‘What am I even thinking? This is just her pretending with a fake sad voice, so she can anyone me again and laugh her ass off,’ Kenneth thought as he didn’t care about anyone and just turned around and went back to work.

  The next organ he inspected was the biggest in the Aki's body and seemed to be connected to a tube of some sort leading up towards the throat.

  To Kenneth, it looked like a respiratory organ or a lung. Thought what surprised Kenneth even as he cut it loose and removed it was that there was only one.

  ‘It seems like the number of organs, as well as the size of them, are a lot different, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for me to teach what I know even with the differences,’ Kenneth thought. ‘Thought due to the differences, I do need to test the effects of medicines in different amounts.’

  Kenneth was just about done, having seen and noted almost everything he knew about the Aki's body down in his book with some less-than-perfect drawings.

  The last thing he did before starting to close up the body was inspect the inside of the bones just to see what they looked like inside.

  The inside of the bones was a little dark, but Kenneth managed to see that it wasn’t extremely hollow and looked a lot like that of a human.

  Having completed as much work as he dared to without anyone finding out, Kenneth put everything back where it belonged and sowed back the skin they keep everything in place.

  While he did that, he looked for a moment at the hand of the Aki and noticed it only had four fingers. Kenneth felt a little embarrassed that he only now noticed this fact now, but seeing as he always looked up at them, he didn’t beat himself up too much.

  Once everything was done and the leather T-shirt was back where it belonged, it almost looked like the body had remained untouched. And if it wasn’t for the fact that Kenneth had cut her open himself, he wouldn’t even probably know.

  He then packed up all of his tools and placed the book and pencil in one of the coat's breast pockets.

  As he turned around, he was a little surprised that Wilf was still sitting on the table, little more than a silhouette. With how quiet it had been, Kenneth had through; she had left.

  Without another word, Kenneth left the room tired and not about to ask why she was acting like that since he knew it was probably just another of her traps to make Kenneth look stupid and laugh.

  Once outside the room, Kenneth made sure to sneak and not get spotted since if what he had done was discovered; he didn’t want anyone to suspect it was him.

  The moonlight overshadowed by some clouds combined with his completely black attire would make it hard for anyone to even see him, so while he wasn’t confidently walking down the street, he did feel a lot safer than when he’d been inside the great hall.

  It was a bit hard to see where he was going, but he had been walking the same route for some time to get home that he almost knew it by heart, so when he turned a corner down a narrow walkway, it was almost over.

  It was then, as he walked the final stretch that he heard some footsteps behind him.

  ‘Was it my imagination,’ Kenneth thought as he was unsure what to do. ‘Should I run and hope they didn’t get a good enough look at me?’

  ‘No, no, wait, they shouldn’t even be able to know what I’ve done, so running would only make me look suspicious. I’ll just pretend I was on an evening stroll.’

  As Kenneth slowly turned around, ready to face whoever it was with as much confidence as he could manage, he was a bit taken aback once he saw it was Wilf.

  As Kenneth stood there, slightly confused, Wilf continued to walk closer with a great deal of speed. Only stopping once, she was very close to Kenneth.

  ‘Alright, here we go again,’ Kenneth thought as he rolled his eyes.

  “What do you want?” Kenneth asked, slightly whispering in an annoyed tone.

  “Come with me,” she responded as she grabbed Kenneth by the hand and began to lead him with her.

  “What the hell,” Kenneth exclaimed as he stopped and ripped his way out of her grip. “I don’t know what you think you are doing, but I’m too tired to play any of your games right now.”

  Kenneth then began to walk away, intending to go home and rest.

  “I was only trying to answer your question,” Wilf said out of the blue, the sentence making Kenneth halt in his tracks.

  “And you do that by leading me to who knows where,” Kenneth retorted. “Listen, right now; I’m too tired to deal with you; if you want to tell me, do it right here, right now.”

  “Either you come with me, or I’ll tell everybody about what happened at the great hall today. Both times,” Wilf said in a low and commanding voice.

