Allure Of The Witch

The Fears

Rayan got aware of Aria's long absence only when Tristan came inside the room with a plate full of meal for him. Seeing the killed and completely cooked pheasant on his plate, he couldn't help but remember the way Aria had reacted when he had cooked pheasant for her.

And that was when he finally came out of his thoughts, that had been bothering him for quite a long time now, and he asked Tristan.

"Did she eat?"

He didn't see her after that.

Tristan frowned, understanding who his master was asking about. A moment later, he answered,

"I am not aware of this, My Lord."

At his response, Rayan looked at him and asked

"What do you mean by that? Did she not make lunch for herself?"

Tristan seemed to have an inkling that his master wouldn't like his answer, so he opened his mouth to say

"My Lord, I haven't seen her since I returned to check upon you."

There was complete silence for a few moments until Rayan's cold voice fell in Tristan's ears.

"And you are telling me that now?!"

Tristan could hear the hidden rage in Rayan's voice, but he stayed silent.

Rayan noticed this but at this moment, he was more worried about Aria.

'Did I scare her before?'

He thought as he blamed himself for reacting like that. She was helping him...and she looked so weak at that time.

As he thought more, his worries only increased. Rayan immediately got down from bed.

"My Lord!"

Tristan almost shouted in panic when he saw this.

With the grave wound he had on his chest, he could not move at all. It could risk the wound bleeding all over again.

"Move away Tristan!"

Rayan said in a cold and angry voice when Tristan blocked his way.

However, Tristan ignored the command and said in anguish.

"My Lord, you should be taking care of yourself right now and not her! Did you not see that she could help us at that time? The Wolf listened to her. But she chose to stay silent and just watch you getting injured. She is clearly not what you..."

"Shut your mouth right now, Tristan."

Rayan said sharply before Tristan could complete his words. Tristan was unconvinced and tried again.

"But My Lord..."

However, Rayan looked dead in his eyes, not letting him finish.

"If you still possess the will to work under me, then you will forbid yourself from speaking rubbish about her."

Tristan was shocked by such a threat. Hurt flashed through his eyes, but in the end, he finally shut up.

Rayan left him on his own for that time.

He didn't even know anything. He didn't blame Tristan for his anger, but he blamed him for the way he was reacting.

He didn't even know anything.

Rayan picked his robe from the bed to cover his upper body and bypassed Tristan to walk out of the room.

Though hurt and angry, Tristan was still worried about his master, so he followed him immediately.

"My Lord, I will go and look for her. Why don't you rest here just?"

Tristan proposed in a slightly calmer voice, as if trying to appease Rayan.

Rayan, however, ignored his words. Once he stepped out of the room, he walked to the other room in the hut and opened it.

Seeing no trace of Aria there, his eyes flickered with uncertainty.

'I should go and search for her on the hill.'

Rayan thought to himself and walked towards the hut's door.

Tristan walked ahead and opened the door of the hut. Both of them stepped out of the hut.

"My Lord, allow me to go. I give you my word that I won't return without finding her."

Tristan said again, trying to convince Rayan to rest inside the hut. Tristan had not expected that his master would listen to him, but from behind when he saw that his master had stopped walking, he was elated.

However, it took him a few moments to realize that it was not because of him Rayan had stopped.

It was because of the silhouettes walking down the hill that Rayan stopped walking.

In those few moments, Rayan went through so many emotions.

The familiarity of the faces when the silhouettes approached had him relieved for a moment. But that was only for a moment.

As his gaze slowly went to the unconscious Aria in one of the person's arms, it was first filled with confusion and slowly got clouded with pure panic and then rage.

Tristan had been purely joyous about seeing his people but Rayan...his whole focus was on Aria.

With hurried steps, he walked to the person who was carrying Aria in his arms.

"My Lord!"

The person called out in an eager voice but Rayan only looked at him coldly.

"What did you do to her?"

He asked as he took Aria from his arms.

"My Lord..."

The person called out in confusion, but Rayan ignored him completely.

His eyes stayed on Aria, who was now in his arms. Slowly, concern and panic shadowed them as he looked at her pale face.

Her lips had totally lost their color.

Without saying anything to anyone, he walked towards the hut, carrying Aria.

.

.

.

"Grandma, are there only two of us?"

Aria asked her grandmother, with eyes full of curiosity.

Sometimes, looking at so many birds flying together, she wondered if there were more people like her and her grandmother.

Her grandmother stopped chopping vegetables and looked at Aria. She stared at Aria for a few moments silently, as if deciding what she should tell her.

And then finally she opened her mouth and said

"There are more."

Aria, who had been staring out the window, immediately paid all her attention to her grandmother.

"Where? Why do we live here then? Why don't we go there? Or call them here?"

It would be so lovely to have more people.

Aria had thought.

But her grandmother's thoughts didn't resonate with hers.

"Because they are not good people, Aria. They will take you away from me...take me away from you."

Aria would remember the fear all her life she had felt at that moment.

Being taken away from her grandmother was something she could never imagine.

So when her grandmother had stared at her and asked

"Do you want that to happen?"

She shook her head again and again.

"Never..."

She had whispered, without any doubt.