SAI SHINU
I sat there for a long time, holding her hand in mine, feeling its warmth but knowing the silence couldn't last forever. She deserved more than silence. She deserved the truth.
I took a slow breath. "Namae," I began, my voice lower than I intended, "I need to tell you something."
Her eyes lifted to mine, calm but searching. "What is it?"
I tightened my grip slightly, steadying myself. "Your father… he told me the truth. The colosseum—it was never meant to be safe. He and his army betrayed me. They intended to kill me."
Her lips parted, but no words came out. The shock in her eyes was sharp, like a blade.
I pushed on. "I trusted his word. I fought because I believed it was just a test, a way to prove myself to the village. But it wasn't. It was a trap. And I survived only because I had no choice but to keep fighting."
She stared at me, horror flickering across her face. "H-He… he admitted this to you?"
"Yes." I leaned back slightly, letting out a bitter breath. "And… there's something else. Before the battle, you heard whispers—rumors that the army intended to kill me, no matter what the rules said. You thought maybe they were lies, or fears." My jaw tightened. "They weren't. What you heard was the truth. Every word of it."
Her hands trembled, and I reached to steady them. My voice softened, even though anger burned in my chest. "That's why I made a demand of him. Tomorrow… I'll leave this place. I won't stay in a village that sees me as nothing but a weapon or a threat. But I can't go alone."
Her eyes widened. "Sai…"
"I asked him to let you come with me." I swallowed hard, the weight of the promise pressing against me. "And he agreed. That's the one thing he didn't fight me on."
She blinked rapidly, trying to take it all in. "He… agreed?"
"Yes." I nodded, forcing my tone to stay steady. "Tomorrow, when I walk out of this village, you'll be by my side. I can't promise the road will be easy. In fact, I can almost promise the opposite. But I can promise you this, Namae: I won't abandon you. Not now. Not ever."
The room fell into silence again, but it was different this time—thicker, heavier with everything unsaid.
Finally, her voice broke through, barely above a whisper. "…You really mean that, don't you?"
I met her gaze, letting her see everything I'd been holding back—the guilt, the pain, but also the determination. "I've never meant anything more in my life."
Her lips trembled as she tried to hold back, but the weight of everything hit her at once. The betrayal of her father, the danger I'd barely survived, the truth behind the whispers—her chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven breaths before the tears finally broke free.
She buried her face against me, shoulders shaking. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, letting her spill everything she couldn't carry alone. For a moment, neither of us spoke—just the sound of her sobs, muffled against my chest, and the faint creak of the house as the wind brushed against its walls.
"I trusted him," she whispered at last, voice raw. "All my life, I trusted him. And now… he was ready to kill you. To kill the person I—" Her words faltered, lost in the storm of her grief.
I stroked her hair gently, steadying her. "I know. And I'm sorry you had to hear it this way. I'm sorry I couldn't shield you from it."
She pulled back, eyes red but blazing with something sharper now—not just sadness, but thought. A spark of suspicion.
"But Sai…" she murmured, her brows furrowing. "Why did he agree so easily? My father doesn't bend. He doesn't give away what he considers his. Especially not… me."
The question hung heavy in the air, cutting through her tears.
My chest tightened. I had asked myself the same thing, but hearing her say it out loud gave the unease more weight.
She bit her lip, thinking aloud now, her voice trembling but resolute. "It doesn't make sense. If he really saw you as a threat, why let me walk beside you? Unless…" She trailed off, then shook her head as though afraid to give the thought shape.
"Unless what?" I pressed gently, though a part of me already knew.
Her eyes lifted to mine, wide with the terror of realization. "Unless… he wants me to go with you. Not to protect me, not out of kindness—but because I'm… part of his plan. Maybe he thinks he can watch you through me. Or…" She swallowed hard. "Or he doesn't expect me to come back."
Her words cut deeper than any blade I had faced in the arena.
I didn't answer right away. Instead, I pulled her close again, holding her tighter, as though my arms alone could shield her from the schemes of her father.
"Whatever his reasons," I said finally, voice low but steady, "they don't matter. Once we leave, it won't be his choice anymore. It won't be his plan. It'll be ours."
She shuddered, but after a moment, she nodded against me. "Ours," she whispered back, clinging to the word like it was a lifeline.
And in that moment, I silently vowed that whatever her father had in mind—whatever schemes, whatever betrayals—he would not touch her again.