CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 43: THE MORNING AFTER

When Hina woke up the next morning, she had a bright smile on her face. Not only did she make Zaen accept her, but she also spent the night in his bed, something Shyra could never accomplish. Naturally, she was beaming with joy.

It took her a while to recollect the memories of the last night, and seeing the unfamiliar and lavish room, her heart fluttered with joy.

"It wasn’t a dream..." she mumbled, burying her face under the covers, partially from happiness and partially from embarrassment.

However, the joy didn’t last long as she woke up alone in bed. Last night, she was so scared that Zaen would leave her that she held on to him like nothing else mattered.

But now he was gone?

Hina’s mood soured instantly, and an ominous expression replaced the cheerful joy. Not caring about her less-than-covered attire, she shot out of the door, and yanked it open, only to see the one she wanted to confront.

He was tall, just over six feet, ripped as hell. Not to mention the flawless fair skin, which even made her envy him a little at times. She had often thought that the Almighty had taken his time to sculpt the man she loved.

"You’re up?" Zaen asked with a smile.

Just hearing his voice changed her mood back to her cheery self. Hina’s eyes fell, and she noticed Zaen was carrying a tray filled with food with one hand, and his walking stick was in the other.

"What are you doing?" she asked, baffled by him, and took the tray herself, while holding his arm with her free hand. "Who asked you to do this?"

Zaen nervously scratched his cheek before looking away.

"Um... just wanted to do something for you since last night... I didn’t do anything to... you know, help you. Also, I can’t cook anymore, so I thought bringing the breakfast was the least—"

Hina’s eyes sparkled after seeing Zaen’s cute and naive side. She couldn’t hold back, and after setting the tray, she jumped into his arms and kissed his cheek.

"You dummy," she whispered. "You don’t have to do anything for me. Just having you with me is all I can ask for."

Zaen chuckled and held her close. He thought he had gotten it all out of his system last night, but the thin fabric of her gown proved that wasn’t the case. Worried he would scare Hina away, Zaen urged her to eat the food.

However, what he thought to be a caring gesture, brought back the ’yandere’ Hina.

"Why are you in a hurry to send me away?" She asked, tilting her head.

Zaen only let out a sigh, kissed the back of her hand before pulling her closer.

"I don’t ever want you to leave my side," he whispered, playfully nibbling her ear as he did. "But I’m afraid that if your parents learned that you went without their permission, they might get mad."

Hina’s eyes softened as Zaen guided her to the sofa and sat down, still holding her hand.

He clenched his jaw to cover his smile. A bright idea had formed in his mind last night after seeing the strange prompt.

He still didn’t know for sure, but his perception seemed to be linked to his unique sanity recovery skill. Both had strange reactions with intimate gestures.

He still wanted to conduct ’tests’ to ensure his theory was correct and the sudden increase in perception wasn’t a one-off case. For that, he decided to use Hina as his test subject.

Since they didn’t go all the way last night, there were other ’experiences’ waiting for him. If he got a lot of new experiences, then perhaps he wouldn’t even need to get his eyes back, his perception would be more than enough.

I didn’t really want to use her, but since she’s obsessed with me and would rather kill me than let me go, it’s only right I use her too.

Zaen thought that, but he ignored one thing.

Last night, something did ignite inside him.

The touch of Hina’s damp hands snapped Zaen out of his thoughts.

"I’m sorry," she said, caressing his face. "I shouldn’t have doubted you."

The next second, she stepped back and made the gesture of ’crossing’ her heart.

"I swear on my life, from this moment onwards, you will have all my trust no matter what."

Zaen smiled at her, wondering what deeds he had done to get her ’absolute’ loyalty.

Well, it makes things easier for me.

Suppressing his thoughts, he placed Hina on her lap as she ate the food. His hand rested on her thigh, gently caressing her. He wanted to see if she’d have any reaction.

Surprisingly, she didn’t, not even when he pinched her inner thigh. She only bit her lip and fed him the spoonful of soup she was about to drink.

"So, do you have any plans for the day?" he asked, trying to make small talk.

"I had, but I’d rather spend it with you—"

"That won’t do," Zaen immediately cut her off. "I’ll probably be stuck with training the entire day after seeing off Aeron."

"I can stay till then... oh wait," Hina’s smile dropped as she remembered why she had done what she did last night. "I have decided to join the organization too. I am supposed to report at their academy... tomorrow."

Zaen had expected it to happen sooner or later, but he didn’t think she’d go straight to the ’academy’, wherever it was.

After all, he was being trained in a different way. Johann had told him he couldn’t him into the lion’s den without having claws of his own.

Still, it made sense. Hina was better than him in terms of raw strength. Perhaps due to her unique skill. If the others in the academy were like her, then his blindness would set him back compared to them.

As for why they were so keen on recruiting everyone, the reason was simple. From what little he knew about the organization, they would take anyone and everyone who showed interest and promise.

It made sense considering the dangerous anomalies they face. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to say more agents die in the line of duty than the number of people they recruit annually.

"What about the others?" Zaen asked, hinting towards Shyra.

He expected Hina to return to her yandere self. Instead, she replied normally.

"I don’t know," she said. "I haven’t been in contact with them since the last time we met."

"Is that so..." Zaen mumbled.

They probably had their memories erased. Good for them, I guess.