The Escape of Layla

"... it was only true that those days I spent as my fiancée were filled.... oh yeah, I don't feel bad"

His Royal Highness shrugged so as if to tell himself, he turned to me again. The grin faded considerably, but he still looks neat somewhere, and I can't hide the confusion as His Highness has changed more than I imagined.

"... I've been thinking about it for the past five days, too. I've been thinking about what to tell you, what to say in parting.... because I knew you weren't going to be mine any more than you escaped. I really wanted to come here sooner, but it's been so long as I've been thinking about what I need to talk to you about"

The rare and rapping appearance of His Highness was unthinkable from those two weeks that kept me in seclusion. I wish I could tell with him, but I never thought this would change my attitude suddenly either.

His Royal Highness has a neat grin and gently touches my cheek. The agitation just spreads to that gentle trick sometime. His Royal Highness kept peeking into my eyes and continued.

"These eyes, my hair, my warmth, my voice, everything was supposed to be mine... how did this happen? After all, is it because of that woman who is so stupid that I don't think she is your sister... Yeah, but, you know... you made me so obsessed, don't you think?"

"... what the hell are the emotions hidden in that obsession?

Though I had heard the thoughts of His Highness from Mr. Lienhardt, I have not been spinning feelings for me from His Highness's mouth. That's about what I said I hated in that room that was closed, such as the emotions His Highness put into words for me. Besides, in this position, I can't really ask, "You must like me".

To my words, His Highness raised his voice gently and laughed. Soon my pale eyes will have my obsession back, and I will find myself in that mad grin somewhere.

"Oh, I wonder what. Actually, I'm not surprised either. I know I had a lot of feelings for you, but I don't know why, I can't really remember. It just reminds me that you disturbed the peace of my mind, which was quiet as the water, and I feel like you have no choice but to be blind."

His Royal Highness grinned ever deeper and grabbed my shoulder. It's supposed to be a much gentler touch than it was when it was closed, but for some reason, fear prevails now. Still, I can't get my eyes off His Highness's pale eyes.

"There's only one thing you can tell me, Layla. Will you return my peace of mind? [M] If it weren't for you, I would have just been living a calm, full day. This happened because you didn't hesitate so much, and suddenly, you touched my heart."

His Royal Highness is also just looking into my eyes without breaking his beautiful and painful grin.

Floating in a pale obsession was just a black hatred, not love or romance. Then I catch a glimpse of the lucidity, and I can't breathe in the vibrancy of the emotions.

"Hey... give it back, Layla, give it back... give me those quiet days of the peace you took from me, my heart, hey, Layla, hey!!

At the end of the day, it was almost a yelling voice. Soon the shaking shoulder wobble could no longer be hidden, and my legs shuddered with instinctive fear. I've never seen His Royal Highness so disturbed by the fact that even those two weeks that were keeping me in seclusion never made a sound absurd.

No, I'm the one who decided to face it, but not like this.

"Lewis...... please calm down"

It's not as convincing as a trembling voice. Still, I had to squeeze my voice out. Your Highness makes a chilling mockery of my fright.

"Settle down? You're the one who messed up my mind so far, aren't you? I would never have suffered this much without you."

"... does Lewis think that the last nine years spent with me have been futile?

I admit my thoughts were sweet when I thought you might understand. From His Royal Highness's point of view, in fact, it is impossible to truncate that the period during which you were engaged to me was futile as a result.

But as Lewis, I thought you might be different as my former fiancée. That was an idea I had because I heard from Mr. Leanhardt about Lewis' true thoughts, but if Lewis really loves me, I can't help but think that he'll cut me off without facing me like this and free me from obsession.

"Instead, I can't help but hate you everywhere... You just break me, where are you going? You're gonna run out of my sight and be dreamy and happy like you don't even know it exists?

His Royal Highness drew me as he wrapped his hands around my neck. Even though he is never strangled, the repeated suffering comes back to life when he was locked up and unable to breathe. I felt tears seep through both eyes that I was not allowed to divert.

I'm going to feel easy to touch with the tension I was forced to. I didn't know when Mr. Leanhardt was beside me, but I don't think my heart was recovering. I could see the heartbreak I got over the course of two weeks opening up vividly.

"He's... he's not dreaming."

Absolutely, this wasn't the dialogue to spin. But it was this word that finally fell from the trembling lips. I couldn't help but feel sorry for those who loved me more than anyone for being denied that kind sorcerer. Though even the pity melted into my confused, strained mind and I couldn't see it.

"Well, I don't care if the guy who stumbled on you is real. The important thing is that you betray me and get away with it.... How many times do I have to tell you? You belong to me. There's no way a smart Leila would know this simple, is there? Hey, Leila?

Tears seeping through both eyes passed down his cheeks and into his neck. To that tear that flows away regardless of my will, oh, maybe I have this as a limit, what a feeling I had somewhere else HR-like.

I can tell, what a fantasy it might have been. Even that's just my arrogance, it's only a selfish walk away, and if they tell me that everything was too late where I just passed on the word now, yes, I can only say that I'm right.

