Chapter Thirty-Nine

Darkness was the only word which could be used to describe the sky… and the emotion evoking in her right now. Massive clouds had just covered the only light source for the night, creating nothing but a pitch black to the forest below.

But Tiffany didn’t mind at all.

Having her eyes tightly shut, Tiffany allowed her other senses to take over her body. She started to feel the pure existence of cold air which was surrounding her. There was also occasional soft whistling which implied breeze had just blown past. Crickets were making sounds here and there. Small animals like squirrels and rabbits were running across the patch of grass, climbing up the bark of the tree, digging deeply into their burrows… and so on.

Tiffany inhaled a deep breath with her eyes still closed. She moved her hands towards those blades which were tied to her thighs and pulled out them from their respective scabbards.

Hunters were not exactly trained to fight mutants – since mutants do not exist back then – therefore rather than the sense of smell, hunters were actually trained to improve their sense of hearing instead.

Before the outburst of mutants, the world was divided into two; one half under Satron’s control and the other half was under the Aurales. People who lived near the borders of both sides got into fights easily almost every day, therefore the task of Aurales’ hunters back then was to protect their citizens actually and likewise for the Satron, they had their fighters to protect their people too.

It was until three years ago when massive amount of mutants suddenly appeared in Satron’s territory, injuring and killing many residents who lived there, no one cared who ruled the world anymore – all they cared for was their lives.

The members of Satron disappeared right after the outbreak of the mutants, leaving its citizens suffered under the claws of the mutants. Aurales could have left them as how they were, but they did not. Instead, they sent out almost all their hunters, leaving only a few strong ones behind, just in case Satron planned to make use of this chaos and attack them. Qualified trainees like Tiffany were forced to graduate and participate in saving Satron’s residents mission.

Tiffany inhaled another deep breath.

That was when she first met Yuri. Tiffany remembered clearly she was actually very disappointed initially when she found out that she was grouped up with this happy-go-lucky girl rather than Wooyoung, who was the only person she trusted during those days.

Tiffany never liked Yuri because Yuri seemed to be an incapable person who became a ‘qualified’ hunter because of her brother’s identity. And to make things worse, the way Yuri looked at her reminded her of how those ert people who used to take advantages of her when she was still a defenseless child.

She disliked her to the core.

However, things changed when Tiffany witnessed how Yuri put up an intense battle against the mutants with her own eyes.

The way Yuri fought for the residents of Satron… It was different from the rest of the hunters who only fought for the sake of fighting. She fought with burning passion in her eyes. Every movement from her reflected the eagerness in her heart to save all the innocent victims from being slaughtered by those creatures.

At that very moment, Tiffany felt as though she had finally found the comfort and security she always yearned for secretly.

Tiffany might look tough on the outside, but she was actually a lot weaker than who she seemed to be.

The abandon of her parents, and the outcast and being ually harassed by the members of Aurales when she first came in, they all turned her from a carefree child to the sensitive hunter who was always mentally aware of her surroundings.

She was never a tough person, but she was forced to be one because if she continued to show her weakness to everyone, they would bully her endlessly.

That kind of awful life was something she never wanted to face ever again.

Tiffany knew right away she had fallen in love with Yuri, and she knew more than anybody else that Yuri had a liking for her as well. She tried to picture her future with Yuri if they were to get together. Tiffany knew she would become the most blissful person in the world with Yuri taking care of her, giving her the love and warmth she lacked of as she accompanied her throughout her life.

But the curse ruined it all.

Tiffany leaped from her spot and swung the blades fiercely across the air.

Three years ago, she forced Yuri to vow to her that she would never love her, despite herself loving Yuri more than Yuri loved her. Three years later, Yuri fulfilled her promise and started moving on to that blonde girl–– she would be lying if she said she hadn’t notice the change in her partner’s attitude. Tiffany became disappointed and angry with Yuri for being so obedient and persistent with their promise.

Tiffany swung her blades even harder.

She hates Yuri! Why does she have to listen to her?! Why can’t she insists and continues to love her?! Why does she have to give up so easily?! Doesn’t she know she may have given in to her if she hadn’t obeyed her?

Just then, an abnormal movement in the wind alerted the agitated hunter.

Tiffany swung the blade in her left hand towards the back and a loud ‘clink’ sound was produced as it collided with an object of the same material. Tiffany jumped backwards as she withdrew her blade, but she immediately leaped into the air again when her feet touched the ground and swung the blade in her right hand at the uninvited visitor.

Many ‘clink’ sounds were heard and they attracted the attentions of the small animals around them. Some ran for their lives, while some hid behind the trees and bushes timidly, peeking at the empty big space before them where random sparkles could be occasionally seen in the air.

Tiffany clearly knew who her opponent was even if she still had her eyes closed. There was only one hunter in Aurales who used blade like her and that person was none other than the person who she wanted to avoid the most.

Clink!

The strong force from her opponent sent the blade in her left hand drew numerous circles in the air before it finally landed on the ground with its edge struck right into the soil. Tiffany landed on her feet too just as her weapon reached the ground. She looked up. Furious was clearly shown in her eyes as she glared at the man who stood a few feet away from her.

“Master said frustration will only weaken your power.”

“I don’t need your lecture Wooyoung!”

Wooyoung kept his blade into the scabbard that was attached to the back of his waist. Although they were both blade hunters, Wooyoung was a one-handed blade hunter and used a slightly larger blade than Tiffany.

