399 WHAT A FOOL

“Can we talk?” Zuri rapped her knuckles on the tree, since she didn’t know how to call him to come out. “I need to talk to you about something,” she said, but not so loud, so she wouldn’t wake Chaos up, since she didn’t think she wanted him to hear this.

For a moment, there was no response and Zuri rapped her knuckles again, only this time a bit harder, because she thought he didn’t hear her the first time.

Still, only silence greeted her.

Zuri frowned, but then she didn’t use her hand anymore, as she simply kicked the tree a few times, until a rough voice spoke begrudgingly, because he didn’t like the disturbance that this girl created...

“Are you clothed?” he asked in a stern voice.

Hearing that, Zuri couldn’t help but blush. She could feel her face turn red as her throat became dry.

Right. They did that right under this tree, forgetting about the fact that this was not any ordinary tree, but then Zuri cleared her throat and spoke again, fortunately, her voice didn’t falter.

“Yes, I am clothed,” Zuri said simply, as she waited for the tree to come out and talk to her.

It took some time for the face to form on the surface of the tree’s bark and Zuri took a step back, so she could see him clearly.

.....

“Hm, you are clothed,” the old man’s face on the tree mumbled, but then he threw a dagger look at Zuri, as he reprimanded her lightly. “How can you be so shameful to do that?!”

On the other hand, Zuri reciprocated the glare and snapped back at him, but her voice was not that loud, as she glanced back at Chaos, just in case he had woken up.

“Lower your voice, you will wake him up,” Zuri warned him.

historical

“So, what if he wakes up?” the tree retorted, but he indeed lowered his voice. “What do you want, nymph?”

“I am not a nymph?” Zuri protested.

“Shifter then,” the tree didn’t want to back down from this ridiculous argumentation.

“I have a name, you know,” Zuri glowered. She was a shifter, but she would prefer to be called by her name, instead of what kind of creature she was.

“Of course, I know your name,” the tree said smugly. “Blue.”

Right, that was her name, but she didn’t think that she had introduced herself by that name, or maybe he heard the way Chaos called her earlier?

“How do you know that name?” Zuri asked out of curiosity, though it was not a big deal, since that was not her intention to make him come out, since there was something that she wanted to ask him.

The old man chuckled and the sound reminded Zuri of the barking of a dog. “Is that even a question?” he tilted his head, or that was how Zuri looked at that.

“I think I made it clear that was a question.” Zuri frowned, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and waited for him to answer.

Once again, the old face made a gesture that made it look like he tilted his head. “You look more brazen and fiercer than you were in your previous lives. What is it? You now know that kindness is no longer the answer to your problems?”

Zuri furrowed her brows. “I don’t think I understand what you are talking about,” she said in a low voice. She looked at the tree with sharp eyes. “How kind I was in my past life?”

“Tsk. Now, tell me what you know?” the old man seemed a little bit agitated, probably because he was old, thus he was showing such a temper.

“You are here in my past life.”

“In both of your past lives precisely,” the old tree corrected her. “And you looked so kind and docile then, not like you are right now.” He moved his eyes up and down, as if trying to judge the girl before his eyes. “There is something different about you.”

“Maybe I finally learned how to survive,” Zuri said casually, letting the old tree think about that.

“Maybe... maybe you finally learned that kindness does not always work in this realm,” he muttered to himself when he said that.

“In my second life...” Zuri started, since she didn’t want to waste her time, because she didn’t know when Chaos would wake up. He was sleeping soundly right now, but it was not a guarantee he would stay like that for too long. He could wake up at any time. “I died here, right?”

Zuri had her eyes fixed on the old tree, but upon hearing her direct question, he didn’t seem surprised. He looked at Zuri, contemplating.

“Yes, you died here,” he admitted without any persuasion. “The chief of the village killed you here as a sacrifice, so his daughter can live again.”

“Daughter?” Zuri frowned. “From what I heard, it was a son.” That was what the old lady in the store told her this afternoon.

The tree chuckled lightly. “You know how the story will change depending on who was retelling it?” the tree looked at her with amusement in his eyes. “Let alone centuries, even if a story was told to the other person the next moment it happened, there would be slight changes to it.”

You couldn’t believe a myth a hundred percent, because that would not always be the whole truth of what had happened.

“So, do you want to say that was not right?” Zuri found a protruding root and sat on it, as she pulled her legs up and hugged her knees before resting her head on them.

“I didn’t say that was not true. There is always a hidden truth behind every story,” the tree spoke more gently to her. “Yes, you died here. Under my canopy, you let that chief of the village kill you, even though you can ask for help.”

“What a fool.” Zuri frowned. “How could she be so stupid?”

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Alpha Micah Donovan’s second chance mate.