I Will Be The New Me
CHAPTRE 39

"Lady Shuvillian."

"Yes?"

Someone Knight came to the guest room calling Quinn.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is calling you to come to the greenhouse, Lady."

"All right."

Quinn after asking the palace maid to re-dress her, so she had the courage to get out of the room. It took up to four coats of powder to have Raiden's kiss on his neck disguised.

Once outside the palace, Quinn realized something was wrong. Five Knights wearing different clothes were now lined up in front of him. "The palace guard is being tightened, so for your safety's sake, they'll guide you all the way there. The prince is already waiting for you there."

I never saw their faces. Are they really members of the Knights' palace?

Quinn smiled sweetly "Alright, thank you so much for watching me."

Instead of going to the greenhouse, Quinn was actually led to the forest behind the palace. Both the greenhouse and the back forest, both are both favorite places of Raiden and himself to pull away from their boring activities.

The forest is dark because it only relies on the natural light of the full moon. Lonely, there was no one there but them. Quinn looked back and forth, "Um, where's Raiden? why are we here? you guys said he wanted me to meet him at ka—'s house"

Sriing

He turned around to look at the five men who were escorting him but someone had already tried to stab him in the eye. Fortunately Quinn's reflexes were getting better, he could avoid even a few strands of his hair were sliced.

One of the Knights gasped in shock, "How could he dodge? was that a coincidence or not?"

"Why did you attack me?" quinn asked while putting on a scared face even though he managed to dodge with a strong foothold.

"Sorry, Lady. We're just following orders."

"Who rules you?"

The knight who had attacked was now strangling Quinn's neck, he glared furiously as his first attack missed. "Calm down, Lady Quinn. Just one prick."

Jleb

Quinn's clothes were covered in blood. No response from him. The four comrades heaved a sigh of relief, then they turned around to leave, "Let's go seka— eh?!"

Quinn's eyes lit up brightly in the darkness of the forest, "Hold your sword properly if you want to land an attack on me" he said, then pushed the body back. The sword that was in the Knight's grasp was not long since when Quinn managed to capture it. "Well now I'm just armed, we draw."

The one who died was not Quinn, but Raiden's Knight. The other four friends were surprised not to play, this was very different from what Raiden explained to them. "How can you do it?!" the four men took out their swords from the scabbard.

"Why? this is beyond your boss's expectations?" Quinn grinned happily when he saw the four men becoming tense as Quinn had mounted the horses to attack. "The right choice to wear a dress with a high cleavage like this."

"You go forward together." said one of the Knights who appeared to be the leader among the five of them.

"Good."

Three men advanced simultaneously.

Quinn then threw away the sword he had taken from Raiden's men. "Wynx."

{Good!!}

The water spirit that had contracted with Quinn appeared and stood on top of Quinn's palm. In the blink of an eye his form turned into a silver sword that glittered as it was struck by the moonlight. "I've been training hard to master this, I hope you guys don't disappoint me by giving me a boring fight."

"What was that?"

"The light is gone..."

"I don't believe what I see."

The three of them looked at each other because they felt equally confused. While their chief was glaring in shock at Quinn's speed, "watch!" his screeches.

"Don't distract from the enemy, you fool." Quinn unsheathed the sword right in the heart of the second Knight.

"Aragh!"

Both of his comrades hurriedly jumped away. This time they were the ones attacking Quinn's defense, the two men surrounded and gave a simultaneous attack to make it difficult to dodge. "Hm, their movements are very fast. I had guessed that they weren't ordinary royal Knights." Inner Quinn was indeed having a hard time keeping up with their movements.

"Yeshaaat!"

The two men attacked from his right and left sides at the same time.

"Roof."

A blue light belonging to Vynx moved to form a shield and managed to fend off the attacks of the two easily. "I'm sorry, since there's no referee, I'll cheat until the end" Quinn stuck out her tongue with a wry smile.

Quinn's sword is now splitting in two.

"Sad. You're just lucky, Lady!" snarled one of the men. He changed his strategy. They no longer followed the planned strategy but instead moved wildly and continued to rain down on Quinn in order for the girl to lose her stamina and could no longer resist.

