20. Ruins

Even when I went home, I still couldn't talk to crown prince Kharel. What's really going on?. Why didn't he come to the party earlier?. Is it because the king prefers His Highness Yvone to be his successor?.

Hah!. I could only sigh many times because I didn't know all the questions that had become a mountain in my head. There are many things that make me curious but I don't know the answer to my curiosity. The only thing I can do now is learn to read!.

***

Morning.

After breakfast, I went to my dad's office, but when I arrived there, my daddy had already left and I didn't know where he had gone. Is going to the residence of one of my friends residence; Vallois, Gareen, Edgar, or Dominique to talk about totems?. Maybe...

Huh. I sighed again. Now I have to wait for my daddy until he comes home, after that I can ask him to teach me how to read, or ask him to find a teacher for me so I can read!.

Okay. Let's wait for dad back to home...

It's only been half an hour, but I'm already bored for waiting!. What if daddy comes back at night?!. I can't possibly wait that long!.

Woof!. Woof!. Woof!

"Ah! Cemille!"

The little dog like a Pomeranian and Meltese mix that was a gift from His Highness Yvone to me suddenly ran towards me and licked my face!. Oh my gosh, he surprised me. I thought there was an intruder who suddenly covered my face so that it would be easier for him to kidnap me.

Woof!. Woof!

"Cemille!, ticklish!, stop!, haha!" I picked up my little dog Cemille so he would stop licking my face.

"Why did you come out of room, Cemille's?!. You should have been guarding my room!"

Woof!. Woof!

"What?. You want me to go to my room?. For what?. I'm bored, you know!"

Woof!

"Alright. Alright. I'll follow you. Come on..."

I was forced to follow this little dog's wishes. Besides, I'm bored so I'll see where this little dog takes me.

We had passed my room and that meant Cemille didn't want me to go to my room, so, where exactly was he taking me?. I've walked quite a distance from my room and I'm probably almost at the end of the hall.

Woof!.

Woof!

"Wall?" I muttered. I stared at the wall for a long time feeling confused like an idiot. What am I actually doing?, but for some reason I also feel attracted to the wall which keeps making Cemille bark at it. Or could it be that Cemille just saw a ghost through this wall?!.

Slowly i'm moved back as I thought about the ghost that would appear from behind the wall.

"Cemille, let's go back!"

Woof!

Cemille kept barking and didn't want to leave the place even though I had pulled he to leave.

Duar!

Grashh!

Suddenly the sound of thunder sounded so loud that I, who was already scared, became even more scared because I was shocked, plus the sound of wind and rain falling joined in enlivening the storm that had just arrived. Even thought, it's still daytime but the entire hallway looks dark.

Woof!

Cemille still sounded like before. He is indeed a small dog full of energy and courage, but unfortunately I as his owner are not like that.

"Dad..." I whispered. My tears started to come out of fear. Besides, why is there no one along this hallway?. I didn't see a single servant passing through this hallway so everything felt very quiet. Only the sound of wind, rain and thunder filled my senses, as well as Cemille's voice which didn't stop singing.

I'm really curious. Actually, what makes Cemille so excited?.

Currently we are just in front of a blank wall at the end of the hallway, but for some reason Cemille seems to see something on this wall which already looks dull even though every year there will always be improvements in its appearance here and there.

After all, this residence has existed for a long time and has been occupied by many generations of the Leonhart family and it happens to be the daddy who inherited the position of the current head of the Leonhart family.

Woof!

Cemille's voice became louder as if it didn't want to be outdone by the sound of thunder and finally I found out what made Cemille so excited about this wall...

"Butterflies?"

I saw a butterfly perched on the wall. But it was a butterfly I had never seen anywhere. A butterfly whose wings look like they are made of very thin and beautiful stained glass. His wings gleamed every time they were hit by the light from the lightning that struck outside.

So this butterfly is what makes Cemille so noisy?.

Does Cemille want me to see this beautiful butterfly?.

Maybe it was because after I walked closer to the wall where these beautiful butterflies were hanging on, Cemille became calmer. He just sat there quietly wagging his tail. Could it be that he also wants me to catch this butterfly?.

