To the Tower of Light (6)
He said, "Before we got here, I heard Carlos was planning to wipe out the heretics. Excellent material. And watching how roughly the soldiers treated us before they knew who we were taught me something."
"What?"
Cloud tugged the reins and began walking slowly, leading the horse Sylvia sat upon. "The soldiers are on edge right now. That means the higher-ups are using discipline as an excuse to ride them hard, and it's proof that war is close. Carlos is itching to crush the heretics. Give him the right excuse and he'll march his army without a backward glance. And that excuse, Sylvia, is going to be you."
"Me? Me?"
"Yes. You."
Cloud answered with absolute certainty.
"Why?"
His explanation continued. "Valua and Valentino territories share a border. And the whole ride here, you never once pulled out a map. You knew the way perfectly. When I followed your directions, we arrived without getting lost once. That tells me the two families have been in frequent contact for a long time."
"That's true, but how did you know?"
Cloud kept talking. "The first time we met, you told me you'd gotten lost before. Yet you remembered this route so clearly. I figured it must be a path you'd traveled often with your father since childhood. So I concluded that House Valua and House Valentino share a deep connection. Naturally, you would have met Carlos, the lord of Valentino's son, quite frequently. Am I wrong?"
Sylvia nodded slowly. Her eyes were wide with amazement at his reasoning.
"If Carlos learns you're in danger, he'll raise his army immediately. I'm taking you straight into the heretics' territory—a very dangerous place. I originally planned to talk with them, but I've changed my mind. The heretics are dangerous."
"How do you know the heretics are dangerous?"
"After seeing the state of those soldiers we just met, I realized conversation isn't an option. When we first encountered them, they weren't ignoring us. They were simply treating us the way they always treat heretics. It means their hostility toward the heretics runs deep, and the heretics have been resisting them just as fiercely. Both sides are insane right now. You could say they're both extremely sensitive. I realized talking wouldn't solve anything. So you know my style, right?"
"What style?"
"If words don't work, one side has to die for the problem to be solved."
At those words, Sylvia recalled the conversation she'd had with Cloud yesterday. Still mounted, she kicked at the hand holding the reins.
"You bastard."
Even though the kick only lightly struck his back, Cloud paid it no mind and continued. "You'll enter the heretics' sphere of influence with me. When Carlos receives the report from his subordinates, he'll be shocked. 'Sylvia's in danger,' he'll think. Since he was going to eliminate the heretics anyway, he won't be able to sit still if you're threatened. He'll declare he'll wipe them all out in one fell swoop and raise his army at once. Like his feet are on fire."
"Raising an army because of me? Don't be ridiculous. It's foolish to throw away the lives of hundreds of soldiers for a single woman."
When Sylvia scolded him in disbelief, Cloud scoffed at her thinking. "You don't know how much of a sucker a man becomes when he falls in love. A man will do things others would point fingers at, all because of love. They call it having 'bean pods over his eyes.'"
"I am not in that kind of relationship with Sir Carlos."
Cloud shook his head. "You are in exactly that kind of relationship."
"What evidence makes you so certain?"
"Any man would know."
"Any man?"
Sylvia tilted her head, puzzled. Cloud chuckled and spoke plainly.
"Because you're a beautiful woman in anyone's eyes. Anyone who sees you would fall in love at first sight."
"W-what?"
Her flustered gaze quickly dropped in embarrassment. "W-what are you suddenly saying, Cloud…"
Her face flushed bright red.
"You're beautiful. That's why any man would want to be kind to you and earn your favor. Especially men born into families like the nobility that stress etiquette and formality—they tend to have even stronger fantasies about women. Guys like me, born without status, can fool around with this woman and that without much rumor. But nobles get talked about immediately, so they're cautious even when meeting one woman. Their parents interfere heavily too. As a result, they have little dating experience and go crazy over any pretty girl. When they look at you, Sylvia, they'll think an angel descended from heaven. They'll do anything to win your heart by playing the chivalrous knight. That's exactly what I plan to use."
After finishing, Cloud wore a ambitious smile. At the same time, Sylvia was stunned speechless by his intentions. He had a penetrating eye for the flow of battle and was ruthless in how he used people's hearts. Was this the model of a strategist they taught about in knight school? He suddenly seemed incredibly clever to her.
"Cloud, you… you're really…"
Sylvia murmured in quiet admiration. Her softly spoken voice carried a new evaluation of him. In short, she had thought him an arrogant, insolent man, but his abilities seemed far beyond those of an ordinary commoner.
"Cloud, I have something I want to ask."
It might have been a vague question that had been forming inside her. Hearing her suddenly serious tone, Cloud unconsciously stopped walking and turned to look at her.
"What is it?"
Her eyes were deadly serious. "Tell me. Why did you do that to me last time?"
"Oh dear, oh dear…"
Cloud wore a bitter smile that clearly said, 'That story again?' Sylvia quickly spoke again.
"No. What I want to ask is different from what you're thinking. I'm not bringing up what you did to me now to hold it against you."
She continued, "Watching you these past days, I can't believe someone as clever and cautious as you would impulsively assault me without any thought or plan. Especially when, as a commoner, harming a noble could make you a fugitive for the rest of your life. It suddenly occurred to me that even bad people have reasons for their bad actions. And wouldn't they assign meaning to their behavior as an excuse to avoid responsibility? Like how past misfortune made their personality violent, or how their parents and siblings were killed by nobles so they hate all nobility, or how they stole food or valuables because they had no money. I was asking if perhaps you had some unfortunate past or distorted belief that made you unable to control yourself."
It was a question that sounded like she was studying him as a person. Sylvia was curious about his psychology. His behavior that day had felt so absurd and reckless compared to his current careful demeanor that it had puzzled her.
