Two Days Later

Its been two days since that incident and word of Tobey being a psychopath spreaded around the Imperial Palace quickly as everyone was wary of him. Tobey couldn't even eat peacefully without feeling someone burn his back with their glaring. The only ones who stuck with him were Seryu and Koro as they watched his back and continued to talk to him like nothing has happened.

Over the course of those two days, Tobey spent a lot of time pondering as to why he hallucinated a zombified version of his two best friends. It nagged him to no end as he replayed that moment again and again, trying to figure out a hidden meaning to the words that she spoke.

He must've been thinking a little bit too hard because Seryu was eating right across from him and it looked he was staring at her a little too much. The girl looked at Tobey and blushed a bit before snapping her fingers in front of his face which made him shake his head wildly and snapped out of his thinking state.

"S-sorry." Tobey apologized as Seryu shook her head.

"Alright start talking, what's going on?" Seryu asked him and he shook his head but she decided to press him.

"You haven't been sleeping properly for the past two days and you keep straying from me... what's wrong, Tobey?" Seryu demanded and she sounded a little bit crazy as Tobey leaned back a bit before looking at his breakfast sadly.

"It's nothing Seryu, don't worry ab-," Tobey started softly before Seryu bursted out.

"It's not nothing! Its never nothing with you! When something's bothering you, its something important and big! Please Tobey just tell me... please." Seryu pleaded desperately as Tobey saw her eyes were tearful and she was about to succumb to her feelings at any moment as he just shook his head.

"I need time Seryu, please," Tobey replied regretfully, "I'll tell you soon, I promise."

He then got up and left the table leaving Seryu alone as she just stared at where Tobey was before she felt a nudge in her side and she looked and saw Koro there, just staring at her before his eyes turned sad as he let out a soft whine.

"Oh Koro, I need answers and I need them now!" Seryu cried as tears fell from her eyes as she began sobbing as the dog looked at her and then looked in the direction that Tobey left in. His brain was processing all these new emotions that he was receiving and how should he respond to them.

"I don't want to lose Tobey, Koro. I lost my parents to Night Raid and I don't want anyone else I love to fall to that same fate! I just want to be real to him as he is to me!" Seryu began crying harder as she put her head on the table and cried her heart out as Koro just looked at her with sad eyes as he tried to comprehend what the feeling of love actually was.

In Another Part of the Palace

Tobey trudged towards his morning shift which was the same Head of Public Finances door, the one that he hated with no boundaries. He walked towards his destination as he walked through multiple doors and past other guards as some of them gave him the stink eyes. Tobey kept on trudging before he past the snack bar for the guards as he immediately grabbed a nice hot cup of coffee and some water before popping a pill in his mouth and used the coffee to carry it down.

The sweet taste of hot chocolate and sugar helped calmed his nerves down as he sighed in a relaxed format as he continued through the halls. As he walked, he came across a cute sight, there was a white cat looking around the hall and it had a ribbon in its ear almost in the shape of an X. It looked at him and looked startled for a couple of seconds before it meowed as Tobey stared at the cat curiously but cautiously.

"Why is there a cat in the middle of the hallway?" Tobey asked aloud as the cat meowed again and began walking towards him as Tobey watched it move towards him. The cat sat down in front of him as he brought his water container and set it on the ground for the cat to drink as it looked at the container and looked back at him.

"Are you thirsty?" Tobey asked and the cat just meowed as Tobey sighed before gesturing the cat to drink, "Can you please hurry up? I'm on thin ice right no-"

"HEY!"

Tobey and the cat jumped in surprise as their was a guard behind him as he turned around to look at him.

"Y-yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Giving this cat water."

The guard laughed, "Showing animals respect... now I know you're mental as people say you are."

Tobey looked down sadly as the guard continued to gloat at him for another minute before returning to his post as Tobey turned and looked at the cat who was looking at him curiously.

"You better get going." Tobey said before picking up the water canteen and scratching the cat's ears before heading to his post. If he watched the cat carefully, its eyes flickered with sympathy for the guard before it steeled with determination as it had a job to do.

Tobey continued down the hall as he continuously took sips of coffee to help him stay awake as he trudged lazily down the hall. As he continued, he noticed the floor coming up to him and he shook his head and continued. Before long, he made it to his position outside the Head of Public Finance room as he glared at the door before sighing and sipped his coffee.

"It's just for four hours and then I can go and talk to Seryu about all of this." Tobey thought as he got out his spear from his back and stood guard with occasionally sipping his coffee every now and then and had his pill container ready.

