

He smiled broadly. “So what is so wrong with being a monster? We make a good pair, don't you think?” He stood up, patting her head with a heavy, grounding palm. “A bloodthirsty teacher and his indulgence-obsessed student. So, don’t you dare try to become a ‘normal’ person. I only know how to teach a monster. Understood?”

Ravenna nodded firmly, wiping away the last of her tears with the back of her hand.

Present, Imperial Funeral Grounds, Central Solious Cathedral, Imperial Palace, Capital City, Ancorna Empire

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” Ravenna said, her voice trembling slightly with a mix of childish tantrum and recognition. She tightened her grip on his jacket, her knuckles turning white. “It’s you, isn’t it... Master?”

The man finally turned around, a sorrowful, weary smile touching his lips. He looked older, the red of his hair faded by years of dust and sun, but his eyes were the same. “I don’t think this is the right place for this conversation, Ravenna. Let’s find somewhere quiet to sit and talk.”

fifteen minutes later in the Secluded Abandoned Mansion, Imperial Palace, Capital City, Ancorna Empire

The mansion was just the same, draped in cobwebs and thick dust. Ravenna sat across from him at a rotted wooden table, her fingers tapping a restless, agitated rhythm against the surface.

“After five years of training, you punished me with a month of confinement in this very mansion... and then you simply disappeared without a single word,” Ravenna said. She tried to speak calmly at first, but as the silence stretched, her voice rose, the years of bottled-up emotions finally swelling to the surface.

“Why?!” she demanded, slamming her hand onto the table, sending a cloud of dust into the air. “You knew how much you meant to me, you old man! In this tumultuous, viper-filled palace, you were one of the few who stopped me from being alone!”

The old man didn't flinch. He looked at Ravenna, his gaze heavy with a regret that seemed to age him by decades in a single moment.

“Because... I cannot be a father, Ravenna,” he replied softly.

He looked away, staring at a patch of moonlight on the floor. “I saw it happening. I knew I had slowly become the person you admired, the one you saw as a father figure. And I... I realized I couldn't bear the thought of going through that again. To have someone depend on me, to love someone like a daughter, only to lose them to the blood and the war... I ran because I was a coward.”