When Time Doesn’t Exist

Chapter 16

The traumatic experience that Benji had a long time ago flashed before his eyes as soon as he saw Elisa walking towards him. Everyone knew that she is strict when it comes to him. They wouldn’t know what Elisa could do if she is not in a mood. While Enjo and Leo were walking towards the exit, Enjo heard Elisa, lecturing Benji and the other guards. He thought that he shouldn’t have let Benji make a commotion with the guards since Elisa would notice it and they would probably have consequences.

The last time Benji broke a rule is when they were still at a young age. The moment when Enjo’s invention was rejected because someone stole his idea, Benji blamed himself so he won’t be scolded and endure the pain that he might get. Benji was already used to it because Elisa scolded him and gave him consequences a lot when he was young to teach him a lesson but it was too much for him.

“What is your business here?” asked Elisa with emphasis.

No one dared to answer, even the guards. They stood still and waited for the moment for Elisa to finish her lecture. Even though the guards didn’t do anything wrong and they are doing their jobs, they are still scared to face Elisa because of her intimidating face and attitude. Her consequences are cruel with the past guards and maids who worked in their modern castle even though they did only one mistake.

Their scar will remain in their body and if there is no space left, it is a sign that they should resign from their job. There is a lot of history and stories that already passed from the past people who already worked here. It is not worth mentioning si too cruel. Some people even changed the story and exaggerated it for them to have reasons to be afraid of Elisa, their queen.

“I need to convince Mom not to do anything cruel with him again,” said Enjo to Leo while they were walking towards them.

“It would be better for the both of you if you stayed away,” replied Leo as he held his wrist to stop him from walking any further.

Enjo was confused because of what he replied. He also doesn’t know if he is going to trust him or listen to him. They just met and Leo is a complete stranger to him even though he is one of their guards here. He stared at Leo with a confused look while Leo is just looking back at him uninterestedly.

“Why is that?”

“Queen Elisa wouldn’t want to know that you are involved here,” answered Leo simply as soon as he turned back and walked towards the exit again.

Even though Leo’s answer is not reasonable for him, Enjo still went with him while overthinking about what is happening in the commotion near the entrance of this place. This place is full of things with strange memories and stories. A lot of piles of files were stocked on the side and a lot of useless information from the past can be found here. This is also the place where someone can be buried if ever Elisa would make a mistake. Of course, she doesn’t want to let people know that she could kill and steal the lives of innocents.

“How long have you been working here?” asked Enjo to break the silence.

“Two or three months, I suppose,” he replied when he stopped walking to stay at the end of the exit.

As soon as Enjo notice that he stopped, he realized that Leo was supposed to guard the exit of the gate. Enjo pulled the wooden barrel somewhere from the corner so he has something to sit on and he started to asked questions again to observe him and his answers. In the end, there is nothing special about him but he caught sight of some small details from his answer because every time Leo answers, he is always not sure of it. Even though Leo is not sure of his answers, he still answers him while having eye contact.

“I guess, I will have to go now,” said Enjo as he stood up from the wooden barrel.

He also put back the wooden barrel from its place a while ago so no one would notice that someone came here to talk with a guard. Enjo paid attention to the surroundings and he also pays attention to what he does and what he did to avoid suspicion. He is like an owl with eyes wide open that watches and observes everyone how someone moves or talks.

When he was walking away from the exit, he suddenly remembers the reason why he went there in the first place so he turned and walked again towards the exit. He stopped as soon as he suddenly remembers again why he didn’t get a chance to roam around in that place. Enjo held his temple because his head is hurting. It is odd for him to forget what happened a few minutes ago so he immediately went into their modern castle. He tried to find Benji but he couldn’t and he stopped finding him as soon as he realized that he left him.

“What is wrong with me?” he asked himself while grabbing his hair in confusion.

Since he was confused about what was happening, he tried his best to remember what he did a while ago but it seems like everything he did from the moment he woke up is normal and his routine is still the same. He stopped grabbing his hair and hurting himself when he remembered something unusual. Enjo doesn’t know if it is only a coincidence or not.

He knew that Leo is different and his aura is also different from other normal people that he already met. Leo is not a normal person. As soon as he realized that the reason why he was forgetful is because of Leo having eye contact with him, he immediately went back to the exit but unfortunately, he didn’t find any trace of him here. No one was guarding the exit so he looked everywhere. Enjo felt uneasy because what he was feeling right now is odd.

“Leo?” he tried to call his name as soon as he heard something.

“Help,” someone said from the cave.

Enjo’s eyes were wide open when he recognized that voice. It was from someone he met before. The memories of him were slowly fading as soon as every minute passed by.