Did I hurt this man so much? Am I letting His Highness, who was that calm deposition, say something so far-fetched?

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I feel like I want to put it out in my mouth but I just want to be forgiven, and I can tell you, I get annoyed by such a curse.

I wonder where the boundaries between selfishness and compassion are. Nobody told me, so I just have to figure it out for myself, but I don't always feel like I'm getting it wrong. However, there was still no lie in the thought of wanting to face him, and it was still sad that it wouldn't pass on to him no matter how.

"... Louis, S"

Oh, with a trembling voice, what did I try to say? What words did you try to get to him, remaining so frightened? My head gets messed up, and the words and emotions I need to convey dissolve everywhere.

His Highness looked down at me with his sliced eyes, smiling all the time and attracting me. I will be imprisoned in his arms shortly after I fight him. It was extra horrible that the shoulder tremor would pass directly on to him. I don't feel like I'm going to blame even for this fright.

This is the first time His Highness has embraced me, even though I thought I had been with him for nine years. Most of all, I couldn't afford to remember my emotions, and I managed to endure to keep my head from turning white, so I did my best.

"... you're so trembling, you're scared. Right, you're scared of me, you're scared of me. Yeah...... but I don't feel strange and bad. Whether it's fear or hate, it's not bad to be able to monopolize one of your emotions... it's not bad, Layla"

Hit and change from earlier, a calm voice spinning in my ear as I whisper. There is a painful increase in fear in the feeling of exhalation in your ears and in that voice that conceived madness.

"You were wondering that I missed Rose's sin and took a deal with you.... I'll tell you at this point."

His Highness sneezed and told him to grip my hair and laugh.

"I wanted to see you glue to serve me as a fallen man for the sake of a woman who had no great love for her life. That was the punishment that filled my heart much more than killing that woman than destroying the stupid Duke's house. Halfway sweet, trapped in the Duke's house, you'd never abandon them."

Really for a moment, I thought I'd hold my breath. I think I watched Your Highness's distortions sweetly.

"You were as great as I thought, unfortunate. Watching you get sick by your side. Suffering from the guilt of hiding Rose's sins, without even knowing I knew the truth, you were truly pitiful, unsaveable, and helplessly filled my heart. I wonder if one of my words frightens me, if I strangle you, if I weep, and if Leila is the only girl who can give in to her power, I felt you so much closer than I did when I was your fiancée."

Was such emotion hidden behind His Highness's frustration, which I saw many times in those two weeks? I couldn't have read it. Too different sensibilities. To that notion, which is so horrible when it comes to personality, I smiled all the time instead of tears, blindly.

Oh, was everything on His Highness's palm? That grid, that guilt, everything. A complete defeat. I watched His Highness's thoughts sweetly. Though I do not feel that your Highness's thoughts are too insane to say love, and at least no longer retain the form of affection.

"... distorted."

"Oh yeah, it's distorted. You distorted me, Leila."

Her Royal Highness laughed with a voice that was sweet as if to whisper even in the words of love. Before the overwhelming madness, I was completely immobile.

"Almost there, you were supposed to break your heart and fall... I wonder what the hell put you forward"

His Highness was just laughing as she embraced me. In terms of tone of voice alone, it's an unprecedentedly bright laugh, but the unseen madness and sadness was turning that laugh into something somewhere painful.

"I just want to destroy Leila's eyes, tears, warmth, voice, blood around her body.... No, you can take it. Because you belong to me. From the beginning, yes, it's been decided."

His Highness's hand was attached to the back of his head and his breath held him painfully. Feel the signs of the veil falling to the floor. His Royal Highness smiled in his face as he mouthed to his dewy, flax hair.

"Oh yeah... you're mine, so you can't be allowed to leave. Wouldn't you? Leila, you're mine alone."

"... Lewis?

His Highness was calm, as the earlier confusion was a lie. The creepy tranquility makes me chill on my spine. I could not see His Highness's expression because of his embrace as tangled, but there must be no chest noise. Even though I was the one who tried to face him, I was driven by the urge to escape as soon as possible.

"I don't care who you like, no matter how much you run out of words. I don't feel bad listening to your poor voice, but whatever you say, we're no longer the same. Give it up. You want to end up in circles, don't you? That's why you called me here, isn't it?

His Royal Highness combed my hair as he tried to scrape his cheeks against my head to attract me even more. You don't have to look at it, but I see flax intertwining in His Highness's long fingers. I feel so calm when Mr. Leanhardt does the same thing, but now I'm just frightened.

I wonder what His Highness refers to as a "round end". I did face His Highness and wish I could understand. We believed that if we could end up walking away from each other, our pale first love would also be rewarded.

But perhaps His Royal Highness is thinking differently. If you're thinking the same thing, you shouldn't be so nervous that you're going to touch it. Above all, I find it uncanny how His Highness calmed down in an instant, stifling madness.

