Chapter 62

62 Her resolution

Murmuring, voices everywhere, the restless Anne just couldn’t take a break. She opened her eyes slowly. Justice and Xavier seemed to have a heated debate in front of her bed. Both of them don’t realize that Anne is already awake and has heard their conversation because they turn their backs on Anne.

“F*ck, I hope they find her guilty. Just imagine that kind of bully got to escape,” Xavier spoke his opinion after Justice explained about the suspect.

“I doubt it. Did you know that the girl and her friends were already going back to their inn?” A bitter smile came to Justice. “The guards couldn’t determine whether the case was an accident or an incident.”

Anne’s heart was broken when she heard the news. Rosy’s malicious act was definitely not an accident. The girl had the full intention of destroying her hand. Anne knew from the moment she met Rosy. Justice and Xavier are still having a debate about her case.

“She was suffering here, while her assailant ran free, so great, give my regards to Bernard.” Gruntled Xavier at Justice.

Justice sighed and tried to calm Xavier, “It wasn’t Bernard’s fault. They already announced it to him when he tried to take over the case.”

“The f*ck! Tell me you’re going to re-open the case, right?” Xavier pursued Justice, obviously furious about the turnout.

“Don’t worry, I asked Bernard to re-investigate the case stealthily, though. I will not let her go. I was so furious when I saw her hand.”

A smile bloomed on Anne’s face, Justice and Xavier cared so much about her well-being, it warmed her heart when the two of them talked about helping her. She thought she lost their trust and support, and she never figured out why suddenly they seemed distant from her.

.....

Xavier gave a sigh of relief, “As you should, but why do you need to keep silence about the re-investigation?”

“Someone may have helped her. The two other witnesses gave statements in favor of the culprit.” Justice explained the situation as best as he could, he knows Xavier would do worse if he revealed more than he should. “For now, let us focus on retrieving the arcana tome. I’m worried that the effect will linger or even worse.”

Anne was frowning. She had never heard about arcana tome before; they were talking about something that maybe Anne shouldn’t have heard. She felt the need to remind them about her presence, but before she could speak to the two of them, Anne overheard Xavier talking about her.

“I just hope after we get the arcana tome, we can explain to Anne about the Bewitched spell that the four of us got from her.”

Feeling aghast, she nervously asked the two of them, “What?! What did I do to the four of you?”

Justice and Xavier turned around to see Anne looking at them. Her face was something that Justice and Xavier wished they had never seen in her. A devastating face from the shocking news. The two gentlemen shared a glance.

“Anne, how long are you...” asked Justice carefully.

“Long enough, I tried to distract the two of you but you seem so infested with your conversation,” She glanced at Justice and then at Xavier, trying so hard to get an answer that she needed, “Please, you need to tell me, what happened?!”

Desperation on Anne’s face, and also the guilt-ridden feeling that he had, gave Justice enough reason, to be honest to Anne, “It will be a long story, please bear with us.”

Anne nodded her head, with firm eyes locked on justice.” Shoot me!”

The comical expression came to Justice and Xavier, “What?!” both of them asked our heroine at the same time.

Realizing her mistake, using metaphorical words from her old world, she laughed awkwardly and said, “Nothing~ please continue~”

The two of them squint their eyes, while Anne just grins at them.

Shrugged it off as just her giving a bad joke. Justice cleared his throat and explained everything to Anne, “We... I mean Vale, feel something happened to the four of us, something instantaneous and peculiar.”

“What? What is it?”

“Uhm... Our feeling... for you, Anne.” Xavier gave the answer to Anne while he rustled his hair.

Her eyes widened. She never expected the answer to be something romantic, “Feelings?! The... The four of you have feelings for me?!”

The realization came to Anne a bit too late. She never thought about every tease, smiled, occasionally glanced, and smiled. There was a feeling involved. In her old world, not every interaction could become a feeling. Later on, that’s why she never elaborated on their closeness towards her. Now she felt foolish.

