Luna had left the room.
Now Ren looked at the wrinkled letter he held in his own hand, the one he had been keeping since Sirius had given it to him. With Luna’s permission, technically he could read it.
But sothing about doing so felt profoundly private, as if he were about to invade a space that didn’t belong to him.
He swallowed hard, his fingers brushing the paper damaged by recent events. The texture was rough where energy had singed the edges, and the creases were deep from being folded and unfolded countless tis.
Liora leaned forward, her curiosity obvious. "Are you going to open it?"
Larissa also moved closer, though she tried to disguise her interest. "For a long ti now, I’ve always wondered..."
Even the guards seed to be paying more attention than usual, their rigid postures betrayed by the way their eyes subtly shifted toward the envelope.
It was then that Mayo began to laugh.
The sound was soft at first, a contained laugh she tried to suppress by covering her mouth with her hand. But the laughter intensified, becoming sothing she clearly couldn’t control.
Matilda looked at her with an exasperated expression and pushed her gently, trying to silence her. "Mayo, stop."
María observed her two companions with evident confusion. She was the only one of the maids who clearly didn’t understand what was so funny.
But Mayo’s laughter didn’t stop in ti.
Now everyone was staring at her, and when she saw their expectant faces, she laughed even harder. Matilda grabbed her head in a gesture of total surrender.
"What’s so funny?" Ren asked, disconcerted.
Mayo straightened up, composing her expression into sothing more theatrical. There was a gleam in her eyes that suggested she was about to enjoy this imnsely.
"So, do you want to know what the cursed words are?" she asked in a conspiratorial tone.
Larissa sighed deeply. "That lie is old, Mayo. We already knew from that ti that there are no cursed words."
"Ah!" Mayo raised a finger, smiling broadly. "But that’s where you’re wrong. What was a lie was that the words would make you physically vomit. However," her smile beca more genuine, softer, "I definitely think that in one way or another those words are cursed. Although Luna doesn’t like calling them that..."
Mayo’s mana pattern was completely honest. She wasn’t lying this ti like she had years ago.
Those present were visibly surprised. Liora sat up straighter, while Larissa frowned now interested.
Ren looked at the torn and burned letter in his hand, but Mayo shook her head.
"That one is so damaged that maybe it’s not clear," she said while rummaging in her own bag. She extracted three more envelopes, all equally wrinkled but not burned and in better condition than Ren’s.
The confusion in the room was visible in everyone’s faces.
"The letter is always the sa," Mayo explained, her tone now more serious. "Sirius would give our Luna a new one every so often because she always squeezes and manipulates it a lot when she’s stressed. It’s like a tradition they had." She paused, so sadness crossing her expression. "Although since Luna got angry with him, they didn’t exchange another the last promised day."
"Why would Sirius have to give her the sa letter over and over?" Liora asked.
Mayo smiled again, but this ti there was understanding in her expression. "I don’t know... It’s cryptic. Luna knows nobody will really understand it, maybe that’s why she doesn’t mind if people read it."
With deliberate movents, Mayo opened one of the wrinkled letters.
Everyone swallowed hard...
And she began to read.
"I love you, my bright star. I love you, light of my nights. I love you more than the stars. I love you with every breath. I love you, my little constellation. I love you beyond asure. I love you infinitely. I love you boundlessly. I love you without end. I love you eternally..."
The repetitions went on, each variation slightly different but carrying the sa obsessive weight. Mayo’s voice took on an almost hypnotic quality as the declarations continued.
Ren felt his cheeks heating up. The others exchanged uncomfortable glances as Mayo continued without pause.
But when Ren opened the one he had, he realized that indeed they were the sa.
"Hello my sweet light, hello my precious one, hello my invaluable treasure, hello my reason for existing, hello my little drop of honey, hello my everything, hello my universe, hello my dawn, hello my dusk, hello my eternal fla..."
"Please stop," Larissa murmured, her own face flushing.
But Mayo didn’t stop. "With all my heart, with all my soul, with every piece of my being, with everything I am, with everything I have, with my entire existence, with my last breath, with unwavering devotion, with absolute certainty, always and forever, eternally and completely, through all ti and space..."
