Free Web NovelChapter 105: My name is Lillith NightBane
The next morning I woke up even earlier than before.
The moment my eyes opened, I immediately sat up in bed.
For a few seconds I simply stared ahead while trying to remember what day it was , before yesterday’s memories surfaced and a smile slowly spread across my face.
Without wasting any time, I quickly got dressed, rushed through breakfast, and headed straight toward our usual meeting place in the gardens.
This time I expected to arrive first.
After all, I had gone there as early as I possibly could.
Yet when I reached the clearing near the wall, I froze.
Someone was already there.
Charles was sitting on top of the wall swinging his legs back and forth while lazily staring at the sky.
For a moment I simply stood there in surprise.
Then the realization hit me.
He had come before me.
A burst of excitement shot through my chest and before I even realized it, I was running towards him.
"Charles!"
Charles looked down.
The moment he saw me, he grinned.
"Morning, Emilia."
I quickly stopped beneath the wall and looked up at him.
"What are we doing today?"
The question came out much faster than I intended.
Charles laughed.
"Straight to the important stuff, huh?"
I nodded immediately.
The previous two days had been some of the happiest days of my life and I couldn’t wait to find out what we were doing next.
Charles jumped down from the wall and landed beside me.
Then he crossed his arms confidently.
"I thought we’d play hide and seek."
I tilted my head.
"Hide and seek?"
Charles immediately stared at me and there was a brief pause.
Then he let out a dramatic sigh.
"You’ve never heard of hide and seek either, have you?"
Feeling slightly embarrassed, I slowly nodded my head.
Charles rubbed his forehead.
"I knew it."
He pointed at me.
"If you didn’t know tag and didn’t know catch, there was no chance you knew hide and seek."
I lowered my head slightly.
"Sorry."
Charles waved his hand dismissively.
"It’s fine. I’ll teach you."
After several minutes of explanations and a surprisingly detailed demonstration involving a bush and a tree, I finally understood the basic idea.
One person hid while the other searched and after the roles switched.
Honestly, it sounded fun but the problem appeared when Charles looked around the garden.
"This place is way too small."
I blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Charles pointed around us.
"There aren’t enough places to hide."
I looked around.
There were certainly trees and bushes nearby.
That seemed like plenty to me but apparently Charles disagreed.
"Nope."
He shook his head.
"If we want to play properly, we need to go outside."
The moment he said those words, I immediately stiffened.
Outside, beyond the walls.
I quickly shook my head.
"I can’t."
Charles looked confused.
"Why not?"
I hesitated.
"I’ve never left before."
His eyebrows rose.
"Seriously?"
I nodded.
Charles stared at me for a few moments before speaking again.
"Then that’s even more reason to go."
I looked horrified.
Charles looked excited.
The difference between our reactions couldn’t have been more obvious.
"I can’t just leave."
"Why not?"
I opened my mouth.
Then paused.
The truth was that nobody had ever actually sat me down and told me I couldn’t leave.
The issue was that I was Lillith Nightbane.
People usually stopped me from doing things long before I got the chance.
Still, sneaking outside felt wrong.
Dangerous, terrifying even.
Charles noticed my hesitation.
"Come on."
I shook my head again.
"What if somebody notices?"
Charles immediately pointed toward the wall.
"Nobody noticed me climbing over it."
"That’s different."
"How?"
I opens my mouth but then promptly closed it again.
Charles grinned.
Seeing that expression immediately made me nervous.
It was the same look he had before convincing me to play tag.
And unfortunately, it seemed just as effective.
"Emilia."
His voice suddenly became softer.
"You said you wanted to play."
I looked away.
"I do."
"You said you don’t get to do stuff like this often."
I quietly nodded.
Charles then spread his arms dramatically.
"Exactly."
Charles smiled.
"We don’t have to go far."
I remained silent.
"We’ll only play for a little while."
Still silent.
"I promise I’ll stay with you."
That one almost broke me which Charles seemed to notice.
Because he immediately followed up.
"And if you hate it, we’ll come right back."
I stared at the wall.
Then at Charles.
The sensible part of me wanted to refuse, but the lonely part of me wanted to say yes.