"Heh heh…"
Cloud laughed quietly, as if mocking her thoughts. The atmosphere suggested she was overthinking things.
"Sylvia, what you're talking about is just a collection of common examples turned into a general theory. General theories can't capture or conclude every meaning behind human behavior. People are sometimes driven by purposeless impulses, and those impulsive actions occasionally even succeed. So that day, I saw your luscious body and impulsively felt lust. That's why I did it. Later I got caught and failed. That's all. I'm not the guy with a deep backstory you think I am. I'm simply crazy. Just trash that you can curse at."
Cloud laughed as he pulled the reins. Then, as he started walking again, he added, "Goodness. For Lady Sylvia's sake, maybe I should quickly come up with some tragic past or distorted belief? So I can be at least a little forgivable. Ahahaha!"
Sylvia shouted in frustration. "Why! Why can't you ever be serious about anything! I'm trying to see you differently despite your shamelessness, so why do you keep treating it like a joke!"
"You're trying to see me differently?"
Hearing someone say they were paying attention to him in his lonely life felt strangely good. Cloud kept a steady pace, holding the reins as he walked, and said, "It's nice to hear that you want to see me in a new light. Alright. Good. Hmm, I'm not sure if I can tell you something our dear Lady Sylvia can fully understand, but shall I try getting a little serious…?"
"Really?"
"Really."
Sylvia, who had been angry just moments ago, quickly calmed down and listened attentively.
Cloud said, "I briefly told you about my childhood this morning. Now I'll tell you a bit more in detail. The truth is, after my mother died when I was young, I lived like a child abandoned by his father. Once a week or once a month, whenever my father came home, he'd be drunk and beat me for no reason. He'd lock me in a small room. When he left for work, it was the aunt next door's turn to look after me. She worked me like a slave. During the day it was farm work. At night, I became a sex slave. She'd make me lick her pussy still covered in another man's semen, or order me to lick her asshole right after she came back from the toilet without even washing."
"Oh my god, such…!"
Sylvia covered her mouth with both hands, her face filled with disbelief. It was a world too different from the one she had lived in. It was the first time she'd heard such horrific stories so vividly. The world of commoners that she, who had only ever received precious treatment, had never known. She listened even more intently, focusing on the terrible tale.
"If I said I didn't want to lick her ass, immediate punishment. The aunt next door wouldn't feed me for days and would heat iron rods in the fire until they glowed red, then burn every inch of my body. To make me obey. It was like she was venting all her daily stress on me."
Suddenly Cloud stopped walking and turned around.
"Want to see the burn marks? Here, look. These are the scars from back then."
Cloud began rolling up his sleeve.
"T-that's… ugh…!"
Sylvia squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away. Having never seen anyone with burns or bodily damage in her life, actually seeing it frightened her.
"N-no! I-I'm fine, it's okay!"
"Didn't you want to know me? If you want to know me properly, you have to see this too. It's fine. Come on."
Cloud kept pushing his arm toward her. Since she did want to know about him, Sylvia reluctantly gathered her courage and slowly opened her tightly shut eyes. And she was shocked. Unexpectedly, it was clean skin without a single scar.
"Satisfied with that complicated and tragic story? Unfortunately, I don't have any mental wounds. My father wasn't a bad person. He was actually diligent, and thanks to the aunt next door who took care of me in place of my dead mother, I grew up normally and healthily like other commoner children. For a bad guy, my backstory is pretty ordinary, isn't it?"
Cloud grinned. But she was still completely bewildered, staring intently at his pale forearm with a dazed expression.
"W-what? What the hell is going on…"
Cloud laughed again and said, "So, the human called Cloud isn't someone whose view of the world became twisted because of an unhappy past. I have no distorted beliefs, I'm neither cautious nor clever. I'm just a simple guy. What that means is, my brain that likes women, finds temptation hard to resist, and struggles desperately not to die wasn't shaped by any acquired ideology. It's how I was born. Primitive instinct. But thinking about it in complicated ways like you do is just a waste of time. I'm just an ordinary guy obsessed with the three basic human desires. In short, everything I said earlier about being burned with iron and all that was a complete lie."
"You evil bastard! Die!"
"Whoa!"
Realizing she'd been mocked, the furious Sylvia kicked him hard in the chest. Cloud tumbled backward.
"Hic…!"
Sylvia burst into tears. Wiping her tears with both hands, she was angry at having been cruelly teased and disappointed in him. After hearing what seemed like a heartbreaking story that greatly moved her heart and trying to see him in a better light, it turned out to be another lie. She couldn't help but be furious with the person called Cloud.
"Sorry, I'm sorry."
"Go away! I don't even want to look at you!"
It took Cloud quite a while to soothe her.
An hour later, after they emerged from the forest, rolling hills appeared. In the distance, they could see the heretics' village built around the Tower of Light. The two decided to climb a nearby hill to observe the village more closely.
"Finally almost there. Whew."
As soon as they reached the hill, exhaustion hit him. He hadn't slept a wink since yesterday and had come all this way. At this time he should have been lying in the meadow tending sheep, yet here he was suffering like this. He grumbled inwardly. Then he remembered he had come here without saying anything to the temple. To miss work on the very first day of becoming a shepherd—he would definitely be fired when he returned after this adventure. Ah, maybe Vivian had told them?
Sylvia hadn't said a single word for the past hour. Perhaps the prank earlier had been too cruel, because she was sulking and had completely shut her mouth. She pushed back her stuffy hood and jumped down from the horse. It was noon, and the midday sun was blazing hot. Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead.
"Not sleepy after not sleeping for over twenty-four hours?"
"……"
"Not hungry?"
"……"
"Want to kiss?"
Thud!
She kicked him.