Beast Gacha System: All Mine

"I heard you were missing. Some people even said you died. But I don’t believe that. I just know you’ll return here one day," Uncle Rhett said, so certain he had waited years to be proven right. And he was.

Cecilia smiled and nodded. "I met some men... and things happened."

Rhett chuckled dryly. "Your mother was also that popular, you know? Three or four men would flock to her all the time."

Cecilia chuckled too, a genuine warmth bubbling up through the cold. "But I only remember you, though."

"It’s thanks to me that those men didn’t bother your mother!" Rhett puffed out his chest with pride.

"Ahahaha!"

They chatted about things for a while, small things, ordinary things, the kind of conversation that didn’t need to be important to be meaningful.

The weather. The town. The old oak tree that had stood for longer than anyone could remember...

The cemetery had been expanding for years, creeping outward slowly as the town grew. New headstones pressed closer each season, their inscriptions fresh and stark against the weathered monuments of older graves.

One day, sooner than they thought, Cecilia knew, the boundary would reach this hill. The old oak would find itself no longer at the edge of the cemetery but at its heart, surrounded by silent neighbors, its roots tangled with theirs.

The snow would fall on all of them equally, and the tree would stand watch over more souls than just Summer’s. But for now, this spot was still separate.

Rhett spoke of Summer in passing, the way one might speak of someone who had simply stepped out for a moment and would return any minute now. It was funny too, the way he spoke about her.

And Cecilia found that she could listen without the familiar ache in her chest. The grief was still there, but it had softened.

"Child, let’s return to my place. It’s cold here. Why did you come out here with just that thin dress?" Rhett finally asked the question that had been pressing on him since the moment he saw her.

He almost had a heart attack seeing her like this. There were only two possibilities. It was either he was seeing the ghost of the daughter of the woman he loved, or... well, to him, a distraught Cecilia.

Rhett was a deeply considerate man, and he had learned a bit about medicine and people’s ailments thanks to Dr. Silver. He had also come to understand, over the years, that the wounds of the mind were just as serious as the wounds of the body.

He had initially thought Cecilia was so lost in her sorrow that she had rushed out without proper clothes and simply couldn’t feel the cold. But after conversing with her for a while, he realized she was of sound mind. There was no madness in her eyes, only a quiet sadness.

"It’s okay, Uncle. It’s true that I didn’t get to wear something warm because I left the house distraught. But I don’t feel the cold. I’m using magic right now," Cecilia answered.

She was telling the truth. Her telekinesis was creating a subtle friction in the air around her body, She maintained a constant gentle vibration that kept the freezing wind at bay.

"You’re... bonded with a beast? But I heard you got divorced from your husband," Rhett asked, his brow furrowing with confusion.

Cecilia nodded. "I didn’t know you looked for my information and knew this much."

"People are worried about you!" Rhett scolded, his voice cracking with the frustration of years. "You..."

"I did get divorced from the Tiger Prince. We used the Meleth Flower," Cecilia lied.

It was easier than the truth. Easier than explaining that Arzhen had ripped her heart out, that she had nearly died, that the bond had been severed by violence rather than... sigh.

Rhett didn’t need to know that. At least not yet.

Rhett’s eyes widened, and then he nodded slowly. But the scolding wasn’t over. "Knowing that being involved with a beast gave you so much heartache, you bonded with another one again?!"

"Ahahahah!" Cecilia laughed. "They’re good men!"

"Huh?! You actually got involved with more than one?!!!"

"Ahahahahah!!"

Cecilia had a feeling that Rhett had perhaps paid someone to ask around about her. Getting that kind of information while living in a small town like this was far more difficult than people thought.

"Child," Rhett said, his voice suddenly gentler. "Do you want to see the clinic?"

Cecilia’s eyes widened. She fell silent and couldn’t answer.

The clinic... Summer’s clinic?

"Summer’s relatives... they sold the land of the clinic. So I bought it. That young man in the past... he even went into debt to get it no matter what," Rhett said, his voice self-deprecating, almost embarrassed.

"Uncle..." Cecilia turned to him, her eyes glistening. "Please let me reimburse you..."

"No, I got out of debt after some years passed. So it’s fine," the old man said, waving a dismissive hand. "I kept it the way it was. I just cleaned it, and didn’t touch anything. I wanted to... I don’t know. I don’t know why."

Cecilia did know that the clinic had been sold. But she hadn’t known it was Rhett who had bought it. And she hadn’t known he had kept it preserved, untouched like that.

The grief of it was why Cecilia had never come back. She couldn’t even begin to think of returning here. She couldn’t bring herself to find out what had happened after Summer passed. The loss had been too great to her young heart. She had buried it so deep that even the thought of unearthing it felt like dying.

She smiled at Rhett, and nodded. "I will visit soon. But perhaps not today, Uncle," she said. "I will bring the men I’m with along with me."

Rhett’s eyes widened, and then a fierce light kindled in them. "You better, alright? I’ll see whether they’re worthy of you!"

Cecilia chuckled again. "I’ll trust your judgment. I should’ve come home and shown that tiger prince to you. You would have known he was bad business!"

"Oh, girl, oh, girl, I’m sorry... I should’ve gone to you myself and scolded him then..."

"Ahahaha, that’s okay! It’s passed, it’s passed..."

Rhett sensed that Cecilia wanted to stay under the oak tree for a while longer, so he left after saying his see-you-soons. His footsteps crunched through the snow, growing fainter and fainter until they were swallowed by the silence of the cemetery.

Cecilia stood alone beneath the oak, looking at the space covered in snow. A stone could be erected here, one with Summer’s name.

"Summer..." she whispered, her breath misting in the cold air. "Mother, do you like this place?"

That was when she felt a presence behind her.

A familiar warmth. A familiar mana signature, threaded with shadow and moonlight and the wild scent of the northern wilderness.

Her heart knew who it was before her eyes did.

When she turned, it was him. Arkai.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!