Chapter 120 - The Letters Appeared

Esme chuckled, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her palm, ''You are good to go.'' 

Leo turned around to look at Liz but he noticed her absence. 

''She ran away when I was healing you.''

Leo glanced at her with a look that said 'I told you so'. 

''I felt like she was innocent,'' For some reason, Liz was acting like she was possessed. And when those red eyes turned to their usual black color, Esme thought she turned normal. 

Moreover, she was not planning on setting her free but she was more worried about Leo when she saw his wounds. 

'Roar' 

Esme was helpless, ''Come, let's go to the room to check on your Master. Maybe he woke up when we were here..'' 

Leo shook his head and grabbed the edge of her gown in between his teeth. 

''What?'' Esme glanced at him in confusion. 

He dragged her dress. 

''Are you taking me somewhere?" 

Leo let go of her dress as he arched his neck, pointing his face towards his back. 

''You want me to sit on your back?" Esme pointed a finger at herself. 

Leo gave her an uninterested look as if he was asking her 'Are you slow in mind?' 

''Uh..'' Esme sighed. She quietly approached him before sitting on his back, ''Move slowly. Your wounds have not healed internally.'' 

'Crash' 

Before her words could finish, Leo jumped through the windows, turning the glass into dust. 

What surprised Esme was not even a single piece of glass grazed past her body. She was completely uninjured. 

''I told you to be slow, didn't I?" Esme reprimanded Leo. 

'Roar' I won't be slow, what can you do?

The corner of her lips twitched. 

The pair of the human and the beast left the castle premises while blending in the dark but unaware to them, a few gazes have been fixed on them from the very beginning, noticing every event that unfolded in the quiet hallway of the castle. 

''Looks like the information was not wrong,'' the person who spoke had golden colored hair. A deep set of eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through everything with that sharp gaze. The man who appeared to be somewhere in his early 40s turned around and glanced at Keith Reiner's dead body, ''Did you see how she killed him?'' 

There were one man and one woman standing beside him. They had the same striking golden hair as him, ''Of course, we did,'' The woman said as she looked around, her eyes focused on the man standing in front of them, ''Even that beast…. He was majestic. Who would have known a place occupied by ordinary humans would be filled with wonders?" her green eyes sparkled, ''Father, I want to have that white beast.'' 

The other man who was quiet till this point, spoke up, ''Luciana, don't bother father and don't forget what we are here for,'' his expressions were stern. Inwardly, he wondered who that beautiful lady was. 

''Don't tell me what to do, Lucian. Mind your own business,'' Luciana frowned. 

The man had a similar frown on his face and he shared the same features with the girl. 

Marcus, their father, remained silent for some time, ''Let's go,'' he did not have high expectations when he came to this place but who could have known... 

… 

''Why are we here?" Esme looked around the five pillars of the church. 

Leo walked towards the fifth pillar of the church and pressed his paw on the floor before making some kind of sign on it. 

The floor split open revealing a staircase that led to the secret library beneath the church. 

'Why do they build it so secretly? Can't they have a library out in open?' Esme refused to admit that she was somewhat traumatized by the sight of underground passages. 

After what happened today, just the sight of it was giving her goosebumps. 

Amidst this, she was also curious how Leo opened it just like Aleister but then again, Leo's origins were mysterious. 

Leo glanced at her before pointing towards his back. 

''I can go there by my feet. I have been to this place before,'' she patted his back and took the stairs that led to the underground library. 

After reaching below, Esme turned around and glanced at Leo who was standing at the top, ''Why did you bring me here…?'' she paused when her nose caught a strong whiff of metallic scent. 

Blood…? 

As if on cue, Leo jumped inside the library without bothering to take the steps. He swiftly landed beside her. 

Esme snapped out of her daze and turned around. Her lips parted as she glanced at the library which seemed like it had survived a natural disaster. 

The bookshelves were broken and some of them had fallen on each other. The tables and chairs had their legs broken. The walls had huge holes which looked like someone had punched them. 

