CHAPTER 36: ECHOES OF TURMOIL

Anna fell onto the couch as she breathed heavily. Anna knew that what she had done was unnecessary, inefficient even. But her hate for these people had taken over her reasoning, and the euphoria from the pleasure of revenge made it all the worse to control her mind.

Suddenly, the curtains of the room parted as White walked in.

White frowned as he saw the food lying all around the room. He looked around, and his eyes fell on the dead man lying on the ground.

’What happened here? Who is this? and more importantly... Why does he look like that?’ White questioned inwardly as he saw the look of absolute horror and agony on the face of the dead man.

"He came to kidnap me," Anna spoke, her voice cold as a frozen lake.

"What?" White blinked a few times as he heard that.

He turned his head to the dead man’s face and thought while shivering.

’That face doesn’t look like a person who came to kidnap someone,’ But he didn’t say it out loud.

"That’s why I killed him, I did nothing wrong," Anna said as she looked at White. Her eyes had a sense of urgency in them, seemingly trying to look for something to justify how she had acted.

’Seems like she did it in the heat of the battle, but... Taking lives has consequences.’ White thought when he heard her words.

He turned towards her with a bow.

"The carriage is ready, Miss Anieal." White, however, did not give her the solace she needed.

Anna’s face turned dark, but she didn’t press further as she nodded and stood up, ready to leave.

Both of them left the room as White called a waiter and told them about what had happened.

The waiter looked at them with fearful eyes and a trembling body as he nodded and left to call the guards to take away the body.

Moments later, White and Anna sat inside the carriage as she looked at the streets of Xyontra. Her face, however, didn’t have the same excitement or curiosity in it anymore.

She was still deep in thought as she replayed those events in her mind multiple times. She tried to think of ways she could have handled the issue better instead of losing herself. As she was doing that, the words of the drunk man resurfaced.

’I just wanted to know if you were related to that monster.’

’Why did he call brother a monster?’ Anna thought. Her gaze was still on the streets of Xyontra.

After thinking about it for a few moments, Anna turned towards White as she called out.

"White," Anna spoke in a soft and gentle tone. However, it still had an authoritative vibe to it.

White, who was deep in thought, came out of his reverie as he looked at Anna and spoke.

"Yes, Miss Anieal?"

"Why did no one come to our arranged room when I killed that man?" Anna questioned as she remembered how loud that man’s scream was.

"Hmm?" White tilted his head in confusion. Soon, however, he jolted with insight.

"It’s because all rooms have runes engraved on their walls, which makes them soundproof," White said as he looked through his pocket and took out a disc.

"Here, this is a mark disc of a young master, which allows him to open portals without needing to know the exact destination," White spoke as he showed the white disc with runes and other symbols engraved on it in black colour.

Anna looked at the disc and pointed at the symbols.

"Those are runes?" Anna asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Yes," White replied as he nodded his head.

"They look interesting," Anna said as she looked at the runes with interest.

"Well, of course. After all, runes allow a Midnighter to do things they normally should not be able to." White said as excitement could be felt in his voice.

"Oh? You seem to know a lot about them." Anna replied, her eyes still held curiosity for White’s reaction instead of the runes themselves.

"It’s because I thought that the unawakened could use runes too... and had studied about them a bit," White said as he looked out of the carriage with a small smile on his face.

"I see," Anna replied as he nodded her head.

Soon, the fake hill came into view. The carriage moved as it passed through the barrier, then the glorious Kinten villa came into view. Looking still as dignified as before. The carriage then passed the villa gates and stopped at the cobblestone pathway of the villa, which led to the main entrance.

White walked out and offered his hand to Anna. Anna grabbed his hand as she stepped out from the carriage and gave a nod with a small smile on her face.

"Nothing’s better than home," Anna said as he turned around and looked at the garden and the main villa.

White also nodded to her words as he continued to look at the window of Damien’s room, which was dark because Damien was currently not at the villa.

White looked at Anna as he spoke.

"Miss Anieal, you should go in and have some rest," White said as he bowed towards Anna.

Anna turned to look at him.

"Indeed," she spoke as she nodded in agreement.

Anna began to walk towards the entrance, but soon her steps stopped as she turned back and looked at White.

"White."

"Yes, Miss Anieal," White replied as soon as she called out to him.

"Next time, teach me more about those runes of yours," Anna said. A beautiful smile on her lips.

White looked in her eyes for a few moments and nodded.

"As you wish, Miss Anieal."

After hearing that, Anna nodded and continued to walk towards the entrance of the villa. Her smile slowly faded as he walked.

White also followed behind her.

On one of the trees in the garden, a white pigeon was perched on a branch, gazing at Anna’s departing back.