68 Breakthrough 3

"... hurry up and dress yourself…," the man said.

"... yes," then she closed the door as she walked in.

Dylan, also known as Beaver, gulped as the image of a beautiful woman who was almost naked appeared in front of his eyes. Her figure… was otherworldly. Truly fantastic… he couldn't help but blush. When the door that separated them was opened, Emersyn emerged out dressed in sweater and pants along with black ankle boots. There was still a towel on her head as she continuously dried her hair with it.

"Can't you use a blowdryer?"

"... I have those? Hmm… let me see," she said as she rummaged her bathroom. "Ah! There it is!"

"Hurry up before the food gets cold!"

"Shut up and wait obediently, Beaver!"

"Call me Dylan! We aren't in a mission anymore!"

"Yes, yes. Sure."

"Ugh… I helped cooking this for nothing…," he murmured as he looked over the bunch of food packedly settled on the table.

"Thank you, Dylan," Emersyn said as she went out of the bathroom and sat on the chair.

"For what?"

"Cooking these with Penelope."

"... no, no… not at all. It is my pleasure. Hehehe..."

Emersyn rolled her eyes then began eating. Dylan watched her graceful movement enough to be hypnotized.

Upon noticing that Dylan still hadn't moved his hands, she said, "Hm? Aren't you going to eat?"

"A-ah! Of course, I will eat," Dylan mumbled as he grabbed a spoon and fork. When he was at the middle of eating, a thought came into mind. "By the way… uh… what's your real name?"

"Emersyn."

"Right. Emersyn. Right after this, what will you be doing?"

"Hmm… probably train then read in the library."

"That's all?"

"If you include that I have to cook you a meal, then yeah."

"Ooooh!!!"

"What time would you want me to cook for you?"

"Around 3 o'clock please~"

"Mhm."

"Oh~ Oh! I also want some desserts!"

"Shut up and eat."

"Yes, ma'am!"

After they were done eating---mostly just Emersyn gorging the food served to her---Emersyn was about to grab her dirty dish when Dylan beat her to it. She raised her eyebrow as she watched the male fumbled to clean the messy table. She was also on the verge of standing up when Dylan stopped her.

"Don't! Just stay there and I will do all the dishes!"

"What has gotten into you?"

"Do you have any favors to ask?"

"... actually, yeah..."

"What is it?"

"Well..." he said as he scratched his head bashfully, "I kind of told the head chef about your cooking… and he suddenly went ballistic saying that he wants to see you cook in his kitchen right after dinner…"

"Alright then."

"You agree?"

"There's nothing that I could do about it, isn't there?"

"... yeah."

"Now, move your bum and wash the dishes!"

"Yes!"

***

When Dylan left, Emersyn quickly went out and walked deep in the forest near the mansion. There, she found a field wide enough to test out the things she wanted to test; like this strange bracelet that appeared on her skin. She sat on the ground as she slowly retrieved monster carcasses from the storage function. Damn… these monsters were so huge! She could feel her arms shaking from the excessive weight. Somewhat, it made her feel irritated.

"... I should train more..." that unknown desire to be much stronger surfaced deep from her mind. Reluctantly, she stored those again and this time, retrieved weapons. These weapons looked all too familiar to her that she unconsciously wielded it against the trees.

"Weird..." she murmured.

Next, the coins. There were all pure gold, silver and bronze… where did she get all of these?

Then, the search function. A searchbar appeared and the first thing that she had in mind was the Blanche. Just as she thought about it, the word appeared on the searchbar and the results were out immediately. She read those articles one by one and easily concluded that they weren't bad people at all. They had enough recognition from the masses and even the police. They solved numerous cases that needed their help and even caught heinous criminals. Helped the poor and volunteered to be civil workers.

"Then… why?" She asked herself. "Why do I feel animosity towards them? This is not because they are the enemies of the Voltaire… but something more deep…."

Suddenly, the user function of 'Chang Xiuying' came up.

"This...? Huh?" For some reason, it all felt too familiar. "Chang... Xiuying...? Xue...?" Names immediately surfaced. "Flora, Diamond… Gaius, Caine… Alaric… Jude… Waltham! Blanche!"

She clutched her chest that began to ache and collapsed at her side on the ground.

"Walthaaaam!" She screamed from the bottom of her lungs.

Her body convulsed as she lost consciousness. Raging blood continued to flow into her arteries, veins and blood vessels then to her pores as it excreted itself from the host. Energy fluctuated around her as her consciousness dived deeper into the void. She could feel herself falling deeper and deeper as her feet finally touched the---supposedly---floor. She looked around but she couldn't see anything besides herself.

"Hello?"

It echoed.

Then, her footing was lost and she fell in the water; a silvery water.

… she didn't know how to swim!

Upon that realization, she sunk as she tried her best to swim towards the surface. Just as she felt the oxygen starting to deplete, she saw ten, no, eleven orbs resting at the very bottom. Their lights were dim, but she could feel it. Those are the source of her power. She ran out of air, but the water didn't enter her lungs at all. Then, she tried flapping her legs, but, for some reason, she was being dragged towards those orbs even without moving. At last, she arrived in front those imposing orbs.

"Amazing..." she blurted out.

She touched the smallest one, which was colored black, and it started to seep into her body. She flinched from the sensation she felt, but she held it in as her body continued to absorb the particles being released by this smallest orb. It didn't end there. The surrounding orbs suddenly shook as it started to seep into her body. Then, the silvery water also circled around her to make a protective layer of skin, which she was doing consciously, to contain her power. She deduced that the reason they were able to hunt her down was because of the output of these powers.

Yes, she remembered them all now.

However… how come she couldn't remember?

"Xue?" She cautiously called. "Xue? Xue?!"

It seemed like they were separated when she died.

Suddenly, there was a flashing bang and all the orbs disappeared from her sight. The silvery water shook and she could feel herself being pulled skyward. When she resurfaced, she sight of Dylan carrying her body in a princess carry surprised her.

"..."

It seemed like he still hadn't notice that she was awake.

"Why..." she mumbled.

"Oh… I just happened to find you when I was strolling the forest---"

"It's because of my scream, right?"

"... yes. I don't know who is this Waltham guy, but you collapsed and started to bleed all over your body…"

"Mhm… thanks," she muttered.

"You're welcome," he softly said as they arrived in front of the gate. Just when they arrived, there was a limousine that parked opposite them and Ashford immediately went out and ran towards them.

"What happened?!" He seemed agitated.

"I'm tired… don't bother," Emersyn said as she leaned on Dylan's shoulder making the man blush at the warm gesture.

Ashford shuddered, "Alright," as he turned his heels away and entered the mansion unceremoniously. Dylan tilted his head, watching the man seeth in anger. What is he angry about though? He thought.

"Should we go to your room?" He gently asked.

"Mhm..." Emersyn nodded with her eyes closed.

"Alright… then, please excuse me," Dylan said as he brisked towards her room.

"Madame?!" In the corridor, they met Penelope who immediately rushed towards Emersyn. She panicked from all the blood that covered her sweater and pants. "What happened?!"

"Shut it..." Emersyn muttered under her breath, "I'm tired."

"Yes. Please, sir Dylan, this way."

"Thanks, Penelope."

Since Penelope rushed towards her room, Dylan also rushed as he realized how worried Penelope must had been. However, despite all these, Emersyn's lips curved into a small smile as she reminiscent the time she had with all her servants, especially Flora. She had missed them… so much. The times they spent together… grew together… ah… she wanted to go back… but she was here. She had to do things she had to do before finding a way to go back to that planet.