Chapter 75: Chapter 75

JONEA

“Why are you so surprised? Whose face did you see this time?”

Daran really took off his mask, but it wasn’t his face that I saw this time, but Aland’s. Did Daran reapply his mind mirror magic? This really bothered me. He always cheats!

“Why are you silent?” Daran muttered with emphasis. “Don’t you want to touch this face? Isn’t this the face that you’ve always missed, Jonea?”

I gasped in surprise. How did Daran know? Did he realise whose face I was seeing right now?

Daran deliberately brought his face closer to mine. As if he wanted to challenge me to touch, caress, maybe even kiss him? Of course, I wanted to do that if he was Aland. But I knew he was Daran, who used Aland's face with his magic power.

“Is this the figure you’ve always wanted to find, Jonea? Because of him, are you willing to sell yourself to me?”

My eyes opened wide. I know I did the contract I agreed to with Daran a few months ago with full awareness. I have also sworn loyalty and will give my whole body and life to Daran as long as he can remove the wolf seal inside me. Because of my wolf power, it is the only way to free Aland from Luke Draken's slavery.

"Isn't our contract still valid, Jonea? What if I can grant your wish right now, but you will really be bound to me for the rest of your life? Will you let go of your memories of that man?"

I lowered my head in fear. Why am I hesitant now after meeting Aland? Why am I afraid of being unable to be with him after this? Even though that is the only way to free him.

"Exactly as you think, Jonea," whispered Daran. "You will only be mine for the rest of your life. Let me erase your memories of him!"

I fell down because I was so weak after hearing Daran's offer.

***

DARAN

I had a chance to discuss the stomach aches that Jonea has been experiencing for the past few days with Evangelista. Even though she claimed to be sick because of menstrual cramps, I knew there was another reason that made her experience more pain than usual.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Eve said. “The thing that caused her pain more than normal humans in general… maybe even life-threatening…”

“Don’t beat around the bush.”

Eve smirked. “The wolf seal that keeps stealing her energy. You only have two choices, Daran. Release the seal and watch her rise into a monster or keep the seal and watch her die slowly? You can’t have either.”

“That’s really a hard choice for me.”

“But, that’s not what I want to ask. Instead, why are you doing this to her?”

“What do you mean Eve?”

“One mistake in the past is enough. When you said you started living with humans, I felt worried. You would mess it up because of your personal feelings. In the end, the wolf seal will steal all her energy. And she will die or be dying. Weren’t you the one who created the seal for her?”

Eve looked at me with a smirk that really made me tremble. She knew everything.

“Wouldn’t it be torturous for you, seeing all that happen again before your eyes? Still, I think it might be okay. Because you are Daran Caver. A lycan king and the oldest wizard in this world. But, it seems like you are starting to get attached to him.”

That day, Eve even threatened me. “Think about it, Daran. Has it ever ended well when we have feelings?”

I was still staring at Jonea with the mind mirror magic on my face. More or less, I could guess who the figure Jonea always saw in my face right now was. But I was too afraid to admit it.

Hundreds of years ago, I made a mistake, like Eve said. I harboured feelings and loved someone who I shouldn’t have loved. Because of my feelings, she had to suffer and even lost her life.

What I was afraid of really happened. I lost her right before my eyes. And I couldn’t do anything. After that, I had to atone for my mistakes. I wandered for hundreds of years until I finally hid in the castle. I didn’t even know if the world had changed so much. When I realized it, someone from the auction told me the girl I'd been waiting for had returned. The cursed red moon girl.

I got up from the sofa and left Jonea, who was still pensive, there. I didn't want her to see my tears—tears of evil.

“Evangelista is right. Being tied to her will be useless. But unfortunately, I am a selfish lycan king. I have made one mistake in the past and lost the person I love. So, this time, I don’t want to lose her a second time. No matter what, I will keep Jonea by my side.”

***

JONEA

“No, Daran must be joking, right? There’s no way he would do something like that to me. Or… have I been careless all this time? He’s a monster, how could I just believe a monster’s words no matter how good he’s been to me all this time! How could I make a decision between those two difficult choices?”

The following day, I tried to appear as cheerful as possible. I tried to cover up our conversation last night as if it never happened. I saw Daran sitting in the living room reading a book. I wanted to approach him and lighten the mood.

“Daran,” I greeted and took a seat next to him. “How are you this morning? Did the meeting with Hunter yesterday make things difficult for you? He must have caused you trouble, right? I want to thank you and apologize for troubling you.”

“No, I’m fine,” Daran answered without looking away from the book he was reading.

Wow, why is he so cold? Is it because I haven’t given an answer to the choices he gave?

“Why… are you silent?” I asked carefully.

“Oh, sorry, I was just focusing on the book I was reading.”

When I was about to talk to him more, Daran suddenly closed his book and left me alone.

“Is he really mad at me? Should I give him the answer to his question from last night right now?”

Until the afternoon, Daran continued to hide in his study. He tried to avoid me. Meanwhile, I continued to look for ways to cheer him up again. I even cooked dinner and brought it to his study.

“Surprise!” I chirped. “Let’s eat together.” I put the food on the table in front of Daran.

“I know you like traditional food. I intended to make it earlier, but I couldn’t find the exact same ingredients as those available at Blacktone. Even though I had taken the trouble to get the recipe from Loko. So, I changed it to another menu.”

“Jonea, like I said,” Daran said suddenly with a straight face. “I don’t like human food.”

I was at a loss for words. “But, we’ve always eaten together.”

Daran ignored me and focused back on the books he was reading. I had to swallow my disappointment.

“Okay, if you don’t like it. I’ll bring it back.”

I was really embarrassed and annoyed because I was suddenly ignored. I even failed to persuade him. I didn’t know what else to do to stall for a time from giving an answer to his choice.

I just left the food that Daran rejected. I went to my room to get a jacket and left the house to relieve my annoyance.

Without realizing it, I had arrived in front of Marilyn’s house. Her parents’ shop was already closed. It was too late to visit.

I took a deep breath and was about to turn around and leave.

“Jonea, don’t you want to come in?” Marilyn scolded, who suddenly stood in front of me. “Just standing there and wanting to leave? I kept calling you and you really didn’t hear?”

“Marilyn, I want to ask you something. If someone you’re close to suddenly starts avoiding you, what do you think the reason is?”

Marilyn looked at me suspiciously. “Why? Is someone avoiding you? Is it Hunter?” She said curtly.

“No! Of course not him. I’m not even close to him.”

“Okay, under what circumstances did this person start avoiding you?”

“I don’t know,” I was speechless and couldn’t possibly tell Marilyn the truth that Daran asked me to choose between living as his slave or dying without seeing Aland free?

“If you didn’t do anything wrong, maybe you weren’t the reason, but the person himself,” Marilyn continued.

I sighed without realizing it. “What’s wrong with him?”

Marilyn pulled my arm and forced me to look her in the eye. “Do you like someone? And you didn’t tell me?”

“Like? No way! You know… there’s always and will always be only Aland in my heart.”

“If you don’t like this person, then why do you care about him so much? Even so worried that he’ll ignore you?”

I was terrified by the answer to that question.