Chapter 92

“Wha…What are you talking about? Of course, I don’t!”

“What are you so startled about? Even kids my age are following the trend these days . ”

Hestia said flatly, not caring if Anne-Marie was flustered or not then she turned around and began walking away .

“Since you’ve quit the clinic and have more time on your hands, you might as well get one of your own, Unni . ”

Anne-Marie’s eyes shook slightly as she looked at her younger sister who seemed more mature than she was .

“Wait, Hestia…you said it’s the trend among kids your age . Don’t tell me, you too…?”

Then Anne-Marie abruptly came to her senses and quickly followed after Hestia . When Hestia heard that, she spun around to look at Anne-Marie like she was pricked .

“No! I was just saying other kids were doing it . ”

“Hestia, if you do have one, you can be honest with me . I’m not narrow-minded . ”

Anne-Marie lost her mother at a young age and since she was much older than Hestia, she had practically raised Hestia by herself . Because of this, to Anne-Marie, her sister still looked like a child . So even if Hestia had a boyfriend, she only saw it as her playing house and it seemed cute to her .

“So you can just let me in on a little bit, hm? If you don’t have a boyfriend yet then, what about a boy you like? Is there anyone? I’ll be the only one that knows . Promise . ”

Hestia looked at Anne-Marie who seemed to be teasing her and wrinkled her nose .

“There’s nothing like that, okay?”

“Eyy, I don’t think so?”

Hestia’s cheek flushed slightly .

Only children would get angry at something like this for no reason . She was 12 years old now and practically an adult . So there was no reason forget to get into a childish argument with her elder sister . Most of all, she really didn’t have a boyfriend or a boy she liked!

Of course, there was a face that came up in her mind when Anne-Marie said that . The boy she got close to not long ago and often played with wherever Anne-Marie was not around . Her friend with animal ears and a tail .

But that kid was just a guy who was a friend . Really!

“It’s…It’s just a friend, okay?”

“Ah, just a friend . ”

Although Hestia said that, Anne-Marie’s face had a beaming smile and she looked like she didn’t understand at all .

“It’s really just a friend!”

“Okay, I heard you . Friend, of course . ”

It was the same this time .

In the end, Hestia got sulky with Anne-Marie .

“Hestia, where are you going?”

“I won’t play with you anymore!”

Hestia ran away from Anne-Marie and slammed the door of her room closed . Anne-Marie chuckled from behind . She was happy to see her sister acting like a child for the first time in a while .

* * *

While Lakis was away from home, Yuri looked at the reply she got from Damon Salvatore . The content was short and simple .

[Looking for philosopher’s stone . Requesting contact . ]

But unfortunately, the ruin’s fragment that Yuri had, had disappeared thanks to Odin . Yuri inwardly criticized Damon for sending a reply so late . If he had give a response a little earlier, Damon would have gotten his fragment and Yuri would have gotten her money .

Still, Yuri didn’t ignore it and wrote a reply to Damon .

[You’re late, idiot . ]

Flutter

Like before, the paper containing the short reply changed into a butterfly and flew away .

Yuri hadn’t yet replied to the client who had asked her to look for a philosopher’s stone . Until now, she hadn’t cared about who her client was, but she was thinking of using this opportunity to look into it .

However, Odin seemed busy with something else lately so Yuri planned on doing it herself . Lakis went out often anyways so she could use that timespan to go out and investigate .

Suddenly, she remembered what happened when she came home with Lakis earlier . And she also remembered what she felt for a moment when she looked into Lakis’ eyes as they stood on the petal-strewn evening streets .

Yuri frowned slightly .

She raised her hand and pressed it to her chest .

‘…maybe it’s heart failure . ’

She knew it wasn’t but for some reason, she inwardly acted like she didn’t know .

Then Yuri felt a presence approaching from outside . Since she was in the living room, she could also hear familiar footsteps walking up to the door .

It seemed Lakis came back early today .

But for some reason, he didn’t come in right away, instead he stood still outside for a while .

Yuri tilted her head and walked up to the door . Then her hand touched the doorknob .

However, the next moment, she felt another presence approaching and her hand stopped in place . Following that, she heard a small voice flowing beyond the door .

Yuri’s eyes narrowed for a moment .

Click .

When Lakis came in a while later, Yuri was holding the watering can and watering the plants .

“Welcome back, Mr . Lakis . ”

At Yuri’s greeting, Lakis quickly responded, showing he was quite familiar with it now .

“I’m back, Ms . Yuri . ”

The smell of the night air drifted off Lakis as he approached her . Yuri looked at Lakis’ face as he walked up to her . However, his expression was no different from usual .

So Yuri acted like she didn’t know about Anne-Marie and Lakis’ encounter outside the door earlier .

* * *

That night, Damon went to wash up before going to bed . He sent out all the attendants who came to wait on him in the bathroom and soaked in the bathtub alone .

The bathroom was huge and luxurious which was in line with Salvatore family’s nobility .