About ten minutes passed before Tobey's head began hurting as he rubbed it with his hand as his other hand clenched his spear. He widened his eyes to force himself through the aching as he looked back straight forward and noticed the floor in front of him looked strange.

The carpet was red but there was a black noticeable spot that seemed to get bigger and bigger the more Tobey looked at it. The floor stretched as he noticed there were creases forming in the shape of a massive circle encircling the black spot. Tobey shook his head and saw that the spot just got bigger and bigger as he slapped himself in the face but to no avail as the spot suddenly stopped growing.

Tobey readied his spear just in case as his breathing escalated a bit as the carpet remained black in front of him before a lump appeared and suddenly a scaly and grotesque hand shot out of the carpet with a ripping paper noise and grabbed Tobey's leg as he screamed in fright before looking around wildly.

There was no monster hand or anything at all as he looked at his leg and then looked around before his eyes rested on the door he was guarding and there was a maid there and she couldn't get the door open but she was startled when Tobey screamed out of nowhere.

"Um, are you okay?" The maid asked startled as Tobey laughed gently and slapped himself in the face before shaking it off and looked at her.

"Yeah! Yeah, nothing wrong here just... thinking." Tobey said sheepishly before his eyes narrowed, "Why are you here?"

"Oh, I was requested by the Head of Public Finances." The maid replied.

"Then you should know the procedure to entering the room." Tobey said suspiciously.

"Oh sorry! I'm kind of new around here and its my first day." The maid said nervously.

"Okay then technically you have to ask me for the key to the door but first I have to verify the exact appointment you have with the official." Tobey said as the maid walked up to him and stopped.

"I'm here because he requested a massage."

Tobey looked at her before looking at the door as he knew what the Head of Public Finances looked like and he sat down more than he stood up so the request made sense to him.

"Oh... I can see why he would request a massage, well here's the key." Tobey said as he took out a key from his pocket and gave it to the maid as she nodded her head in thanks before heading to the door, unlocked it and went inside before closing it.

"I hate that guy so much." Tobey mumbled to himself before he looked to the spot where the hand came from but the floor looked completely normal as he took out his pill container and analyzed its contents.

"These pills aren't helping me at all." Tobey thought sadly.

The Head of Public Finances Room

There was a little chair near the window as there was a fat and overweight man sitting on it wearing a turban and royal clothes that were couple sizes too small. He held a cup in his hand as it held red wine like the color of blood as his eyes held bloodlust and no remorse to the homeless people he was watching roam the streets.

"Livestock... livestock... livestock, all of those stupid looks on their faces are priceless! Nothing but a herd of sheep to fill my satisfaction." The Lord drank his wine as a line of it guzzled out of his mouth and went underneath his double chins.

"I do believe that their taxes make my wine taste sweeter!" He spoke darkly as he heard his door opened and closed before a soft female voice spoke.

"Hello master, good afternoon." The maid greeted as she walked towards him.

"Ah yes, I hope you're ready my dear because I'll need a nice massage." He spoke greedily but what he didn't notice was that maid pulled a long needle out of her mouth and as soon as he finished that sentence, she stabbed the needle straight into the side of his neck as his face widened in shock before the life was drained from his eyes as he slumped.

The maid snapped her fingers and brief veil of smoke enveloped her before it revealed that she is still in a maid outfit but her appearance is different as she now had beautiful pink eyes with auburn hair along with a butterfly headphone accessory with a ribbon on it as she had a lollipop in her mouth.

This was Chelsea and she was an assassin in the group known as Night Raid and she was known as the stealthiest of the group.

"Mission success, now what kind of massage did you have in mind?" Chelsea said mischievously before she heard the sound of footsteps running towards the door as she got out her cosmetics in her fingers and transformed before the door opened to reveal the guard captain and a couple of his associates.

"Sir! The Prime Minister requests an audience with you." The Captain spoke from the doorway as he saw that the head of the official was down as he got suspicious and gestured for his associates to go forward.

The two guards readied their spears and flanked the official as they came up to him and one of them yelled, "He's dead, Captain!"

"What?!" The Captain exclaimed as he rushed forward and probed the official's neck and felt no pulse but he felt the trickle of blood from the wound.

As for where Chelsea was, she disguised herself as a cat and rested among the rest of the cats in the basket besides the throne of the official as she listened to the conversation before opening her eyes and acted tired as she looked at the situation.

"How can this happen in broad daylight?!" The first guard asked incredulously.

"What should we do, Captain?" The second guard asked.

