Rosie's Games

The putrid smell of curses filled the dark room as Rosalind and Lucas approached the boxes nearby.

Their steps light, their actions careful as they walked across the small room full of cursed weapons. To make sure that they would not encounter any problems, Rosalind wrapped their bodies with dark mists. She did not want to suddenly have any problems if they somehow tripped a trap that they were not aware of.

"This is it," she pointed at a box to her left. There was still a mountain of unopened boxes that were carefully stacked on top of each other. She was pointing at the one near the bottom. "I can feel it from that box," she said in certainty.

Without saying a word, Lucas slowly lifted the boxes one by one and put them to the side. There were not many of them, but each one was full of cursed weapons. He needed to be careful in order to avoid breaking each box and accidentally hurting himself.

Then he opened the box and frowned at what looked like a ball inside it.

"What is that?" Rosalind had never seen something like this before.

"This is combustible."

"A what?"

"An explosive made of darkness."

Rosalind said nothing. Despite the darkness around them, she could clearly see the circular object as if… it was glowing green. However, she was aware that this was only because she could harness its power. She had the Blessing of the dark.

"May I absorb it?" she asked.

"You have to. People used — the people working under the Dark Lord used these explosives in the past to kill people. If the mass of darkness that you felt were in fact explosives then…"

"They are going to make it explode during the coronation," she said as she realized that whoever did this was planning to kill a lot of people. Memories of her past life filled her head. In that timeline, it was Lonyth that fell and not Cirid. All she knew was that this was because of the beast. There was no mention of an explosive or any problems with the Royal Family.

If her guess was right then… the one who did it must have done their best to hide the truth.

What if, both Cirid and Lonyth actually fell? One from the beast and the other because of this bomb?

"The mass of darkness is surrounding the plaza. I cannot feel it in the nearby area," Rosalind explained. This meant that whoever put this here was only intending to harm the people that would come to witness the coronation.

"How many were you able to feel?" he asked.

"I don't know… seven? I am not so sure."

"Can you try and absorb the darkness around this?"

Rosalind immediately nodded. She touched the object and suddenly trembled when she saw something in her head. She let the object go as she took a few steps back.

"Is something the matter?"

Rosalind shook her head, her eyes were on the circular object. Whatever it was that she saw… must be the memories of someone. She could only recall blood as she immediately let the object go.

"This is made of despair," she said. "Of people who were taken away from their families." She lifted her gaze and met his. Then she swallowed, her gaze turned complicated.

This was not the first time that she encountered an object like this and she knew what was coming. She would once again see the memories of the ones whose despair was used to create this darkness.

"We can leave," Lucas said.

"What?"

"If you do not want to absorb it, we can just leave."

"And watch them burn?"

"Is there a point in sacrificing you just to save them?"

"Sacrificing me?" she blinked. What was he talking about?

"A world on fire is not actually a bad thing."

"You are insane," she turned her gaze away and avoided his gaze.

"Is there a point in saving people you do not even know?" he asked.

"I—" She frowned, conflicted. What was the point of saving people she did not know? Nothing. She would not get recognition or wealth or even gratitude. She would get nothing out of this.

"We can leave if you want to," Lucas said.

"Tempting," she chuckled while shaking her head. "If you have the ability to make a single change." Again, she lifted her gaze and met his. "Are you going to take it?"

"Probably not," he answered without batting an eyelid.

"You are one boring man."

"I would not change anything," he continued. "I already have everything that I need."

Now, Rosalind knew that that must be a lie, but she had no time to argue with him.

"I am going to absorb the darkness now," she uttered.

"Very well…" he nodded and took a step back. "I will be here."

She lifted an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"Just preparing to catch you when you lose consciousness." His serious expression made her smile. She did not know if he was thinking that she would faint but was nevertheless thankful for it. After all, he would be the perfect man to catch her… once she falls.

With a smile on her face, Rosalind touched the orb and started absorbing the darkness. Almost immediately memories of various children filled her head. She watched as they played in the mud and helped their parents fetch water in the nearby lake. Then one day… a knight on a horse took them.

Soon, the memories of their pain assaulted her senses. She could feel their pain and hear their screams. She could see them beg and beg until finally the eyes in their eyes vanished.

It was cruel.

It was pure torture.

It took a long time before they lost their lives and Rosalind could feel every bit of the pain that they felt while they were inside. Then things started to turn blurry.

And then there was darkness.

All they could see was… darkness.

Soon, the anger followed.

And then despair.

Loathing and despair filled her veins.

The next thing she knew, she was already in his arms, panting, tears streaming down her face.

Whoever did this…

Whoever killed those children needed to be punished.