“Let’s have a sparring. We haven’t done that for ages.” Instead of the usual intriguing expression which he always had when facing Tiffany, Wooyoung looked unexpectedly gentle than how he behaved normally.

But that didn’t mean Tiffany would soften because of that.

“Get lost, and leave me alone!” Tiffany yelled at him angrily. She spun around and reached for her blade that was just a few meters away from her.

However, before she managed to touch it, the strong circulation in the wind behind her forced her to drop her other blade and retaliated by throwing her elbow back at her attacker.

Wooyoung dodged her attack swiftly by leaning backward, but another punch came almost immediately and nearly punched him in the face. Wooyoung quickly grabbed onto Tiffany’s arm before she could withdraw it. He swung his foot towards Tiffany’s legs only to have it missed as Tiffany did a somersault in the air.

Tiffany successfully escaped from Wooyoung’s hold when she landed on the ground. She leaped forward and threw another punch at him again furiously, but Wooyoung easily dodged her attack again and got away.

Nevertheless, Tiffany never stopped her punches. She kept on throwing her fists at Wooyoung as though the guy was a punching bag or a prop for her to vex her anger on.

Wooyoung saw through her acts right away.

He stopped dodging her attacks suddenly. It gave Tiffany the opportunity to finally land her punches on him. Wooyoung flinched and stumbled a little when he felt the force on his chest.

Sure, Tiffany might be a woman, but her strength was no joke. She was not only a skilled hunter who was able to perform excellent battle ability with her weapon. She was also a skilled fighter who could put up a fight with anyone by using only her fists.

The punches went on until Wooyoung’s body couldn’t take it anymore. His legs gave way eventually and he fell to the ground on his back. Tiffany fell together with him as she wasn’t expecting this outcome. The momentum threw her forward and she landed just right on top of Wooyoung.

“Satisfied?” Wooyoung flashed his rare grin at her.

Tiffany got up immediately and punched him once more on the chest, except that this time she used much lesser force. “Thank you.” She rolled over and lied down next to Wooyoung.

“Fany, let’s end this. It’s been three years, aren’t you tired?”

Tiffany never budged from her position. She stayed still and observed the bright, round moon above her. The clouds disappeared before she even realized it.

“I’m tired Fany.”

Tiffany replied with an indifferent tone, “Leave me alone then.”

“You know that’s impossible.”

Tiffany simply responded with a snort and nothing else.

Wooyoung pushed himself up with his elbows and sat on the grass. He twisted his upper body towards Tiffany and looked at the hunter who still had her gaze fixed on the sky.

“You still love her, don’t you?”

“You don’t have to know.”

Wooyoung lifted up his head and stared at the sky too. “I overheard her conversation with the headmaster.”

“I’m not interested.”

Wooyoung ignored her and continued with his unfinished words. “They were talking about residing the casualty in your dormitory when the headmaster mentioned something about her falling in love with that casualty. They mentioned your name too.” Wooyoung paused for a second. “Yuri denied everything about you, but she had a rather big reaction when they talked about that casualty.” Tiffany’s fingers twitched upon his words unconsciously. Wooyoung noticed them. “I assume you know about them already. That’s probably the reason behind your frustration, am I right?”

Tiffany clenched her fists and closed her eyes. She refused to answer Wooyoung’s question.

“Fany, why torture yourself?” Wooyoung asked. His voice was filled with sadness. “Having a curse in you doesn’t mean that you are not allowed into a relationship. Can’t you give up on Yuri and give me a chance? I want you to live like anybody else. You deserved to be love, to enjoy a relationship and I don’t mind to be the one sacrificing my life for you, you know that.”

Tiffany snapped her eyes open and shot a glare at him, “But I mind.”

The curse in her body… it doesn’t matter who they fall in love with, it only matters if they get into a relationship.

The curse was landed by her great-grandmother’s lover, who thought her great-grandmother betrayed and abandoned their love for her great-grandfather. She planted this curse in her blood so that her great-grandmother and her descendents would never enjoy a perfect relationship. It forced either one of them to kill the other party no matter how much they love or didn’t love each other.

Which was why, her great-grandmother was killed by her great-grandfather even though she hated him. The curse by her lover was meant to kill either her great-grandfather, who stole her great-grandmother away from her, or her great-grandmother, who she thought had betrayed their love.

How cruel.

Tiffany guessed her great-grandmother’s lover must be deeply in love with her great-grandmother to put such a curse on her and her descendents. But she was unsure if she should compliment her for her infatuated love or mock at her for being such an extremist.

She planted the curse on her great-grandmother only because she felt that her great-grandmother and her descendants did not deserve to enjoy a perfect relationship after her great-grandparents left her with a broken relationship.

She must be crazy, and her great-grandmother too, for loving such a crazy person.

Wooyoung forced a smile at Tiffany, “I see you want to maintain your harshness towards me. Well then,” He stood up, brushing off the grasses that were stuck to his pants to the ground. “Let’s continue with the hatred. You’re not obliged to love, but you can definitely hate me for the rest of your life without worrying getting either one of us killed.”

“Wooyoung––” The hostile and iciness in her eyes were gone, anxiety took over Tiffany before she knew it.

“Be prepared Tiffany. Whatever I told you three years ago never change.” He smirked at her. “I’m going to pester you for the rest of your life.” Wooyoung leaped into the air and disappeared into the darkness before Tiffany could stop him.

“Wooyoung!”

Tiffany got up from her lying position and shouted into emptied space beside her. She pressed her lips into a straight line and pounded the ground as hard as she could with her fist in frustration.

Why can’t you just understand? It is worthless!