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Chapter 78  The Devil\'s Inescapable Shadow - III

"Yeahhhh——!"

From the scenery, streets, surrounding houses, and everyone\'s clothing and mental state, it didn\'t seem like the villagers were welcoming the return of their children, but rather like someone was giving a speech in the town center.

A month\'s time can change a lot of things, it can make the originally arrogant and wild beast learn to wear a mask, and naturally it can also make the broken and barren village become a paradise.

The villagers surrounded Seraphina and took her home. The girl stood in front of this restrained but luxurious three-story villa, speechless for a moment.

"How about it, were you scared?" Rhiannon bumped Seraphina\'s shoulder with a smile, "We were even more exaggerated than you at the time! A group of nobles who looked amazing, rushed into your house one after another, cured Uncle Orin without saying a word, and then built such a house on the spot the next day... Everyone was scared silly."

"Okay, let Seraphina go home alone, disperse, don\'t gather here anymore!"

Rhiannon protected Seraphina behind her, and waved her palm fiercely at the surroundings: "Let Seri wait for Uncle Orin and Aunt Yolanda to come back, don\'t disturb their family reunion!"

"Uncle Orin and Aunt Yolanda should still be hunting in the Grandwinter forest behind the village. Looking at the time, they will be back soon."

Rhiannon turned her head to look at Seraphina: "Uncle Orin is amazing after his body recovers! In less than half a month, my dad said he is going to become the best hunter in the village... Oh no, the best is Seri, hehe."

Seraphina\'s best friend hugged her again: "I won\'t disturb your reunion with Uncle and Aunt either, after all, Seri likes them the most."

She took a step back and waved to Seraphina: "We are going to prepare a welcome party for you tonight, look forward to it!"

Seraphina nodded with a bright smile, watching her friends and villagers leave one by one.

Knowing that everyone had dispersed, she turned around and looked at her new home without any expression.

"…Should I be grateful that Hydral, for Marlina\'s sake, would show some face?"

The girl pulled the corner of her mouth, pushed open the unlocked door, and walked straight in.

The furnishings in the house were not exaggerated. Seraphina knew her father\'s character very well. That honest hunter neither appreciated any luxurious ornaments, nor had the mind to accept them.

But the lack of luxurious decorations does not mean that the layout in the house is not expensive.

As soon as she entered the house, Seraphina felt a warmth coming on her face.

She quickly saw the heat-emitting light ball in Ansel\'s mansion, but the one she saw was obviously much cheaper than Ansel\'s.

Most of the house is also engraved with the heating spell that Ansel said, a common hunter\'s family in a broken village, actually uses the extraordinary means of heating that not all wealthy merchants in the town will use, which is a bit too luxurious.

Seraphina walked up to the second floor in silence. There are three bedrooms here, probably her parents\', hers, and Marlina\'s.

And in the past, in that old wooden house, their family slept in one room, just divided into two beds.

Seraphina walked into one of the bedrooms, she could confirm that this was her room, because she saw a lot of familiar things hanging in it—the spoils of the first hunt, a bone skewer made of ten kinds of prey tusks, the first bow she made, the wooden toys she played with when she was a child...

When her hand gently stroked these things, Seraphina\'s face gradually showed a real, heartfelt smile.

The girl lay on the clean and tidy bed, the bedding exuded a faint fragrance, very good smell, that was a scent that her old wooden bed and old cotton quilt would never emit.

But Seraphina was thinking about that kind of smell, not missing the hardships of the past, but remembering the casual words of her friends.

[Why is there a smell on you?]

It turns out that in just over a month, people can forget how they smelled for more than a decade.

Exhausted, Seraphina closed her eyes. She no longer wished to ponder or pretend. All she desired was to rest in this small world that offered her unparalleled safety. However, the vigilance she had cultivated over the past few days prevented her from falling into a deep sleep immediately. Instead, she remained in a state of semi-consciousness, half-asleep and half-awake. When she heard a noise from downstairs, she woke up in alarm. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was in her own home.

Then, she began to panic, frantically searching for the feeling she had when she first entered the village. She pursed her lips, lifted the corners of her mouth with her hand, and curved her eyes, trying hard to put on a happy facade.

"Seri?"

The two different voices calling out to Seraphina made her even more nervous. She first responded reflexively, then began to rub her cheeks vigorously, taking deep breaths.

It was not until her long-absent parents appeared at her door that Seraphina finally felt prepared. She opened her arms wide and said with a radiant smile:

"Mom, Dad, I\'m home!"

But her parents, a pair of ordinary hunter couples, just stood there in shock, not saying a word.

"What\'s wrong?" Seraphina tilted her head, "Don\'t you welcome me?"

"Seri..."

The man who was indeed overjoyed hesitated. He stared into his daughter\'s eyes for a long time, then said in a very soft voice:

"Are you... very tired?"

This time, it was Seraphina who was taken aback.

The woman next to the man, who looked dignified and somewhat thin, had already walked into the house and sat down next to Seraphina.

"It\'s okay, Seri."

A mother gently comforted her daughter in such a way. She gently hugged the girl\'s head and leaned it on her shoulder, her voice soft and warm.

"You\'re home."

The scarred wolf remained silent, but tightly embraced her mother.

She held on tightly to the only thing she had left, the thing she cherished the most.

"…Mm."

After a long silence, she murmured softly, slowly laying down her body, and fell asleep peacefully on her mother\'s lap, just like when she was a child.

Her mother,Yolanda, gently stroked her daughter\'s cheek, while her father, Orin, leaned against the door frame. On the rugged face of the northern man, his expression was soft.

"It seems they want to throw a welcome party for Seri." Yolanda said.

"I\'ll go tell them, Seri is tired."

Orin nodded, turned around, and left.

If Seraphina could hear her parents\' conversation, the happiness that melted all her loneliness and coldness would have increased a few more times.

But in reality... Seraphina, who fell asleep with happiness, did not get the peace she wanted.

Because in this dim dreamland—

She saw that devil again.

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of the scepter approached from far away, echoing in this empty dark land.

The most detestable monster in the wolf\'s life, emerged from the darkness and smiled at her.

That bright golden hair and his warm and soft voice, compared with everything he did, was simply the perfect irony.

"Hydral!!!"

Seraphina roared in extreme anger: "Why is it you again, get out! I won\'t do anything for you anymore! Get out!"

"Seraphina." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Young Ansel ignored her roar, just said lightly:

"Since I said that everything you did after meeting me was within my expectations..."

"Why do you think that your departure is not part of my plan?"

A bone-chilling coldness drilled into Seraphina\'s heart and spread to her limbs.

"By the way, it seems that I haven\'t tamed your character for a while—"

Because the upper half of his face was covered by darkness, Ansel\'s teasing and happy smile was particularly conspicuous in Seraphina\'s vision.

"Why not take this long-lost opportunity..."

He snapped his fingers, and the collar that Seraphina had abandoned once again appeared on the girl\'s neck.

The devil bowed slightly and invited the tethered wolf:

"Come and dance with me, my dear."