“Why did you betray us?”
Arizihana Agnoth heard the question directed at her. She was at an underground facility and talking to a spectral image that was projected above an array eye. The question was asked by this spectral image that seemed to have a blurry and unrecognizable visual profile
Ari was pissed by hearing the question directed at her. She gripped her sword’s hilt hard before replying:
“Me betraying you? I should be the one asking the same question to you. You told me you would initiate contact with me in a few days. And I was waiting for days on end.
And suddenly I got the news that one of your hideouts has been found out. My payment is due and the ones who were going to do that just had to go down in cinders.
How are you going to compensate me for my promised payment plus this delay now?”
The spectral image was silent for a while before replying:
“The city of Silvermoon is up to something. Did any news leak from your end?”
“Nope. Why would I jeopardize myself by telling anyone about anything related to you guys? It seems I was wrong in listening to you. You were always going to stab me in the back, didn’t you?”
The spectral shadow couldn’t help but chuckle after hearing Ari’s response. It wasn’t long before it clapped back:
“Ari, my mon Cheri. Why would Beast Bloods betray you when it was just about to receive its biggest award from you? I think there’s some misunderstanding between us.
And it’s fine if you don’t want to trust cultists. Because the cultists are the bad guys right? But can’t you trust your lover in this?”
Ari’s anger was at its peak when she heard a hypocritical answer from that spectral shadow:
“Trust your lover? You were the one who started with “why did you betray us?”. And you are telling me I should trust you because we are in a relationship.”
The spectral image took a long sigh before trying to pacify the woman who had been scorned:
“I was just testing you, Mon Cheri. Of course, I didn’t mean that. I have a few responsibilities to my organization, you see. The ones that force me to ask such questions and be done with it.
But you can trust me when I say that we didn’t betray the deal we had from our end.”
“Didn’t betray you say. You didn’t even tell me the side effects of the potion recipe you gave me to break into D-Rank. I would have died in a few years if it wasn’t detected at this stage.”
Said Arizihana while taking long breaths. Her chest was rising and lowering rapidly, a testament to the kind of visible anger she felt towards the spectral image. The spectral image again went silent before saying melancholically:
“The bastards didn’t tell me. They were planning to kill you with the deal and were using me as the medium. I mean, I knew the water was always murky with the cultists. But I didn’t know that they could be so insidious as well.”
“So you’re telling me you didn’t know about the potion’s side effects?”
“No, Mon Cheri. Honest. Why would I let my beloved Ari go through the deal if I knew it was rigged from the beginning? Are you sure about the side effects though?”
“Yes. I’m sure. I checked with the city’s finest healer and came to know about the same.”
Ari answered.
She was still angry. But one could say that it was subsidising.
“Are you alright? The side effects are gone?”
The spectral image asked with concern. Ari just puffed her cheeks before answering:
“I’m fine, no thanks to you. The side effects are still there. But they’ll be gone in a few months. Nothing to worry about anymore. Not that you seem to care anyway.”
“And how did you come to know about the potion’s side effects? Because they have to be extremely covert if I know my potioneering right.”
Ari gave the spectral shadow answer to her question while pacing about in underground place:
“Yes, the side effects were going to stay hidden until the last moment. My mana circuit was going to erode slowly in the span of a few years before the by-then unstabilized core imploded.
Some Eren kid guessed the side effects, can you believe it? I wonder what that tells you about your potioneering skills?”
Ari then told the apparent potioneer about the events that came to pass after she met Eren’s team. The spectral image couldn’t help but conclude what it had on its mind after hearing it got from Ari.
“Eren Idril, huh? The kid must be a prodigy in potioneering for him to detect the side effects even I couldn’t foresee. That and his background of working under a C-Rank healer must have helped him.
Anyway. The kid is not important. Tell me more about our darling Marla. Hehe! I’m sure she must be missing me a lot.”
“She is. But that won’t stop her from cutting you in half if you go in front of her. What are we even going to do about her?”
Ari asked with a hint of worry. The spectral shadow seemed to have flicked before replying:
“Well, it’s not like I didn’t try to get her to my side. Only you could understand me and my plight. But she didn’t even make an effort to do so.
To be honest, even I’m clueless about how we should deal with Marla. We’ll need to meet in person to decide something like this. Plus, I haven’t had the pleasure to embrace you in a long time now. This should serve as a good reason. Hehe!”
“Oh? Now you need a reason to spend time with me? Wow!
I should just spank your ass the next time we meet. Unlike you, I don’t need a reason to do that, you see.”
Ari let go of her sword’s hilt and folded her hands under her bosom before replying. One could see that her anger had faded into nothingness at this point. What she was displaying right now was only a tantrum.
The spectral image chuckled and took a sigh before voicing its next concern:
“It seems the side effects are nothing to worry about if you are this dandy about our next rendezvous. I’ll gladly offer my plush ass for you to spank, hehe.
And don’t worry, Mon Cheri. We’ll have our revenge on the Beast Bloods. We were planning to run from the Edinburgh kingdom anyway. I’ll just fu*k with the cultists too if that’s how they want to play it.
But not right now. They still have something I want. So listen to me one more time. We’ll play it cool. For now, let’s keep things strictly professional. I’ll tell you about my plans later on when the next time I contact you.
That’s it for now, Mon Cheri. Take care and see you soon.”
Said the spectral before disappearing soon after. Ari sighed after seeing the shadow of the person she loved disappearing on her without even giving her a chance to say goodbye. From the looks of things, it didn’t look like she was experiencing this frustration for the first time.
Long-distance relationships were hard. Ari could attest to that. She left soon after that and the underground area was engulfed by darkness.
Eren didn’t know that he had changed the fate of a lot of people along with the city of Silvermoon by his violent actions.
And it’s not like the butcher would have cared even if he did!
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AN: Just in case one doesn’t know. Mon Cheri is an endearing term in French, which means “my dear”.