Chapter 31

While Lakis was stunned, Yuri who was pinned under him, lifted her knee and kicked him off . Then she shot out her thread again, binding Lakis up before jumping down from the roof .

“Wait…!”

Lakis stubbornly didn’t give up on catching her . Once he got out of the threads, he immediately chased after her . He instinctively moved to use the ruin’s power to catch the fleeing person ahead then he stopped .

Lakis’ main ability involved using blood, so it was better not to use it when he was injured like right now . Above all, that ability was specialized for killing . So he couldn’t use it on someone who triggered his gut feeling for some reason .

Lakis cursed under his breath and put down his hand in the end . In the meantime, the person in front of him was gradually disappearing from his sight .

Yuri was thinking of changing her plans and blending into the crowd .

“Kyaa!”

But the moment Yuri landed into the maze of an alley, a weak scream pierced her ears . Silver hair, with strands as though woven with moonlight, trailed into Yuri’s sight . Meanwhile, a pair of wide, verdant green eyes were taking in Yuri’s appearance .

‘Why are you here?’

Yuri swallowed the words that almost left her mouth .

“W-Who are you?”

The person Yuri met was none other than Anne-Marie .

Part 6: What Flag Is This

Let’s go back to 30 minutes ago .

–

“Kreung . ”

Leo was bored as he passed time alone in the empty monastery .

Chirp!

After Yuri left, he played with the white pigeon that entered the monastery till he was tired of it then he rolled around on the floor . The bird whose feathers had plucked by Leo till he was bored, finally got its freedom and tearfully flew out of the monastery .

The white feathers hovering in the air sank down and clung to Leo’s brown fur .

“Achoo!”

Leo sneezed and tapped the floor with his tail .

He couldn’t be more bored . He thought Yuri had come to play with him, but his hopes were dashed . So it felt even more boring to wait till she finished her work and came back .

Eventually, Leo wandered out of the monastery .

From the start, it was Yuri’s mistake to think Leo would stay still and wait for her to bring melon candy . Leo was mentally 13 years old . Of course, he seemed to have actually degraded more than that for some reason…

In any case, he was a child who couldn’t stay in one place for a long time because he was restless .

“Hm?”

After wandering out of the monastery, Leo noticed a delicious smell coming from somewhere . He began to drool without realizing it .

Leo’s eyes lit up and he went into the street alley where the festival was at its peak .

* * *

“Hestia, let’s start heading to the clock tower . ”

Anne-Marie was wandering the festive streets with her younger sister, Hestia then she suddenly realized it was around the time she had agreed on with Yuri .

Hestia nodded, holding a skewer bought from one of the street stalls . With similar green eyes and silver hair, Hestia looked very much like her older sister . Her face seemed very calm and mature for a 12 year old but on her head was a frog mask Anne-Marie bought for her, which she was wearing like a hat .

“Mn . But Unni, can I have one more lizard skewer?”[1]

Hestia furtively asked but Anne-Marie firmly refused .

“No . You’ve already had two . If you eat any more, you’ll get a stomach ache . ”

Hestia sulked a little and quietly followed, holding Anne-Marie’s hand . She didn’t pester her sister about the lizard skewer anymore .

“Oh, look who it is . Anne-Marie, isn’t it?”

As they were walking towards the square where the clock-tower was located, someone appeared, seeming to know Anne-Marie .

Anne-Marie also seemed know the person calling her and greeted them pleasantly .

“Hello, Mrs . Meriel . ”

It was the repair shop’s Mrs . Meriel, one of Anne-Marie’s neighbors on Grey Ferret .

“I guess you came to see the festival with your sister?”

“Yes, are you alone, Mrs . Meriel?”

“No, my companion went to buy something over there . Oh, Ms . Anne-Marie, perhaps you might know them? The bookstore in the next neighborhood, Swan…”

The repair shop’s Mrs . Meriel was originally a very talkative person . So she would easily grab anyone she knew and ramble on about rumors she heard or things about herself . And since half-a-year ago, her favorite next-door neighbor was none other Anne-Marie .

With Anne-Marie’s nice nature, she didn’t know when to cut off Mrs . Meriel and would end up listening to the woman’s speech for quite a while . And it seems that side of her appealed to Mrs . Meriel .

