The Goddess of Revenge
The Suffering of Lucio

“My choice has never been wrong, then now... ehh? AAAHHHH!”

Snow piled on top of the wall so Krystal accidentally slipped while monitoring Lucio from a distance. Krystal's body plunged free from a very high wall, under that wall a lot of shrubs. However, when his body almost landed on the ground, it felt like a pair of big hands were catching Krystal.

“Why doesn't it hurt? Didn't I fall?” Krystal's eyes were closed, she opened slowly. He found himself in Lucio's arms, apparently saved by Lucio when he fell.

“Injuries.” Lucio accused Krystal of being an intruder with a flat expression. While Krystal just chuckled looking at Lucio.

“Halo Lucio,” greet Krystal with innocent face.

Lucio's eyeballs widened as Krystal mentioned his name, he immediately lowered Krystal from her sling. Accidentally the net caught a scratch on Krystal's wrist from a thorn from a bush. Lucio clasped Krystal's hand and pulled her into the mansion.

“Warm.” Krystal felt the warmth from Lucio's scarred hands, though not covered in clothes, but her body let out a warm temperature.

Upon his arrival at the mansion, Lucio told Krystal to sit in the chair that had been provided. Krystal's gaze circulated, he found no one there, only Lucio accompanied by the cold night air. No servants or guards, Lucio lives alone without any help from others. Inside the mansion there was not enough illumination, there were no bright lights and there were only candles along the walls on display.

“Do you really live alone here?” ask Krystal.

Lucio came carrying a medicine box, he pulled up a chair and sat face to face with Krystal. In fact, Krystal herself was not aware of any scratches on her left wrist so she was confused when Lucio reached out asking Krystal to show her left hand for treatment.

“Hands.”

“Ya?”

“Give me a hand.”

Lucio said, Krystal difficult to understand what Lucio meant, he also gave his right hand. Then Lucio sighed, forced him to act directly and pulled Krystal's left hand.

“There is a wound,” said Lucio.

“I just realized that my hand was injured, this does not hurt at all,” said Krystal realized.

“Although it does not hurt, it should still be treated.”

Lucio was very careful to apply the drug on the surface of Krystal's scratches, Lucio's face every time was always serious but that was the attraction of him. Krystal's right hand involuntarily touched the top of Lucio's head and rubbed it gently. When the touch was aired, Lucio was confused, he stopped his activity. Krystal's soft palms made her comfortable among the dim light in the space.

“Sorry, I didn't mean,” said Krystal keep her hand away from Lucio's head. Krystal felt that Lucio did not like the touch, but in fact

that's not what Lucio feels.

“Hmm?”

“Your name?” ask Lucio.

“Oh yes, I have not introduced my name to you. I'm Krystal, the second daughter of Emperor Albertine, surely you've heard of me haven't you?”

“Ya, I've heard it several times.”

Lucio often hears wind of Krystal, the second princess whose existence is considered an imperial disgrace. However, now that he met Krystal in person, he thought the rumors were not true.

“Everyone in this empire does know about me, yes it is common because people will get to know us faster from the bad news,”.

“So, that's why you invited me to be your concubine because you are a direct descendant of the emperor.”

In the Albertine Empire there was a rule that one who could have more than one husband or wife was only one who had an imperial lineage.

“Yes, I'm interested in you making you my second concubine. I don't want you to refuse, which is why I came here,” replied Krystal.

“Why do you want me to be the concubine? Isn't there still a lot of more handsome and stronger men who can be your concubines? I was banished by my father here because I was considered a human monster by my family. Everyone is scared to see me, but why are you so ordinary when you look at me?”

Lucio's expression was visibly wounded, he stored a lot of pain between the recesses of his heart, Krystal could easily read how much pain he had accumulated alone. There is no place to hide and a place to tell stories sharing grief, his existence as if considered a big problem. How lonely he had been to face the darkness without anyone giving him the light to walk the path he wanted.

Happiness is not on Lucio's side, since childhood it was forced to survive by becoming a monster killing machine. Krystal understood clearly how the walls of Lucio's heart had broken, had collapsed many times but she tried to rebuild the wall. Behind his cold expression, a million needles were always ready to sharpen his heart and heart repeatedly endlessly.

“Because it's you, I understand how much suffering you've been feeling all along. I see myself in you. Caged behind a dark and cold wall alone with no one to accompany, forced to survive on the brink of death, as well as a horrifying gaze always directed at me at all times. I forgot when I last smiled so happily, I think maybe it never happened.”

“Life is cruel, but you've been fighting well all this time. Congratulations, because you managed to survive even though the test of death often comes to visit. Maybe no one's told you this, but I'm happy you've been able to stay this far. Not having a reason to live is so painful isn't it?”

Krystal's words sounded deep and touched Lucio's heartstrings, a faint smile etched on those thin lips. Lucio was stunned by Krystal, all this time no one had ever spoken this warm and gentle to him. Never mind talking, the friendly gaze of others he never got.

“Your Majesty, if I am with you, can I find my reason to live? All my life, no one ever wanted me, they always cursed me to die. They said that my birth was a sin, repeatedly they tried to kill me, but it never worked. Why am I actually alive? Why was I born? I want to find answers to my questions all this time. If I am not so desirable, why am I left to live in a sense of loneliness and suffering?”

Lucio's words sliced through Krystal's heart, his wounds too deep to cover, Lucio struggling alone to combat all the chaos and burden that would tear him apart. Lucio's shoulders slowly trembled, not feeling the rolling tears falling from the emerald green eye's sweat. Lucio's head rested on Krystal's chest, Krystal's hands curled up on Lucio's body and rubbed his back gently.

“Can I remove all the sadness that is lodged in me? Can all that sadness I turn into laughter? I want to keep this pain away from my heart, Your Grace.”

“You can do it, because I'm with you from now on. Remember, there is no monster inside you, I can see it clearly. There's nothing you need to fear, I'll help you do what you can't do all this time, I'll keep you company looking for your own happiness.”