As we finished carrying the st of our soldiers to safety, the waters swallowed up the invading army, and Lucia completed her chant, unleashing a Lightning Storm bigger than anything I'd ever seen before. At once, the Empire soldiers in the moat were fried, and we won what would have been an otherwise difficult battle with as few casualties as possible. She's really incredible, I thought to myself as I remembered what she told me,

  "It makes lightning magic more effective." How did she know that? I wondered. The more I thought about her, the less I understood, but this only made me want to know more about her. She's so small, but she always seems to carry something on her shoulders. I don't know what it is, but I want to relieve her of that burden. I thought to myself as I remembered some of our interactions. I wanted to protect her. I was always watching her. It started with admiration for her incredible feats, but over time, it evolved into something I wasn't quite familiar with. I couldn't stop thinking about her. I was happy just to be around her. I even get jealous when I see her with other girls, I felt this sentiment strongly as I looked at Lucia. Ah, Daphne. I want you all to myself... And that was when I happened to see her, coming out of the forest with Hertz by her side.

  "Daphne!" I started approaching to hug her as soon as I nded, but as I got closer, I noticed she wasn't being her usual self. "W-what happened?" I asked shortly after nding. She had this empty look in her eyes and seemed so incredibly frail that a soft wind could probably knock her down from her horse.

  "I-it's nothing, Phildina," She lied with a fake smile, and her next words were like a knife in the chest for me, "I just... want to be left alone right now."

  "O-oh, I see," I said, not knowing whether to feel hurt, angry, or sad. "You can speak to me if something is troubling you," I said as a st-ditch effort, but she didn't even respond to this as she rode toward the Fort looking worse than I'd ever seen her look before.

  "What happened to her?" I asked Hertz as soon as Daphne was out of earshot.

  "I'll tell you when we get back," He answered with an expression that was a mix of anger and disgust before making his way back to the Fort, leaving me wondering about what could have possibly happened.

  After rounding up the prisoners of war, we had a victory feast ter that evening, but Daphne did not attend. We tried to talk her into it, but she chose to stay holed up inside her room. What's the point if the person responsible for all of this does not show up? I thought to myself as I finished my food, stood up, and left the celebration hall quietly. I'd speak to Hertz first before trying my luck once more with Daphne, but I wasn't prepared for what I was about to hear,

  "They set a nasty trap for us," Hertz began, "They performed ritual magic on some children and prepared an ambush for us." He took a deep breath and continued, "She fought honorably against the Archers, cutting down every single one of those bastards, but she eventually had to..."

  "Kill all the children," I muttered in disbelief.

  "Yeah, that was the only way to stop the water magic spell. Matilda probably would never forgive her for that, regardless of the circumstances. Heck, she may never even forgive herself," Hertz expined. It was appalling, honestly. Who came up with that pn? I felt like impaling him with my spear and then burning him to ash for forcing Daphne to do that. Everything made sense, and I now knew what I was supposed to do.

  I thanked Hertz from the bottom of my heart, went to my room, changed into my nightgown, and then barged into Daphne's room with one goal on my mind.

  "Who's that?" She asked, turning to look at me from her bed with the same empty look in her eyes. I locked the door behind me as I started approaching her. "Phildina? Didn't I tell you I wanted to be left..." I quickly sealed her lips with mine as I got on top of her and pushed my tongue inside, allowing myself to enjoy every moment of our first kiss. I probably lost track of the time as I entwined my tongue around hers in a passionate embrace, finally separating my lips from hers when I was out of breath. You're so cute, Daphne, I thought to myself as I looked at her dazed expression.

  "I'm in no position to tell you whether what you did was right or wrong, so the least I can do for you is to..." I moved in close to her and whispered, "Make this a night you won't forget." I kissed her again, and that was the start of a long and passionate night.