Chapter 20(Part 2) - Catte's Will

Varean, Hazuka, and Lily’s eyes showed hopelessness and regret because they failed to protect a comrade that was very important in their group, but also regret because they weren’t fast enough to grab her back.

That was just for a second and they acted excited for the group to not suspect anything.

“Hazuka and Lily will help me grab your luggage. You girls should enjoy the town.” Varean said before pulling the two back to the van.

“So, what to do?” Lily asked the moment they got inside the van.

“Lily, you should watch and guide her. Don’t make her reveal that she’s a human and I am not pressuring you to do it, but try your hardest to get her will back. Even just a glimpse.” Varean commanded continuously and Lily just saluted seriously and replied, “Yes, sir!”

“Hazuka, protect them.” He turned to Hazuka and commanded simply, but that weighed a lot.

“Noted, sir.”

“Ahhhhhhh…..” Varean sighed and hopelessly leaned on the backrest, a rare scene to watch for Lily and Hazuka.

“If only she can just get out of there and immediately get it back.” He sounded like he was talking to himself, but Lily still asked.

“Can’t she get it back even if she gets out?”

“It will take three to five months to get her will back after five days of staying there. So she still doesn’t have it when you go look for the Antiques, but still, accompany her. If we force her back, it will only get worse and she might even forget her memories, especially the most precious ones.” Varean explained while still leaning on the backrest.

“Yulioe is a place where you get healed, but because of the curse, it is where you get troubled and get healed, for the non-human species, just like what happened to you. But get troubled, healed, and troubled again for humans. That’s how it was fucked up.” Varean sighed and looked at them seriously.

“Protect her. Protect my niece.” He said, and the two nodded with determination. If only can Varean go there and accompany her, he will. But he needs to be left behind or it will get worse, he is their leader, so he needs to keep moving.

‘We will protect her. At all cost.’ Hazuka and Lily thought, determined.

“All right. Let’s grab the luggage.” Varean said after a long silence and stood up to go to the back of the car to get their luggage.

“Bye, sir. We will complete our mission. At all cost.” Lily bid goodbye to him and Hazuka bowed with respect.

“Oh, before I forgot, if anything ever goes out of plan, you are free to use the restaurant’s and my name.” Varean said, and the two nodded in response.

“Let’s go.” Hazuka said, and the two crossed the border. Lily had a quick flashback of what happened there last time, but it didn’t affect her emotions since it was only for 0.5 seconds. Lily looked back at Varean who was still standing there and waved her last goodbye before turning to a street where they will stay.

“Such unexpected events.” Lily commented while they were walking towards the house.

“How heart wrenching.” Hazuka replied, voicing out his true feelings. Slowly, he shows the side of him to Lily that he normally doesn’t show to others.

“Now, where are they?” Lily asked when they dropped the luggage in every room.

“There.” Hazuka was leaning on the railing of the terrace and pointed to his left. Lily turned her head and saw Poui, Qeru, Catte, and the gang happily chatting and laughing together.

“Catte looks different now.” She commented while looking at Catte’s bright face and carefree smile.

“Seems like her nightmare really affected her. Now that she has forgotten about her will, she can now be herself once again.” Hazuka added and looked at Lily, “I am a bit envious, she gets to forget about her troubles even for a while, and I will carry mine forever.” He said, referring to the same nightmare Catte had.

“Well, blame it on the curse.” Lily replied with, for the first time, a sad tone.

After a long period of silence, the two of them sighed and decided to go to where Catte was.

“Hi!” Catte was the first one to greet the two.

“Hello!” Lily greeted her back with her usual bright tone and smile.

“Did Sir Varean already left?” she asked, which took Lily in shock. She didn’t know Catte would also forget what they were planning earlier.

“Yep. He said goodbye to all of you.” Lily still answered normally.

“Lily, it’s no wonder you can smile like that.” Qeru suddenly interfered. Lily thought it was suspicious but still acted confused,

“Huh?”

“You grew up in such a lovely place.” The girl answered and looked around in awe, which made Lily sigh in relief and smile.

“Not like any of the rumors, right?” she asked them with a proud smile.

“Seriously, where did the rumors even come from? They would be an idiot to spread something like that. Don’t they want to share the beauty of this place?” Cassie said, sounding like she was regretting that she didn’t come here any sooner and believed the shitty rumors.

