18 Chapter 17: The Mysterious Astrologer

- MIYA'S POV -

"Where are we going?"

He shrugged while his eyes are still focused on the path we're taking, "I don't know either. I'm just letting the horse run and take us wherever it goes."

I slapped his back, "Seriously? I thought you already planned everything but here you are letting the horse do its own thing. What if we get lost? Or arrived at an enemy's base? Do you want us to get killed??"

Alucard glanced at me and smirked, "At least I get to die with you."

"You're hopeless," I said and held his waist tighter since the horse is running too fast.

"I like that."

I frowned, "Like what?"

"You, hugging me so tight like you're afraid to let me go. Don't worry, baby. Letting you go is the last thing I want to do in this world."

My heart started to beat rapidly. It's just his words but it can make me melt so easily. I can feel my cheeks are blushing.

"Can you shut up for a moment, please? I need peace." I tried to calm my burning face by brushing my palms to it. He might glance at me and see my red-as-a-tomato face then he'll make fun of me. Great.

"Oh look! There's an abandoned house here. Let's stay there for the meantime until we find a place to stay." Alucard pointed a house that looks about to fall if someone stepped inside. That is not a good idea.

"How about we find another place? I'd prefer to sleep under a tree than stay inside of that house. It looks like it's about to collapse! Let's just go back where we came from. That place looks fine to me though there are no lights, we can find a way to fix that." I suggested.

He shook his head, "No. We can't stay there. That place still belongs to the Dark Empire. I'm sorry, this is a total mess. I didn't prepare anything for us. Do you know a place?" He said shyly.

I laughed at his reaction, "It's fine, I guess? I know a friend here. Do you see that hill? After we cross that, there will be a village beside it and my friend lives there."

Alucard glanced at me before focusing his eyes on the road again, "Wow, looks like my mate is famous. You have friends outside the Land of Dawn."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm just friendly, not famous."

He shrugged then guided the horse to our destination.

It's been years since the last time I saw her, we were both kids back then. I wonder what she looks like? This place is surrounded by sands. Water is very rare here, this became one of their biggest problems. I hope they've fixed that already.

I heard of rumors before about their city being attacked by the Dark Empire because they stole some kind of stone. I got nervous, remembering that Alucard is from the Dark Empire. What if they get their revenge on him?

"Hey, Alu? Do you have a scarf or something to cover your face?"

"I have a scarf. Why?"

I scratched the back of my head, "I think you'll need to hide your face. Your empire attacked their village that caused a big problem for them. They might seek revenge on you. They can sense if you're an enemy or an ally."

He frowned, "That's in the past already. I'm pretty sure my empire had their reasons for attacking and they probably got over with it. If they plan on killing me, then I'll kill them first—" I stopped him mid-sentence.

"Alucard! We came here because we needed a place to stay, we did not come here to make another war. Okay?" I explained to him.

He pouted and faced the village. We got off the horse and entered the village. Some people still recognized me and greeted. I asked some people we pass by if they have seen Layla. A guy guided us to a library, he said we can find her there since she goes there almost every day.

"Thank you." I smiled at the guy and he did the same thing.

The guy was about to leave but before he got away I heard Alucard whispering something to him that made him run away.

I faced him and raised my eyebrows, "What did you tell him?"

He shrugged, "I just told him to back off and never smile to my girlfriend again."

"Seriously?" I grinned.

He raised his hands up as if he was surrendering, "Okay, I admit it. I'm a bit jealous."

I cleared my throat and tried to ignore Alucard. I opened the door to the library and roamed my eyes around until it landed to a girl with blonde hair. She's reading a book and a number of books piled up in front of her.

"I think I found her." I murmured.

He was about to speak but I left him already and approached the girl, "Excuse me? Are you Layla?"

She raised her head and put the book down. Her eyebrows furrowed and her head tilted, "Pardon me but do I know you?"

I smiled at her, "It's me, Miya. Do you remember me?"

Layla's eyes widened and she was about to speak when she noticed something behind me, or should I say, someone?

I felt the aura here went darkened, "What are you doing here?"

At first, I thought she was talking to me then I realized that she's glaring at Alucard. He should've worn that scarf to cover his face. Great, now we're in danger again.

"Layla, please listen. I know that it was a very long time since the last time I met you but believe me, he's not here to create another war. It's not his fault too—"

She cut me mid-sentence, "Because of you, my boyfriend, Clint left me! Remember last month when you visited here? He got curious about your Empire so he followed you to the Land of Dawn!" I was alarmed when she started to cry. The other people here might think that we hurt her!

I face Alucard and started to panic, "Alucard! Do something!"

He only frowned at me, "Who the hell is Clint?"

She sobbed, "M-My boyfriend! You visited here last time—" Layla stopped talking when we heard the door opened. All of us faced that direction and I was shocked when I saw the woman standing in front of us, but what's more shocking is what Alucard said.

"She's the astrologer I'm talking about."

I immediately kneeled down and Layla did the same thing. Alucard remained standing, still confused about what's happening. Doesn't he know who that woman is?

"Alucard, kneel down!" I whispered to him and reached his hand to pull him down but he didn't kneel and his eyes still focused on the woman.

I heard her chuckle, "There's no need to kneel down, ladies. I don't deserve any of it. I'm a failure, the three of us failed..." She trailed off.

I'm still confused about what Alucard said. She's the astrologer that helped him to find me. But why? Why did she want to help us?

Layla shook her head, "You were never a failure for us, Esmeralda, the goddess of the stars..."