Once he got into the hot water, his whole body relaxed, and it felt like the fatigue of the day was melting away . But maybe because he was alone in a quiet place, his mind began to wander, and he remembered what Genos Sheldon said earlier in the day .

~

‘Anyways, even if I hate it, I’ll have to see your face as often as before from now on . ’

‘I know you put someone to follow me around lately . I didn’t know you wanted to see me that much . Well, we’ll be crossing paths at any time so look forward to it . ’

~

Splash!

Damon struck the surface of the water with annoyance .

“That arrogant bastard…”

Thinking about it again made his anger rise and he swept back his wet hair which was poking his eyes .

Swoosh .

And right then, Damon noticed something white coming close to him in the midst of the vapor filled room .

It was a familiar white butterfly .

He was momentarily startled .

It seemed the person who claimed to have the philosopher’s stone had already sent a reply . Even if that was the case, why did it have to come inside his bathroom and at such an odd hour too . Shouldn’t they have considered the time and place?

The butterfly thoughtlessly flew to Damon in the bathtub and turned into paper right before his eyes .

Flutter .

“Ah!”

Damon hurried moved to pick up the white paper sitting on the water . He didn’t know what material it was made of but thankfully, it didn’t get wet . Even though Damon was touching it with wet fingers, he didn’t feel like it was getting smudged at all .

Damon frowned and lifted the paper with his thumb and index finger .

‘Hmph, seeing how they replied so quickly, I guess they must be anxious to sell the philosopher’s stone to me?’

With that thought in mind, Damon’s mouth twisted into a smirk . Then he looked down to check the reply . However, the very next moment, he couldn’t help but doubt his eyes .

[You’re late, idiot . ]

This was because the short sentence written on the white paper was incredibly insolent .

You’re late, idiot…

You’re late, idiot?

“This…! Who has the nerve-!”

The veins on Damon’s forehead bulged .

He was already annoyed because of Genos Sheldon and now he felt like he was being mocked by someone whose name he didn’t even know so his anger surged .

He had to find them .

He would definitely find out what punk this was, damn it!

Damon crumpled the paper in his hand with indignation .

And like that, his peaceful bath time of the day came to a quick end .

* * *

Today was my day off from the coffeehouse .

So in agreement with my employment contract, I was going to the old man’s…No, since I was going to be seeing him more often, it wasn’t quite right to keep calling him that .

So I was going to Grandpa Bastian’s…

No, that sounded weird too .

Either ways, I was going to the Crawford family house to see him .

“Yuri, I heard from Sebastian . You like puppies a lot?”

Even though today was my first official day at work, he took me outside .

“Here, you can play with them as much as you want!”

Then he said that generously .

“Ms . Yuri!”

I suppose he said the same thing to Anne-Marie because she was already on the lawn and waved to me from where she was, surrounded by dogs .

I glanced behind me .

There I saw Bastion standing next to the butler with a pleasant smile . I looked forward again and gazed at the scene in front of me .

Hahaha! Bark! Bark!

A lovely girl running around the lawn with puppies and laughing . Combined with an elderly figure watching them with a warm smile . Something about it seemed like the example of a peaceful family .

For now, I walked up to Anne-Marie like the old man recommended, plus she was calling for me .

“Hi, Ms . Yuri . Grandpa said we could play with the dogs, so I was giving them some snacks . Do you want to join me?”

Anne-Marie greeted me happily .

Seeing Anne-Marie smiling brightly in the middle of the dogs gave me a slightly odd feeling . I felt like I was only just remembering that she was a young girl who was only 20 . Somehow, it also made me think that Anne-Marie must have been like this before losing her father .

“Okay, give me one too . ”

I took one of the snacks for the dogs from Anne-Marie . Probably because they’d seen me the other day, the dogs quickly came up to me with their tail wagging . Then again, even when they were seeing me for the first time, they came up to me without any vigilance .

But now, probably because I had a snack in my hand, the dogs were especially excited as they greeted me .

The old man was sitting on a bench in the distance and watching me and Anne-Marie with a nostalgic gaze . Did his late daughter like dogs too?

“Ms . Yuri, try throwing it too!”

After we finished feeding the dogs all the snacks, the trainer gave us a ball . It was easy to tell we were supposed to throw the ball and play with the dogs .

Anne-Marie went first, skillfully throwing the ball behind the dogs . The dogs all ran off before scrambling for the ball, then one of them came back with it in its mouth .

Anne-Marie giggled and stroked the dog’s neck . Then she ran over with her skirt and hair fluttering in the wind and handed the ball to me .

I fiddled with the ball Anne-Marie gave to me . It had been a while since I did this . How hard am I supposed to throw this again?[1]

Whoosh!

Translator’s Corner:

[1] What she literally says is: ‘is this much okay?’ as in ‘is this the right amount of force to throw the ball?’ I don’t know why I’m explaining this to be honest, but I felt like it .