Lilli ran to her room, throwing the door open with such violence and vigor that the sound startled everyone in the hallway. Even some of the guards put their hands to the swords at their hips before relaxing again. The door was slammed shut with a giant thud, and Lilli began to cry again.
It was a different kind of crying. Like a monsoon, a terrible flood, she cried, the tears turbulently crashing past her eyes so painfully.
She was so terribly scared of what had happened , and even more scared of the fact that it could happened, again, and all the happiness she found when she opened her eyes this morning would be stripped away so cruely. Maybe this isn't Heaven… maybe it's actually Hell. Maybe, I'll die again over and over, repeating this again and again as punishment for all the sins I've committed.
Tok. Tok. The door sounded. Lilli buried her head under her pillow. She didn't want to see anyone who would remind her of that day again.
"It's me." Said a soft, but handsome voice. " My Lady… I've been watching you this whole day, and I've honestly been so worried. You seem so different and… I know I'm just your personal guard, but I'm here if you want to tell me anything.
"Ah. It's Delaney," Lilli thought quietly. She'd almost forgotten him. A shadow is what he was like. As her protector, he always just stood nearby silently. They didn't know each other too well, and he was so easy to ignore, because his presence could hardly be noticed most of the time.
But he knew everything, he saw everything, watching with those hawk-like dark eyes of his. As a Nekomi, his eyesight was far better than most, even though he looked pretty much like a normal man. They say he could see hundreds of kilometers away, even if it was something as small as a mouse. Yet maybe those eyes perceived more than just visual stimuli. Maybe he saw beneath the surface as well.
Lilli sighed. Around the time when Adder had lost his humanity, he had always brought her back to reality with his assuring gaze. He didn't need to say anything, but in those days his presence was enough to comfort her some.
She didn't remember what became of Sir Delaney. For some reason, she just remembered him being there for a long time, and then just not being there, when she finally looked for him.
"My Lady Lilli?" His voice said from the other side of the door.
Lilli hesitated for a moment, then breathed deeply. She felt for some reason, her shadow was the only one she could tell everything.
"Come in," She said, barely loud enough for anyone but the two of them to hear.
He came in, and Lilli finally looked at him for the first time since she woke up. That same silky red hair in a somewhat short ponytail, the same dark grey scarf he always wore, and everything he usually had, including those eyes of his. His claws, the only visual evidence of him being something other than human, somehow looked friendly despite being so sharp.
His towering height was a bit intimidating, so she offered him to take a chair to sit by the bed as she told him all that happened before this morning. Part of her was afraid he wouldn't believe her, or would think she was crazy, but she still kept talking.
…
After a while, Delaney finally spoke. "It's very hard to believe… but you explained with so much detail that it's almost impossible not to. And if it is true… I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
"It's in the past now." Lilli said, exhausted because of all the explaining she did, and all the emotions behind it. But she also felt empowered with new determination not to repeat what had happened then.
" I don't want it to be the future, though. You and I must do everything in our power to stop that from happening. Adder, the Grand Duke and Duchess, and so many will suffer if we don't do anything."
Delaney raised his eyebrows slightly, and it was hard to tell, but Lilli thought he looked surprised. "It almost sounds like you're an adult…"
" I am. Everything I said was the truth." Lilli said, confident.
"Then I'll do everything in my power to help you, Lady Lilli. We will prevent "that day" you speak of, and all of its consequences