-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Chapter 215-

That night, Kenshin couldn’t sleep at all, feeling restless and anxious all over. Although he felt hurt at her words, his logical mind soon butted in and tried to dissect the situation. She had never talked to him like that; in the first place, she wasn’t a cold woman like that. But although he was hurt by her words, he was even angrier at himself.

When she asked about their relationship, he remained silent. He couldn't mutter a word, not even a hiccup. He didn’t know what happened, but when she asked that question, he felt a weird sense of foreboding, as if, if he answers without thinking, he will regret his whole life.

“Just don’t let me find you, whoever you are…I will make you regret it” cursing to no one in particular, he tossed and turn on his bed, trying his hard to sleep.

XXX

Although it was already midnight, a certain family couldn’t rest at all. Inside the Kawakuchi family’s mansion, five cloaked men arrived holding various weapons. They were led into the house by the maid and were guided towards a small mansion beside the main house of the family.

After guiding them into the mansion, the maid bowed to them and excused herself, unwilling to stay anymore. Led by a short man, the group of five cloaked men or hunters, entered the mansion and choose a room for themselves.

“Meet me here within an hour.” after his order, the short man entered a room to the extreme left of the drawing room. The rest also followed suit, entering a room of their choice and closed the door behind them.

The maid who guided them inside made a beeline towards the main building, into the room of the lady of the house. Knocking on her door twice, she waited for it open. A few minutes later, with a click sound, the door was opened revealing a woman in bed hair and wearing a negligee.

“What happened?” she asked the maid while yawning. The sleep had yet to leave her eyes.

“Madam, they are here!” the maid bowed and replied curtly.

At that instant, all the sleep left her body, and her eyes widened into epic proportions. Then her face twisted into an ugly sneer and her breathing got heavy. Her hand, which was holding onto the door frame, started twisting around it, breaking and tearing it like it’s mere paper. Her eyes were bloodshot…a few seconds later, it all vanished as if this never happened. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath to calm her raging temper.

“Damn them! Damn! At a time like this!” she started to mumble incoherently. Then he looked at the young maid that provided this news and smiled.

“You can excuse yourself. And remember to not allow anyone into that mansion anymore for the time being. Okay!?”

“Yes, madam!”

“Okay, now you can go.” After her order, the maid bowed again and excused herself into her room that was a few rooms beside the madam’s room.

After the maid excused herself, the lady stared at the direction of the mansion just outside the main building, where the five cloaked people resided with a frown. Her thoughts were shrouded behind that frown marring her face. With a sigh, she entered her room and started to dress.

The men were now out of their full body cloaks, revealing three middle-aged men, one middle-aged woman and a nineteen-year-old girl. They all were wearing casual clothes, looking pretty normal then how they looked during their arrival. Their weapons were also nowhere to be seen, probably left at their respective rooms.

The short man who was their leader was sitting on a sofa, facing the rest four people. His eyes scanned everyone for some time before resting on the young woman fidgeting to the side.

“Are you nervous?” his voice was curt and filled with a trace of warmth. Completely different from how he treated his other subordinates. Clearly, they share something special.

“Ah! No! I am not…” startled by the sudden question, the girl panicked and denied instantly. But the man only laughed at this.

“If you are nervous then say so, this was your first time on an official mission like this. You will probably face some nasty stuff down the line, so being nervous now is not a bad thing. But you must overcome it, okay?” the middle-aged man patiently explained.

“I understand.” The girl nodded and kept her head low, not daring to look at his face.

“Okay, then, did everyone remembered our mission parameters?” the man asked.

“Yes!” came a unanimous reply from everyone.

“Good! Remember, no matter what, never reveal your identity or do anything that could trace back to our origin, okay?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm! Now, our mission started officially the day after tomorrow, so we have the whole tomorrow for ourselves. Take this time to get familiar with the city and study the ins and outs of every important place here.”

“Yes”

“You guys, you really are getting comfortable in my house!” suddenly a clear feminine voice came out of nowhere, startling everyone but the middle-aged man in the lead. He only smiled serenely, as if the owner of the voice was his old buddy.

“Haha, it been long since I last saw you, Iris” the middle-aged man smilingly replied while looking at an odd angle, a particular corner of the room. Following his gaze, everyone also looked at that direction and saw nothing but an ordinary corner. But soon the space twisted and turned before a slender silhouette wearing a nightdress appeared. It was a very beautiful woman with a white cloak draped over her shoulder. Despite her sleepy appearance, nobody could deny her beautifulness.

“Call me Mrs Kawakuchi.” The woman calmly corrected him while giving looks of wonder at the four people she didn’t know.

“They are the new recruits who are here to experience the ins and outs of our guild’s main business. Didn’t they look promising?” the middle-aged man explained seeing the confusion on the woman named Iris’s face. A smile still hung on his face, which didn’t falter even when he was ignored by the lady.

On the other hand, the four people felt like they were sitting on pincushions. This lady, who seemed to be an acquaintance of their leader, was eyeing them like a predator to its prey. As if she would kill them all in an instant and eat them after. Although they couldn’t feel that pressuring feeling usually emitted by hunters stronger than them, their senses were still alerted, reminding them to not take a wrong step.

After a minute, Iris averted her gaze and stared at the smug face of the middle-aged man.

“Aren’t they promising? They can remain calm under your [Probing] without even sweating.”

“Hmph! They are good. At least better than a certain someone at their age.”

“Thank you!”

“…”

“Why are you here?” the lady’s cold voice came again, ready to freeze the man if he gave an unsatisfactory answer.

“Well, our mission didn’t start until the day after tomorrow, so we are here for the shelter.”

“Why here? Can’t, you guys, book a hotel or something? Why must be it my home?”

“For one, it didn’t cost any money on my part. Second, its an order from our boss, and third, I have something to discuss with you.”

“What…?” Iris’s eyes were narrowed as an oppressing feeling prevalent into the room, making the four bystanders uncomfortable.