Dahlia was currently staring blankly at the sky
She has been staring at it for many minutes without moving
Her two maids were watching her from behind
"It has been like an hour for the Lady standing and staring at the sky..." Scarlet whispered to Nathalie
Nathalie let's out a sigh, "Yes... I wonder what is worrying her..."
Meanwhile, with Dahlia
Her eyes stung as she again cried at night till she fell asleep
{ "... 3 weeks now... but still no answer for him..." } Dahlia thought internally
Her heart ached painfully as she shook her head
{ "No... not here in broad daylight..." } Dahlia thought internally as she rubbed her eyes
As it stung more cause of tears threatening to fall again
Her breathing grew frantic
She tightened the grip on the railing as her hands shook only faintly
Until...
{ { { Knock } } }
{ { { Knock } } }
{ { { Knock } } }
The gentle knocking was heard from her room's door
Dahlia looked over as the two maids also did the same
"Come in" Dahlia said
The door opened
It was her Nanny, Jasmine
"I apologize for coming in abruptly... but Lord James, Lord Xinhua and Lady Lily has come to visit you..." Jasmine informed her
Dahlia's eyes widened faintly, "Ah... I see..."
She relaxed faintly before walking towards Jasmine
"Then take me there to them" Dahlia smiled
Jasmine smiled back as she nods, "Yes, my lady. Follow me"
Jasmine turned as she guided Dahlia away
The maids stayed behind
The two let out a sigh together
"After hearing her friends had come... she seemed happy..." Nathalie whispered to Scarlet
Scarlet nods in agreement, "It is understandable as our lady hadn't met her friends for a long time"
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After a while, both Dahlia and Jasmine arrived at the guestroom
Jasmine opened the door for Dahlia
When she entered the room
Dahlia suddenly was attacked by two people, as they hugged her
Dahlia gasped as she fell on ground with the two
{ { { Thud } } }
Dahlia groaned as she opened her eyes to look
She saw that both Lily and Xinhua hugged her tightly
"You guys will suffocate me..." Dahlia commented, but couldn't help her lips curving upwards
"SHUT UP!!! DON'T SAY ANYTHING!!!" Lily snapped at Dahlia before she got off her
Lily soon pointed at both Xinhua and Dahlia, who were still on floor
"FIRST, XINHUA DISAPPEARED... THEN YOU!!! DO YOU TWO KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS!?!?!?" Lily yelled out
Dahlia doesn't say anything, while Xinhua was still hugging her
Xinhua kept his face buried on Dahlia's chest as his shoulders trembled
He held on to her as if Dahlia might disappear again
Dahlia patted Xinhua before looking up at Lily, "It was not like we both went missing out of choice-..." she stopped herself
{ "Well... only Xinhua went missing unwillingly... while I willingly went missing..." } Dahlia thought internally as she looked away
"Don't look away, I know you went missing willingly" Lily leaned in too close to Dahlia
Her eyes narrowed as she lowered her voice, "Xinhua told me everything"
Dahlia sweated a lot as she suddenly found the door fascinating
"Dahlia..." Lily leaned a lot closer
Her eyes grew terrifying for Dahlia to make eye contact with
"Woah woah, take it easy Lily. Your scaring the poor girl" James chuckled faintly
"Oh, don't stop her. She deserves that privilege" Jhony hummed only
Jhony's eyes twinkled with amusement
"Your really ruthless to your sister" James gently punched the side of Jhony's shoulder
Jhony only laughed as he looked at James, "As if your any different to your sister"
James only shook his head as he couldn't help another chuckle, "You got me there, snake"
Dahlia only stared at her brother with a look of being betrayed
Jhony intentionally didn't meet Dahlia's eyes
"Anyways, you all catch up. Me and this guy here will spar for a few minutes" Jhony walked off
"Spar? You really wanna lose that bad?" James added as he followed Jhony
"Since when did I lost?" Jhony asked, raising a eyebrow
"You lost 6 months ago" James reminded Jhony
"Oh that? My hand slipped" Jhony replied quickly
"Your sword broke" James pointed out
"My wooden sword was a defected one" Jhony replied again
"Since when did you started to receive defected items?" James raised a eyebrow
