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Chapter 6: Déjà vu

"What?" Katelyn asked with confusion, in the midst of debating whether she had really heard Ryan say those things or if she had imagined them. I took a step back and laughed to myself as I occurred to glance down.

Ryan took a few steps closer to her, his feet sank into the ground. After noticing Ryan's confident demeanor, Katelyn took a few steps back. When Ryan glanced at her arms and feet, he saw that she had said she had fought with the wild creatures in the forest because she had gotten lost in there, and that was why she had failed to return to the center of the woods. "But," Ryan uttered as he looked at her arms and feet. He then continued, "You don't have any scars to indicate that you were involved in a fight." When Katelyn heard his assumptions, she swallowed some of her own saliva.

"On top of that, you've lived in this place since we were children. We've even had a few games in those woods before, so how come you haven't gotten a feel for the surroundings?" Ryan went on to say that he was perplexed by her reasoning.

Though taken off surprise, Katelyn managed to maintain her composure and elevate her chin to her chest while maintaining her spine straight. "Well," she started, and her words shattered like broken vases. "I had been in so many palces when I was in the midst of growing up, despite the fact that I had been a resident of this Vintlaine Island for far too long," she reasoned out once again. Grabbing her hair and pushing her away from this fortress was prompted by her wrinkle of the brow as if she is persuading Ryan to believe in her.

As soon as I realized I'm on this island known as Vintlaine, I'll be able to rest a little. It is undoubtedly true that Ryan's family and ancestors have been living on this island since the beginning of time. Katelyn said that she had been to a variety of locations, and I started to wonder whether there were any other adjacent islands on the opposite side of this continent that she had not yet discovered.

Ryan nodded, but I could tell simply by glancing at his eyes that he was not persuaded by Katelyn's arguments. "Check to see that what you're saying is correct, Katelyn Vicky," Ryan triggered, setting her off. Katelyn shifted her gaze from left to right over his face and offered him her finest smirk. After seeing her face, I felt sick to my stomach. "Of course I am, trust me," she confirmed emphatically. Tsk, she's lied again for sure without a doubt.

"Okay, I hope," Ryan urged her. With that, he switched his focus to me, completely oblivious to the fact that he had accidently stomped on Katelyn's feet.

Because of what Ryan had done, I was looking at Katelyn, while he was looking at me and holding my right arm in his hands. "Your unkempt appearance caused you to leave the room. You didn't seem to be feeling well. You should have gotten some rest there," he fretted. It took many blinks for me to realize what had happened when I saw his rapid change in emotions.

While my lips were quivering, I forced a grin on his face. "I-I'm totally alright now," I assured even though my voice was trembling. "Hehehe," I added, not intending to offend anybody; it was simply that I was pulled back to the strain of reacting to him after a long period of time. At the very least, I should feel grateful that he was aware of my predicament despite the fact that he was unfamiliar with my life.

Lydia was staring at us with a sour look on her face, which I happened to notice. The moment Ryan expressed concern for my predicament, she rolled her eyes; but, by the time she realized that I was looking at her, she offered me a wide grin, as if she had not done anything wrong. She feigned that everything was alright and that she was not bothered by the circumstance.

"I believe I should go back to your room, and the two of you should go about your business," I advised as I showed a smile on my face as I looked at them both. I drew closer to Ryan, and a smile came on his face as he recognized the thought I was having in my thoughts. With my gaze fixed on Katelyn, I murmured something to his ears that was also loud enough for Katelyn to hear. "I'll be waiting for you there..."

Katelyn's eyes narrowed at me as she inclined her head in bitterness as she said this.

The second time Ryan tried to pull me in order to prevent me from escaping, but Katelyn instantly put her hand over his shoulder and looked him in the eyes as if she were pleading with him to leave me alone. Without a doubt, she is pleased with my decision to go. As I shook my shoulders and lifted my index finger at them, rubbing it together with my pressed lips while humming the word, "Uhum...", I uttered, "Uhum...," while raising my eyebrows at them.

I turned my back to them as I flipped my hair back in preparation for making my way back to the bedroom. When I got a few of yards away from them, an arrow appeared in my peripheral vision and targeted a wall not far away from where I was standing. When the arrow struck the concrete wall, the sharp steel of the shaft shone brightly.

