Chapter 11: The Announcement

The next morning, Caelan woke up feeling strangely refreshed. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. For a moment, he was thinking of nothing.

Then everything from last night came rushing back into his head.

Damn... what a lucky man I am. A sheepish smile appeared on his lips.

He immediately turned his head toward the other side of the bed. Eveline was still sleeping peacefully beside him. Both of them were already dressed after taking everything off yesterday.

Slowly, Caelan looked down.

"..."

His eyes widened when he noticed that the wounds on his body were all gone.

He quickly sat up and looked at his arms. There wasn’t even a single scratch left on them. The marks from the Bloodfang were completely gone.

His shoulder, which had been hurting terribly last night, felt completely fine too. Caelan tried moving both of his arms from side to side. There was no pain.

He even stood up and stretched his body. It felt amazing.

"What the..." Caelan looked at Eveline again.

"Eveline... Hey." He called out her name as he slightly nudged her. It was just enough to wake her up.

"Hmm?" Because of his actions, Eveline, who was in deep slumber, slowly opened her eyes.

"Wake up."

"It’s still early..." She groaned as she glared at him.

"Look at your leg." Caelan chuckled as he pointed at her leg. She seemed confused by his words, but she eventually sat up and looked down.

Her eyes widened immediately when she saw what he was talking about. The scrapes and wounds on her leg from their fall yesterday were completely gone.

"What?" She touched the area where she had been injured. "It’s gone??"

"Oh my." She slowly stood up and moved her leg around. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of pain left in her body.

"How is this possible?"

"It’s because of the Life Thread," Caelan answered as he looked at his own arm again.

"Restoring it healed us completely?"

"Looks like it." Caelan nodded. His body felt completely different from last night.

Not only were his wounds gone, but he felt stronger too. Eveline seemed to notice the same thing.

"I feel really good." She stretched her arms and smiled.

"Me too." Caelan couldn’t help but laugh. "Maybe we should have done that sooner."

"Don’t say it like that!" Eveline’s face immediately turned red at his words.

"What?"

"You know what you meant!" She exclaimed again, covering her face. Now she looked completely embarrassed. The deed they did yesterday replayed in her brain somehow.

Caelan just laughed at her reaction. Well, their interaction only lasted until that because they got ready soon.

They went downstairs so they could have some food before leaving the inn. They had until lunch to stay there. The moment they stepped outside, the cold morning air hit Caelan’s face.

He took a deep breath. The town looked completely different in the morning. It was still snowing, but it was more bearable than it had been at night.

People were walking through the streets, merchants were opening their shops, and the smell of food was coming from several stalls nearby.

Caelan’s stomach immediately growled.

"Are you hungry?" Eveline looked at him. She must have heard his stomach.

"Very."

They eventually found a small stall selling food near the street and sat down. It wasn’t anything fancy, but the food smelled amazing.

Caelan still had some coins left, so it was fine.

After ordering, they waited for a while before their meals finally arrived. Caelan immediately started eating it.

The two of them didn’t say much. They were too hungry to care about anything aside from food.

After they finished eating, they left the stall and continued walking around the town. Caelan looked around at the busy streets.

"So..." He cleared his throat.

Eveline was walking beside him, and she looked at him.

"Hm?"

"What do you plan to do now?" Caelan’s tone was filled with curiosity.

Eveline stopped walking almost immediately after he said that. Caelan also stopped and turned to face her.

"I mean, we’re both fine now." He shrugged his shoulders and gestured toward themselves.

"Our wounds are gone, and we’re safe here. So I was thinking..." Caelan scratched the back of his head.

"Maybe this is where we part ways if you want."

"Part ways?" Her expression suddenly changed when she heard that. The smile she had been wearing since they woke up disappeared.

"Yeah." Caelan didn’t notice anything strange about her at first.

After all, it made sense. They had only met because of that strange incident in Westmere. There was no reason for them to stay together for long.

"You have somewhere you need to go, right?"

"I..." Eveline lowered her gaze, and her voice became quieter. She looked at the ground for a moment before sighing.

"I suppose I do, but..." She fell into deep silence after that.

Caelan waited to see if she would say something else, but she didn’t. However, something about her expression felt different now. She looked uncertain, almost like she was trying to convince herself of something.

"Are you okay?" Caelan asked, slightly worried.

Eveline slowly raised her head before shaking it.

"No."

"Huh?"

"I don’t want to leave yet." Her voice was still quiet, but this time there was no hesitation in it.

"I want to stay with you for the meantime." She said it more clearly this time.

"Are you sure?" Caelan stared at her.

He didn’t know why she wanted to stay with him when even he didn’t know what he was going to do.

"I don’t know where else to go right now."

She nodded even with that statement.

"I mean, after everything that happened yesterday..." She looked toward the busy streets around them. "I feel safer with you."

Caelan didn’t know what to say to that.

"So..." Eveline looked at him with a slightly embarrassed expression. "Can I stay with you a little longer?"

Hmm...

"Sure." Caelan smiled.

"Really?" Her expression immediately softened

"Yeah." He shrugged his shoulders.

"We’re already stuck together because of the Life Thread anyway."

"Then I guess I’ll be staying with you." Eveline smiled. ℯℯ𝘭.

"Looks like it." For some reason, Caelan felt a little relieved. At least he wasn’t going to be alone anymore.

"Then let’s go," he said.

"Where?"

"To go back to my town. It must be safe now. I should still have some things there."

Based on his memories, he had lived there all his life, so all of his belongings should still be there.

"Alright. Let’s go back to our inn and head out there." Eveline happily agreed.

The two of them continued walking through the busy streets, enjoying the peaceful morning. However, it didn’t last long.

Suddenly...

"Attention! Everyone! Everyoneee!!"

A loud voice echoed through the streets. The people around them also stopped and began looking toward the source of the voice.

The man shouting was running through the street, beads of sweat running down his forehead. His eyes were wide, and there was a strange look on his face.

He looked like he was panicking.

No.

He looked terrified.

"Westmere has fallen!"

"W-what...?" Caelan’s body immediately froze.

"The village of Westmere was attacked by a group of vicious monsters throughout the night!"

"No survivors have been found!"

Caelan felt the color drain from his face as he heard the announcement.