"I used to then" Jhony nodded
The two boys left, the door closed behind them
Leaving the three all alone
Xinhua soon pulled away from Dahlia
He looked up at her
His eyes were puffy, clearly from crying
He had a runny nose
While his cheeks were faintly red
"I am sorry... I told Lady Lily everything... cause..." Xinhua hiccupped
"She gave me that scary look..." He stated as he teared up again
Dahlia closed her eyes, { "I suspected as much.." }
Lily only huffed as she looked away
Her cheeks were puffed up, "I only gave him a little scare... cause I deserve to know what happened to my friend"
"Alright, Alright... let's all calm down and sit down" Dahlia tried to lower the tension that was building
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The three soon sat down
Xinhua had cleaned himself up as he calmed down
"Xinhua told me that you came willingly to save him, but you saw that there were others. Making you to decide to save them..." Lily nodded towards what Xinhua told her
"Why didn't you bring me with you?" Lily looked at Dahlia
Dahlia stayed silent for a long while
She looked towards Lily
Her eyes were serious
"Cause what I was doing was dangerous... far too dangerous that no one should be in" Dahlia replied
"'No one should be in?'" Lily repeated Dahlia's words as her tone grows cold
Before she slammed her hands on the table in front of her
The table shook cause of the impact
Both Dahlia and Xinhua flinched by it
"Do you know that "you" also add with everyone else! Yet, you still went there!" Lily bit her lower lip
"I know that well... but still... I couldn't take you... cause-" "Cause of what? Cause I am not useful enough?" Dahlia was cut in the middle of her sentence by Lily
Xinhua looked towards Lily immediately, "Lady Lily... it is not what Lady Dahlia meant-"
"Then what does she meant anyways?!" Lily snapped at Xinhua
Xinhua froze briefly
"I mean what I said, I couldn't bring you with me! Not cause your not useful. But because I didn't wanted you to be hurt!" Dahlia spoke up
"I wouldn't be hurt-" "YOU WOULD BE CAUSE I ALMOST LOST MY HEAD!!!" Dahlia cut Lily off in the middle, by yelling at her
Lily froze as her eyes widened in horror
While Xinhua bit his lower lip as he closed his eyes tightly
The memory was still fresh in his mind
Dahlia was beaten multiple times...
Her skull was broken by a ghoul's kick...
The horrors he and the others went through to escape that place
He shook his head to snap himself out
"What... losing your head?..." Her voice lowered a lot
Dahlia let out a sigh, trying to calm herself
Before she looked away from Lily
"We weren't just gone missing... we were transported to another realm... "The Yang Realm"..." Dahlia began
"There are beings that get strength through human's negative emotions... like... pain... sadness... helplessness... and lastly... fear..."
"They are known as "Ghouls"... they kidnapped children cause children are easy to scare, their feelings are too strong. Making them be the perfect targets"
Dahlia closed her eyes
"When the children resists... they beat them up to feed on those feelings..." she finished
Lily stood motionless
Her face slowly paled as she covered her mouth
Her hands began to tremble
"What...?!" Her voice cracked
"What she is saying is true..." Xinhua nodded to what Dahlia said
"I became the target cause I heard whispers... then... the ghoul came..." He only looked down
"I can get easily scared... it is the reason why I was targeted..." He finally looked at Lily in the eyes
"In that place... there is only suffering... only me... Lady Dahlia... and the others know what kind of trouble we all went through to get here..." He narrowed his eyes
Dahlia kept silent
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"I... I... am sorry..." Lily bit her lower lip as tears fell down
"I... I... I was just upset... that I couldn't be there to help you two...." She hiccupped
"When you two were gone..." She looked down
Lily remembered being locked up in her room by her parents
After they received news that Dahlia got missing too
She cried a lot that time
She felt guilty and frustrated that she couldn't help her friends
The helplessness feeling she felt...
