Chapter 65: Chapter 65

JONEA RAWLING

I put the ring back in my coat pocket until the car stopped at a cemetery. Daran got out first. While I was still sitting in the car, looking once again at the velvet box containing the ring Daran gave me.

A small piece of paper containing a handwritten note was apparently under the ring.

[The right index finger is helpful as a pointer. PS. You still need to get ready for the ring on the left!]

I smiled, reading it. Eve must have left this note without Daran’s knowledge. My cheeks became hot from holding back the shame. I no longer hesitated and immediately put the ring on my right index finger.

How stupid of me! Why did I fall for Daran’s seduction? How could he give me a proposal ring? Even the way he gave this ring didn’t seem romantic at all. Of course, this ring had a different meaning. Why did I get my hopes up like this?

“Jonea, get off!” Daran asked while opening the door.

I was shocked and quickly got out.

“Look, we’re here. That is the cemetery and on the right is a church, it used to be a castle.”

We walked to the church area. The building was magnificent. When we got close, we saw a crowd. Some security officers, including dragon soldiers, were there.

Seeing the presence of the dragon soldiers, I hesitated and stepped back.

Daran held my hand and assured me. “Don’t worry. They won’t be able to detect that we are not werewolves.”

Even so, I was still anxious. Daran continued to hold my hand and invited me closer. We would ask the crowd of residents there.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen here?”

No one answered our questions, but the residents began to make way so we could see it directly.

When I was about to go forward to see, Daran suddenly held my hand.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in surprise.

That was when I could see clearly. A corpse covered in a white cloth was lying in front of the church door. There was a lot of blood coming out of her body. The corpse’s hands and feet were covered in wounds.

“Looks like this is going to be a bit troublesome. We have to finish this as soon as possible,” Daran said anxiously. “I’ll talk to the person in charge here first. You go ahead and take a look. If anything happens, let me know immediately.”

The crowd grew. One of the dragon soldiers shouted from the front. “Step back and disperse immediately!”

However, the villagers who had already gathered there refused to move. Some of them even started gossiping.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” a woman commented.

“There are many bite and scratch marks on her body. Is this the work of the lycans? I heard they’ve started infiltrating the blue sapphire.”

I felt a little uncomfortable when they mentioned the lycans as suspects.

“Where are there lycans in the land of the blue sapphire? The dragon soldiers have long since exterminated them. She could have fought with fellow werewolves even if she died with many scratch and bite marks.”

“Or it was the work of the hybrids. They’re troublesome. Those humans shouldn’t be given the chance to become werewolves!” complained the others.

Don’t look! Don’t look! I said it over and over in my head.

Just by hearing the chatter of the villagers, I felt uncomfortable. Incidents like this reminded me of the dragon troop attack on the blue sapphire. My parents and friends had to die in terrible conditions.

Unconsciously, I had run away from the crowd. I didn’t even know where my feet were running. I just wanted to get away from there.

I only stopped when I realized I was standing in a cemetery. Many old tombstones were scattered there, and their positions were irregular. Most of the tombstones looked black and mossy. Thorny bushes grew all over the ground.

“There’s something evil here!” I muttered.

“Where did you come from?” whispered someone from behind me.

I didn’t even realize she was coming. My eyes widened when I saw her terrifying figure. But my whole body felt stiff and unable to move. I was scared.

“Where did you come from?” repeated the creature with a female voice.

She was a magical creature like the shadow wolves that almost killed me that night. They were the creation of warlocks. I was not allowed to answer her. I covered my mouth tightly with both hands and pretended not to see her.

“You… Your body is so sweet. Where did you come from, beautiful girl?” asked the creature with a big black body and a pair of red eyes.

Daran taught me not to respond to anything the magical creatures did. If I responded to their words or questions, they would take me!

I slowly backed away and ran as fast as possible to escape her. “Because Daran is always with me, I became careless like this.”

“Where are you going? Where?”

The black creature with red eyes transformed into a giant wolf. She started chasing me on all fours. Her speed was so fast that I could not escape from her.

“Jonea!” someone called.

He suddenly stood in front of me, and I crashed into him. I could not control the speed of my feet. At the same time, the black wolf opened its jaws and was ready to pounce on me from behind.

I crashed into the man’s chest. He immediately hugged me with his left arm while his right hand reached out to grab the snout of the shadow black wolf about to eat me.

“Get lost, trash!”

With both eyes wide open, I saw how he squeezed the shadow wolf’s snout until it melted into smoke. Only then did I lift my face and turn to him.

“Owen? How did you get here?”

“I should be the one asking you. Why are you in a place like this? This place is not safe for someone as sensitive as you. Go home quickly!”

Owen was really cold, even colder than usual. He seemed to dislike my presence there. Owen turned around and left me. After only two steps, he suddenly collapsed with a gasp.

“Owen, what’s wrong?” I approached him.

Owen was down on the ground, holding his left arm. He looked so in pain.

When I held his left arm, blood filled my palm. Then Owen fell unconscious. I was confused. I rolled up his sleeve. He had a reasonably wide wound.

“This wound… The same wound as the murder victim in front of the church. Daran… I have to call Daran! But, I can’t leave Owen alone here.”

Owen woke up and moved limply. He raised his right hand and tried to reach me.

“Jonea, get out of here quickly. Find uncle and get out of here.”

Owen tried to sit up straight, but that only increased his blood flow.

“Owen, you’re hurt!” I said in a panic.

Owen gripped the ground, and suddenly, his body was covered in black smoke. He turned into a large wolf, and with his muzzle wide open, Owen howled long.

I was shocked to see Owen’s body change. I mistakenly thought he was a wolf. Owen showed a different form this time, more like a black dog. Could he be the guard dog that Daran had told me about earlier?

I needed clarification about defining Owen’s current body shape. He looked very distinctive and different, unlike Owen’s transformations that I had seen before.

Owen tried to walk even though he had wounds on his body. I immediately held him and hugged him. “Even though you are a werewolf, but with wounds like this it can be dangerous!”

Owen growled and tried to escape. I remained stubborn and hugged him with all my might, even though my size and strength were far inferior to his. I kept holding him so he wouldn’t move, which might have opened his wound even more.

Suddenly, Owen groaned, and his body fell back on my lap. His thick, black, and long fur felt rough and soft simultaneously. I felt the wound on his arm.

“These are bite and scratch scars. Who did it? Like the corpse earlier? So it wasn’t Owen’s doing. Then who?”

“Oi, hand over the lycan!” Arabel suddenly stood in front of me.

“You were the one from back then, right? You came with Miller. What do you want?” I stood up to protect Owen.

“I have no business with you!” Arabel said while showing off her gun. “I just want you to hand over the lycan to me. That’s not your problem, right?”

I hissed in annoyance. After trying to persuade me to come with her, was she trying to take Owen? I wouldn’t let her.

“Owen is my family. I won’t let you. Tell me your reason?”

Arabel suddenly got angry and shouted loudly at me. “Just leave him to me! I have to take him.”

“Is this Miller’s order?” I asked in disappointment.

Arabel charged at me. I threw a punch at her stomach.

“Bastard, what are you doing?” Arabel shouted.

She immediately fell and became unconscious. I punched her right in the heart to knock her out.