  “Really,” Kenneth chuckled. “You’ve said you won’t do that as long as I don’t bore you. And I guess you haven’t gotten bored of me yet.”

  Wilf then grabbed Kenneth by the shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes, and even in the dark of the night, Kenneth could see how serious she looked. “I broke a promise to Heka once before, and it almost cost me my life. I won’t take that chance again.”

  “Fine,” Kenneth sighed. “If it’s so important, then say what you want to say, and I’ll try and stay awake.”

  “No, not here. Not where everyone can hear,” Wilf said in a hushed voice as she looked around like she was afraid of something.

  “Now come,” she said as she suddenly once again grabbed Kenneth’s hand and began leading him somewhere.

  Kenneth honestly wasn’t sure if it was another trick or if she was serious, but she seemed too persistent to leave Kenneth alone, so even if it was a trap, it would be worth springing it if it meant he could sleep.

  After a bit of time, Wilf was still leading Kenneth to whatever destination she had in mind, and to his surprise, she looked around every corner, seemingly making sure that anyone would see them in the night.

  At one point, some guards were even passing by, and Wilf and Kenneth leaned as much as they could again the wall, never making a single movement or sound until she deemed it safe.

  It was only after a few close calls that the two arrived at the other side of the outpost at a house that Wilf dragged Kenneth into.

  Once they were both inside the house, she closed the door, and Kenneth could hear her breathe a sigh of relief as she seemed to relax.

  Then she went around the house, liting a few candles in the living room, making it possible to actually see something.

  Meanwhile, Kenneth just stood there in the middle of the room, waiting for the moment she was going to do something and laugh.

  “So, is this your master plan?” Kenneth asked in a tired voice. “Get me inside what I presume to be your home and annoy me with something like the bedroom is only two steps away or something like that.”

  Wilf didn’t respond, only lighting the last candle and taking a seat at the table. “Take a seat,” Wilf gestured.

  Done for today, Kenneth surrendered and followed her command.

  “I guess it’s time,” Wilf sighed in a sorrowful tone. “Before I actually answer your question, you must understand that I won’t tell you which is the correct one.”

  “What are you even talking about,” Kenneth sighed, rubbing his temple, already feeling a headache approaching.

  “My past is mine alone to know and no one else’s. The only reason I’m even going to tell you is that I swore to Heka. If it had been different, I would have never told you,” Wilf answered, her voice very cold.

  Only now Kenneth had noticed that the usual giggling or laughter was gone, replaced by a normal albeit cold voice. In some ways, it was nice she didn’t do it anymore, but it also freaked Kenneth a bit out, seeing as she’s not been laughing or at least giggling for an extended period of time.

  “If you really didn’t want to tell me, why did you swear to Heka then?” Kenneth asked.

  “I’m smarter around others, but you. You just entertained me so much that I didn’t even consider the possibility that you would ask me this question. I expected you to waste the question in an emotional outburst,” Wilf answered.

  “Fine, but what is so bad about your past that you need to tell me two lies so I can’t know for absolute certainty?” Kenneth asked.

  “I was born to a litter of seven, and my mom was a maid,” Wilf suddenly started.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Kenneth interrupted. “I just asked you the reason why you are here, not your life story.”

  “My birth is an important part of the reason why I came here. Now be quiet and listen; you asked for this, not me,” Wilf answered in an angry voice.

  “My mother worked as a maid to a royal family; she had been taken in and given shelter after her years of working just to survive in the church's orphanage,” Wilf started once again. “She once told me she endured years of pain where even a single mistake would mean punishment.”

  “In those years, she eventually became so good that she was able to do her tasks to perfection. The head of the orphanage took note of this and decided to take advantage by coming into contact with one of the lesser royals.”

  “The head of the orphanage told him about my mother and offered to sell her to him for a small sum of silver. To even a lesser royal, such a sum was nothing, but to the head of the orphanage, it would be quite a substantial amount of coins.”

  “And then my mother was forced to leave the only home she’d even known to work in that bastard's mansion,” Wilf growled, her anger showing.

