[WARNING: This chapter contains violence and blood which may be disturbing for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.]
[Minutes earlier] (Dunha's P.O.V)
Once Dunha entered the library and found the book about Blake Lars, she continued to read from where she left off. As she read through the pages, she discovered a problem.
"Why did he stop writing about the symptoms after day 3?" Dunha wondered. "He just keeps rambling about how he's a horrible healer and misses the days when he still had all of his limbs... Maybe I should skip a few pages?"
Dunha then skipped several pages of the book and clicked her tongue.
"Tch, I knew that this was too easy to be true..." Dunha muttered in disappointment.
Several pages were either slightly or completely torn off from the book with one of them being possibly the most important page.
Dunha continued to read.
"It worked! Gregory and the remaining survivors are beginning to show signs of recovery! This has to be the greatest discovery of this year! Before I forget, I must write down the..."
"Damn it! Who's the bastard that ripped out these pages?! It just had to be the most important part too!" Dunha thought.
She then proceeded to toss the book to the side as she looked at the ceiling.
"Ha... There goes the only lead I had," Dunha sighed. "What should I do now?"
"Do what~?" Lily asked.
"Eek!" Dunha squeaked.
Lily's sudden reply from behind startled Dunha and caused her to squeaked like she did with Blue.
"Lily?! You scared me!" said Dunha. "When did you get here?"
"Tee-Hee, sowwy!" said Lily as she winked. "I just got here~"
"..."
Dunha frowned but as soon as she saw Lily's ears, she began to blush as well.
"I would let this go because of how cute she is right now but... Forget it, I can't resist it anymore! Just this one time!" (Dunha)
"Dunha?" said Lily as she began to look slightly worried at Dunha's silence.
Dunha's frown disappeared and made a small grin instead.
"Huh?" said Lily.
Dunha then leaped at Lily which caused her to fall backward.
"Owie... D-Dunha? Are you mad at me?" Lily asked in a teary tone as she rubbed her head.
"Yes, I am. So that's why I'm going to punish you!" Dunha giggled.
"Huh? What do you me-- Eek!" Lily squeaked.
Dunha began to gently stroke Lily's head as she touched the back of her ears.
"EEP! Ahh... S-stop..." Lily purred as she wagged her tail in a shaky motion.
"So soft... Just a little more and I'll forgive you," Dunha murmured as she blushed even harder.
Dunha continued to gently pat Lily. She then tickled Lily's chin which caused her to purr even more.
"D-Dunha..." Lily mumbled with teary eyes.
"Just one more..." said Dunha while looking satisfied.
She then blew into Lily's ears.
"Eeeeek!!" Lily squeaked again.
"Now... You're forgiven," said Dunha as she panted.
Afterwards, their relationship began to slowly chan--
"Like hell that'll happen!!!" Dunha shouted internally.
It turns out that everything that just happened was just her imagination while in reality, nothing of the sort happened.
"She's only 5 years old, there's no way I would do something like to her. That's just wrong," Dunha thought as she felt guilty for imaging such a thing.
She gently flicked Lily's forehead instead.
"Owie!" Lily whimpered.
"That was your punishment for scaring me," Dunha giggled.
"I said I was sowwy..." Lily murmured in a sad tone.
Noticing that Lily was looking a little upset from her punishment, Dunha tried to cheer her up.
"Ha... With my only lead gone, I might as well play with Lily for a while," Dunha thought.
She then tried to get Lily's attention.
"Lily~" Dunha hummed.
"Hm?" said Lily who was still a little sad.
Dunha pointed at a large fish tank which caused Lily's eyes to open wide.
"Wah! Fishy!" Lily shouted delightfully.
Lily's mood instantly changed as she ran towards the tank with Dunha following her with a surprised expression.
That was rather... Easy?
"I wonder why would someone put a fish tank in a library?" Dunha wondered. "Oh well, as long as it cheers Lily up, I don't mind."
Once they reached the large tank, dozens of colorful fishes were swimming around while Lily looked at them with awe.
"Wow! There's so many!" said Lily as she tapped on the glass.
The fishes began to quickly swim away in all directions after being startled by Lily.
"Don't do that, you'll stress them out," said Dunha.
"My bad," Lily giggled.
"Coming to think of it, I think we got those fishes as a gift from one of our vassals, the Hacha Kingdom, during their yearly tributes," Dunha thought. "The only thing I know about these fishes is that they have an incredible immune system that prevents them from getting sick."
As Dunha and Lily looked at the fishes, Dunha heard the library doors burst open.
"Hm? Is it mother?" Dunha wondered.
When she turned around, she did not see her mother anywhere. Instead, a random guard was standing in front of the door.
"Why did he burst into the room like that? Is it an emergency?" she wondered. "Wait a minute... This feeling..."
Dunha suddenly felt sick to her stomach as she looked at the guard. She then noticed a small bloodstain on the guard's boots.
