Raymond's eyes flared up as he remembered the painful events that followed, his cold fury causing even his surroundings to freeze.
Even thinking about it brought him immense pain, but he gritted his teeth and continued recalling his tale.
***
They lived a simple, yet peaceful life.
They spent every afternoon playing near the hills.
They sat down every night to talk about their day.
They sang merrily as they went about their chores.
Their lives were filled with love and happiness.
But the happy moments soon came to an end.
Raymond didn't know when exactly it had started, but he noticed that his wife's behavior had changed.
She was often restless and had started avoiding him. That was strange enough on its own, but there were other strange things too.
Like how she stopped wearing the bracelet he had given her, saying it didn't suit her anymore.
Or how he often found his dinner burnt or ruined, his uniform damaged, and his money missing.
Or how Qulia was often in a bad mood, not even looking after Yuna properly.
And even Yuna seemed to stay anxious all the time.
He would even hear Qulia talking to someone outside the house, but the person would always run away when Raymond came out to see who it was.
Raymond had asked Qulia many times about these things, but she simply doged his questions, saying it was just a coincidence or that he was just imagining things.
He wasn't convinced, of course, but he tried to be understanding and didn't bother her about it, telling himself that there was a reasonable explanation behind it.
Yet her behaviour kept getting worse.
It was especially bad around Wallace and Martha. Qulia was always rude to them, and even Yuna avoided them both.
So, one day, Raymond decided to invite them both over for dinner, hoping that it would help smooth things out between them and Qulia. They agreed to come, only for Qulia to treat them even more rudely than usual.
She didn't say anything directly, but he could clearly notice how she was constantly glaring at them, or how there were clear hints of sarcasm in her voice whenever she spoke to them.
Even the food she served them all was more akin to a disgusting slop.
Seeing that they were clearly not welcome, Wallace decided that they should just leave.
He still remembered how embarrassed he felt at his wife's actions towards his friend who had been so helpful to him and his family.
After they left, he confronted Qulia about her behaviour, but she just pretended to not know what he was talking about.
Raymond seethed with anger, feeling like he had finally had enough of his wife's behaviour. But even then, he couldn't argue with Qulia, not when their little daughter was watching.
So, not knowing what else to do, he got up and left for his room, slamming the door behind him.
He didn't come out of his room that night, not to eat dinner with his wife, and not even to play games with his daughter.
He was just too frustrated at his wife's behaviour, and needed time to clear his head.
He tried to go to sleep, but his grumbling stomach refused to let him rest.
He spent a few hours tossing and turning in his bed, before he heard a knock on the door.
He didn't answer.
There was another knock, and then another, but Raymond continued to ignore it.
The knocking stopped after that, but then Raymond started to feel guilty.
Sighing, he got up to open the door, finding a plate of freshly made stew placed in front of it, and he could vaguely hear muffled sobs some distance away.
Although she was trying to hide it, Raymond could hear Qulia crying.
Raymond just couldn't wrap his head around it all. He didn't know what was happening or why their relationship had taken a turn a worse, but he wanted to fix things somehow.
Luckily, he had the perfect opportunity to do that, since their anniversary was just around the corner.
On the night before their anniversary, he asked Wallace to grant him the next day off and as soon as the sun rose in the morning, he headed into the nearby forest.
It was the start of spring. Beautiful flowers adorned the trees, painting the world with vibrant colors.
A sweet fragrance permeated the air while small birds sang cheerful songs.
The whole forest celebrated as life returned to the world after its long sleep.
It was a beautiful sight, and the perfect time to find flowers to bring to loved ones.
The flowers Raymond was after, however, didn't need spring to bloom.
Crawling out from underneath thick bushes, he made his way to a hidden clearing in the forest where several white flowers were growing out of the ground.
The flowers were elegant but simple, not at all like the flowers commonly given as gifts to loved ones. But these flowers had a unique trait that had turned them into a symbol of love.
While their sweet fragrance disappeared a few days after being plucked, the austere white petals always remained full of life, never showing any signs of wilting.
That was why everyone called them Everblooms, and young people started treating them as a symbol of eternal love.
But these precious flowers were rarer than diamonds, and Raymond was the only one who knew where to find them in this forest.
He carefully plucked a few of the flowers and made his way back.
These flowers, along with the hares he had hunted for dinner, were sure to make a great anniversary gift. Hopefully, it would help him mend his relationship with Qulia.
Raymond brimmed with joy at the thought of it, and happily hummed to himself as he made his way back home.
But sadly, he never managed to reach his home.
Unknown to him, two hooded figures were hiding in the darkness, waiting silently for him to pass by.
As soon as he did, they ambushed him, leaving him badly injured.
The assailants continued their attack, and Raymond struggled to defend himself.
He was a Sword Expert, and he had fought many hard battles, but his opponents were strong, and he was already wounded.
They pushed him back until he reached the edge of a cliff. One of them tried to push him off, but Raymond dodged before slashing at their face.
Unfortunately, the second assailant used that opportunity to attack, driving their sword into Raymond's chest.
Raymond's eyes widened and he gripped the hilt of the blade, but the assailant twisted their sword before driving it deeper into his chest.
But it wasn't pain that caused Raymond's eyes to widen, not the physical kind, at least.
No, it was because, at that moment, he saw the wrist of the hooded figure, where a beautiful bracelet glistened in the moonlight.
It was adorned with small, blue gems, arranged in the shape of flowers.
As blood streamed down the blade in his chest, dripping down on the Everblooms on the ground, Raymond uttered in a hoarse voice, "Q—Qulia..."
The hooded figure grimaced at his words, and kicked him, pushing his body off the cliff.
Raymond fell to the ground below, his bones shattering from the fall.
Attracted by the scent of his blood, the nearby monsters ran towards him, sinking their teeth into his flesh and dragging his mangled body towards their lair.
He felt the pain of his broken bones.
He felt the agony of his flesh being torn apart.
He felt the cold embrace of death as his senses faded away.
Yet he didn't pay attention to any of it. He couldn't.
The only thing on his mind was the sight of the bracelet, the bracelet he had had made specially for Qulia.
The pain he got from the realization that his killer was none other than his own wife, that one pain drowned out all the others.
As his consciousness slowly faded away, all he was left with was a single question.
'Why?'
***
Tears welled up in Raymond's eyes as he finished recounting his tale, his previous rage washed away by the overwhelming sadness of reliving those memories.
But he wiped them away, as if refusing to shed tears over his traitorous wife.
So the girl in the shadows shed tears in his stead.
"And that's the end of it", he continued, "At least, that's as much as I'm aware of".
"I don't know why my wife had done what she did, nor do I know what she did to our daughter after that. However...", he sighed.
"I doubt that it's anything good. She despised me enough to not even hesitate before killing me, so I doubt that she would have been kind to the child bearing my name. I don't know if Yuna is even alive anymore", saying that, Raymond stood up and looked at the sky.
Then, he clenched his fist, "But that's one of the reasons I want to find my wife. I hope to save my daughter from her, and if she's dead then I'll at least avenge her".
Niko looked up at him with a troubled gaze, but then sighed and got up as well.
It was about time they started moving again.