They're both really crazy. If only Quinn was still the same as before, he might have been dead by now. "Tck. My hands are still less firm, I can't last longer."

"Hahahaha don't daydream in the middle of a fight, Lady!"

The man raised his sword about to slash at Quinn. Suddenly a cold sword blade first pierced through his chest. The sword was stuck in until it almost hit Quinn.

The body collapsed to the ground with blood flooding the roots of the tree whose trunk was towering behind Quinn. It was only then that he could see who had helped him, "Finn?!" called surprised.

"Sorry, Lady. I'm late."

Finn started to get scared seeing Quinn's face drenched in blood, his eyes twitching. "Lady, that..."

"Calm down. It's not my blood." Quinn wiped the blood on her cheek that did not belong to her.

Instantly Finn breathed a sigh of relief. He was grateful to be on time. "I'm afraid to repeat the same mistake" Finn murmured. He's afraid he can't protect Quinn anymore.

"Why are you here? I told you to go home soon after."

"I want to tell you something, but I can't find you. Then I heard the sword fighting sound from here." Finn stared intently at the two remaining humans. "Let me handle them, you go back to the palace."

The young man in his twenties who was the leader of the other four Knights scoffed in annoyance. "You're just interrupting. I have no business with you."

"Now I'm a big bully. Who has ruled you?!"

"It's none of your business!"

"Then let's talk with the sword."

Finn snatched the Knight sword that had become the corpse and attacked their chief. "Lady, you go. I'll handle this alone."

Quinn raised one eyebrow while staring at another Knight who was looking at him. "I want to experiment once more, but Finn is here." he said, dissatisfied.

"Lady, your opponent is me. Don't think you can come back alive."

"Is that? yes, I understand." replied Quinn casually. He raised his sword again, "are there any last words for you to convey to your superior? I'll convey it, "quinn's grin provoked the man's anger.

"BASIC CHEAP WOMEN!"

With the help of his eyes as well as Vynx, Quinn could clearly see where the sword's eyes were pointing so that he could easily dodge any attacks that the man was making.

Quinn deliberately did not dodge a single attack and eventually injured his arm and he was unsteady. "Lady!" Finn was surprised to see Quinn fall to the ground.

"Hahahaha now look who's big mouth!"

"..."

He raised up high his sword was about to draw Quinn from above. "Huh, your defense is open." Quinn easily thrust out his spirit sword and subverted the person without the need for any heavy resistance.

"There's nothing special about it." Quinn managed her breathing which was still hunting.

Vynx had now taken her elf form again, she looked worried by the wound on Quinn's arm.

{I'll help heal you, Quinn}

"No need. I accidentally—" Suddenly Quinn spewed quite a lot of blood. From the sword scar it began to spread a purplish color that crept up to his neck.

{That's a deadly poison! Quinn, you need to be healed right now—}

"Let him heal me." Quinn showed a wide grin full of confidence.

*

*

{Huh, you want to see me?}

Quinn nodded in reply, "If I wasn't hurt you wouldn't show up."

{You risked your own life, tahu}

Zacchaeus reached out to touch Quinn's wound, and light began to envelop the wound. Slowly the poison that spread to half of Quinn's body came to a halt.

"There's a question I want to ask you directly. Can you please answer me?" The golden-haired man snorted softly. Her impatient nature is very similar to Sirena.

{You don't have enough spirit energy to talk to me for too long because talking to me takes a lot of energy. We only have two minutes to talk. I hope you're not asking a question whose answer is too long if you have a lot to ask.}

Quinn pointed to the necklace still around her neck, "This necklace I'm wearing. What use? why would Raiden force me to wear it?"

Zacchaeus boughtak surprised to see the necklace.

{I guess it was stored in the temple of Eternity— ah now it has changed its name to Santis, yes. That's my gift necklace as a sign of the agreement between me and the first King, Louis.}

"It's in Raiden's hands and he asked me to wear it."

{The canopy can be a container for spirit power. It can also be used to absorb energy from its host. That's why he put that necklace on you and tried to kill you.}

Quinn wasn't too surprised by the fact that Raiden intended to kill her, after all, it had happened once. "Haha, so he really wants my powers."

