The Conquerors Path

"Guess the time is here....."

Saying so I stood up as I left the room, moving towards my next target or in this case the very same target, with practiced movements I blended into the crowd of students with my disguise magic as five minutes later I was in the library seated before the disguised Celestinia, who acted much different from always.

Even with her disguise on, her pride would still be felt from her posture to her gaze, her speech to the way she reacts, all of it would always be accompanied by an arrogance that rose from deep within her bones but now none of that could be seen now, her eyes that looked directly at me now held an uncertain yet pained gaze.

Her posture that looked prideful now had a hunch, her aura that seemed to be over the world now felt lost and defeated,

"Are you okay?"

I asked with a concerned tone making Celestinia flinch, a strained smile came to her face, she was trying her best to look normal, the small time frame I gave her wasn't enough for her to recover and I am sure that she had thought that if she didn't appear here, then my suspicion would grow,

"No, I am fine, maybe somethings up with you?"

She asked in a casual tone or at least she was trying to, making me give her another concerned look,

"You don't look so well, why don't we postpone today's talk?"

I asked, making Celestinia quiet, she looked to be in deep contemplation before which she asked me another question,

"You, yourself don't look so well"

Her question took me back, as I looked at her with surprised eyes before which a wry smile graced my face, shaking my head I leaned back to my chair with a difficult look on my face,

"You can tell?"

I asked with a hoarse voice, as my face of calmness split into sadness and defeat, a look I am sure was crushing Celestinia's heart,

"What happened?"

She asked, seemingly trying to put on a simple casual questioning look, making me shake my head once again as I spoke in a tired voice,

"I just had to face a past..."

"You look quite beaten up though"

She replied, trying to probe more into me, maybe clutching for a straw of feelings, to see maybe, maybe I might have some lingering feeling that she could hold onto but I wasn't going to make it easy for her, not after knowing what she's capable of,

"Indeed you could say that I was beaten up a lot but the one that was beaten up was my heart?"

"Oh? love troubles? maybe the sister-in-law issue~~"

Celestinia replied, her best act of normality coming to play, making me chuckle as I responded,

"Indeed you've hit the mark but not quite"

"What really happened? you look very defeated..."

Celestinia played her cards well she questioned me in a caring voice of a friend,

"Well, it's a long story actually, a story that made me fall in love yet broke my heart"

"Mu-Must have been tough"

She supported trying to hide the tremble in her voice under the guise of a curious yet caring friend,

"Tough is an understatement, though I have come over it, after all, I found a girl I truly love and she loved me back the same, someone that I could trust"

My voice was filled with happiness and contentment, which distorted the features of the girl in front of me, I am sure that my words must have hit Celestinia hard, if it was any other circumstances the corpse of Scarlet might rise but not know, she won't do it knowing how hurt I am right now, knowing that I might one day find about it if she did something bad to Scarlet.

She might be hurting now but her intelligence is still at play, she would take out Scarlet once she's sure that I had started to love her back again,

"Looks like a fight of hearts between the ex-love and the new?"

A teasing voice that tried to up my spirit came from Celestinia, it was more of a probe than anything else,

"No, a fight means feelings exist, the ex-love that I have is long dead, she no longer holds a place within me, not after what she did"

"Your first love hurt you?"

Celestinia asked back in shock, hiding her true feelings of pain,

"let it go, it's of the past, something which doesn't affect me anymore"

I said waving my finger to cut off the topic but Celestinia didn't seem to want to give up, through a quick glance I could see the desperation that was filling her face,

"But it seems like it still affects you?"

She said, trying to grasp any last straw that I could give her,

'Let's give her a small gap'

My eyes widened in surprise before which a pained smile came to my face, my reaction quickly catching her interest, a lost look filled my eyes, as I responded,

"Maybe, I keep telling myself that it would be gone, that it's all in the past but as they say you don't forget your first"

"Your first love has such an effect on you?"

Celestinia asked, a hint of glee filling her lost voice,

"She had affected me much, the woman I spoke of doesn't know of the things I did for her, the pain I went through, I was satisfied with the happiness that filled her but I was naive, truly I didn't see her for her for how she saw me"

"Can you tell me the story? it seems interesting, perhaps speaking it out loud will help you gain a perspective you didn't know you have"

"Tell you huh..."

A contemplating look took over my face as I sat on my seat in silence,

"Do you think you have the time?"

I spoke, to which the disguised Celestinia nodded her head, clearly needing to know what had really taken place back then, in fact, she knows I am no idiot, shouldn't I with my knowledge be able to grasp the fact that the woman in front of me is Celestinia? but no it won't happen, because from the very beginning she was using a spell on her that muddled people's understanding of her.

If one didn't talk to her knowing her true identity, one will never figure it out, otherwise, how could I who was in 'love' with her not understand her from the talks we had? the spell she uses makes it such that the mind will be unable to grasp thoughts connecting to her, in a way this disguise she has is the only true connection she has to me and she will never give it up,

"Then I don't mind telling the story, it all began a bit back into the years...."