?


    Jayra thought she had some time for herself to rx as she looked out off her room''s balcony. Taking a brief moment to get some rest after countless hours of research and studying, she couldn''t help but sigh as her efforts still remained fruitless even after her constant search for answers.


    The ck Rose… It was some sort of freak disease that was spawned by nature. ording to Lena when theyst spoke, it was so deadly that any attempts at trying to cure it ended up with the healer catching the disease themselves and dying as a result. Well, thankfully, none of that had happened to them yet, but she couldn''t help but think that it was only a matter of time before it did happen.


    "And here I thought it was going to be simple enough," she sighed to herself.


    Shaking her head, Jayra decided that she had enough rest for the day as she turned around and continued her work. But just before she could start, the door to her workshop opened, revealing a rather distraught servant.


    "Lady Jayra…"


    "What is it?" she quickly asked. "Is there something wrong?"


    "L-Lady Be…" the servant panted. "She''s missing…"


    Jayra felt her heart drop as she quickly dropped her work in favor of leaving the castle. Giving a cursory nod to whoever crossed her path, exnations would have toeter as she made her way to what was hopefully where her wayward sister-inw had hidden herself in.


    ''What are you doing, Be…'' she worriedly thought to herself. ''I thought you were better than this…''


    While it might''ve escaped the others, Jayra felt something off from her friend despite thetter''s usual smiles. Xenia also sensed that something was amiss when theyst met, but she and Bartos, not to mention her inws were too burdened by the current epidemic at the moment to keep an eye on Be who had shown good progress in thest few days.


    Making her way through the brush and the cliffside, Jayra held her breath as she finally arrived at the one ce she knew where Be would be. She was facing out onto the drop below her, the cliff where Osman had fallen seemingly calling out to her as she stared nkly out in the distance.


    "Be…" she whispered.


    Letting out a sigh of relief, Jayra approached her with the intent of escorting her back to their home. But while that was her idea, it would seem that Be had other priorities… one that made Jayra scream as she watched Be attempt to throw herself off the deep end to her death.


    "Be!"


    Moving quickly, Jayra sprinted towards the edge of the cliff. Diving towards the edge, she barely managed to hold onto Be''s hand, holding onto her for dear life as she attempted to pull her up from the brink of death.


    Be blinked at her in surprise, her tears still running down her cheeks as she looked up at her. "J-Jayra?"


    "What in the world are you doing?!" Jayra screamed at her, her own tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Are you crazy?!"


    "W-What''s there to live for anyway…" Be weakly shuddered. "Osman''s gone, and I can''t live without him…"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What do you mean ''you can''t live without him?!'' Do you think he''d want you to throw away your life like this?!" Jayra yelled, her grip on Be''s hand slipping as her friend gave little effort to save herself. "Do you think he''d be alright with you throwing away the life that he cherished?!"


    Be opened her mouth to retort, only to keep them shut as she looked away in shame. "Y-You don''t understand…"


    Jayra frowned even as she slowly positioned herself to pull Be better up from the ledge. "Alright, fine then. I don''t understand," she admitted, knowing that saying otherwise might only set Be off even further. "But what I do understand is that you''re not thinking straight. On top of Osman not wanting this. What do you think would happen if you died?"


    Be remained quiet, her grip trembling even as Jayra began to pull her up.


    "What do you we would feel? What your loved ones would feel? Do you think we won''t miss you?" she yelled out, her tone losing most of its anger in favor offorting her hurting sister-inw. "We''re here for you, Be. And if you throw your life away like this… We''d be the ones carrying the guilt of failing to save you…"


    Be flinched at her words, and Jayra knew then that she was getting to her. Intensifying her efforts, she heaved Be away from the ledge and back onto solid ground, pulling her back to the world of the living before she could do anything more dangerous.


    "I… I''m sorry…" Be weakly sobbed.


    "I''m sorry too, Be," Jayra panted as she hugged her hurting sister-inw. "We''re all sorry… For not even seeing that you''re hurting this badly."


    "N-No! I''m the one responsible for this," Be yelled. "Don''t put yourself down because of my decisions… No… You don''t deserve it…"


    "And you don''t deserve to me yourself for what you''re feeling either," Jayra weakly chuckled. "It''s normal to hurt, but don''t keep it all to yourself. You have family and friends. Us… We''ll share in your pain, and we''ll dly help you carry whatever burden is in your heart…"


    Jayra smiled at Be as she hugged Be even tighter. "Again, Osman wouldn''t want you doing this. I''m sure that wherever he is right now, he''s cursing your name for attempting to take your own life."


    "I-I suppose so," Be tearily chuckled. "I can already imagine him yelling at me for this…"


    The two shared a smallugh as they caught their breaths. After a few heartfelt moments offorting one another, Jayra helped Be up.


    "We should go back to the Capital," Jayra suggested. "I''m sure the others are already looking for us."


    "R-Right…" Be faintly smiled. "I''m sure I have a lot of exining to do…"


    Jayra smiled. "Don''t worry. I''ll be with you every step of the way."