The Mask Of The Monster - Chapter 76

(From Leandro’s Perspective)

Looking at her hurt a lot as I could not do the things I wanted to. It was getting too much. She let me kiss her, but she moaned and it was enough for me to lose control. Did she not know what I might do if I lost my control somehow?

We both went out of the forest and I took her to a pub. It was the most popular one here. She did not talk much the whole way, perhaps she was confused as to why I pulled back all of a sudden from the kiss. She did not ask me anything about it either and it felt like she was afraid of hearing what the answer might be.

“Listen, Ella. Don’t go anywhere, don’t touch a thing if not necessary, don’t drink, don’t take anything a stranger gives, don’t talk to strangers, stay by my side,” I warned her, knowing perfectly what she was going to do.

“Don’t talk to me like that. I know what I should do and what I shouldn’t,” she grumbled.

I sighed and took her hand as I went inside. She looked tiny next to me and her hand felt even tinier in mine.

The pub was full. She looked like she had never been anywhere more disgusting. “Why are there so many people here? I feel itchy,” she muttered irritably under her breath.

In the far corner at a table, I saw him. I was supposed to meet him here. I went over to him, pulling Ella with me who was looking here and there curiously.

“That man… Look, he just… Oh my_! He is stripping!”

I hastily moved her head forward and held her tightly. “Don’t look,” I whispered into her ear.

“It’s not like I’ve never seen anyone naked,” she said. “I saw Linda’s boyfriend, that Rex naked twice. He seemed to be willing to come naked in front of me as if I would get attracted to him. That git! Then I saw… eh… your father. Anyway, let’s change the subject. It’s awkward.”

I led her to the table though it was difficult as she kept stopping to show me people who were behaving oddly according to her.

“That man has a huge mole on his head, kind of like that man in the forest cabin,” she said, laughing. “It’s funny. Look_ that woman is wearing a silly skirt. Honestly, her butts can be seen from that. Oh_ look at her. The blonde… How is she moving her body like that? Is she elastic? I can’t even bend my back properly…”

I sighed and looked down at her. Surprisingly, she was looking at me with a shocked expression on her face.

“Are you serious right now?” she asked.

“What happened?” I asked, surprised to see her expression.

“Aren’t you_ attracted to any of the girls here? They’re beautiful. Look, they have beautiful bodies too. You aren’t even glancing at them. You look disgusted by them. But other men… They are touching the girls like that and some of them are gawking while you’re behaving like this beside me.”

“Do you want me to go touch those women?” I asked. Even thinking about made me disgusted.

“No,” she mumbled, “I’m just a bit surprised.”

“You know perfectly that I don’t like people, let that be men or women. All of them are disgusting.”

“But you don’t behave like that to me.”

“Do you want me to prove right here why I don’t behave like that to you?” I asked warningly.

“N-No,” she said quickly.

At last, I managed to reach the table. The man in a brown hooded cloak stood up and bowed slightly. I nodded and sat down in front of him while Ella was trying to see his face.

“Sit down,” I said to her.

She sat beside me and kept both of her hands on the table as she kept trying to see his face. I had to admit the attempt was kind of cute.

“Greetings, my lord,” he said.

“Why is his voice so deep?” Ella whispered beside me. If it was someone else, I would probably get angry. But when it came to her, everything seemed adorable.

“We’ll talk later,” I said gently to her. “I’ve some business to take care of. You better be good and listen.”

“What is the news, Charles?” I asked.

“For the last few days, the shifters had been after me for some reason. They said that I’d been in the castle secretly and eavesdropped. But I never could get inside the castle. I’ve been on run. I had to change my cloak as well for that,” he said.

“That’s why you’re wearing brown instead of black,” I said.

“Yes, my lord,” he said.

Ella looked slightly uncomfortable as she glanced at me guiltily. “Excuse me, Charles. Do you work for him?” she asked.

Charles seemed surprised. With Charles’s appearance, no one dared to talk to him much, especially girls feared him a lot. He had a lot of deep scars on his face that made most people shiver.

“She is with me,” I said. Charles was not stupid. He knew right away that she was not just someone ordinary to me, rather she meant a lot.

“Yes, my lady,” he said to Ella. Ella looked at him wide-eyed when he called her ‘my lady’, but quickly recovered.

“Are they still after you?” she asked.

“No, my lady. After I changed my appearance, they haven’t been after me. They haven’t seen my face after all,” he replied.

“Do you know anything about it?” I asked her.

She nodded. “I think… Remember when I found out that Nicklaus was planning to kill you?”

“Jed and you’ve been eavesdropping,” I said.

“Yeah, that day. Then after Jed fell, they came looking for the source of the noise and came to the room we were in. They asked us if we saw someone and I said yes,” she said with a slight hint of guilt in her voice, but it kind of seemed like she was enjoying herself, “I said that I saw a black hooded figure running away. I mean, it was for fun actually. I just wanted to drive them crazy with a wrong hint. Who knew he would get in trouble for that?”

Now I was sure that this little reckless girl was trouble in some cases too. But still, I wanted to live with the trouble she would cause, like a hint of a rainbow in the gloomy sky.

“You didn’t know. That’s alright,” I said.

Charles looked surprised. He should be. I had never behaved like this to anyone. “Are you going to be here?” Ella asked.

“Yes. Why are you asking?” I asked.

“I will meet you here after a while. I’ve somewhere… I think… I’ll meet you here. Just don’t go anywhere or I won’t be able to find you,” she said and before I could say something, she blended into the crowd.

“This girl…,” I sighed.

“I guess I don’t have to be so formal now,” Charles said.

“You don’t have to be formal around her as well,” I said.

“So pretty serious, huh?” he asked, laughing.

“Stop laughing,” I grumbled. “I marked her.”

“What? How? She is human,” he said, shocked.

“She is a human with shifter blood.”

“That’s impossible.”

“She is not from this world. She is from another world.”

“So she is the one Anders mentioned in his letter,” he said. “Anders didn’t say much, so I didn’t know. But he said that you were so gentle with her and quite protective as well.”

“Are you done discussing her?” I asked irritably.

“Come on, you can be a bit gentle with me too, cousin,” he said, grinning.

“Shut up,” I hissed. “Where did she go?”

“Can’t you smell her?”

“I can. I’m just a bit… Never mind. She is smart. She knows what she’s doing,” I said.

“You love her,” he said. It was not a question. It felt like he was sure about it. I did not say anything. I was thinking if he was right. Did I truly love her or was it just attraction? But it was true that I had never felt like this towards anyone before.

I still did not know the answer to the question myself. But I wanted to find out as soon as possible or it might get too late. No matter what I could not afford to lose her now that I found someone like her, someone who cared for me, someone who was not afraid of me, and someone who understood me the most.

I remembered the day she asked me who knew me the best. Even that day, the answer was the same as before.

It was her.

[It’s all about the alcohol in a bar. People come here to drink, drink, and drink some more.

As a result, food at a bar primarily consists of appetizers or snacks designed to enhance the flavor of the alcohol. A pub, on the other hand, is similar to a restaurant that also serves excellent alcoholic beverages.. Other features of the location where they went include men and women enjoying each other’s company and other such things.]