"Hey, Layla, I just need one favor.... Just once, just once, will you hold me? Still, it's over."

The word, told to whisper pompous, had a colour of giving up. Then there was seeping cuts that seeped away, and I wondered if this was the wish that went after my obsession enough to strangle me, and I could not ignore it very much.

Was this what His Highness called a "round end"? In the end, His Highness did not reveal his feelings for me other than hatred and distortion, but only this wish does make me feel like a sign that he was favoring me. I'm sure there's a feeling that doesn't fall in my heart somewhere, but there's still a sentiment that I can't overlook.

"... OK, Lewis"

If you squeal like that in His Highness's arms, your arms will only weaken for a moment. I looked up at His Highness's face again and he had a strangely quiet look on his face. I haven't changed my horrible eyes, but I haven't had the same fierce hatred or obsession I had earlier.

Now, at the end. It's time to say goodbye to your sad first love.

I gently turned my arms around His Highness's back and deposited my head to lean against his shoulders. His Highness also draws me strongly to respond to it. It would be a sweet embrace like a lover from the side, but I couldn't wipe away the grief drifting between them.

If I had remained His Highness's fiancée, one day, would this have become routine? I used to take it for granted as a future to visit, but now I can't even imagine it too well for a sense of unreality.

As I gently close my eyes and put my thoughts to the end of my first love, my arms eventually weaken slightly. If I opened my eyes again to the signal and looked up at His Highness's face, His Highness would smile as if it had blown out somewhere with his blindfolded eyes.

"... Layla, you're warm. I'll probably never forget this warmth."

"... I won't forget Lewis either"

If I told him that in His Highness's arms, he laughed somewhere funny and chilled.

"Oh, I guess so. You don't have enough time to forget."

"Eh -"

At that moment, I couldn't understand the pain that ran to my right flank. Only the brightness of red dripping down on the white floor with the bumps burns in my eyes.

... What, what's going on? Why is it so painful and hot?

The sharp silver knife stabbing my flank was undoubtedly in His Highness's hands, and he pulled it through once and for all to do the work pale. There are zero physiological tears, my legs tremble and I'm about to collapse, but His Highness's arms, spinning on my hips, won't allow it. Blink, and sweat all over your body.

"Huh... Louis, S! How..."

In the disturbing breath, the words spinning at last were such an irresistible dialogue. He feeds his nails into His Highness's arms with his left hand, holding down the stab with his right hand. I know that His Highness hurt me, but I'm not going to stay sane if I'm not angry with something. I was attacked by so much vivid pain.

I don't like it, I don't want to die, it hurts, it's hot, it's scary, it's scary, I don't like it. No, no, no, I don't want to, I want it, no, I don't want it.

"Layla, just because you're alive, I can't help but mess up my mind. If you don't belong to me, why don't you die here?"

His Highness, who utters such cruel words, had an unprecedented sweet smile. On the other hand, I was so desperate to endure the pain that I had no time to be frightened by His Highness's madness. I scratch my feet trying to escape His Highness's arms with all my might, but I can't help myself well with the pain.

"No, no... Lewis, hey, hey... no, it hurts, yes, it is... hey, hey, I'm sorry, I'm sorry"

I don't want to die, I don't want to be killed here. At last, I thought my life was worth it. Even though there are people who will grieve if I die. If I die here, what will happen to Mr. Leahardt, the kind sorcerer?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go on, I have to hug that sweet one.

"... oh, but... hey, stop, stop... Lewis!

As if to mock my resistance like that, His Highness stuck the knife in my chest and laughed out loud. I scream voiceless and bring the knife to His Highness at the same time it is pulled out.

"Leila, you're beautiful to the point of begging for your life. The last thing I know is good."

His Highness's voice, mixed with trance, was spun in his ear, and eventually I was thrown out messily on the floor. Red overflowing from my flank and chest spreads around me. His Highness crouched beside me and touched my cheek with a grin mixed with joy.

"It's a pain split with your life, Layla. If you want my peace, die in agony. That way, at last, I feel free from you."

Kasumi's vision was somewhat fluffy and I wasn't sure if this was real. I just feel like my breath hurts. My chest hurts. It hurts, it's hot, and the red doesn't stop flowing.

"From the start, you should have done this. I haven't had a light heart in nine years, Layla. I really... feel great."

His Royal Highness was crying with an unprecedented sunny grin. It's that instability and contradiction that makes me feel like all the thoughts he's directed at me, and I can't say anything.

Gradually, the pain and heat are kept away. I just felt like I wanted to sleep, even.

His Highness scratches up my forehead with his bloody hands and gently drops his mouth on his dewy forehead.

"... Now you belong to me"

Bloody His Highness's hands take my sight. He was slowly stroked and induced to close his eyelids. I had no power to resist it at the earliest, and I felt my consciousness melt away in the dark.

"Good night, Leila"

A glimmer of tears passes down the side from his eyeballs and falls zero. The last time I heard His Highness's satisfying laugh, I let go of consciousness.