The declarations continued for several more lines, each one piling upon the last. Then Mayo reached what appeared to be the farewell section, and her voice took on an even more theatrical quality.
"Goodbye my treasure, farewell my precious star, until we et again my light, see you soon my constellation, I’ll return to you my dawn, wait for my eternal fla, don’t forget my everything, rember always my reason for existing, hold in your heart my sweet light, keep close my little drop of honey..."
The farewells went on and on.
"Until light returns to darkness, until my heart finds yours once more..."
Mayo paused to catch her breath, and several people in the room shifted uncomfortably. The repetitive, almost manic quality of the words was starting to feel oppressive.
The list continued, Mayo reached a section that made everyone feel a strange chill run down their spines.
"I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise..."
The word "promise" repeated line after line, filling almost half a page. The handwriting beca slightly more frantic as it continued, the letters pressing harder into the paper with each repetition.
"And finally," Mayo concluded, her voice softening, "I miss you, my light. I miss you more than words can express. I miss you with every heartbeat. I miss you in every mont you’re not here. I miss you when I wake. I miss you when I sleep. I miss you in daylight and in darkness. I miss you, I miss you, I miss you..."
She paused, then read the final line with particular emphasis: "I will never abandon you. Never. Never. Never."
The silence that followed was uncomfortable and heavy. Nobody seed to know exactly how to react to what they had just heard.
"That’s..." Ren began, but couldn’t find adequate words.
"Uncomfortable," Liora completed bluntly, twisting in her seat. "Cursed indeed they coul..."
"It’s intense," Larissa corrected, though she didn’t seem to disagree with Liora’s assessnt.
Mayo laughed softly. "Matilda and I have seen them many tis. But unfortunately, Luna has never told us what they really an. It’s sothing that started arriving shortly after the great attack when I was assigned to her from the Ashenway house to help Matilda."
"Do you have any theories?" Ren asked, still processing the strangeness of what he had just heard.
Mayo shrugged. "Matilda thinks it’s so kind of code. I think it’s simply a father just like his daughter trying to communicate in an exaggerated way sothing he can’t say directly. But in the end," her expression beca serious, "that doesn’t really matter anymore. Luna now hates Sirius and just wants to recover the relic."
"The relic?" Ren straightened, his attention completely captured.
"The one that belongs to her, the light one from the Twin Stars," Larissa explained. "The Starweaver artifacts that were used in the western sector during the battle. Now the faction opposed to Luna’s has them, and they’re using the battle’s success to legitimize their control over them and the territories."
"It seems to an too much to her," Liora added. "More than just political value or military power."
Larissa remained thoughtful for a mont, then nodded slowly. "With Luna’s docunted achievents during the defense of the northern sector, it would be possible to argue that she should have custody of her faction’s relic in her father’s absence. But we would need quite a bit of support, and it won’t be easy or quick with how noble bureaucrats are."
Ren looked at the letter in his hand again, then carefully put it away. He thought about Sirius, about his decision to leave the city, about the cryptic and obsessive words he had left behind. He thought about Luna, about how she had fought so valiantly despite everything.
His fists clenched.
"I’m not just going to solve crystallization... I’m going to help Luna recover the relic," he declared. "However necessary."
The words ca out with more conviction than he had felt in a long ti.
’For that,’ he thought, a new resolution forming in his mind, ’maybe I’ll have to embrace truly becoming a noble soon.’
The girls looked at him, recognizing the determination in his expression.
But so blushed...
Ren looked at them and lowered his gaze. He realized that indeed, the sheets had fallen to his waist during his dramatic declaration.
He beca aware once again that he was surrounded by girls, blushed, and quickly covered himself up to his neck.
"If you can... could you leave so I can get dressed?" he murmured, avoiding eye contact.
The girls exchanged glances. Then, as if they had reached a silent agreent, none of them moved.
Liora smiled mischievously.
Larissa tried to maintain a serious expression, but there was also a touch of amusent in her eyes.
User Comments
0 comments from readers