  ‘Is she pretending to be angry to convince me this is the right story,’ Kenneth thought as he used the pause in the story to ask a question. “Couldn’t your mother have refused to be sold off? She wasn’t a slave, right?”

  There was a moment of silence as Wilf glared at him. “No, she wasn’t a slave, but if she had refused, the orphanage wouldn’t have taken her back. She was only allowed to stay as long as she was useful, and she would have become a beggar in the streets,” Wilf answered in a cold voice.

  After that, Kenneth grew silent as he felt slightly guilty for not understanding. He came from a world where even though there was homelessness, he had grown up and had a pretty good life away from such things.

  “Her life after that only became more difficult as she was forced as the only maid to clean, cook, and wash clothes.” Wilf again started.” She was worked to the bone, constantly tired, but she persevered since she knew that the alternative would most certainly be death.”

  “The few mistakes she did make were punished as the lady of the house who wanted everything to be perfect, and she didn’t tolerate any mistakes. She would often beat my mother using various tools. Never enough to damage her, but enough so she would feel the pain.”

  “The royal, on the other hand, took out his frustrations in another way,” Wilf said as she visibly shuddered.

  “Eventually, my mother gave birth to my six siblings and me; the only problem was the only one who lived was the runt. Me.”

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  “I grew up in the mansion under the belief that I was the daughter of the royals, and I was a royal myself,” Wilf explained as she got a saddened expression with her ears flattening. “Back then, I truly loved them as any child should, but I never received any love from my fake mother.”

  “My father showed a bit more interest in me but only ever spent time with me by teaching me etiquette and how a proper wife should please her husband.”

  “It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that I was to be married once I would have turned ten under the union of Ki and Di, but I was only confused and followed along since I was the obedient child.”

  Wilf then stopped and took a deep breath.

  “The life I lived then wasn’t bad, and sometimes I still wonder what would have been if I had been less observant,” she sighed, closing her eyes.

  “On a day like any other, only three days before my mirage to the son of another royal family, I looked at my own reflection and noticed for the first time properly the little I looked like my parents. And how much I looked like our maid.”

  “I tried to ask her about it, but she never said a word, always shaking when I asked.”

  “Only two nights before my wedding, I laid restless in the night, unable to sleep. I knew I was breaking my father's rule by leaving my room at night, but I couldn’t sleep and just needed some fresh air.”

  “I wandered the halls of the mansion until I found a room I had never seen before. When I walked in, I discovered it to be a washroom for clothes. It was then that I heard footsteps, and in a blind panic, I headed into one of the room's closets.”

  “When I looked into the keyhole, I saw that it was only the maid, but, even then, I didn’t come out fearing she would tell.”

  “I continued to watch until she herself undressed and stood nude. I wanted to look away, but she and I looked so much alike, even nude, that I couldn’t stop even as she washed her own clothes.”

  “I then heard more footsteps, and my father entered the enclosed room, and my mother, in her embarrassment, covered herself and tried to run out of the room, grabbing her still wet clothes.”

  “Wilf, you don’t need to,” Kenneth tried to say.

  “You asked for my reason. I’m giving it to you,” Wilf interrupted. “ My father stopped her, and I looked away. I didn’t want to know what was happening, but I knew.”

  “Before he exited the room, he remarked how good it was that he didn’t have to worry about more bastards coming out of her, and I would have a happy life away from her.”

  “Once my father left the maid, my true mother, I understood fully that my entire life had been a lie. I had never been a royal, only a bastard that my father wanted to use.”

  “I then left the closet, still overflowing with emotion, my mother tried to leave, but I begged her with tears in my eyes to tell me the truth. I don’t know if she did it out of a sense of obligation, hatred, or even love for me, but she confessed the whole story.”

  “About her life before she was bought and even how I was the only one in the litter to live and how my father, who had no children of his own, took me from her and threatened to kick her out in the streets if she ever told the truth.”

  “I was heartbroken the parents I loved so much never loved me, and so the day before my wedding was to take place, I ran through the forest ripping and tearing my dress until it became nothing more than rags.”