Chuckling at Anne’s shocking confession, Justice walks towards her, and cups her chin, “Listen here, miss River Anne. As the crown prince of this kingdom, I rarely pay any attention to a girl, but here we are.” He said the words with full confidence to Anne.

Flustered by it, she couldn’t even say any words back to Justice. Her eyes lingered on his red-ruby eyes, for once. The crown prince loved her reaction, his thumb rubbed her chin softly, an intoxicating smell tempting his nose so suddenly. Xavier took it upon himself to pry the crown prince away from our heroine.

“This is why we need to be careful! You said it yourself, now look at you!” Xavier gruntled while he pulled Justice away from Anne.

There’s a reason why the bewitched spell is categorized as a high-level spell. The effect is intoxicating and sometimes even deadly. Vale has a very good reason to be afraid. He wasn’t worried about himself and the other three; he was worried about the safety of the girl. For them, Anne is becoming a flower, a very sweet aroma that comes from her will entice them to be near her, and to break open the flower to taste what’s left inside of her.

Justice shook his head several times, trying to break away from the spell. He looks at Anne and Xavier, “D*mn! The spell is getting stronger now.”

“Your fault as well. Why do you even go to her, so casually.” Said Xavier, while he put his hands on his hips. He was glaring at his best friend.

“Are you alright, your majesty?” Anne asked the crown prince, even though her face was flustered by the romantic gesture that she had received earlier.

“I’ve told you to call my name when there’s no one around.” Justice looked at her, while a sigh came from his mouth.

Anne then pointed out Xavier, “But... There’s Xavier here.”

“When I say alone, the three of them also consider as the extended version of mine, so they call me casually even when Xavier, Vale, and Henry are around.” Said Justice, trying to explain how deep his friendship with Henry, Vale, and Xavier.

“I... I’ll keep them in mind... Justice.” With a meek voice, she called Justice’s name.

If it’s not for Xavier, Justice would have run towards Anne and given her something that he had never done to another girl. It seemed to him, the spell still lingered a bit. Xavier ordered him to sit far away from Anne, while he tried to continue their conversation about the spell.

Justice was in a bit surprised, Xavier seemed to be unaffected as much as him. He stared at him while Xavier spoke to Anne.

“We never know who’s the one who made us inflicted, or when, but it was possible it happened in the Viora village.” Said Xavier remembering their conversation at the captain’s barracks.

Our heroine feels pressured, she feels like everything happened because of her. “What should we do? Please, you need to trust me, I will never...” Once again, the feeling of being an outsider appeared on her mind, not the best feeling for her.

During her first three years in Valorian, she always felt uneasy, even though the villagers and her adoptive parents treated her as one of them. As time went by, she learned to be more expressive and caring, and finally has a feeling that Viora village is her hometown.

Xavier touches her shoulder, and smiles, “You don’t have to feel so bad about the whole thing, you’re also a victim just as much as we are.”

Anne then smiled back at him, feeling grateful that the two of them didn’t have an inch of anger towards her, but, another doubt came to her mind. Was it because of the spell or their genuine feelings? Anne was trying her best to hide these uneasy feelings.

“So, what is the arcana tome that the two of you spoke about earlier?”

“You never heard about arcana tome? We study about the tome in the elementary second grade,” asked Justice while frowning.

Giving Justice one of her warmest smiles, she tried to explain her situation back then, “I lost my memory at the age of ten, so...”

Her words gave him quite a surprise. “Oh, I am sorry Anne, so, you never regained your memory?” He really does feel sorry for her.

“No... Well, it’s alright now, I am making peace with it,” said Anne to Justice. She asked Xavier another question about the arcana tome, “so you need to find the arcana tome, right? Do you know the location yet?”

“We do. Would you believe it if I said it was in a haunted cemetery?” Xavier gave her a grin. He was so excited about going to Beyor cemetery.

Even justice gives him chuckles, realizing how enthusiastic Xavier is.

“Cemetery... Hmm...” Mumbled Anne, while tapping her chin with her healthy hand, she took a deep breath and looked at Justice and Xavier, “Take me with you.”

The captain huntsman and the crown prince stop for a moment and look directly in disbelief.