Chapter 10

Silence.

That's all that was heard after Yuki uttered those words.

The whole room was filled with the atmosphere of shock and great puzzlement.

Yuki dared not to look back at Lune, for she knew if she did, he would stare at her with hurt in his mismatched eyes.

However, Lune looked at Yuki with confusion instead.

"But... why... why ever would we need to cancel our wedding?" Lune asked.

Yuki still did he best not to meet Lune's eyes and remained silent.

Baron sighed and decided to speak up for Yuki.

"Ms. Yuki-... pardon...I mean Louise… she and I found some startling information." Baron said calmly.

Lune turned his attention to Baron.

"And what would that have to do with anything? And why are you calling Yuki, Louise?" Lune said narrowing his eyes slightly at Baron, demanding answers.

Before Baron could speak, Yuki did instead.

"I'm Louise, Lune... I'm not Yuki anymore..."

Lune turned to her again.

"What? Of course you're Yuki. It's who you are and who you'll always be..." Lune said softly placing his paw to cup Yuki's face.

"No I'm not!" Yuki cried pushing Lune's paw away.

Everyone stared at Yuki in surprise.

"I'm not Yuki anymore! There was never a Yuki! Yuki was only an illusion of who I once was! So please... know that I'm sorry Lune..." Yuki said trying to keep herself together saying this.

Haru, Toto, and Muta who were watching quietly from the sidelines, gave each other questioning looks.

"But Yuki... what do you mean you are not 'Yuki'? And why are you calling yourself Louise? Who is Louise?"

Yuki turned to look at Baron.

Baron nodded at her.

Yuki sighed.

"Sit down Lune, because you deserve the truth..."

Baron sighed also.

"Let's start... from the very beginning..."

OOO

Haru stood on the castle's terrace, starring out at the Cat Kingdom's green open fields in a daze, thinking about what happened not too long ago.

'...Baron was... engaged?' asked in her head.

A nice breeze blew past Haru, which made her brown hair blow forward slightly.

'Well... I guess the idea that Baron was never in a serious relationship was too good to be true...' Haru thought with a sigh.

'Yuki said she just found out she was actually another cat named Louise and she said that as her 'past self' she was Baron's fiancée. Does that mean that Baron and Yuki are going to marry now?'

Haru pictured Yuki and Baron standing in a beautifully decorated room, in front of a priest, wearing very elegant wedding attire, reciting their vows promising to spend their entire lives with each other "until death do them part".

Haru's chest tightened at the thought.

'I don't have a right to be jealous... I should be happy for them. They've spent a long time apart from one another and now they found each other again, I'm sure they are very happy to have rediscovered one another. Besides, I never had a chance with Baron anyway...' Haru thought sadly, fighting the urge to let tears flow.

Another soft breeze blew by her, which helped to invigorate her, but right after the breeze left her she feel empty again.

"Are you okay, Haru?" said a soft voice suddenly.

Haru turned to see Toto and Muta standing behind her.

She quickly turned from them to hide her red and burning eyes and replied.

"I'm fine, thanks Toto..."

Haru heard them murmur things to one another, and then they walked up to her, Muta on her left and Toto on her right.

For a long moment, the three of them just stared out at the Cat Kingdom's vast land in silence.

The silence was broke by Muta however.

"You know Chicky... Baron and Snowy don't exactly look very happy about what's going on..."

"And nothing's really official you know..." Toto added putting a wing on Haru's shoulder to comfort her.

Haru then looked at both of them with a quizzical look.

"Why... are you guys saying this stuff to me...?" Haru asked.

"Well, you see we-" Toto tried to say but was interrupted.

"We are saying this because we know about your 'crush' on Baron" Muta said straightforwardly.

Toto glared at Muta with a hostile look on his face, while Haru blushed brightly.

"How...?" Haru asked weakly.

"We just knew..." Toto said giving up on hiding their common knowledge about the human girl's affection.

"Yeah, you have to be pretty dumb not to see it" Muta scoffed.

Haru blushed even more.

Toto sighed.

"Haru, if you need to talk about things, we're here. It could help if you talk about it..." Toto smiled encouragingly to Haru.

Haru stared back at Toto, and then looked to Muta on her left, who was looking out at the fields avoiding eye contact.

Haru sighed.

"I really don't understand why I'm feeling like this. I don't even have a right to feel like this! From the way Baron and Yuki explained things to us, I could tell that Baron and Yuki's old self were very much in love, so why am I acting like this? It's not like Baron and I ever had a chance anyway..." Haru said as her head slumped slightly down.

Haru knew Toto and Muta were exchanging looks, because they both didn't say a word, nor did she feel their eyes on her.

Finally Toto spoke up.

"Haru, what you're feeling is perfectly normal. You have feelings for Baron, yes, and it's clear you two share an affectionate bond, but then all of a sudden, he's reunited with his 'lost love' and rapidly unravel. Of course you are feeling a bit sad. It's only natural to feel that way, Haru, so don't go thinking you don't have a right to feel cheated over this, because you do..."

Haru felt her throat tighten at Toto's words to her, struggling not to break down in front of him and Muta.

"Yeah Chicky... don't put yourself down like this..." Muta said.

By now, Haru didn't know if she could hold her tears much longer.

Toto sighed.

"It's okay to cry, Haru" Toto said simply.

Haru then felt herself being abruptly pulled into a big furry belly in a warm embrace, by Muta.

"L-let it out..." Muta said awkwardly, not used to showing affection to others so freely.

She couldn't take it anymore.

She buried her face into Muta's fur and began to cry, as she brought her arms up to hug Muta tightly for comfort.

Muta awkwardly patted her back and sighed. He then looked up at Toto, who was studying the girl in Muta's embrace carefully.

Both Toto and Muta knew this was going to happen. As soon as Baron and Yuki finished explaining to everyone about their past and everything else, they knew that Haru would be grief stricken because of her feelings toward the Baron. They were also aware of Baron's feelings as well. They knew that Baron is very fond of Haru and it would seem that Baron has mutual feelings for Haru. But, Muta and Toto both knew they couldn't tell Haru nor Baron about the other's feelings. That was entirely up to Haru and Baron. It would have to be them to realize their mutual feelings. But from the way things were going, they didn't know if that was ever going to happen, now that the mysterious Baroness has reappeared. The one question that remained in both Muta and Toto's minds was clear:

'What happens now?'