"This is the same feeling that I got when my mother and I were attacked by assassins." Dunha thought. "Wait a second... Don't tell me..."
Before Dunha could react, one of her guards confronted the strange guard.
"Oi! What is the meaning of this?!" the guard shouted as he grabbed the strange man's shoulder.
The strange guard silently stood still and did not respond.
"How dare you barge into the library when the princess an--!" Dunha's guard shouted before getting elbowed in the jaw by the strange guard.
The man proceeded to push the guard out of the room where the rest of Dunha's guards were at.
"Misha! You son of bit-- Oi!" one of Dunha's other guards shouted before trying to stop the strange man from shutting the doors and locking them.
The stranger then pushed a bookshelf over which blocked the doors.
"Open up!" someone shouted as he banged on the door.
After dealing with Dunha's guards, the man turned around and stared at Dunha and Lily.
"Lily, get behind me," Dunha whispered.
"O-Okay..." said Lily.
The strange man proceeded to remove his helmet.
"!"
The man's eyeballs were completely pitch-black as the night sky while blue veins were popping out of his face. He then directly stared at Dunha and to lock eyes with her.
Dunha then began to feel weird.
"Huh?" Dunha murmured.
"Dunha, what's wrong?" Lily asked as she tapped on Dunha's shoulders.
"W-What is wrong with me?" Dunha thought. "I can't move at all!"
Dunha realized that she was petrified after locking eyes with the man. The man then proceeded to throw a dagger at Dunha.
"Shit!" she internally cursed.
"Dunha!" Lily shouted before pushing Dunha to the side.
"Ow!" Dunha shouted as she landed on the floor.
As Dunha fell, the dagger barely missed her throat by a centimeter and hit the wall behind her instead. The man appeared to have abnormal strength as he was strong enough to cause the dagger to be stuck in the wall. After missing, the man began to run towards Dunha and Lily.
"Lily, run!" Dunha shouted.
Lily nodded and ran to the left section of the library while Dunha turned around ran towards the fish tank where the dagger was stuck. The man ignored Lily and continued to run after Dunha.
Before the man could reach Dunha, she managed to reach and pull out the dagger and immediately struck the glass of the fish tank with the pommel.
"!"
The glass instantly shattered and caused the water to come pouring out of the tank like a waterfall while also concealing Dunha for a brief moment. This caught the man off guard and caused him to pause for a second.
The man's hesitation gave Dunha an opening. She proceeded to run straight towards him with the dagger. Just as she reached him, he swung his arm and managed to hit Dunha's waist which knocked her down to the side.
However, before he knocked her down, Dunha managed to stab the man in the thigh which caused him to grunt in pain.
"Erg!"
Good, this should buy me enough time to run out the window with Lily!" she thought.
Just as Dunha got up and was about to run, she felt something wet and warm soaking her clothes. She looked down and realized that she was bleeding after being stabbed.
The man began to smirk as he showed her a hidden dagger.
"?!" (Dunha)
Dunha attempted to run away but the pain from the wound prevented her.
"Erg... I have to run..." Dunha muttered.
However, before she could get the chance to even move, the man grabbed her hair.
"Ah! Let go!" Dunha shouted as she tried to free herself from the man's grip.
Just as he grabbed Dunha by the hair, Lily came out from her hiding spot and ran towards him.
"Let her go!" Lily shouted as she bit the man's hand.
The bite caused the man to let go of Dunha, however, as soon as he let her go, he smacked Lily across the face and knocked her unconscious.
"Lily!" Dunha shouted.
She then grabbed the knife that was still stuck in his leg and began to twist it which caused the man to groan in pain.
"Erg!" The man grunted.
In retaliation, the man slammed Dunha's head against a bookshelf with great force.
"!"
For a moment, everything went completely silent as she collapsed onto the floor. She couldn't think straight as she experienced an unimaginable amount of pain. Just then, she hears the noise of the doors being burst open and realized that it was Blue who forcibly opened them.
"H... Hel..." Dunha mumbled in an attempt to call out for help.
With each passing second, her visions were getting blurry and what she saw next were the horrified faces of her parents, Blue, and the guards.
"Is this how it's going to end?" she wondered. "It's only been a few days since I somehow returned to the past and I'm already about to die before I could even accomplish anything, what a waste..." she regretted.
As her vision and strength were quickly fading away, the last thing she saw was her mother trying to run towards her.
Henry suddenly grabbed Seo-Yeon and hugged her to cover her eyes. Blue ran as fast as he could but just like her father, Henry, Dunha knew it was too late.
"It doesn't matter anymore... I managed to see my parents again one more time and that's good enough for me... If I die now, then so be it..." said Dunha.
"DUNHA!" Seo-Yeon shouted.
That was the last thing Dunha heard before she felt something hit the back of her neck with great force.
Afterwards, everything went dark and silent.
(To Be Continued...)
2020/07/25