Part Four

It's been about nine days since then, and nothing significant has happened besides some little nightmares. It has been a while since I could have slept in peace.

As I got ready for a new day, I found a note telling me to go to the closed garden. It was Jack.

When the time came, I went there and finally had a peaceful time without worries. Just laying on the ground with my head on the thighs of Jack.

While I was relaxing, he told me to take some days off and go to my hometown with Ethan and Harry.

He said I still must be exhausted and somewhat traumatized from what happened, so just one day wouldn't be enough. I agreed and decided to go with that plan.

A few days with my family would be good without worrying about anything.

He also gave me a medication prepared for me to take if I were to have nightmares again. As we were chatting together in our own world, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I forgot everything regarding the happenings with the monsters.

It had been a long time since I was in my hometown. Cale, Harry, and I were riding there with our horses. It was a smooth ride without any problems.

On our way, Ethan asked me if everything was fine with me. I didn't know what he meant. What should not be fine?

He told me that I had been acting weird the last few weeks, but I couldn't remember anything like that. Maybe he just imagined things?

After saying that, he became silent for a moment, looking confused. I asked him if something was wrong. He replied that everything was ok as long as I was fine, it didn't matter and smiled. His smile, it was… strange.

The last part of the way, which should have been about ten minutes, grew to be about two hours.

The reason was that from the town's borders to my parents, it's about ten minutes, but greeting all the people on the way and being invited to them for tea or to chat about all the adventures you had, takes a lot of time.

Somehow the more you resist, the more time it takes. But at the same time, I can't simply just walk away. Those are people that know me since birth.

They looked after me when my parents couldn't, and I learned a lot from them. And if you're an adult yourself, those people are likely to be so old that the moment you directly reject them, the possibility of being hit with a cane is really high.

I mean, with my body, it would barely hurt, but they still are people I respect and should not ignore. Or make fun of, but it's too late for that.

It was definitely a good decision to come here. It was so long since the last time, and I missed everyone. But not only the people.

I missed the stray cats and dogs that go from house to house and are the pets of everyone. The annoying birds where you'd think they are plotting something big.

The lake where we spent so many summers, the houses where you can see they have been standing there since the beginning of time. Where each brick is from a new generation since the old ones break.

Even the grumpy grandpa who somehow managed to stay alive so long. He was the one who thought me and Ethan sword fighting and definitely has a sadistic side. Just when I think about what we went through, I get shivers all over my body.

But I guess in the end, he did help us achieve our dreams. I considered visiting him the next day in his cottage in the forest.

I was sure he'd be happy even if he were definitely going to say we should get lost. He is a nice grumpy old man.

Finally, arriving at my parent's house, we were greeted by my and Ethan's parents with a lot of food. I asked them how they knew we would come and got scolded for not saying anything.

Apparently, Ethan and Harry wrote them. We ate the food that was already cold waiting for us, but it was still delicious.

It was my mother's cooking. How could it not be?

After we ate and talked a bit, I went to bed. It was a long ride and exhausting day.

The next day Harry helped Dad with the farm. His magic was beneficial there. Ethan and I went hunting, and on our way, we wanted to visit the old gramps.

As always, he was annoyed by everything and everyone. He told us to get lost, and we replied that we were also happy to see him. Somewhat forcing our way in, we made some tea and helped the gramps with the things he couldn't do anymore.

While Ethan stayed to help, I went to go hunting. But on my way, I encountered monsters.

Even though they seemed like weak ones, I didn't want to fight them with the sword I had. It wasn't made to fight with monsters. They didn't seem to be doing something, so I slowly turned around to get a better sword from the gramps.

Luckily, I wasn't far away yet and could get a better sword before someone would be in danger.

Of course, I could also fight with this one, but why make life more complicated than it could actually be?

While I was going away, the monsters noticed me and ran toward me. I got in a fighting position, but they stopped. The monsters stopped and didn't attack me… What?

I was confused. Why wouldn't they attack me? They seemed so calm as if they did not even intend to attack me. I know it was a dumb idea, but what was happening was so strange that I slowly got near them.

They seemed to fear me because of the sword, so I did something even dumber and let go of it. After I did that, they appeared to be relaxed. Was I about to get to a monster tamer? I could write a book called 'How to tame your monster.'

It was weird, but it felt like I had people before me. It felt like they were looking at me as if they were looking at someone they knew. Someone you like.

I started talking to them. While walking towards them, I asked if they understood what I was saying. But there was no reaction.

Suddenly Harry came from behind to attack those monsters, killing one before I could stop him. And the monsters attacked him. They were too many for Harry to handle, so I ran towards my sword and fought them too.

I defeated them, and my head started to hurt so badly that I thought it would explode. Harry helped me with his magic.

After that, I asked Harry what he was doing there. He should have been with our father to help him out. It would have been more normal if Ethan had come, so what was Harry doing there?

I asked him, and he told me that he didn't know. He just felt that he had to come. But why?

Harry went back, and I continued hunting. After the day was over and as I was lying in bed, I thought of what happened today.

Why did they not attack? They normally always attack. It's just how they are. They don't have feelings or anything. They are less than animals, just cruel beings.

So why did they not attack? Why did they look like they knew me? Why did it feel like I had actual people in front of me? And on top of that, how did Harry know where I was?

Even though those two things didn't seem related, it felt like it. My head hurt again, and I started feeling like I knew the monsters, which was weird since no monster I ever encountered stayed alive. With all those questions in my head, I fell asleep.

...

I was in a library reading a book. Miranda came from the side, running at me excitedly, telling me that she had finally convinced her father to let her marry Cole, the son of a Marquess.

Her father, a duke, was not fond of Cole, but it seemed he could not win against his daughter.

Miranda is a sweet woman who would not even hurt a fly. Cale was a responsible man whom you could always trust. I was happy for her and wished I could also marry the person I wanted to, but as the prince, I could not simply do that.

Miranda, who saw me thinking, knew precisely what it was about. And started teasing me that she was sure I would be able to marry him too. She was right. It was not completely hopeless.

Although the man I wanted to have by my side was a commoner, he was also a knight. And as a knight, you could get honorary titles. A prince was allowed to marry such a knight.

The only problem was how he would get that title. I could hear him in my head telling me not to worry because he would surely make this come true.

I wished he would get that title as fast as possible because he was the man I loved.

After talking to Miranda, I went to see Nathaniel, the neighboring kingdom's prince. The relationship between our kingdoms was good since it was my mother's homeland.

Nathaniel is an intelligent man. I am sure that he will be a great king. I will also do my best to be a great ruler.

On my way to see Nathan, I saw my brother Henry. Henry is my stepbrother, and sometimes I feel like he is not fond of me, but at the same time, he may be just shy. And since he did not seem to want a relationship between us, I did not try to build one.

Nathan and I spent the rest of the day together and had fun. When it was time to go to bed, I went to my chamber to sleep. While lying down, I started to hear something. It was the glass of my balcony door.

Someone was throwing little rocks at it. I instantly knew who it was. I went outside and saw Jake, the love… of my… life?

Wait… Jake?

When I saw that person's face, I remembered that he was the monster I killed that day and woke up in shock from that dream.

My heart was racing, and I took the pills Jack gave me. The moment I took them, the clear pictures of that dream I became blurry, and I slowly forgot what had happened.