"𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻."
Aera sat at her spot at the large table, crossing her legs over and looking to the side. She knew the reaction most of them were going to have to her presence
That didn't mean it didn't sting, after all, she was pretty close to them till the head decided to catch feelings
'And this place is meant to be a second family.'
Aera was indeed a sensitive person like her sister implied, through the years she just learnt to put on a tough exterior around certain people to prevent herself from getting bullied or looking weak
She also learnt to ignore their berating words that they were full of with each meeting
"You already have one foot in the grave, stop being so focused on the love life of people younger than you and focus on getting your kids to attend your funeral."
Lilac unfortunately did not
"Y-you! What did you say to me?" The red haired oldie stood up, his face puffed up and red, he got angrier when he saw the blonde girl didn't spare him a glance
"While you're at it, maybe go settle your issues with the man your wife has been fucking behind your back. You have a lot of nerve to talk when your wife is probably blowing out your brother as we speak." Lilac scoffed, mimicking his earlier words
"You b-"
"That's enough." A cold voice said
Aera could feel her heart tighten at that voice
'When did he arrive?'
"It's embarrassing to see you guys argue here like market shrews." He continued, raising his hand up and running it through his brown hair
"I'm sorry my lord." The red haired man immediately apologized, even Lilac zipped her mouth shut, ignoring the glare her uncle was giving her
"Wow, you all shut up real fast." Kinsley chuckled, sitting languidly at the seat right across from Lilac and placing his arms behind his head
"Kinsley."
Everyone was gathered, the most powerful hunters in the world that lived peacefully without the knowledge of others
Even the top 4 showed up
Kinsley
Aera
Christian
Lilac
"You must be wondering why I called this urgent meeting." The brunette started, hands placed on the table in front of him
"𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸."
...
...
...
"Those creatures are summoned by that man." Cha hae-in stated as she watched Sung Jinwoo go head to head with the dungeon boss
'I can't focus.' He thought, dodging a strike and conjuring up a dagger to stab the monster
'True I wanted to escape the insufferable relationship.' He dodged another attack 'But I didn't want to make her cry over me.' Sung Jinwoo truly didn't care too much for Aera, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a bit annoyed with how things ended
He launched another attack, blue sparks flying from where his dagger collided with the boss's sword, the attack knocked the sword out of it's hand
'And to think she moved on so quick. To someone that she can freely curse and be herself around at that?' He believed the swearing and fighting were nothing more than expressions of love 'I thought she said she'd die without me'
"Ugh!" With one last strike he knocked the boss down and defeated it
'I don't like her. I know for sure that I don't, but I'm pretty annoyed. Just because I don't want her doesn't mean someone else can have her.'
Selfish asshole
"I took care of the boss and everything, should I collect my rewards now?" He mumbled to himself, he can think about the girl later, right now there were more important things to do.
'Nah, this belongs to the hunter guild, I shouldn't be so greedy.' Bending down over the corpse of the dead boss he made his decision
'I'll just collect the shadow.'
"𝗔𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲."
...
...
...
"What do you mean they're back? I thought she said-" Aera spoke panic showing in her soft tone
"Aera." With the mention of her name she shut up and waited to hear more
"A hunter has attested to spotting a ruler in South Korea."
Kinsley raised his hands without a smile or any side comments, indicating he was the one that reported the sighting
"If the rulers are going to South Korea, it can only mean one thing." The head, also known as Nikolia stated "The shadow monarch's vessel is there."
It was so silent you could hear a pin drop in there, it even sounded like everyone had stopped breathing
True, every generation was trained in preparation for this day, but how unlucky were they to be in the generation where it's going to go down?
"Who is it?" Aera was the first one to speak up, her voice coming out softly and quietly "You wouldn't be telling us this unless you had a hunch on who the vessel is."
"Smart girl." Nikolai chuckled "After careful investigation, we've narrowed it down to one person. I believe you're very familiar with this person." He stared intensely at Aera
"No way-"
"𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗦 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝗶𝗻𝘄𝗼𝗼."