The Captain didn't say anything before he turned to the door and yelled out angrily and it made Chelsea wince.

"TOBEEEEEY!!!"

Nothing happened for a couple of seconds but Tobey came stumbling through the doorway and Chelsea's eyes widened, it was the same guard that was watching the hall.

"Y-Yes?" Tobey asked fearfully.

"Could you care to explain... why is the Head of Public Finances.... Dead?" The Captain spoke dangerously as Tobey's eyes widened.

"H-How? The only person to come here was a maid and she had an appointment scheduled with him for a massage." Tobey stated, obviously confused.

"When did this happen?" The Captain asked.

"About two minutes ago." Tobey replied.

"The thief could be long gone!" The first guard yelled.

Tobey didn't reply as he looked around the room and Chelsea watched him nervously as she tried her best not to stand out and make it obvious that she was the cat. She felt the other cats beneath her move and change positions.

"This Tobey guy is probably smarter than most of the guards in the Palace but hopefully these guys slip up and leave." Chelsea thought as Tobey scoured the room.

"Are you done wasting our time?! There's an assassin in this palace! Most likely Night Raid!" The Captain yelled, obviously losing his patience.

"Actually... the killer is still in here." Tobey stated as Chelsea's heart stopped for a second.

"What?"

"Captain, there is no sign of escape in this room and the only other way out besides the door is the window but there are no cracks whatsoever. Also... the maid who came in here never came back out." Tobey reported as the three guards readied their spears.

"Good call, so the assassin could still be in this room!" The Captain stated before taking out a whistle and blowing it. About ten seconds pass before five more guards showed up and entered the room as Chelsea was practically hyperventilating at this point.

"The Head of Public Finances has been assassinated and the killer is still within this room, probably hiding somewhere, find them and kill them!" The Captain ordered as all the guards begin searching every corner of the room as Chelsea laid her head down on the basket and was sweating drastically.

"Shit." Chelsea whispered quietly as she remained still as she watched Tobey as he was the only one in this room that can rat her out.

Tobey rubbed his eyes as he looked at the dead body of the official and a mixed set of emotions were swirling in his body. On one hand, he felt bad for the guy since he was killed unconditionally and without hesitation or not even a heads up. On the other hand, Tobey felt glad that he was dead since he was known for treating people harshly and was very sinful. He shivered as these feelings were unfamiliar and were weird to even think about.

He took another look around the room as he saw the guards checking every corner of the room from the rugs to even the vases. Tobey has been in this room a couple of times and had the entire place memorized in the back of his head because after all, it was his job to look after everything that was in here.

Tobey looked around the room again and saw nothing out of the ordinary as his eyes rested on the cat basket and they widened when he saw the white cat from before. This was the same cat that he ran into in the hallway and it had the same ribbon and everything.

Calculations began running in Tobey's head as he put the pieces together.

"Wait a second, the cat was in the hallway that I passed and never entered the offical's door since the cats never ever leave there at all. The only other person to come in here was the maid and she became a cat? That doesn't make sense, the only thing that can do that was... an imperial arms! Of course! The cosmetic one known as Gaia Foundation is the only thing in the world that is capable of doing this but... what do I do?" Tobey thought nervously as he stared at the cat who was now staring back at him.

"Oh no, he knows I'm the assassin!" Chelsea thought and she was horrified, she wasn't going to make it out of this room alive and all Tobey had to do was tell the guards and she was as good as gone.

She was so terrified that her fear was shown through her eyes and when Tobey looked at them, he saw genuine fear and could tell that the assassin was terrified. Even though Tobey hated seeing people killed, this official was a pretty sinful individual and as long as Tobey didn't have to deliver the final blow, he was okay with it.

But what if this wasn't real?

What if he was hallucinating the cat? What if the cat was actually just a regular cat and nothing more? It has been almost twenty minutes since he took the pill and it working just fine but what if this was a malfunction again? Tobey had no choice but to risk making himself look stupid, people knew he was crazy and nothing he would do can change that.

Chelsea watched in horror as Tobey knelt down and took the basket in his hands before calling out, "Um, Captain?"

Everyone in the room looked at Tobey as he gulped nervously as the Captain addressed him, "What is it, soldier?"

"Do you mind if I, um, release these cats in the forest?" Tobey asked nervously as Chelsea's cat eyes widened in disbelief when the Captain nodded his head.

"Go ahead but return here at once when you're finished, Prime Minister Honest is expecting a report from us."

Tobey lifted the basket and walked out the room as Chelsea couldn't believe it, this imperial guard was helping her.... Why?