  “I continued to run until,” Wilf then paused and let out a sigh. “I passed out on a dirt road. Once I awoke, I was in a cart surrounded by other children my age. The woman driving the cart introduced herself and asked if I wanted to join the military. I agreed and knew I never wanted to go home but didn’t know where else to go.”

  “Looking back,” Wilf said, smiling, probably remembering a fond memory. “She probably knew I wasn’t an orphan, but she didn’t care. Those who join the military are either devoted orphans or those who are on the run like I was.”

  “Wilf, I never… knew. I… I’m sorry,” Kenneth said in a sad voice.

  “Why are you getting so sad?” Wilf then suddenly asked in a chipper tone. “Remember, this might not be the truth; my past is mine alone, and I will never let you know which is the right one.”

  “If you were Ulric, this would never have worked, but I can lie to you as much as I want,” she giggled.

  “The next one is a bit more simple,” she said, smiling with a fond look across her face.

  “I was born in a small cabin in a litter of seven with two brothers and four sisters,” Wilf said as she told the second story sounding happier than she was before.

  “My father was a humble hunter. Killing prey and selling the meat on the market or to the local butcher. My mother used the skins of the dead animals to make clothing.”

  “She was nothing special, but she loved her work and always made my siblings and me fine clothes and sold the rest for a good price to local shops.”

  “My father taught my brothers the art of hunting, and my mother taught my sisters and me how to do the thing a proper woman is expected to do.”

  “I did my duty for a time, but I grew bored of it. Each and every day was a struggle to even get out of bed and seem like I liked the work I did. Honestly, it felt like torture,” Wilf said, sounding tired.

  “One day, when the sun was high in the sky, and it was too hot to stay inside, my mother made us do work outside. Yet I felt only boredom until I saw my father and brothers return from carrying the prey they had caught.”

  “Suddenly, one of them sprung to life and ran in a blind panic toward my mother. My father acted quickly and ended its life with a single and precise shot with his bow.”

  “While my sisters ran to our mother for comfort, I simply watched the prey die, and it was then I felt something. Like a calling of sorts that a life of womanly work wasn’t for me.”

  “I later begged my father to teach me to hunt like my brothers. My father simply laughed and said that hunting was a man's work, not a sweet little girl like me.”

  “I loved my father very much, but that comment made me angrier than I’ve ever been in my life,” Wilf said, slightly growling.

  “I no longer just wanted to be a hunter; I wanted to prove my father wrong. So for the longest time, I snug out during the night, borrowing one of my brother's bows and a few arrows.”

  “I knew nothing of hunting, so whenever my father made my brother train, I observed the lessons, and at night I did them myself until I felt confident enough to hunt on my own.”

  “The place where I lived had almost no predators, so I knew there was little chance of dying. I hunted all night long until I managed to get a kill on a smaller animal.”

  “I felt such pride as I presented my kill to my father. I wondered if he would finally teach me like he did my brothers, but no, the only thing the little wide-grinning girl received was a hard smack that knocked her to the ground.”

  “I still remember how it felt and how shocked I was when he did it,” Wilf said as she started to rub the side of her face with a faraway stare.

  “My father yelled at me that hunting was only for men and women shouldn’t bother.”

  “My father didn’t talk to me for the longest time, but I couldn’t stop each and every night. I dreamed of the first kill I got with a bow, how it felt, and happy I was.”

  “So one night, I hunted again and presented my kill in the morning to my father, but this time I wasn’t smiling; it looked at my father sternly, and, so again, he hit me, and again I fell to the ground.”

  “I did it again and again, getting hit each time. I ofter just wanted to stop and go back to how things used to be.”

  “Then, as I presented my ninth kill, my father gave me a warning that if I didn’t stop with these childish antics, he would kick me out.”

  “A part of me wanted to stop and just go back to normal, but I didn’t, so even though I knew what it would mean, I went out and hunted again, but this time I didn’t go for small prey; I went for a predator.”

