Chapter 32 32
Phoebe~~
When the mistress mentioned her children, I expected them to be kids, but they were adults like I was. For that, I decided to go fetch the vegetables she had mentioned that would be used to prepare the meal while her children went for the firewood.
It was beside the river that I found the vegetables, and of course, she mentioned that I would find it easier beside the river. While I was concentrating on plucking the leaves from the stems, I felt goosebumps all over my skin, and the chill made me drop the gathered leaves on the floor.
I looked around and saw no one, but there was this weird energy that I felt within me. ‘Do you sense someone around?’ I asked my wolf, and she sneered in my head. ‘I don't! But the energy is a dark one.’
Could it be from the river? I do not know how to swim, and I had no reason to enter the flowing river. I looked at the wideness and shook my head at how dizzy I felt staring at it for a long time. I couldn't feel anything from there, but the current was so scary.
I bent to pick up the vegetables from the floor when I choked on my breath as a strong palm pushed me forward. I lost my balance and slumped to the floor, now rolling towards the river. My screams were loud enough. My wolf howled for attention while I tried to hold back my body from rolling further.
Seeing the water charging before me, my heart sank into my belly, and then I dropped into it. I struggled, waving my arms around and trying to scream, only to swallow a mouthful of water each time.
My wolf kept howling. I fought with my strength to sail on top of the water. I almost transformed, but that would be the worst.
The water threw me higher several times, and the last time, I felt so weak, my breath was shallow. I heard the footsteps of someone in the woods, and I thought it would be the person who pushed me.
But why? What did I do?
My fear was not knowing how to scream. I began seeing my death with my eyes as I began sinking into the bottom of the river, my limbs weak, my mind foggy.
I lost hope of being saved, especially since the mistress's children went a different way from me. I reached the bottom of the river and lay there, my belly filled with the waters that I had swallowed.
The floor of the river was sandy, and the soil was fine. My back lay there smoothly, while I was beginning to lose my breath gradually.
When my eyelids became too heavy to move, and my lungs felt hardened, I felt my soul leave my body and decided to let go of my life. Maybe this was the only way to meet my family. Besides, life alone was like hell, and I wasn't sure what my survival would look like.
I was guilty of falling for my family's enemy, or I wouldn't have lost them, so it was better that I just joined them in the afterlife.
Since no one came for me, I let go of my hope and gave darkness a chance, and it hurled around me.
— — —
A heavy smack landed on my cheek once, and then my chest was being pressed so hard I thought it would split. Another smack, and whoever it was wanted me to die completely before they left.
I wanted to scream that they let me come into the afterlife in peace, but the chest pressing was getting so tough that I choked and threw up a mouthful of water. Again, I threw up as many times until I lost count, then my breath became so heavy.
My eyelids struggled to close back while I wanted to see who was doing this to me, and then came another smack that made my eyes widen in both horror and pain. At first, my vision was blurry, but when I shut it again and opened it, I began seeing clearly, little by little.
I saw his face, water dripping down his cheeks and hair. He was damp, and his eyes were so red like a devil.
‘Knox?’ I said in my mind and quickly shot my eyes again. ‘How does he follow me everywhere? Even in the afterlife, he doesn't want me to die in peace.’
“Open those eyes before I hit you again. If you let me teach you how to swim three years ago, you would have saved yourself,” came his voice, and it sounded so real.
Three years ago? I must be dreaming. How could the dead meet the living and be scolded?
“Are you deaf?” his growl made me jerk up, my chest palpitating. “How the fuck did you end up here to even slip into the river?”
Why was he screaming at me?
I looked around, and my wolf wailed in pain, causing me to gasp. I was still beside the river, but out of it. So how did it happen? Did he come for me? How long did I stay there when I died and woke up?
“You aren't dead, you bitch!” he sneered and got up. “Did you even know the stress you just put me through? How dare you leave the palace without my order?”
I glanced at Levi, who averted his gaze, and then I coughed so loud consistently and spilled out several water that I had drowned in there. I felt so chilly due to the wet dress and the constant wind that blew, so I tried to stand.
Knox rushed up to me and helped me up, then pulled me closer to rest my body on his. How he patted my back, his silence, his scent, I loved them so much…but at the same time hated that it all came from him.
Why wasn't it a stranger who saved me? So there was no one in this wood to help out some dying person, despite how my wolf howled.
“You should have just tried mindlinking me. I didn't cut it off entirely. I would have responded. What if you died? You think I wouldn't bring you back to life?” he whispered to me, and that was so unusual of him.
He acted so scared to lose me, so what was going on? And of course, I was scared of dying, but I had to embrace it so much since I would meet my family in the afterlife.
When he pulled away, he held my shoulders, gazing at me, “Why did you leave the palace?”
My heart skipped a beat upon hearing that question. If I told him the truth, wouldn't he be mad at me?
“Just answer my question so I'm not enraged….”
I nodded. I was his good girl, so maybe I could steal his heart a bit here. “Well, I came to see where the mistress resided, so she wanted to make a meal for me, and her pups went into the woods to get firewood, then I wanted to help get vegetables. But someone pushed me, and I rolled into the river. You know how scared I am and can't swim, so there's no way I intentionally dropped myself there.” My voice was so calm and low, and I believed he would be convinced.
He sighed and let go of me, “You didn't see the person?”
I shook my head, “I did feel a weird energy around, but didn't feel a presence until I was pushed.”
He stood for a little while without saying anything, then I walked up to him and took his hand, “Are you mad at me? I just wanted to know what it looked like to cook with firewood and prepare native meals.” When he locked eyes with me, a smile I had long seen appeared on his face.
Did he just smile at me? How scared was he when he knew I was drowning?
If his heart softened a bit, then I wouldn't miss this opportunity to exact my plans.
He closed the distance between us, then turned to his beta, “Find out everything!” he ordered and lifted me from the ground and laid me over his shoulder. “Stay calm. I'll have the physician come check up on you. It's just my kind gesture.”
Oh, I see! Kind gesture, nothing big about it.
But I could turn the kind gesture into something real, right? Let's see if I can do this.