I walked towards the wall with slow steps. I intended to catch a butterfly which luckily landed not too high on the wall so I was sure I could catch it with my growing height, and...

Hup!.

"I managed to catch him?!"

Ting!.

I fell silent in surprise because the wall in front of me suddenly disappeared. Now, as far as I can see. It wasn't the walls that I saw anymore but the clear sky and the ruins of a building whose architectural style looked very ancient but also looked so beautiful as if it wasn't built by humans. I mean, it's like it was built by creatures of high intelligence.

But unfortunately these buildings have become ruins. If only I could reconstruct it, I would definitely be able to see this beautiful building.

But that's not the case now!.

What are these building ruins?. Why am I suddenly here?. What happened?. Cemille isn't there either!.

"Cemille?" I muttered.

I looked around for my little dog, but wherever I looked, there were only rubble from collapsed and destroyed buildings. There weren't even any signs of life here. I was curious, what happened to this place?. The buildings here seem to have been destroyed, not because they were consumed by time, but because someone was trying to destroy these buildings on purpose.

A dry wind blew and a very unpleasant air began to surround me. I covered my nose when the wind brought a terrible stench.

"What's this smell?. A carcass?. But what carcass?. This isn't like the smell of a dead animal..." I thought.

I walked with curiosity again to find out where this smell came from and what was this smell?.

As soon as I arrived, I saw something that reminded me of the scary scene when the totems of daddy, uncle Carrion, and His Highness Yvone totem in Earl Lucaa's residence were taken out.

But this is much more terrifying!.

There were large animals like monster's everywhere gathered in groups eating something.

It was a human...

Those large animals ate human carcasses...

My body shook for a moment then fell as a large dragon like the one that kidnapped my mommy flew over my head and past me to approach the group of animals. Some types of them I recognized because they were the same as the totems of my daddy, uncle Carrion, and Earl Lucca.

Righ. Among the large animals there are a group of griffins, cerberus and phoenixes. The rest I don't know what kind they are.

But, how could there be this many!?.

The most important thing is, they eat humans!.

I tried to back away and struggled to get up to escape from here. I was afraid that the animals would realize your presence and then eat me but suddenly I heard a human scream along with the sound of a dragon's roar?!.

I'm scared. I didn't want to turn around, but I wanted to know what happened and curiosity finally overcame my fear.

I turned around and saw a man with long hair the color of the dark night sky. I think he's like a guy around eighteen years old. His appearance in clothing is quite simple and beautifull, but his clothes have many tears and stains. Then behind the man there was a girl who was two heads taller than me.

The next scene I saw was the dragon that passed me earlier holding the figure of a woman and a man, both of whom looked to be around forty years old.

No!!!

AAA!!!

I was very shocked when I saw the two humans in the dragon's grip just being crushed like a meat grinder that crushed the flesh until it was fine.

All the flesh and organs of the two humans fell from the dragon's huge grip.

I couldn't say anything even though my mouth was wide open. Different from the man who was very brave in front of the dragon. He shouted very loudly in a language I didn't know, but the sound of his screams immediately disappeared when the girl who had been hiding behind him was pounced on by a very large jet black dog. The girl's body was immediately bitten and split into two parts.

Next scene...

I don't think I can watch it anymore...

Suddenlt, then everything went dark and I felt as if I had just fallen and passed out. I only heard Cemille's voice faintly before I finally became completely unconscious after a small child like me saw those horrific scenes.

I can't imagine if I were in that position.

After becoming unconscious due to seeing what was like a terrible dream, I finally woke up and was in bed with Vio, Vincent, our personal doctor, and also my dad's who was so worried about me.

"Cellia!. You finally wake up darling, thank goodness!. Thank God!" said Dad. He immediately hugged me who had just realized.

"Honey?. What happened to you?. Vio said you were unconscious at the end of the hall... what were you doing there?" My daddy asked repeatedly with curiosity and anxiety. But dad, you shouldn't ask that much to a child with my age who has just woken up from something like a terrifying dream.

The result. I was just speechless--in shock. My daddy didn't answer any of my questions. The horrible scene was still so clear in my memory but I was grateful that I had returned to this house and could see my daddy again so I hugged my daddy tightly and cried.

I am very scared.

What scene did I actually see before?.

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