  “I knew I could die, but I felt it would be better than to live my life in boredom. I eventually found a lone predator, and the wind was on my side, blowing toward me. I drew the bow and held my breath,” Wilf herself then stopped speaking for only a moment.

  “Then I let go and hit it straight in the neck. I knew little of predators, so I shot arrow after arrow into it and made sure it was dead.”

  “Then came the hardest part,” Wilf grinned. “Draggin' it home.”

  “It was just before sunrise I got it home. I knew my father would wake soon, so I just dragged my kill in front of the house and sat on it, bow in hand and my fur dirty and covered in blood.”

  “When my father came outside, it was the first time I actually saw him shocked. He went over to me, looking down at me and my kill. He asked me if I killed it.”

  “I nodded and was ready for the moment he would hit me again and kick me out.”

  “You are really this detriment to hunt, my father asked, and with no hesitation, I answered yes.”

  “My father then told me to go inside the house and wait for him.”

  “My mother, the caring woman that she was, made me take a bath, cleaning my fur as I waited. I didn’t know what my father was doing, but I wanted to find out.”

  “Lather, when he returned, it was with a bow like the one my brothers had. He handed it to me and said a real hunter should have their own weapon. It was the happiest I’ve ever been.”

  “While my mother objected, she eventually calmed down, knowing it was useless to tame this wild animal, and so I trained like my brother for years until my father let us hunt alone.”

  “Not to be rude,” Kenneth suddenly interrupted.” But does this story have an end, or is this just a fake story? If you are a hunter in this, why are you the guard commander?”

  “Fine, if you want to hear the ending, fine,” Wilf said in an annoyed voice. “Years after I became a hunter, I started to get bored. Sure, I still loved hunting and killing, but it was too easy, and the prey, even the predator, had become too predictable.”

  “ Then, one day, as I hunted alone in the forest late a night, I stumbled upon two young loves.”

  “At the time, I didn’t know what they were doing, but as I later learned in life, they were mating out in the open night.”

  “I still don’t know why, but I felt something strange at the moment,” Wilf said as her expression grew a bit perplexed. “What I saw before me were two creatures mating. Not Aki’s. But animals.”

  “I slowly drew my bow feeling more alive than when I killed my first prey. I let go of the bowstring, and the arrow priced the male's neck. The female didn’t scream right away; she went quiet as her mate fell on top of her, and blood poured out.”

  “Her eyes darted around, maybe thinking that it was an accident, but as her eyes found me, her back on the ground trapped by the weight of her mate, she screamed, and I again let go of the bowstring.”

  “One shot. One kill,” Wilf sighed as she crossed her arms and looked Kenneth straight in the eyes with a serious expression.” It is an unspoken rule amongst hunters to never torture our prey only to end its suffering as quickly as possible.”

  “Once it was over, I pulled out the arrows and made it look like they had been killed by a wandering predator using my own mouth and claws to rip and tear their flesh. I then covered up my tracks and replaced them with the tracks of another animal.”

  “The two’s death became local news, and a few hunting parties were gathered to kill the monster that had killed them; they never found out it was me.”

  “And so from that day, one killing another prey became boring, and I eventually ended up joining the military, so I could hunt more challenging prey. The kind where I actually have to put in the effort,” Wilf said as she grinned maniacally and chuckled.

  It, in turn, sent a chill down Kenneth's spine as she felt a small bit of fear, ‘real or not, she’s starting to scare me,” Kenneth thought as cold sweat started to appear.

  “Hmm, what is this?” Wilf suddenly asked in a curious voice. “Your heartsbeats have suddenly slowed down. Why is that? Is it normal?”

  “I’m fine; it’s nothing,” Kenneth quickly answered.

  “Fine, I won’t pry too much,” Wilf said as she shrugged. “Now it’s time for the last story.”

  “As you know by now, I was born in a litter of seven, two sisters and four brothers. I never knew my father, my whore of a mother, was used by too many men to actually know.”

  “When my sisters and I were young and did anything my mother didn’t like, she would always tell us the story of my brothers and how she didn’t need boys but girls, so on the day of our birth, she left them out in the cold to die.”

