Chapter 4: Rejection.

Chapter 4: Rejection.

Winter’s confession left Hanna speechless. Her brain struggled to digest the information she had gotten this time. Winter was a werewolf? A werewolf as told by legends? Was the young man joking with her?

“Werewolf?” asked Hanna to make sure as she was afraid of mishearing. Winter nodded his head with his face down.

“Yes, I am a werewolf. You must be very surprised by this, right?”

Hanna was speechless with what she was hearing right now. Was this a dream? If this is a dream, please wake Hanna up right now!

Hanna staggered backwards away from Winter slowly. Her eyes were rounded with fear and she was breathing heavily as if she had run for kilometers. Winter could see that Hanna’s body was shaking violently.

Seeing Hanna’s reaction, Winter squeezed his chest which felt very painful. The young man’s breathing felt very heavy as if it was crushed by thousands of tons of iron. A sense of disappointment and anger also erupted from within his chest. On the other hand, Winter also felt scared if this girl in front of her left her.

“Hanna, what I mean is-“

“DON’T COME!” Hanna shouted in a loud voice that made Winter gasp in shock. The girl’s hazel irises looked so glassy.

“Miss Hanna, please listen to the explanation-“ Danielle raised her voice so that Hanna could understand the current situation. However, Hanna could not be cooperated with as fear dominated.

“I DON’T NEED YOUR EXPLANATION, DANIELLE!” Hanna pointed at Danielle’s face with trembling hands. Danielle bowed her head to block out the tears that were about to fall.

“YOU TWO HAVE DECEIVED ME! YOUR PRETTY FACES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN MASKS THAT COULD DEVOUR ME AT ANY MOMENT!”

“Miss, that’s not the case. It seems like you-“

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” snapped Hanna who put on as fierce a face as possible to keep Winter and Danielle from approaching her any further than this. Hanna felt completely tricked by these two creatures. What was the purpose of the two of them?

Winter rubbed his face in frustration as the girl she had brought to the castle seemed frightened by the secret he had. Winter glanced at Danielle who was now wearing a sad face.

 The bob-haired girl’s face looked hurt by Hanna’s words that felt hurtful. Winter let out a long sigh as she thought of how to make Hanna believe in him.

“AKH, IT HURTS!” Hanna suddenly screamed in pain. Danielle approached to confirm the girl’s condition. Danielle touched Hanna’s body with her palm. When examined, it turned out that Hanna’s body temperature was very hot like burning. Danielle was in a panic.

“Sir, Miss Hanna body temperature is too hot like burning! Let’s call a Healer!” Danielle shouted hysterically as she hugged Hanna’s body tightly.

Danielle’s hysterical voice broke Winter’s reverie in an instant, breaking her concentration to strategize so that Hanna could believe in his world. Winter, who understood Danielle’s request, darted out to call a healer to check on Hanna’s suddenly deteriorating body condition.

Winter continued to pray silently that Hanna would be okay. Winter also kept cursing himself for putting Hanna in this kind of pain. Was this a punishment because the young man was too hasty to tell Hanna about his world that was opposite to the human world?

Fortuna Goddess was on Winter’s side, as suddenly the healer the young man was looking for was in the living room drinking a cup of tea. Winter quickened his footsteps and immediately looked down with format towards the healer.

“Oh Winter, we finally meet again,” said the old man while stroking his long beard up to his knees.

His wrinkled face showed how old the man was. His body was hunched over and had a tanned skin color. A long black robe with a unique tree-shaped symbol sweeping across the floor was his trademark. This man was one of the most renowned healers in the entire country. On the other hand, he was also Winter and Nevada’s teacher as a child.

“Greetings to you, Master Fang,” Winter said with a tone of anxiety and fear. This made the great master stare at Winter with an astonished look. It was unusual for Winter to show his emotions.

“Winter, are you alright?”

Winter nodded his head in response. After that, Winter pulled the old man towards the main room where Hanna was resting. The teacher was about to scold his protégé if only he didn’t see Winter’s face that looked so frightened and worried at the same time.

Arriving at the room, Winter and Master Fang saw Danielle who was wringing out a cloth to compress Hanna’s forehead. Master Fang approached Hanna who was now lying helplessly. The girl’s forehead seemed to be oozing sweat the size of corn kernels. Hanna’s face was as red as a cork crab and her breathing was rapid and hot.

The old man with the long beard examined Hanna’s hand and closed his eyes for a moment. Soon, he looked at Winter and Danielle in turn.

“Winter, why did you let a human be in this place?” Master Fang stared at Winter with an angry face. Winter looked down as he crumpled the shirt she was wearing. “You know that what you’re doing is against the rules, right?”

“I brought her here because she is my... My mate, Master,” Master Fang gasped in shock at his protégé’s revelation. “And besides, the Moon Goddess also handpicked this girl to be my mate,”

The Moon Goddess chose her directly? What was her purpose? Master Fang wanted to ask this but preferred to keep it to himself as he searched for the answer.

“Is she alright, Master?”

“As you can see, Winter,” Master Fang pointed at Hanna who was groaning with pain. “Did she have a big accident to dare give her Black Snow?”

Winter nodded his head. She stared at Hanna’s face as she gently stroked her hair as if Hanna was a very fragile thing if touched too strongly.

“Do you know that Black Snow can be a poison for people who reject the fact that we exist, Winter?”

The old man let out a long sigh at the sight of Hanna’s face that looked wan from struggling against the poison. Master Fang glanced at Winter who was now looking the other way, probably holding back tears because his Maten was injured.

Winter himself was reluctant to answer his master’s question which felt piercing into the recesses of his heart. Not even needing to be reminded, Winter felt disappointed in himself for endangering the lives of others, especially his maten.

“I just want her to survive the accident. I want her to be happy. Besides that, I also want her to accompany me who is lonely.”

Seeing the love radiating from his protégé, Master Fang took out a black bottle filled with a special potion and gave it to Winter.

“Drink this potion so that your heart won’t hurt, Winter,” Winter was surprised to hear his teacher’s order. How would the old man know if his heart hurt like it was being ripped out?

“How do you know this, Master Fang?”

“Rejection of a werewolf’s mate causes pain in the heart of the rejected mate. If not treated properly, both of you may die.”

I don’t know how many times Winter had to be surprised today. This fact both frightened and worried him. Regret burst from his chest. If only he had been more patient when telling Hanna, things wouldn’t have been like this.

“I just found out, Master,”

“That’s because Rejected Mate is very rare,” Master said in a calm tone.

“Drink up, I’ll check this girl’s neck so I can find a way to treat her more effectively. You haven’t bitten her neck yet, have you?”

“No, Master,” Winter replied quickly. Without further ado, the young man drank the liquid given by his master. For a moment, his condition was much better than before.

Master Fang asked Danielle to uncovered Hanna’s hair so that he could see the mark engraved on the girl’s neck. This was so Winter could mark Hanna appropriately.

 Once uncovered, Master Fang was surprised to find two different marks with the same pattern. Why would his mark be on this girl’s neck? The old man looked at Hanna with an angry yet compassionate gaze.

“Moon goddess, what exactly are you planning to do to this girl?”