“Uh, Mrs . Meriel . I’m sorry but we have something else to do . ”

“Oh no, really? I didn’t know I was holding you back when you’re busy . Then, I’ll just finish up what I was talking about quickly . So you know that friend, right? He was swindled by the in-law’s third cousin and…”

As expected, Mrs . Meriel didn’t show any sign of stopping the conversation anytime soon .

Thinking she still had some time before her agreement with Yuri, Anne-Marie continued to listen to Mrs . Meriel’s story, all the while believing that Mrs . Meriel was just finishing up .

Hestia lived in the same neighborhood, so she already knew what kind of person Mrs . Meriel was . She let the story flow out through one ear and turned to look elsewhere . There was many attractions on the street where the festival was being held . So you wouldn’t even notice time passing as you looked around .

Clatter!

And just then, Hestia discovered someone when her gaze landed in an alley .

“Huh?”

The figure slouched over in the dim alley with its tail curled looked like a big dog . But although their fluffy tail and pricked ears were that of an animal, the rest of them was a contrast to that . They were eating a lizard skewer like the one in Hestia’s hand, and their face and body was like that of a human .

Then perhaps it sensed Hestia’s gaze, for the (maybe-human-or-animal) figure turned its head .

Instantly, their eyes met .

Golden eyes, like sparkling gold coins, claimed Hestia’s sight . The person Hestia had discovered, was none other than Leo .

Leo was lured to the streets of the festival by the delicious smell . But because there were so many people around, he couldn’t leave the alley . Then when people started moving to see the fireworks and weren’t paying attention, he had snatched up a snack from one of the food vendors .

But while he was distracted by the meat, he was caught by a young human girl .

.

‘I’ll get you melon candy when I come back . Behave well by yourself . ’

.

The words Yuri said earlier suddenly flashed through Leo’s mind . The lizard tail he was chewing fell from his mouth .

‘Yuri also told me not to cause any trouble last time…!’

But if Yuri were to find out that he had not only snuck into a crowd secretly but was also caught by someone!

.

‘So reflect on yourself . If you do this again, I might really get angry next time . ’

.

No…!

Leo hurriedly sprang to his feet and began racing deep into the alley .

The moment the fluffy tail began swaying before her eyes, Hestia unconsciously let go of Anne-Marie’s hand .

“Puppy, wait…!”

“Ah, Hestia…!”

Anne-Marie called out, surprised by Hestia suddenly running forward .

But Hestia couldn’t hear the subsequent call because she was thinking she had frightened the boy and scared him away(she still couldn’t tell if he was human or animal but decided to think of him as human for now) .

Anne-Marie reached out to try and grab Hestia . But right then, she was blocked by the flowing crowd and her attempt failed . In the end, Anne-Marie lost sight of her younger sister on the street of the festival .

* * *

“Hestia!”

Anne-Marie’s face was ghastly pale as she walked through the alley where Hestia had disappeared . The alley was like a maze, so it was difficult to find her way around . Naturally, she also couldn’t catch any sight of Hestia .

“Hesti…Kyaa!”

Swish!

A black shadow suddenly appeared before Anne-Marie as she wandered down the alley . Someone in a white mask suddenly had leapt down from somewhere above her head .

Judging by their attire, they seemed to be a man . But oddly enough, they were wearing a luxurious tailcoat kind of attire that didn’t match the street festival . Their long, black hair flowed before Anne-Marie’s eyes .

“W-Who are you?”

Anne-Marie unconsciously asked .

She had no clue that the one who appeared in front of her was her neighbor, Yuri .

–

Yuri, on the other hand, was feeling puzzled because of Anne-Marie’s sudden appearance .

She was already being chased by Lakis and now it’s Anne-Marie’s turn to appear? Was this the so-called power of the heroine to cause incident wherever she goes?

“Wait!”

On top of that, while she was momentarily stalled, Lakis was still on her heels and he was coming up right behind her .

Yuri felt so frustrated, she wanted to grab Lakis’ ear and yell into it .

‘I’m your life-saver! And she is the heroine you might fall in love with someday!’

Of course, judging from his actions so far, she doubted such words would get through .

Translator’s Corner:

[1] Unni: big sis, elder sister, etc . I usually leave some Korean terms in like: Oppa, Unni, Noona, Hyung . And honorifics from time to time, like -ssi and -nim .