Sweet Temptations[DiaLovers Fanfic]

Part 29 - What Is Wrong With Me?

Lillia was puzzled.

Her brows were furrowed as she read a piece of paper, with Subaru and Ayato taking a peek as they were the closest to her on the couch; Subaru on her left side, Ayato on her right. Both of them had their brows furrowed, too.

Ayato was the first to speak up. “What the hell is this?” he said, the mixture of irritation and confusion in his voice demanded an explanation from Reiji, whom he had addressed.

Reiji, who was sitting the opposite of them, folded his arms and closed his eyes with a slight on his forehead, as if Ayato had stated the obvious. His reply showed that, too. “A letter of threat. Is there any other way to call it?”

Subaru let out a huff and sat back, so he was no longer breathing at the side of Lillia’s neck, much to her relief. “So? It’s not like it’s the first time this happened. Why the fuss?” he said, scowling at the paper that Lillia was holding.

Lillia perked up at Subaru’s words and unconsciously spoke up. “Not…the first time?” she said quietly, thinking that no one heard her. Someone did, and he snickered at her words.

“What, you already forgot about the attack a month ago, Chestless?” Ayato said as he gave her a patronizing look, as if she was a silly little child. Lillia could feel her cheeks warming up in embarrassment and bit her lip. Even she admitted that she sounded a bit silly.

“I do remember. But I didn’t think that it wasn’t the first time” she corrected herself, trying to save face, though she knew that with Ayato, it will be hard feat to convince him. As she had thought, Ayato gave her a skeptical look, but he did not say anything, which was somehow of a relief to Lillia. It was better than being shot down in front of the others.

The ‘others’ were the Sakamaki siblings, who had gathered in the living room upon Reiji’s request (though he had to escort them there himself). Kanato and Laito - the latter looking quite well, despite Lillia wondering if he had sustained any injuries after she passed out - were sitting on a couch together, while Shuu had himself lying down on a couch that was at the back of the room; furthest away from them all, but still near enough for him to listen in on their conversation.

Reiji cleared his throat, an attempt to focus the attention on him, since Ayato was still giving looks at Lillia, while Subaru and Kanato were already restless.

“Yes, what Subaru had said is true; it’s not the first time this had happened” Reiji said. Reiji looked at their faces one by one – with the exception of Shuu, of course – before continuing, “But this time, it’s a bit different”.

Everyone had their gaze on Reiji, interested in what he was going to say next. Reiji looked a bit grim and gestured at Lillia to give the piece of paper to him. Lillia obliged and Reiji turned it for them to see it together.

The words ‘bring the girl to us or you will suffer’ was scrawled on the paper with dark red letters. When Lillia saw it for the first time, she had thought that the dark red colour looked like blood, but of course, it was merely paint when she caught a whiff of the paper when Reiji handed it to her.

“Yes, we received a lot of these during the period we lived in this mansion. And I read all of them” Reiji said, glancing at Shuu, though it was only a second.

“Out of all of them, this is the first time that they mention a ‘girl’” Reiji said and looked at Lillia. Lillia could only stare back at Reiji, waiting for him to continue.

“We received threats regarding our lineage, our position, our family name, anything that we have of value” Reiji paused before continuing, “Never about Lillia”