As Tobey carried the cats in the basket, he actually couldn't believe he was doing this and he was actually going against his job description as he made his way down the hallway and passed the kitchen but not before he heard the lead chef yelling at his workers.

"You goddamn slug! Hurry up and deliver the meat to Minister Honest!" An angry voice yelled as the door to the hallway Tobey was in opened and a servant rushed out with a plate full of meat as he scurried to his destination.

"Well, well, what do you got for me?" The lead chef said as he stepped into the hallway and Tobey gulped. The lead chef was fat but not as fat as Minister Honest as his skin was greasy as his long black hair sticked to his skin. The apron he was wearing was a little too small as it hugged around his body too tightly as his arms had long hairs on them. His face was fat and a thick mustache was on his upper lip as his eyes held one of anger and bloodlust.

"Um, nothing." Tobey replied as the chef sniffed the air and looked at the cats.

"Ooh, you got me some cats, thank you!" Before Tobey could react, the chef snatched the basket out of his hands and wandered into the kitchen as Chelsea yelped in surprise and looked at Tobey pleadingly as the guard hastily followed the chef.

"No, no, no! They're not food!" Tobey said as he followed the chef through the kitchen as other cooks were smoking up their food and spicing up their ingredients.

"Sure, there not~" The lead chef spoke delighted as he set the basket down and made sure that he was using his body to block Tobey from reaching the cats. Chelsea was terrified and climbed out of the basket to make a run for it but the chef grabbed her and looked at her greedily.

"I can tell you're going to taste puuurfect!" The lead chef said as he licked his lips before slamming the cat on the ground and held Chelsea's head still as he whipped out a cleaver knife as he raised it up high as Chelsea's eyes were widened in horror as she was about to be decapitated and made into cat soup.

"To a good feast!" The chef brought the cleaver down and Chelsea closed her eyes tightly before a metal clanging was heard and she opened her eyes and saw that a second blade blocked the cleaver and it was a spear-head which was held by Tobey as he blocked the strike.

Expertly, Tobey flicked his spear upwards and the cleaver flung out of the chef's hand and impaled itself in the ceiling as he expertly spun his spear and glared at the chef.

"I said... they are not food." Tobey spoke angrily as he pointed the spear at the chef threateningly, "Let the cat go."

The lead chef's eye twitched angrily but he released the cat as Tobey immediately cradled the cat in his arms before resting Chelsea in the basket before taking the basket full of cats and briskly walked back into the hallway as the lead chef yelled angrily.

"Just wait until I report this to the Captain! He will have your head for this, you hear me?!" He yelled angrily as Tobey ran through the halls with the cat basket in his hands and not before long, he reached outside and began walking as he panted lightly.

"Phew, that was too close for comfort." Tobey panted as the cats in the basket meowed and began moving around as he looked down at them.

"Don't worry, I'm going to release you guys at the forest." Tobey promised as he began making his way to the forest at the edge of the Capital.

Many thoughts were going through Chelsea's mind right now as she was looking at Tobey's face. He seemed like a very shy and easy going person but why would he save her? He was part of the Empire, could he possibly be a revolutionary spy? That had to be the case otherwise she would have been decapitated, raped... or worse. Her ears twitched and she kept thinking about this and she didn't realize that they were at the forest edge until Tobey spoke.

"Alright kitties, time for you to get going now!" Tobey spoke happily as he set the basket down and the normal cats climbed out and immediately ran into the forest while Tobey noticed there was one cat that hadn't leaved and it was the one who was the assassin.

"I know you're an assassin and you're not as you appeared. You have killed people and I don't really like those who do that but... I didn't really like that guy and I suppose it was right that I helped you escape from there." Tobey said before his expression turned sheepish and he scratched the back of his head.

"This is awkward... talking to a cat but hey! People call me crazy all the time and now... I got to head back and get a earful from everyone." Tobey spoke sadly as he got up and began to walk back as Chelsea watched him but not before he stopped and spoke again.

"If you truly are not just a figment of my imagination, stay out of trouble and be careful please... I highly doubt we'll meet again." Tobey said before he began running back to the Palace.

A puff of smoke soon appeared around the cat as Chelsea was back in her human form and she stared at the retreating figure of her savior as she immediately headed back to base as she needed to let the others know about this. As she ran, her mind couldn't help but wonder as her thoughts slipped out of her mouth.

"Why would you save me, Tobey?"

Hope you guys like the Chapter!

Who do you think the love interest(s) is/are?