"I... thought it was my fault... for not even trying to help" She gripped the edge of her dress
"While everyone was doing whatever they can... including you two... I... I..." She wiped away her tears but more came out
"I couldn't do anything..." Her shoulders shook faintly
Both Dahlia and Xinhua stared at her for a long time
Soon Dahlia stepped forward, she pulled Lily in a hug
"There... there..." She patted her back
"I know what you felt... but don't blame yourself for it" Dahlia's voice gentled
"You couldn't do anything... not cause you were weak... but rather you couldn't..." She buried her face on Lily's neck
"I know you were watched closely by your family, in case you disappeared too. I understand that feeling, and don't blame them too..."
"They are also afraid that you would end up like us..." Dahlia gave the hug a little squeeze
Lily closed her eyes
Before she hugged Dahlia back, while burying her face in Dahlia's neck
Xinhua watched it all happen
He looked away
His shoulders shook faintly
Tears trickled down his cheeks again
- { Time skip } -
- { 5 days passes by } -
Lily came accompanied with her brother- James. Regularly to visit Dahlia
While Xinhua too came along
Dahlia had long introduced Lily to Fenry, Hunji, Jeon and lastly Jini
Lily got along well with them
And so did the four boys
James would usually spar with Jhony to practice his swordsmanship
Though Jhony and Hunji still fought a lot here to there
And James would be there as audience, but when the fight gets worse
He would stop the two
While Dahlia, Jeon, Lily and Xinhua would be far away to enjoy time together
But, Dahlia was informed by both Hunji and Jeon that they were taking swordsmanship lessons together
Since Hunji was strong enough
He didn't had much trouble to be good at swordsmanship in such short time
Jeon on the other hand was having difficulties, but still was improving there
The two not just took swordsmanship lessons only, but also took magic lessons, etiquette and so on
The two were always on a tight schedule
Yet they somehow took sometime to spend it with the others
While with Fenry
He was doing well in the academy
He was able to use the spell of teleportation through Jhony's help
He was moved on to learning defensive spells by his teachers
A upgrade in learning
He was slowly but surely becoming a bright student in the academy
Dahlia was happy for him in learning that through the letters, which Fenry send regularly to her
But she still cried every night, silently
When her guardian didn't respond to her whenever she tried to reach out to him
But...
The silence only greeted her in response
Her eyes would be puffy as the bags underneath her eyes, darkened
She always made sure to wear powder to hide them, so none noticed
Yet, her parents and brother noticed how pale Dahlia had become
Their worries grew as time goes by
They all take it that Dahlia still hasn't recovered from being kidnapped, and they didn't wanted her to relieve those memories
Yet remained silent, while offering comforts to her in whatever way they can to help her
Even tho they weren't even closest to the full truth
Dahlia still took her lessons
But she found the magic lessons fascinating
Tho she has yet to develop her mana
Which somehow frustrated her
Cause without her developing a mana, she couldn't learn many spells
She always see her brother casting spells very easily
Even tho it was all basic, yet it was powerful in a way
{ "If I could cast spells like how he does..." } Dahlia thought internally
As Jhony was currently lifting a water to keep it in perfect shape easily, using his mana
"Good, good. You are doing well" Dev clapped his hands as he smiled
"It was nothing, I am just too good" Jhony huffed
"Don't get too enthusiastic. You still are lacking in making that shape form perfectly round" Dev pointed out at the at the water
"Oh? I was simply doing it on purpose to check if you got good eyesight or not" Jhony chuckled
Dev facepalmed
Dahlia chuckled at that, "Well brother, at least you can cast spells..."
