Ava silently sat on the bed as she stared at Matthew’s naked upper body. He was deliberately changing his clothes in front of her while talking about Ulva.
Ava found this incredibly distracting, yet she couldn’t help but ignore it. She had more pressing matters to think about.
Like... about the thing that she just discovered. It looked like Ulva and the King were a member of a group that had been experimenting on people. Moreover, they were also involved in those Hybrids!
What a revelation.
"What are you thinking?" Matthew asked.
"The King doesn’t care about Lycans," Ava said.
"That is pretty obvious. You can check the history books of the Lycans and notice the King’s indifference to other issues aside from bloodline. Because of that, the other members of the Kingdom— mostly the nobles had become obsessed with the idea that they needed a purer bloodline to become strong and to create a stronger future generation.
Eliminating the weak and only supporting the strong.
"Now you understand," Matthew said. "The Lycans didn’t just become weaker because of the curse. Someone else is responsible. That someone had been silently plotting everything for centuries."
"That’s ..." Honestly? Ava didn’t know what to say. It was honestly messed up!
The King and Ulva are clearly ruining all the Lycans.
"Aren’t you going to do anything about it?" Ava asked.
"Why would I?"
She pursed her lips. Why would he? The reason should be clear, he is a Lycan. His body is a Lycan’s body.
"I don’t bother with things that do not concern me. If you live long enough you will learn that some things are just meant to be."
"Meant to be?"
"Like us."
"Can we talk about something serious?"
He laughed in response and chose another one of his wines. This time, he didn’t bother to use a wine glass and just straight up drank from the bottle.
"The extinctions of the Lycans are bound to happen. We cannot fight natural order."
"Natural order?"
"It is best that we just watch everything from the sidelines."
"Is that..." Ava swallowed. "Is that what you did in the past?"
"Hm?"
"Watch from the sidelines?"
"Oh no." Matthew chuckled. "Anything but that."
"So why changed now?"
"Because what I did in the past made me lose the most important person in my life. I wouldn’t want that to happen again."
For some reason, a pang of jealousy sprouted on Ava’s chest. But she quickly ignored it. So what if he had been with different women in the past? That is to be expected, considering he was much... much older than her.
Wait... what the hell was she thinking?
She snorted in response.
She had so many questions. She wanted to know a lot of things about him. But she also didn’t want him to think that she was curious about his past.
It’s too confusing!
Ava chose to stop thinking about it.
"I am leaving," Matthew said. "I want you to keep yourself safe until I return."
"You don’t have to say goodbye," Ava got up. She walked out towards the balcony and looked at the starless sky.
"Really?"
She flinched when she heard his voice just behind her. His warmth enveloped her like a comfortable blanket. She gulped and maintained a cold expression.
"I always wonder why Matthew could move so fast," Ava said. Like a blur, like the wind. It turns out... this was because he was not just a Lycan.
He moved closer before she heard him gulp more of the wine. The smell of alcohol rolled between them. Yet none of them said another word.
The two of them just stood there, watching the darkness for a few minutes.
"Currently, this is the safest place for you," Matthew said.
"Why?"
"I have enemies that would harm you once they— see you."
"See me?" Ava lifted an eyebrow. Then she recalled the portrait of the woman that resembled her in Josef’s study.
Her expression turned serious before she let out a sigh.
"You know... this mating thing— "
"Is real."
"I was about to say it’s complicated."
"It is. But is there really anything in this world that’s not complicated?"
"Sleep and eat?" she answered.
Her words made him laugh and for a few seconds, she actually acknowledge the fact that his laugh was exactly the same as before. It was music to her ears.
"Take care of Matthew’s body," Ava said.
"Of course. I wouldn’t ruin something that you love."
Instead of arguing back, she chuckled and shook her head. It was a pretty silent night but Ava’s heart was racing since earlier. She doesn’t have any idea about the things that would happen in the future and she didn’t know what happened in the past. But for some reason, she felt a little warm tonight, at this very moment.
And for a few seconds, she thought that the only thing that really matters is... not the past or the future. But the present.
...
"You— " Shaman Gaas almost couldn’t believe what he just heard. "You used a demon’s relic to have Matthew?"
"I didn’t know it was a relic— a demon’s relic. I thought it was a — Alright. I made a mistake." Baba finally said. "And I don’t think I can fix it anymore."
"This demon... do you know his name?"
"I don’t."
"Then that is indeed a problem. But how was he able to get into— " the Shaman turned quiet as he recalled Ava’s question about doppelgangers. Ava must have already met another Matthew inside the Pits!
"So we suppressed the Lycan and set the demon free." The Shaman uttered as he stared at the crestfallen Baba. "You are indeed a crazy priestess," the Shaman said. "You vowed to protect Matthew and that is the reason why you cannot do anything to him, right?"
A sigh escaped Baba’s lips.
"Sealing him back... would need a big sacrifice. I have heard demons that were sealed in the past... hundreds of years ago and all of them required the blood of witches. Tens and hundreds of witches."
"So... you wanted me to sacrifice myself to seal him instead?" Shaman Gaas snorted. "Babaylan... you are out of your mind."
....
SHOUTOUT TO LADY STEPHANIE FOR THE BIG GIFT! freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
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