The Tyrant's Pet

Meanwhile...

Aries had no plans for the hunting season aside from winning the competition. She knew Joaquin would use such an occasion since he was the type of person who would never let an opportunity slide. So when she heard commotions somewhere on the hunting grounds, she set off to hunt, knowing everyone would be busy doing their own schemes.

"Would Joaquin cheat this competition too?" she mumbled as she slowed down, pulling the reins and looking around the woods surrounding her. "I didn't even see any bunny."

Her frown grew deeper as there was a high possibility Joaquin placed all the released wild in a specific area where he would hunt. Knowing how rotten the crown prince was, it was something he would definitely do.

As Aries thought more about which area to hunt, a memory she had been squashing down the closer the hunting season approached suddenly resurfaced in her head.

She surveyed the deep, verdant green surrounding, and right before her eyes, everything spun in a slow-motion... until the virescent riot slowly changed into a landscape frosted with sweet whiteness. She blinked once and the light streak of white gold radiating upon her surrounding changed into a sepia tone because of the thick fog of winter.

Aries turned to her left, and she saw herself... running naked for her life.

"Oh, Aries~!" she looked back to where the sound of the voice was coming from. And there, not far away through the woods, were Inez and Javier, laughing in the forest clearing.

"Go faster! Or we will catch you~!" Javier laughed, humming melodiously while he prepared his bow and arrow to hunt her down.

Aries shifted her eyes to Inez, who was already riding on her steed, to start her hunt. She knew what happened here... or rather, her memory about this yet another freezing winter was hazy.

All she could remember was tonight, Inez and Javier had a great time toying with her.

"Right..." she whispered, shifting her eyes to the naked Aries trudging through the onslaught of white. "Right... this happened."

Aries kept her eyes on herself, riding her steed in a slow-motion to follow her tracks. All she could see on that exhausted lean face while fighting this freezing weather with no cloth to give her the slightest warmth was desperation. Aries went through a lot and honestly, she couldn't remember all the little details. Unless they were worthy to remember.

And this one... she couldn't remember it clearly. She didn't know if the other tortures she went through or her determination in this freezing cold barely kept her half-conscious, simply overshadowed her memory lane.

"Don't go there," she whispered, watching herself wonder which path to take. Melancholy blanketed her eyes as Aries turned to her right, hands touching every tree to find her way out of this vast forest.

"Fool," she commented when the Aries she had been watching came out to the path where she was.

Aries was looking around. Her quivering lips had already turned purple, clutching her hand close to her chest as her entire body trembled at the harsh gust of wind.

"I told you..." came out a muffled voice as the Aries she was watching finally walked ahead, which she followed closely behind. "... don't think about these things anymore."

Aries knew she was simply living in the memory of yesterday. That none of this — including that Aries who was walking slowly ahead of her or the sound of horses galloping in the other area of the forest — was real. However, she couldn't wake herself up from this memory lane... or daydreaming if that was what it even called.

All she could do was follow her younger self, studying all the dirt and bruises and new wounds across the latter's body. Her eyes fell and blood from her blistered feet mixed in her trails.

"I already know what will happen here..." she whispered once more, thinking Inez or Javier would find her first and dragged her back to where they came from. That younger Aries knew that already. That she wouldn't escape them even when they freed her from her shackles and out of the cage.

However, she still wanted to try.

One last time.

Even if it was pitiful and a futile attempt.

Even if she gets mocked by those wicked people.

She wanted to escape because if she didn't... she would snap. Aries would forget everything and just lose it, just like what they wanted.

"Ah!" Aries stopped when her younger self tripped over despite her slow pace. The latter winced as she raised her hand. Her palm was bleeding after hitting something underneath the snow. But the little blood wasn't enough to stop her as she clenched her teeth and channeled her pain into strength to get up.

It was a painful memory to recall much more to watch. The reason Aries kept distracting herself from other things as this season approached. She hated winter in Maganti. Aside from a memory such as this, Aries had always felt there was something even more to hate that season.

"Now… I think I know why…" she mumbled, following her younger self as the latter dragged her feet further deep into the forest, thinking every step was a step closer to freedom.

It was not.

They remained silent, listening to the melody of silence.

The current Aries didn't know how long or far she went by following her own ghost, but her steed stopped when the younger Aries fell for the umpteenth time. This time, she didn't rise immediately as she caught up to her quick breaths.

Watching her lying there on her stomach with her hand crawling and clutching the white surface, Aries had her teeth clenched. Her grip around the reins tightened before she eventually loosened it to hop out of the horse. However, just before she could get off to help herself, knowing it was simply a reverie, Aries paused as she raised her head.

Her brows furrowed upon laying her eyes on a person covered with a cloak. She couldn't see the person's face with the hook over his or her head. Aries silently watched this person approach her younger self and when the person reached her, he crouched low while her younger self raise her head.

"I don't remember meeting…" Aries trailed off as she snapped back to the current lapse at the loud neigh of her horse before it went wild.