Unfortunately for my common sense, the lonely part won.
"...Okay."
Charles immediately threw both arms into the air.
"Yes!"
Before I could change my mind, he scrambled up the wall and reached the top.
Then he looked down and stretched his hand toward me.
"Come on."
I stared at his hand nervously.
The wall suddenly looked much taller than it had before.
"What if I fall?"
"You won’t."
"How do you know?"
Charles grinned.
"Because I’ll catch you."
For some reason those words made me feel slightly calmer.
After taking a deep breath, I climbed up after him.
The process was awkward.
Very awkward.
Charles ended up helping me most of the way.
Eventually I reached the top and carefully sat on the wall.
For a brief moment I looked back.
Nightbane Manor stretched behind me.
Safe.
Familiar.
Lonely.
Then I looked forward.
The city spread out beyond the walls.
Large.
Unknown.
But exciting.
My heart began beating faster.
Charles jumped down first.
Then he looked up at me and held out his arms.
"Your turn."
After several seconds of hesitation, I finally jumped.
A surprised squeak escaped my mouth and Charles barely managed to catch me before we both stumbled backwards and nearly fell over.
The moment we regained our balance, he started laughing.
I found myself laughing too.
And just like that, for the first time in my life...
I left the Nightbane Manor.
Charles grabbed my hand.
"Come on."
Then he started leading the way.
And with equal parts excitement and nervousness swirling inside my chest, I followed him into a world I had only ever seen from afar.
By this point, I had completely forgotten about the manor.
I had forgotten about the servants and the palace walls.
I had even forgotten about the fact that I wasn’t supposed to be here.
Instead, I simply followed Charles as he confidently navigated through the city streets.
Everything around me felt fascinating.
Merchants shouted from stalls as children ran through crowded streets.
People talked and laughed openly without caring who was listening.
It was so different from the isolated halls of Nightbane Manor that I found myself staring at everything around me.
Eventually Charles stopped.
We had arrived near the outer wall of the city.
I frowned slightly.
"Why are we here?"
Instead of answering, Charles motioned for me to follow him.
Curious, I did.
He led me into a narrow gap hidden between two buildings where almost nobody could see us.
The space was cramped and covered in shadows.
At first I couldn’t understand why he had brought me here.
Then Charles knelt down beside the wall.
"What are you doing?"
He grinned.
"Watch."
To my surprise, he reached forward and began removing several loose bricks.
One after another.
My eyes widened.
Soon a hollow opening appeared behind them.
A tunnel.
Not a large one.
Just barely big enough for a child to crawl through.
I stared at it in disbelief.
"You can do that?"
Charles looked proud of himself.
"Found it months ago."
He pointed into the tunnel.
"Come on."
Only then did I realize what he was suggesting.
My eyes widened.
"Wait."
Charles tilted his head.
"We can’t leave the city."
He blinked.
"Why not?"
I stared at him.
Was he serious?
"Because we’re not supposed to."
Charles immediately rolled his eyes.
"Who says?"
I opens my mouth to argue but then the realisation hit me, nobody had actually told me not to as it was simply something I assumed.
Charles clearly wasn’t impressed.
"Emilia."
I already knew that tone.
It was the same tone he used whenever he was about to convince me to do something questionable.
"The forest outside the city is way better than this place."
I looked uncertain.
Charles continued.
"There are streams."
My resolve weakened slightly.
"Animals."
My resolve weakened further.
"Tons of places to hide."
Then he delivered the final blow.
"We could play hide and seek properly."
I stared at him.
"...We’ll come back before dark?"
Charles nodded immediately.
"Of course."
I hesitated for several more seconds before I finally sighed.
"Okay."
His grin immediately returned.
Several minutes later, we emerged outside the city walls.
For the first time in my life, there was nothing separating me from the outside world.
No palace.
No walls.
No servants.
No guards.
Just open land stretching into the distance.
The feeling was strangely exhilarating.
Charles immediately started leading the way. freewebnovel.cσ๓
And I followed.
———————————-
Hours passed.
The deeper we traveled, the larger the forest became.
Towering trees stretched high overhead while countless birds sang among the branches.
Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves and painted the ground in shifting patterns of gold and green.
It felt like an entirely different world.
Eventually Charles declared that this was the perfect place for hide and seek.
Then our game began.
The forest was infinitely better than the gardens.
Every tree, bush, crevice and fallen log became a hiding place.
At one point I hid so well that Charles spent nearly twenty minutes searching before finding me.
The look of disbelief on his face afterward made me laugh so hard that my stomach hurt.
Hours passed without either of us noticing.
We ran.
We hid.
We searched.
And by the time we finally stopped, both of us were exhausted.
I collapsed onto the grass while breathing heavily.
My clothes were filthy.
My hair was a mess and my legs ached.
And yet I couldn’t remember ever being happier.
These past few days had given me more joy than the rest of my life combined.
For the first time, I felt normal.
Not like the curse or monster that everybody else had seen in me.
Just a girl having fun with her friend.
Eventually I sat up and looked around and only then did I realize something.
The forest seemed different.
It was much denser.
My smile slowly faded.
"Charles..."
He looked over.
"I think we went too far."
Charles looked around.
Then scratched his head.
"...Maybe."
The fact that he wasn’t concerned did not make me feel better.
Still, after looking around for a few moments, he confidently pointed in a direction.
"This way."
I wasn’t entirely convinced.
But I followed him anyway.
After walking for a while, the trees suddenly began thinning.
Then the forest opened.
I froze.
Ahead of us stood a massive cliff.
Below it stretched an endless sea of green as the entire forest spread across the horizon.
The setting sun painted everything in shades of orange and gold while long shadows stretched across the distant landscape.
For several moments, I could only stare.
Slowly, I walked toward the edge.
The height was terrifying.
One glance downward was enough to make my stomach twist.
Yet despite that, I couldn’t look away.
The view was beautiful.
More beautiful than anything I had ever seen.
The wind gently brushed through my hair.
The sun warmed my face.
And for the first time in my life, I felt genuinely free.
A smile slowly appeared on my face.
These past few days had been incredible.
I had made a friend.
I had left the manor. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
I had explored the city.
I had played games.
I had laughed.
I had experienced more happiness than I thought was possible.
Everything felt perfect.
Then Charles spoke.
"Hey."
I turned slightly.
"What?"
He looked directly at me.
"What’s your actual name?"
My heart stopped.
The words hit me so suddenly that for a moment I genuinely thought I had misheard him.
Slowly, I turned around.
Charles was standing only a few steps away.
His expression was different.
Gone was the carefree smile he normally wore.
Instead he simply stared at me.
Waiting, watching.
My mouth suddenly felt dry.
"W-What do you mean?"
Charles didn’t answer immediately but instead he folded his arms.
Then spoke in a calm voice that felt strangely cold.
"Your real name."
My heart began pounding.
"My name is Emilia."
Charles stared at me.
Then shook his head.
"No."
The single word felt like a hammer striking my chest.
"I told you—"
"You lied."
I froze.
"I’m not dumb."
The words hurt far more than they should have.
Suddenly every happy memory from the past few days flashed through my mind.
Every game all the conversations and laughs.
All of it felt like it was hanging by a thread.
I knew exactly what would happen if I told him.
He would leave.
Just like everyone else.
Yet at the same time...
A small part of me desperately wanted to believe otherwise.
Maybe Charles was different.
Maybe after everything we’d done together, he would still accept me.
Maybe—
Slowly, I stood up straight.
My hands trembled.
But I forced myself to meet his gaze.
For the first time since meeting him, I decided to tell the truth.
"My name..."
I swallowed nervously and then I took a deep breath.
"My name is Lillith Nightbane."
The words left my mouth.
And suddenly the entire world felt silent.
—————————
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Hey guys I’m sorry to say but due to some exams I’ve got I’m going to have to stop uploading for a week as I have no more reserve Chapters left to publish.
I do feel sorry for you guys, leaving this in a bit of a cliffhanger so I may try to squeeze out one or two more Chapter but until the next Monday I won’t be able to do regular uploads.
But thank you guys so much I love all the support and I love reading all your comments and I’ll see you next week.