‘It’s because they don’t want you to come here, be friends with the humans, and learn about peace and rebel them.’ Lily answered in her mind.

“It must be because of the barbarians, acting as their guardians.” Catte answered, making others look at her and nod in agreement.

“Must be, they wear decent clothes but act like gangsters.” Jillian agreed while nodding her head.

“Anyway…. What do we do?” Nagie changed the subject and all of them looked at each other. It’s true that they were excited to come there since Lily said it was all pretty but they didn’t really know what to do. So they looked at the two people who knew their way here.

“Yeah right! Just follow my lead!” Lily said and turned around, pulling her hand up and down like she is in a traditional train before letting out a ‘tut-tut!’

The group just chuckled because of her cuteness before following her. Hazuka just casually hung his right arm around Lily’s shoulder, which made the group behind them shocked, but they understood the move eventually.

‘This little bunny has more guts on each day that passes. I wouldn’t be shocked if he kissed Lily in front of us soon.’ Catte thought and just chuckled internally like a proud mom.

After a ten-minute walk, the group was becoming more confused when they were walking inside a house but didn’t question immediately.

“Come in, guys.” The group came in with confused expressions but Lily just went upstairs, they followed, and she showed them the

bedroom.

“Uh… why are we here?” Qeru took the initiative to ask.

“Huh? Of course, you still need to rest before traveling somewhere wonderful!” she let out such sweet words that convinced the group—but just a little. She needed to push more until they were fully convinced.

“Sitting in an accelerating van is also tiring, you know? And I also want you to go to that place stress-free!” she added, and the group found it full of points, so they agreed and went inside the room. Hazuka just shook his head secretly because of Lily’s ability to sweet talk.

“Catte, I need to talk to you!” Lily grabbed Catte’s arms even before she could go in.

“Huh? Why?” Lily continued on pulling her downstairs with Hazuka following behind them, knowing that this is an urgent matter.

“Those three have been talking in secret lately, yes?” Jillian voiced out her observations to the group.

“Must be about the restaurant. They are co-workers, remember?” Qeru replied, stating her theory.

“Must be. Anyway, let’s rest.” Nagie said, and they all rested. With pillow fights. That’s how women vampires rest with their friends.

“What is it?” Catte asked Lily when they arrived at the area where it was not visited by many people.

“Why are you here?” Lily asked back, making Catte confused.

“To have our vacation?” she answered questioningly.

“No, why are you in this world?” Lily cleared her question.

“I…. because…. i.. don’t know…” Catte was looking down when she stuttered but looked up to her when she said the last words and she looked scared.

“Don’t worry, you are here to help us, okay?” Lily consoled her and caressed her back.

“Help with what?” she looked at her.

“Help us to help you achieve your goal. Hehe.” She acted bright and innocent but what she said was true. She just used light words.

“Alright.” Catte, as innocent and kind as she is, agreed that made Lily smile happily.

Meanwhile, Hazuka was just standing there, crossing his arms. He thought this was a serious talk, but it seemed like it ended up a girls’ talk. He was wondering how Lily developed the skill she was using currently. Last time he checked, Lily was so obvious and stuttering when she was doing it before the ‘time’ happened.

“You look tired, go get your rest now.” Lily said, so she nodded before standing up and going back to the house.

After the girl walked away, Lily sighed.

“It will not be easy.” She said as Hazuka sat beside her.

“It’s never easy. Taking care of a special person who lost their will. It would be our fault if this ended up badly.” Hazuka replied and leaned on her right shoulder.

“Your dad will be really sad.” She replied and hung her right arm to caress his shoulder. She was referring to Varean. Yes, her reply had a joke included.

“Yes, my dad will be really sad.” Hazuka played along and closed his eyes to relax himself on Lily’s shoulder, who continued on caressing his shoulder.

“It’s been a while since we came here.” She said, reminiscing about the past.

“Been a while since that time.” Hazuka also replied with a reminiscing tone.

“Miss.” Lily replied, referring to missing something.

continue next chapter~

A/N: I'm sorry for the late update! I had another part-time work and I had to train for it. In the end, I had a migraine coz of too much pc looking and I had to do my school project as a way to rest my eyes from the pc screen. Thank you for your understanding!