14. Memories (2)

Santiaga sprung up from the ground, his heart was beating fast and his vision wasn't very clear.

His entire visual system stabilized the next second, and he glanced around. They were laying down in a patch of grass inside of a cave.

There was only sand on the ground, and the grass patches were handmade. He looked to see that Veyra was awake, and she was looking at him with confused eyes.

He finally let himself relax, and he fell on his butt, sitting down.

"Is the next one that bad?" Veyra asked, looking at him.

Santiaga frowned at her statement, looking at her with a confused expression.

All of a sudden, his expression turned to that of realization, and his eyes widened.

"You saw all that?" he asked, and she nodded cutely.

"It's part of the master-servant connection. To become fully connected with you, we must be connected not only by body, but by memory also," she explained, touching her fingers together as if demonstrating it.

Santiaga relaxed, looking ahead of him. He curled his legs, looking down already.

"Why are all the memories only negative ones?" Veyra asked, walking to his side to sit with him.

"Well, you've seen it for yourself. I guess one of my happy moments is when I learned physical combat. I was a fool then too," he said, looking at the dark skies outside the cave.

"The... the next memory. What's it about? The next part," Veyra finally asked, prompting Santiaga to look at her with a frown.

"Well, I guess it's better than watching it happen again," he said. "My mother tried to sell me."

"..."

"What? Are you speechless?" Santiaga chuckled, seeing Veyra's mouth open.

Seems like she was shocked to hear that.

"Yup. I got back home later that day only to find out that my father packed his things and ran away, leaving a stack of bills for her to pay."

A smile then formed on his lips.

"I guess this is a time where my curse came in clutch for me. I heard her thoughts—she thought that I'd always been a problem child, bringing bad luck for all of them, thinking of who and how to sell me." He sighed.

"It hurt. She was the only one that encouraged me to push forward and not mind others." He nodded, smirking.

Veyra opened her mouth to talk, but was cut off by Santiaga.

"You know what, even while thinking of selling me off, she still had a smile on her face. She was one good, sly fox." He chuckled.

Veyra felt a tug at her heart, and she looked at him. She knew that this was how he was really feeling inside.

She crawled in front of him, making him furrow his brows. He was confused at what she was doing.

She pulled his legs forward, making him uncurl.

"Hey—"

Before he could say anything else, she hugged him, hooking the words in his throat.

"Don't say anything else," she mumbled, hugging him tighter.

Santiaga relaxed, looking up at the cave's ceiling.

'I went too far with it, didn't I? She's not exactly human, so I thought she wouldn't understand,' he thought, stroking her white hair.

This was his first time touching her hair, and it was just like he imagined it to be.

Her wavy white hair was as smooth as silk, and it was clean despite them laying on a dirty patch of grass.

Looking forward, Santiaga noticed Veyra's butt sticking up from behind the shirt. Now that he thought about it, she wasn't wearing anything underneath.

When they escaped the hotel, she was only wearing his top and nothing else.

Her buttcheek was so white it was calling to be spanked.

At the end, he just laid down and planned his next steps. He was heading to the Hero Academy entrance exam tomorrow.

"Hey, Santiaga. Do you mind if I call you Tiaga?" Veyra's voice reached his ears.

Right now, it was more of a whisper.

Compared to how her voice was when they first met—cocky and prideful—she now sounded more calm and soft.

"Now that was so random," he mumbled, closing his eyes.

Veyra looked up to his face, her pink lips pouting.

"Okay, how about this—since you shared a memory with me, why don't I share one with you too?" she smiled.

"Can't it wait? I'm tired," Santiaga mumbled, still closing his eyes.

"No, it can't. I'll forget," she nudged at him. "Okay, how about you ask me anything and I'll answer?"

Santiaga looked at Veyra, who stared at him with beautiful red eyes.

"You talked about master-servant connection a lot of times. It doesn't seem like you're new to this at all," he said.

This one clicked in his head when she asked. At that point, when she talked about it after seeing his memories, and also when she was hesitant to tell him that there was something like that—there surely had to be more to the story.

Veyra let out a sigh, bending her head down to his stomach.

"Of all the questions to ask, seriously," she mumbled in frustration.

"Well, I was enslaved. Divine beasts roamed the world in the old times, being secluded from humanity, and only intervening when it was necessary. Until they began to hunt us."

Veyra's eyes flashed with a bright red color. It was only for a brief moment, but Santiaga could feel her rage.

"The man that enslaved me. His name is... Daimark Rudinery."

The cave went silent as she mentioned the name, making Santiaga sit up and look at her with furrowed brows.

"Daimark Rudinery... Pope Daimark Rudinery. Leader of the Church, master of the Divine Cards, and overseer of all Hero activity. Said to have surpassed SSS rank? That Daimark Rudinery?!" Santiaga couldn't keep his cool.

Veyra chuckled at his reaction, finding it funny that Santiaga would react this way for someone she nearly beat up.

"This woman. I know for sure what you're after now," Santiaga mumbled, relaxing back on the grass.

"You do?" she asked, smiling.

"Why you're so determined. You want revenge," Santiaga said, and she didn't reply or react to it.

"It'll be dangerous. If you know how to recover your powers, then we'll proceed," he said to her, and she nodded.

A small gesture, but it was a confirmation.