KINTSUkuroi
[Chapter XXI] - Siule's Gambit (Part II)

"...Are you mad at me...?"

"...No."

"But... You're so cold and distant tonight, Nic... I know you don't like the idea of me and Siule having a deathmatch, but there's no other choice..." Ciel spoke in a weak voice. It broke her heart to see her boyfriend's painful expression. It was evident to her that it was taking all his efforts not to break and burst into tears in front of her.

"Siule is a much bigger threat than I could've foretold. That much was obvious to me after seeing what she did to Zeniel. If she is going to these lengths to get you out of the picture, we need to assume she has an ace up her sleeve she hasn't revealed to us yet." Nicolas pondered.

The black-haired Giantess stared at her tiny lover for a few seconds, her amaranth red irises piercing into the depths of his soul.

"...I understand now." the female declared.

"Yeah, Siule-" the male was about to comment when Ciel cut him off.

"I'm not talking about her, Nic. I'm talking about you. I know what you're thinking. You're struggling to come up with some sort of 'perfect strategy' for the deathmatch. You feel it's your duty to design a plan that will ensure my safety. You're scared because of what may happen if there's the slightest flaw in your stratagem." Ciel voiced out the male's inner thoughts.

As always, her read on him was impeccably accurate.

"It's my duty as the strategist for the Giants. This is the one thing I can do for you, and if I screw it up, I-" he shuddered to even think of such an outcome, but Ciel spoke again before he could finish his sentence.

"Then as the Regent of the Giants, I hereby relieve you of your duties as a Strategist." Ciel decreed.

"W-What...?" Nicolas asked in disbelief.

"You heard me. You're no longer the Giants' Strategist. That means that if anything goes wrong, you won't be held accountable for such an outcome." the female explained.

"No! You... You can't!" the male protested.

"I can. I'm making this decision both as the ruler of the Giants and as your girlfriend. I won't allow you to carry such an unreasonably heavy burden in your shoulders. And no, I'm not willing to negotiate this." the bodacious woman said.

"T-Then... I-If I'm not your Strategist... w-what am I...?" Nicolas inquired.

"Isn't that obvious? You're my boyfriend. You're the one person who makes my heart flutter every time I see you, every time you say nice things to me, every time you hug me and kiss me. You're the one person that makes me fully happy. You're the one person who makes me feel safe, as though nothing could ever go wrong so as long as I had you by my side. You're my reason to smile, and to get up when life knocks me down. You're my source of inner peace. You're my first choice, my first REAL choice. You're the one I wish to protect the most. You're the one for whom this heart of mine beats. You're my reason to live. You're the man I dream to marry, and with whom I wish to form a family. You're the man I love, Nic. Nothing less." Ciel said as she gently held him against her chest.

"C-Ciel —the short male stammered, failing to hold the tears in—... Y-You know I feel the same way about you... T-That's why I want to make sure nothing happens to you. T-That's why I need to make sure I come up with a p-plan that's an absolute success..." the male explained.

Ciel smiled softly at him and gently shook her head.

"You just fought the Giants' strongest warrior on your own in order to protect me. You may not realise how huge of a feat that is, no pun intended. You say that I'm constantly protecting you and that you want to protect me for once, but what you fail to see is that you protect me every day. I'm sure you must have noticed, but I'm not without my own insecurities. And each time these insecurities show up, you're always there to make me feel at ease." Ciel spoke to him.

At first Nicolas thought Ciel was saying this just to be nice, but as his mind travelled back to the moments they had spent together his eyes widened in realisation. He recalled how he had supported her when she felt uncertain about her own capability to rule the Giants. His mind went back to the night they spent in the warehouse, and how he reassured her about showing herself as a Giantess in front of him. He remembered the events that had transpired twenty years before, when her identity as a Giant was revealed, and how he had gone out of his way to try to get the authorities to pardon her and Savan. He had not realised until now, but she was right. It wasn't just her protecting him all the time. Even back then, ever since he started opening up to her, their relationship was one in which both of them, each in their own way, sought to defend each other.

And to him, that was the purest form love could possibly take.

"I realise now. You are right. We've always been there for each other, Ciel. What you're doing right now, relieving me from my duties as a Strategist, that's also your way of protecting me. That is why, just like you continue to protect me, I will continue to protect you as well. I don't need an official position as a Strategist to make sure no harm comes your way. And if you intend to ask me to stop trying to protect you, you might as well ask me to stop breathing. Because so as long as I breathe, I will be your shield, whether you want me to or not." the short male asserted.

"Nic... I..." for once, it was the Giant woman that could not replace the words to answer. Instead, she just smiled warmly at him, tears of joy falling from her eyes, and hugged him into her bosom once again. This time, however, she did not intend to tease him by doing so. She just... felt the need to hold him like that.

"I'm so damned fortunate to have you in my life, you know that little man?" the female nuzzled him against her chest for a little bit longer before pulling him back from it.

Three days later...

The moonless, nearly starless midnight sky seemed particularly ominous that night. It was as though it foretold an inevitable, unfortunate fate.

A veritable prelude to death.

Ciel and Siule stood opposite to each other, both at equal height. On the grandstands, the silence was such that one would probably be able to hear a needle fall to the ground.

The unnerving stillness was broken by the tawny-haired lady, who felt it was fitting to address her opponent before the deathmatch began.

"Ciel... Had the circumstances been different. I do believe we could have been good friends."

The Regent of the Giants remained silent.

"I know you hate me because of what I did to your mother, and that's understandable. Like I said back in the Human world, I didn't want things to end like that. I just wanted to make sure you were forced to go back to your homeland so that I could continue to protect Nicky like I had been doing until you showed up again." Siule explained.

"I'm not fighting you because of mom's death. As much as it hurts, that's in the past and nothing I do will bring her back. I'm fighting you because I wish to defend my future with Nic. You may think it's a selfish reason, and you know what? I agree completely. But I don't mind being selfish if that means keeping Nic away from you." Ciel retorted.

"Very well. Then I guess there's nothing else to say." Siule spoke somberly.

Ciel looked at her father, who was to signal the start of the deathmatch, and nodded her head.

Taking a moment to try to put his personal feelings aside, Salvius looked at Ciel before finally speaking.

"Begin."