"—Ah!"
Kaelen woke up startled. His whole body was drenched in cold sweat and his hands were shaking.
"That-that vision-!"
He stumbled on his words as he swiftly jumped out of his bed, not even frowning when he struggled to keep his balance. He rushed downstairs, deep into the basement that only the head of the Van Helsing family.
'I need to find that. Now.'
Urging himself, he opened all the locks and immediately went to the center of the basement. This basement was more like a secret library than anything else. Long, large shelves filled the walls and created a maze-like structure across this space.
In the middle of it were the records of the previous family's heads.
Whether they were their own diaries or an autobiography written by someone else for them—all of those were stored here.
Kaelen came here to find his great grandfather's diary.
He had only read it once when he was a child after losing his parents, but he clearly remembered a sentence from it.
『When I was younger, I thought I could decide who my mate should be. But as I grew older and wiser, I realized the truth.』
His great grandfather was a legend, the slight mention of his name could move many werewolves. Respect, fear, and worship.
Those were the strongest emotions his great grandfather evoked in his fellow tribesmen.
Despite that all, there was someone who never bowed to him.
『You can decide everything in your life, except love and your mate. Meeting your mate is fate. Even if you thought you were in love with someone, unless you two are fated to be, the relationship is bound to end.』
Kaelen's great grandfather was firm in the words he wrote in his diary. He was leaving those words for the next generations that may try to be like him.
He told a little secret in that diary.
『The moment you meet your mate, my child, you should be ready. Because everything will be flipped over. That was the pact our family had with the Goddess.』
The Van Helsing family had made a pact with the Moon Goddess a long time ago. It was a pact where the Goddess must guide them to find their true mates when she deemed the time was appropriate.
Kaelen didn't really care about finding his mate before as he was certain he'll find her if the time was deemed appropriate. However, he had never expected to meet her in one of those visions.
He grabbed his great grandfather's diary and flipped through the pages before laughing wryly.
"I guess it makes sense…?"
The voice that came out from his mouth sounded uncertain. Kaelen had to swallow his confusion to read more of the diary. He had ignored those visions for a long time, but if they were the only way to find his mate, then he must know everything about it.
'Grandpa's diary should have all I need.'
He saw his handsome reflection on the table and his face twisted into a loopsided smile.
"I will find you, my mate."
Kaelen just needed time.
•┈┈┈•┈┈┈•
In completely another place, Beatrice looked at her hands while shaking.
"Oh my goddess. I'm alive?"
Her body was shaking with excitement. That dream she had, it must've been real! Which meant that she not only came back to life, but she also had a clue about her mate.
'All I wanted was a second chance,' she bit her lip to force the tears back into her eyes, she couldn't cry. Beatrice's prayer was heard and the Moon Goddess gave her more than what she was asking for.
Her body was still injured and her neck felt weird. She touched it only to realize that there was a scar where her neck was cut during her execution.
It was the only wound that was healed across her body—a scar that'll make her unable to forget her vengeance and her persistence.
Without dwelling on those matters for long, the werewolf started to heal herself using the weekend ability of hers. Losing the title 'Protector' meant that her strength was halved, if not worse.
"But it's good. It's really great."
Her lips were trembling as she faced her reality now.
She was alive, she had strength, and she could fight for herself freely!
Looking around her, she quickly analyzed her surroundings and left. This was a hill filled with the dead bodies of the discarded criminals, a bunch of people who supposedly were too sinful to be buried.
"Hahahahaha!"
A refreshing laugh sounded throughout the rainy hill. Beatrice was thankful for all the hatred Alicia had for her, or else, she would've suffered while trying to dig her way out of the grave.
Alicia, that new Queen, was her closest companion in the past.
But everything changed when they met that human prince.
Honestly speaking, the prince was simply perfect. Alicia and Beatrice were both attracted to him in many aspects, and as werewolves, they weren't shy to show it to him.
But what was supposed to be a fair 'competition' between the two werewolves ended up with Alicia's betrayal that led to her helpless 'death'.
'Loving a human isn't a sin, that's why we both went for it. Alicia was like a sister to me but…' Beatrice stifled a sigh while looking at her reflection in the lake.
'But Alicia decided that the human prince was more important than me. We were sisters in everything but blood, but she made sure to hurt me to hell and back just to be rightfully with him.'
Beatrice was unable to understand. Such strong love for someone you met less than half a year ago was crazy. It was disgusting to think that her life crumbled because of a man they didn't spend a single whole year with.
It was—
"Disgraceful."
She spat that word on her reflection and abruptly stood up. This werewolf knew better than to lurk around here because she knew the monsters were coming soon to eat their food.
This 'unofficial cemetery' was the perfect feast for them. As for the dead criminals, they were going to have the honor of helping the pack to reduce the dangers of the monsters by using their 'sinful' bodies as feed.
For the first time, Beatrice scoffed at all of these traditions that were rooted inside her as she walked away.
After this experience, she realized how unfair life could be. How everything in this world was dark gray.
And if that was the case…
'I don't need to hold back. I'll counterattack with full power, just wait for me, Alicia.'