Jhony looked over at his sister
Before he smiled
Jhony soon used another spell to freeze the water and make it into a flower shape
He takes the floating flower towards Dahlia
He held it out for her to take
He soon ruffled her hair with his other hand, "Don't worry too much. You will develop mana soon, then be sure to make me a lot jealous~" he winked at her
Dahlia groaned as he messed her hair up
But she took the flower, she stared at it before she took a bite
She munched on the ice
Dev let out a chuckle seeing this sight
While Jhony was laughing, "Good thing that water was pure"
- { After that, nighttime came } -
- { Around 7 o'clock } -
Dahlia was getting ready for bed, after eating dinner
She wore a night white dress
Her hair was down, neatly brushed
She wasn't enthusiastic to go to bed
{ "My eyes still stung... I hope I don't end up crying again..." } She thought internally as she rubbed her eyes
Her makeup was off as her eyes had dark bags underneath while, her eyes were faintly red
When she was about to climb on to her bed
Her door bursts open
Dahlia flinched by it as she quickly looked over
Her eyes widened in shock
"What the-" Dahlia froze as she saw that it was her Nanny
Her Nanny was panting a lot, clearly she probably came running through here
Her hair had loosened a lot as it was messy slightly
Her eyes were glistening with tears
"My... Lady... it is about Jeon..." She hiccupped
"He... is looking for you..." Her voice cracked a lot in saying that
Dahlia was frozen for a few moments
{ "Wait.... what happened to Jeon for her to be so... anxious?" } She thought internally
She soon took a grip of her composer
"Take me to him then..." Dahlia said as she began following Jasmine out
Jasmine immediately guided her away
"Tell me... what happened to him?" Dahlia asked while following her hurried steps
"I... I don't know... he... was fine a while ago... but... he suddenly caught a bad fever... and was screaming a lot when we were on our way back home..." Jasmine replied
"I tried to call for a healer but he... stopped me... He kept on saying he wanted to see you..." Jasmine took a shaky sigh
"He even wasn't listening to Hunji..." She bit her lower lip
{ "Bad fever... screaming?... Why is he... refusing a healer then?" } Dahlia thought internally as she grew more and more confused
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Finally, they reached outside the estate
Where the carriage is
"AHHHH!!! MAKE IT STOP!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!" Jeon screamed out
His scream was filled with unfiltered pain
He was on ground, clutching his ears tightly
As if to cover something...
Tears kept trickling down his cheeks
His hair was messed up from moving a lot
Hunji was beside Jeon as his breathing was uneven
"Hey... calm down..." Hunji tried to calm Jeon by patting his back gently
Jhony was tensed up as he witnessed the scene
So were the Duke and Duchess Guillebeaux
The maids, guards and servants were around
The atmosphere was heavy
Dahlia's breath hitched as she quickly rushed towards Jeon
"Jeon! I am here! What is wrong?!" Dahlia asked as she got closer to Jeon, sitting on ground besides Hunji
Jeon immediately snapped open his eyes
He looked towards Dahlia with teary eyes
Which were filled with...
Fear
He hiccupped
"Dahlia..." His voice cracked a lot
He trembled a lot
He clutched his ears more tightly
His breathing was frantic
While his face was entirely flushed, clearly from the bad fever
He was sweating a lot too
"Tell me, what is wrong? I am here. I am here" Dahlia patted Jeon softly on his head
Hunji meanwhile continued to pat Jeon's back, "So am I, tell us what is wrong..."
"Take deep breathes in and out, slowly" Dahlia advised
But her voice shook faintly
Jeon only stared at the two
He tried to compose himself by closing his eyes tightly
He hiccupped still
He took deep breath in and out
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After what felt like long moments
He finally opened his eyes
"I... I... heard..." Jeon said as his voice shook a lot
Both Hunji and Dahlia were confused as they exchanged looks
"Heard what?" Jhony asked as he too lowered himself on ground besides the two
Jeon sighed shakily as he gritted his teeth
He closed his eyes again
"Jeon, tell us. If you don't, we can't help you" Jhony urged firmly
"Yes, sweetie. Speak up" The Duchess urged as well while the Duke frowned in worry
The maids, servants and guards exchanged nervous glances, but they didn't said anything
As they all knew well that silence was what it needed
Meanwhile Jasmine was being calmed down by the head maid
As Jasmine was trembling a lot
"Come on... Jeon..." Hunji gentled his voice a lot
Jeon groaned before...
"I... heard the whispers... and caught sight of... "them"" He finally said it
Both Hunji and Dahlia's widened in horror