Chapter Twenty Four

Emily's POV 

I walked out of the bathroom feeling embarrassed. If the white-haired man was really the one who really cleaned me up then he saw everything, didn't he?

“Emily, be real. The white-haired guy probably didn't…”

I sighed. Why was I worrying more than expected? I could just ask him this question and get over it.

Out of curiosity, I walked down the corner to another area and saw that it was the kitchen. It was nice and it had a storage behind it. I walked over to it and saw that it contained food.

Outside, under the bamboo roof, I saw the white-haired man sitting while reading a book. He seemed so into the book and this made me curious. What was he reading?

I walked over to him and took the seat in front of him. I didn't even know why I did that. I could have easily escaped but instead I was sitting in front of him. Maybe it was because I knew he wouldn't harm me. If he was going to harm me, he would have done so already. I might as well figure out how to repay the favour he did me. Well, even though he did shoot me, he also rescued me. I was in a way indebted to him.

“Hey,” I said.

The white-haired man's eyes diverted from the book onto me. His brown eyes were intense, leaving me startled. I cleared my throat and continued.

“Well, I wanted to ask you something.”

He said nothing.

“Did you change me when I was unconscious or something?”

“No.”

He went back to what he was reading in the book.

I noticed that this man didn't like saying a lot of words. Normally, I would assume that he was cold but he saved me and that was more than enough for me to assume that he at least had a good heart.

“If you didn't change me then who did?”

“A healer. She comes here to check up on you.”

“Oh,” I shrunk back to my seat.

“Anyway, you helped me. Is there anything I can do to repay the favour—”

“—No,”

“What if I just leave?”

The white haired man stood up from the table and started to walk away.

“Do whatever you want.” 

As he entered the house, I sighed. 

As it appeared, I wasn't fully recovered yet, so even if I were to run away, I wouldn't last long especially now that it seemed my wolf was nowhere in form. Even the berserker that I turned to wherever I was angry, I couldn't summon it and I had no idea why.

Anyway, maybe it was because I hadn't recovered enough. After recovering, maybe I would be able to do these things.

I remembered the shadow book that Emilianna gave me and tried to replay what I'd seen, but I was still too weak. Maybe I'll just stay here with the white-haired man for now.

*** The next day

I woke up to the sound of two people speaking. A male and female.

My sight blurred but as I rubbed my eyes open I saw the white haired man and a woman holding an empty basket.

“She is fine, she just needs more rest and to eat well.”

At that moment her gaze fell on me and she smiled when she saw that I was awake.

“Hello, you're finally awake. I was wondering if I would ever get to see your eyes.”

“Are you the one who took care of me while I was unconscious?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “Don't worry about anything. I was just doing my job.”

“Oh,” I chuckled a bit, feeling relieved that it was the woman and not the white haired man who took care of me while I could not fend for myself.

“Anyway, thank you for everything.” I said to her and she smiled at me sweetly.

“It's fine, I was just doing my job. Please take walks as long as you can. When you take fresh air outside, it helps replenish your nervous system.” She said and I nodded.

“Thank you… er…”

“You can call me Anna.”

“Thank you, Anna.” I said, and she nodded at me, then at the white-haired before leaving.

The white-haired was also about to leave but I stopped him.

“Wait,”

I got up from the bed.

“Is that the healer you mentioned?”

He stared at me and then nodded.

“Thank you for hiring her and letting me keep my dignity.”

He was silent. Then he turned to leave but I grabbed his hand. His eyes widened as he turned to stare at me.

“You…” he trailed off, and I gasped, hastily letting his hand go.

“You saved my life. If there a way I can return the favour?”

“You are not princess Alexa's favourite maid. You lied.”

I let silence overtake us in the room. Everything that I did was to give Penelope and the others an escape, but it was clear now that the white-haired man have made his research and found out the truth.

He started to leave but I grabbed him by the wrist.

“Wait!”

He halted in his steps and I stared him in the eyes even though he looked at me with a form of malice.

“Even after knowing the truth, aren't you going to get back at me by harming me?”

He stared at me but didn't say a single thing. Then he yanked his arm out of my grip and walked off.

I was left alone contemplating my thoughts. The guy that had ‘saved’ me in the past, and then this white-haired guy. They both had similar perogatives but they were very different.

The first guy was warm towards me but the white-haired guy exuded an aura that was cold and he barely said much if it was not needed. I ran my fingers through my hair. I wondered who the first guy was and where he was now. The white-haired guy however, he seemed to be someone of a much bigger status because he had men, and a horse too. But what was his authority if he didn't even talk much?