  “And you might be wondering why she didn’t need boys,” Wilf said as she looked at Kenneth, her eyes half-focused. “I didn’t lie when I called her a whore. And to her credit, she was a good whore getting the high-paying customers through her connections.”

  “The very same connections told her when she got pregnant that if she had girls, she could make good money selling the young to the highest paying customers as long as she was discreet.”

  “And so when it was time, our mother brought us to her place of work, and we were separated and brought to different rooms.”

  “And even though I knew it was useless, I yelled for my mother to save me, but she didn’t even glance at me as she counted the coins she was paid for selling us.”

  “I tried to break free of the woman's grip, but she was too strong and practically threw me on the bed as she locked the door.”

  “Life, after, didn’t get any better; while my mother got richer and richer by selling my sisters and me to the wealthy monsters, we became broken,” Wilf said as she extinguished a few candles and became nothing more than a shadow.

  “Our mother eventually stopped being a whore once she realized she would make more coines by selling us than selling herself. But that only meant she used all of her time teaching us how to be good little whores as she would say,” Wilf said, growling.

  “She would force us to do degrading, humiliating, disgusting, and downright cruel things just so we could be better little whores.”

  “Eventually, one day years my first time, as I was crying in the middle of the act, I felt myself break inside. I then stopped crying. I no longer cared what happened to my body because I felt nothing anymore.”

  “My sisters, however, had not been broken like me, so one day, when my mother was drunk and almost fully passed out, I took a knife and got onto of her intending to stab her in the throat.”

  “It was at that moment I felt something for the first time and months. Anger. I felt the inferno slowly engulf me until it covered me completely, but it did not hurt; instead, it felt like a hand guiding me to my goal as I plunged the knife down into the woman that should have been my mother.”

  “Her eyes shot open as the knife came deep inside her, and in her panic to survive, she threw me off and covered the wound to stop the blood.”

  “She probably thought she could make it to a heal and be saved. But I wouldn’t let that happen, so before she even had a chance to do anything more, I got up, knife still in hand, and stabbed her in the gut.”

  “She then fell over her fat arms, too weak to do anything as I continued to stab her over and over again in a blind rage for the suffering she put me and my sisters through our entire lives.”

  “As far as I was aware, I never made a sound even though I felt like I screamed to the high heavens.”

  “Once, I was too tired to even hold the knife. I looked at the disgusting monster that used to be my mother, and if I hadn’t been the one to kill her even, I wouldn’t recognize her.”

  “After some time, I took my sisters and left the house with whatever money my monster of a mother hadn’t pissed away the moment she got it.”

  “I knew that there were people who would do horrible things to me and my sister for what I had done, so I made my sister join the military with me,” Wilf said, sighing.“And there you have it. The truth of why I joined.”

  “I should have never asked,” Kenneth said, feeling shame forever asking.

  Then there was silence between the two as Kenneth heard what sounded like whimpering coming from Wilf.

  Kenneth’s hands shook as the same he felt was replaced by guilt until the whimpering turned into laughter.

  The laughter didn’t stop for a solid three minutes.

  “You really believed what I said,” Wilf said, her laughter reduced to giggling. “You are by far the most stupid person I’ve ever met. Everything was a lie, and I don’t care what Heka will do.”

  “Really, all of it was a lie,” Kenneth exclaimed as he rose from the chair in anger.

  “Remember, little prey, I’ll do things like this as long as you entertain me, and if you ever stop entertaining me, then,” Wilf said as her giggling stopped for a moment and her voice became serious. “I’ll just get my entertainment out of the truth.”

  “You know what I’m too tired for this. I’m going home,” Kenneth said as he walked out of her house and the street.

  As Kenneth had some time to burn off the anger he felt as he walked, something didn’t feel right,’ why go through the trouble of acting the way she did while telling the stories,” Kenneth said as he stopped in his tracks.

  ‘Wilf,’ Kenneth thought as he looked back. ‘How much of what you told me was truly a lie.’