The realization that the arrow was dangerously close to hitting the side of my forehead nearly caused my breathing to stop completely. "Can you tell me what it was?!" As soon as I turned around to face Ryan again, I questioned him in astonishment. Katelyn turned to face him, and the three of us kept our eyes peeled for the direction from which the arrow was coming.

The color of my eyes changed to blue as I sought to shift into a werewolf, and the pupils of Ryan's pupils shrank as he focused on the vision of the group of men approaching the castle from a distance. Then Katelyn stepped to the middle of us and stated, "It is your stepbrother, O." I looked at her and wondered whether Ryan had a stepbrother, which she didn't seem to know. Was he, on the other hand, anticipating to be greeted? Or is he here with a disruptive agenda in mind?

"Y-You have a brother?" However, despite Katelyn's affirmation, I inquired of Ryan about the situation. It came as a complete surprise to me to learn about this. I haven't seen his brother in quite some time.

Katelyn looked at me and complained, "Really? This is something you can't simply ask in the midst of-"

"Be on the lookout!" It was Ryan. I heard him say as he shoved me to the ground. As soon as I arrived, I saw that the walls on each side of the windows had collapsed, and his brother's men had shot a massive rock into the hole, which allowed for the formation of a circular whole.

The circumstance delivered fuzzy ashes and dust to the surrounding region, with the majority of the dust particles entering our noses as a result. I coughed and waved my hands in front of my face in an attempt to expel the ashes in front of me, but it did not work. I also heard the voices of Katelyn and Ryan as they struggled to get to their feet in the midst of the ashy mess.

Despite this, I made every effort to stand on my own, and by the time I was able to do so, I could hear the sounds of the people in this castle, particularly those maids and guards, screaming and shrieking as they fled the situation. I clung to the edge of one waist-high cabinet while I struggled to clear my vision in the space between them. All of a sudden, I became aware of something unusual about what I was seeing. As key events in my memory came into focus, but with fuzzy images of people's faces, my mind became frozen.

I froze as I realized that the scene, and particularly those sounds, reminded me of something I'd experienced before.

"Lady, where are you?" Ryan was on the phone with someone. Even though I wasn't sure who he was calling, one thing was for certain: He should have dialed Katelyn's number if he really wanted to speak with her. It was only afterwards that I realized he had never heard my name before, not even from me. I was pulled back to reality after hearing his voice again.

I was going to respond to him despite the fact that we had lost touch, but Katelyn got there before. "I am just right here!" she shouted. Ryan did not respond, and I have not been able to hear him either.

My hand looked to be changing into a fur after a time, but it ultimately vanished after a while. I saw that my eyes were becoming blue once again, and by the time I turned my gaze to my surroundings, the ashes were vanished. When Ryan saw me, he immediately locked his gaze on my eyes with that stale look that has. I was curious whether he was aware of the rapid change in the hue of my pupils. Katelyn headed towards the castle, keeping an eye out for those undesirable males who were already on their way up to the castle grounds. It was only because I heard their footsteps that I realized what was going on.

"Katelyn, please be cautious!" When I saw her trying to descend, I called her name.

"They're making their way inside the building to launch an assault. We have to stop them!" she insisted, and with that, she transformed into a werewolf and leapt over the castle walls to safety.

Ryan returned my gaze, and as soon as our gazes locked, I informed him, "You've definitely noticed the abrupt shift in my eye color," and he agreed.

"I understand..."

"I have no idea why this is happening," I said with a shake of my head.

Ryan was going to say anything when a swarm of arrows appeared out of nowhere and flew in the other direction of us. Ryan was gripping my elbow as we dodged the onslaught of bullets. Despite the fact that some of them were swiping into my flesh and creating a wound, I kept sprinting till I reached a more secure location for the time being.

"Can you tell me why those animals are assaulting us?" I inquired while I was regaining my breath between sentences.

"They are only here as a result of my efforts," Ryan answered.

"However, why would your brother do anything like this to you?"

Ryan merely shook his head and didn't respond to my question at all. The assaults were still rolling in, and the men in this fortress had arranged themselves into a defensive formation to deal with the threat. Ryan had taken a quick check around the corner to determine whether it was safe for us to go. My expectations, on the other hand, were erroneous. Ryan chose to go out by himself, rather than with me, and I was disappointed.

"What the heck are you up to?!" I yelled at him as he stood alone against those massive beasts. After viewing these colossal monsters, my eyes enlarged and my mind became flooded with new and various kinds of memories.

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