Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 126: Reunion

Tap... tap... tap... ssshhh...

The sun was high. And a rhythmic code against the gravel path signalled his presence, followed by the soft whisper of fabric brushing against dense foliage.

Ruby sat perfectly still on the stone bench in the Temple’s most secluded garden, a place of sculpted hedges and whispering fountains, chosen for its labyrinthine privacy.

Here, one could have a conversation without ever meeting the other’s eyes. The thick, green walls served as both barrier and confessional screen.

"Arzhen... thank you for coming."

Her voice was soft, meant to carry just far enough.

From behind the verdant wall, was a sigh, heavy, weary, and intimately familiar. "Ruby..."

A small, sad smile touched her lips, genuine for a fleeting second. For the paths not taken, for the lifetime that was and the lifetime that could have been. A luxury of emotion she allowed herself only because the hedges hid her face.

"How... are you?" she asked.

Arzhen didn’t answer immediately. She could almost picture him, leaning against the cold stone on the other side, his head bowed, the proud tiger brought low by circumstances of his own making. When his voice came again, it was stripped of its usual princely arrogance.

"You know how I fare without you."

Of course.

She would know.

"Did he..." Arzhen’s voice dropped further, a tone he had only ever used with her. "...treat you well?"

The question slipped between her ribs with ease, finding the hollow space where her own dissatisfaction lived. Ruby’s breath hitched. She hadn’t expected the genuine sting, the hot, sudden prickling behind her eyes.

Arzhen... her mind whispered. The man she had married. Not in this life, but in a lifetime long past.

"You know he won’t ever treat me better than you."

***

It was raining in the Iondora Empire’s Capital.

Of course it wasn’t the fierce, cleansing downpour of the desert, nor the soft, persistent drizzle of the northern woods’ snow, but a weary, metropolitan rain. It fell in steady, grey sheets, turning the grand avenues into shimmering mirrors of cobblestone and lamplight.

The scent of wet stone, damp earth, and distant hearth-smoke hung in the chilled air. Oh, how it muffled the city’s usual clamor into a soft, rhythmic patter against slate roofs and canvas awnings.

Under the deep burgundy canopy of a large umbrella held effortlessly aloft, Cecilia stood. Eastiel was beside her, his desert robes exchanged by his usual fur coat, blending with his blonde hair.

Cecilia herself was in her white fur coat, her features serene as she watched the raindrops stitch silver threads between the umbrella’s edge and the soggy world beyond.

They were standing before a small, unassuming clinic, its sign being taken in by a weary-looking nurse. Just as the door was about to close, it opened again, and a female weresnake emerged, pulling a shawl over her shoulder.

In her half-beast form, she moved with a sinuous grace, her eyes downcast against the weather, until her gaze flickered up and landed on the pair waiting silently in the rain.

Her lower body, a full, long snake tail, faltered its movements for a beat. The yellow, slit-pupiled eyes widened in recognition.

Cecilia smiled.

"You are the Madame," the weresnake greeted, her voice a sibilant murmur that held a note of genuine warmth as she returned Cecilia’s smile.

"Nurse Linh," Cecilia nodded, placing a hand over her own chest. "Or should I call you Princess Lê?"

The female weresnake, Linh, flinched as if struck by the rain itself. Her yellow, slit-pupiled eyes widened, the shock in them so profound it seemed to momentarily still the falling drops around her. "How..."

"For someone who claimed she had connections and offered to vouch for my apparent sexual assault," Cecilia said, her tone conversational as she took a step closer. The umbrella, held steady by Eastiel, moved with her, keeping her in its dry circle. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"You should know that not everyone would just brush such an intriguing offer aside."

A flicker of fear crossed Linh’s features, hardening into defensive suspicion. She drew herself up, her coiled grace turning poised for flight or fight. "Who are you?" she demanded, her voice losing its gentle nurse’s cadence, becoming the sharper tone of royalty discovered. "What is the meaning of this?"

Cecilia’s smile remained, gentle and disarming. "Please don’t be alarmed. I’m here for a business offering."

But the fact that this mysterious woman knew her true identity rendered any talk of ’business’ deeply, personally threatening. Linh’s tail, hidden beneath her skirts, gave a restless twitch.

"Answer my question first," Linh insisted, the rain beginning to dampen the edges of her shawl. "How did you know who I am, and who are you?"

"My name is Cecilia Araceli," Cecilia answered, unhurried. "And it’s just a coincidence that I found out about who you are."

She tilted her head, a scholar explaining a simple theorem. "When we first met, I noticed the foreign script you’d scribbled on the corner of the treatment table. The orthography was distinct."

"And also, your beast form... the scale pattern along your temples, the specific gradient of your iridescence... it’s subtly different from the local weresnake clans. I assume you had made quite an effort to hide those tells, too."

Linh’s jaw went slack. Just from those observations? It seemed an impossible leap.

Cecilia shrugged. "And then you mentioned you have ’connections.’ Given the pieces, one could reasonably assume a displaced person of significant standing. It wasn’t a difficult deduction."

"That can’t be just it," Linh shook her head, her wariness not dissipating. The woman was too calm, too sure.

Cecilia nodded, a soft chuckle escaping her. "You’re right. I might have... cheated a bit."

"I happened to see a painted portrait of your mother, the Queen of the Jade Marches. The resemblance around the ears is quite striking."

Linh was stunned. The casual mention of her mother, of her homeland’s title, spoken here in this rainy back alley of a foreign capital... Then, the name finally registered, crashing through her shock.

Cecilia Araceli.

That... fake Saintess...?