And there was blood. There was a lot of blood all around the place, on the shelves, on the wall, on the tables and chairs, on the floor, and even on the books.

The blood was not dried which meant that this was a recent event. ''Did both of you come here earlier this night?" 

Leo glanced at her and tugged at her dress again.

Esme followed after him. 

He led her to a small shelf in the corner. 

Esme recognized this shelf very well, contrary to Leo's thoughts. It was obvious that Leo assumed that this was the first time she came here. But unaware to him, Aleister and her have been to this place before. 

And this was the shelf where there was that book about the merfolk. 

They could not take this book with them because Aleister told her that books are bound to this ancient library by magic.

So, in the end, they memorized that prose that was carved on the wooden shelf. But much to her dismay, they never deciphered the meaning behind those words.

No matter how Esme thought about it, those words were like the squabbling of a child which made no sense. But that book appeared mysterious. 

And she had to see what was written and hidden in the dusty pages of the ancient book. Because it was her only lead to the truth that she was looking for. 

The truth regarding her identity. 

While Esme stood there quietly, lost in her thoughts, Leo got impatient. He grabbed the book with his front paw and placed it on the floor before tugging at Esme's dress. 

Esme snapped out of her daze. She squatted on the floor and glanced at the book. It had blood stains as well. She believed it belonged to Aleister who probably came here to get this book but he did not tell her about it beforehand, ''I have seen this book before, Leo. Your Master was there with me but the pages of this book were empty when we looked inside.'' By now, she understood that Aleister and Leo were hurt because of this book. 

But who hurt them? She wondered. 

Leo extended his paw towards her. 

Esme frowned. She knew that he understood her words but at times like this, she wished she could understand his language as well. 

As if aware of her tragedy, he pointed his paw towards her hand. 

''Oh, my hand… You want my hand?" Esme extended her hand towards him. 

Leo glanced at her. 

Wait… what kind of look was that? Why was he looking at her with pity?

Before she could contemplate over it, Leo lowered his head and nipped on the tip of her finger. 

''Ahhh…'' Esme cried in shock. It was so painful. His teeth were sharper than a dagger. 

Leo gave her a pointed look. I nipped it very gently. 

Esme blinked a few times to let her tears dry up. She glanced at the blood oozing out of her fingertip. 

The blood slowly dripped on the cover of the book on the floor. 

And the title of the book, 'The Sea Creatures' started shining gradually. 

It was as if a mystical force compelled it, the book's cover flipped and the first page flipped open. 

As Esme glanced at the blank page, words started appearing on it. 

''The handwriting is ugly…'' Those were the first words that left her mouth after witnessing this shocking scene. 

The book looked like an antique…. Was it written by a child? 

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it sounded to herself because the handwriting was messy like that of a child's. And let alone the handwriting, the prose that was carved in the wooden shelf sounded like a child's word. 

Taking a deep breath, she started reading the first page. 

'Over a thousand years ago, the Great God Zephyr dove into the sea because of his curiosity regarding the sea creatures. He intended to take the form of a fish but he was reluctant to sacrifice his beauty. In the end, he resorted to retaining his upper body in form of a human while his lower body was replaced by a huge fishtail. But little did he know that his curiosity was going to be the cause of his downfall. He…'

Esme stopped reading when she heard the sounds of approaching footsteps. Someone was coming to the church but at this hour?

She glanced at the book in her hand before focusing on the sound of footsteps. The person was coming closer.

Esme pushed herself to her feet. It was impossible to take the book with her because it was bound with the library and it will alert people if she moved it. 

But… 

She was reluctant to put it back. Great God Zephyr…? 

She wanted to read more and know more about this but the sounds of the footsteps did not stop. 

Esme glanced at Leo who was looking back at her with curious eyes, ''Leo, let's go back to the castle. Someone is here,'' she pushed herself to her feet. 

Esme walked towards the corner of the library where there was a huge space filled with soil. There were many herbs planted inside it which gave a very dull but pleasant scent in the library. 

She looked at the book in her hand before focusing her gaze on the soil.