{Listen, Quinn. He wants to be a god. He might want to master your powers to add to his strength.}

"Eh? strength? Raiden also has spirit power?"

Zacchaeus scratched his temple while taking his eyes off Quinn.

{He can also see spirit just like you. I gave that power to every generation of Louis who did have great potential to prosper his country. But as I expected, humans are very easy to betray. They will soon turn away and renege on promises once see power.}

"Then, he can't take away the spirit power himself? why should it be from me?"

{He wants your energy because you belong to my descendants. You have a strong connection with me and he wants to be on par with me. I've reminded you not to get close to the boy.}

"What descendants do you mean?" Quinn looked down to think deeper, "then why did Raiden kill me in the past? I didn't wear a god-given holy thing."

{You failed to resurrect the contract. Seeing the spirit alone you can't, that's why he better kill you because he doesn't hesitate to throw away humans who can't be used anymore.}

Quinn glimpsed his mother's face clearly. Sirena's soft, warm smile made Quinn's heart beat firmer, sadness running through the depths of her heart. "Vynx won't answer my question, but you know about my mother? My dad said he used to be a forest ranger."

Zacchaeus smiled ambiguously, he stroked the top of the flustered girl's head to give her some calm.

{Time out. I'll answer when we meet again, I promise. Take good care of yourself, Quinn}

*

*

"Lady.." -...."

"Lady Quinn...?!"

Slowly but surely Quinn's eyelids began to open revealing both of her shining golden brown irises.

{Lady!}

Finn is currently holding Quinn's cold body. The young man who used to be a teacher felt very relieved, "You finally realized. I thought you'd end up here."

"Your words are too cruel to say to someone who's just dying."

"You let him hurt you on purpose, didn't you? what exactly is your purpose for doing this?"

Quinn did not answer Finn's question, he glanced at Vynx who was still near his face. Finn didn't see it at all.

"I need this wound."

"uh? what's for?"

Quinn moved out of Finn's lap. Her dress was still drenched in blood as well as her arms and face. "It's more than enough, '" Quinn placed the Marchetti family's eagle pin on each of the Knights' bodies and dropped Penelope's brooch around there.

Finn glared in disbelief, "L-Lady, don't tell me you want to frame Lady Penelope and her Dad?"

Quinn looked at his personal Knight flatly, his expression already explaining enough that he didn't care what Finn's view of him was. "I'm not a good person. If you want to leave me, it's fine.go as far as possible so you can live comfortably."

The mature-skinned young man scratched his nape that was not itchy. "Huh, I don't think so at all. At least explain something to me so I can understand and I can help you with the best," unexpectedly, Quinn never imagined Finn would be as serious as he is now. Highlight his eyes in full earnestness.

"I might fall into the deepest abyss of the earth. As long as you can, you better make a decision right now."

"Then I will follow you. Want you to plunge into the valley of the volcano I will not hesitate to enter with you. I'll take an oath to be faithful and protect you no matter what."

Quinn was silent at Finn's confession.

"I'm looking for you because Mr. Gray said he hasn't been able to find a single complementary plant to make an antidote to the poison."

"To be precise, what plant is it?"

Finn recalled what the palace doctor said, "He just said the rare plant only grows around the mountains, but so far it never grows in Helldelune."

"Ah, leave it to me. I can find it easily."

Finn was astonished, "You'll never be in the woods. How are you gonna find him? it wasn't easy. Don't tell me you want to ask Rupert for help again."

"I have a friend who is more useful than the Blackrose Guild."

Quinn's hard-to-understand smile makes Finn lose his mind again. Because all this time he tried to balance Quinn's thoughts, but still left behind. "Have I been this stupid long ago? it's only now that I feel so stupid and don't know anything like a baby." Finn thought.

Quinn turned his head towards the path that led further into the forest. His eyes moved quickly combing each inch of trees around him.

I saw here that there was one more spirit just now. I'm sure he's the spirit of this forest...

"What have you seen since?"

"No. I need to go back to make a fuss."

"Ruckus?"

Quinn sneered cunningly, "I feel like I need to destroy Raiden's happy moment tonight."