I quickly went down the stairs, remembering where Shine was standing. As I was passing through the first floor lobby, I saw Officer Amanta dozing off on a massage chair.
‘It’s a weird-looking chair, but I guess it’s effective.’
I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should wake the officer up and go with him, but I crossed the lobby without hesitation because I thought I might miss Shine.
‘I just need to bring Shine back with me.’
I walked almost at a run, turned right as soon as I got out of the magic tower, turned left at the big intersection, passed the place where carriages were lined up waiting for customers, and turned left again.
‘It’s there!’
I could spot a blond boy walking languidly in the distance not far away. Unlike what I saw through the window earlier, there was no one following her and Shine was looking around him as if he was looking for a way by himself. I quickly approached Shine.
“Shine! What did you come all the way to a place like this for?”
Shine looked up at me with a surprised face.
“Arbice…?”
In the eyes that looked at me, I saw that the anxiety that had always been on his arrogant but bold face disappeared, and instead, a sense of relief was seeping in.
“Did you come out alone? Are you lost?”
“Getting lost…”
Shine must have seemed like she was going to scold me, so she slurred her words and hid the object in her hand behind her.
‘What, did you really come out alone?’
I was so startled that I sat down on the floor at Shine’s eye level. I looked straight into Shine’s eyes, not making eye contact, and made a stern face.
“The Duke told me not to go far because the area has been very scary these days, so why did you come out?”
Shine hesitated as if he had something to say, then blurted it out.
“…Sorry.”
As expected, hearing an apology weakens my heart. I gently stroked Shine’s soft, fluffy golden hair in my hands.
“I received an apology, so it’s okay now. Please don’t do this again from now on?”
“Huh.”
“However… Who did you come out with? You didn’t come out alone, right?”
“…huh. I begged my nanny to come out with me, but the nanny suddenly disappeared.”
From what I have observed so far, the nanny was very weak-hearted. She would listen to whatever Shine insisted on. This is Shine’s fault for asking her to come out, but the nanny who brought her out is even more at fault.
‘Besides, if you’re going out here with her child, you have to take care of it properly. What if I leave you wandering around alone like this?’
I couldn’t help but look at her bewilderment and reached out to Shine. Shine was dumbfounded and he looked at my hands.
“…why?”
“Let’s go back holding hands.”
“…Ah, yes. However…”
“Yes?”
He hesitated for a while, uncharacteristic of Shine, then dropped his long eyelashes as if closing them and held out his hand to me. In his hand was a velvet pouch decorated with a colorful ribbon. When I took it in a daze, he held out his empty hand to me as if Shine was done. I held his hand and looked around the box.
“What is this?”
“…a gift.”
“Yes?”
“To the royal palace… banquet… He said you were going.”
“Yes?”
“I heard that you were ignored at the tea party the other day because of your attire. So, do it right this time.”
Shine’s voice sounded like a mumble as she muttered while glaring at her floor, but it wasn’t hard for her to make out what she was saying. I opened my eyes wide.
“That… How did you hear about that?”
“The maids were talking among themselves. I’m a kid, so everyone talks well even when I’m around.”
‘…Who on earth is going around talking like that when there’s this crazy kid listening to me like this?’
Even though I was shocked, I listened to it again and wondered what on earth he had bought… It was also very touching.
“Can I unpack it?”
“Huh.”
I quickly pulled the ribbon on the velvet pocket and opened the black box, where I found a corsage the size of my fist. The corsage, with beige lace and small, light pink flowers, was cute and classy to look at.
[Charisma +4]
There was even an additional feature, although it wasn’t that great.
‘How could such a small mind come up with such a thought?’
He just got scolded for going outside.
“So… So pretty.”
Shine watched me excitedly touch his wrist, and for the first time since we met here, he looked triumphant and he grinned.
“I didn’t know the color of the dress, so I just picked the one that looked the prettiest.”
“I really like it. I will stand out the most in the castle that day, right?”
“Then. Who chose it?”
Shine happily nodded his head as if he was satisfied with my fuss.
‘What should I do? It’s really so cute.’
I put the corsage in the box, packed it back into her pocket, hung it on her wrist, and gave Shine a tight hug. Although it was small like a child, the back that fit in my hand was still quite sturdy.
“Thank you, really. But this is enough for now, so it shouldn’t be like this from now on. Okay?”
Shine looked at his toes and nodded his head.
“…huh.”
“Now go back.”
“Huh.”
[Shine’s favorability has increased.
Lv.2(190/198)]
‘I received the gift, and his favorability level increased…’
I smiled happily and promised myself that I would do better for Shine in the future. I held Shine’s hand, lifted him up, and walked toward the magic tower. When I meet Officer Amanta, I would ask her to find the nanny.
‘Shall we go up to the magic tower and show Shine to Milorad, Latte, and Lemuët? She said she was close…’
As I was leaving the narrow alley, thinking about various things, I felt a chill down my spine. It was exactly the same feeling I had felt when she was leaving the salon earlier.
‘It may be an illusion. It might be an illusion…’
Without realizing it, I felt the hand holding Shine’s hand becoming wet. I quickly looked around. Take ten steps forward until you reach the carriageway. There were no people on this road now. I couldn’t muster the courage to look back. As I walked three more steps, sweat quickly started to appear on my back.
‘…It’s not an illusion.’
With my senses becoming more sensitive than ever, I could feel the sound of footsteps coming through, very faint, but gradually becoming more distinct. When I looked down from the magic tower, I remembered once again that there was a shadow following Shine. I bit my lip and carefully took out the whistle from the item window and held it so as not to be seen from behind.
“Shine.”
Shine looked up at me as I whispered.
“Huh?”
“Run when I give the signal.”
“…what?”
“Anyway, when you tell me to run, you have to run right away.”
Since the officer doesn’t appear right away when you blow the whistle, I had to distract the person behind me as much as possible.
Step by step.
Step by step.
As I walked two more steps, I felt footsteps right behind me. I shouted as I felt Shine’s fern-like hand grab mine tightly.
“Now!”
Shine looked embarrassed, but she jumped forward at the sound of my voice. And the moment I put my foot down to run, I felt a hand grab my hair and cover my mouth and nose with a damp cloth. The unpleasant, cold scent made my head hurt. Just before I let go of Shine’s hand, I handed the whistle to Shine. Shine must have been embarrassed for a moment, so she stopped her steps and looked back at me.
“Teacher!”
I struggled as hard as I could and bit down on the hand covering my mouth. I shouted to Shine, aiming for the moment when the cloth came off due to the resistance.
“…go! Go now! Hurry up, blow the whistle and people will help you!”
Shine hesitated, wondering if she could have gone alone and left me behind, but she kept looking back at me. Then, as she was crying, she brought the whistle to her mouth and blew as hard as she could.
Beep-!
The sharp sound of the whistle echoed far away.
“…Sheesh. I can’t help it.”
Almost at the same time, a very low sigh was heard in my ears. It was a voice that I may or may not have heard before. He lifted me up and put me on his shoulder. When my vision turned upside down, only the man’s black clothes came into view. The color was exactly the same as the one I saw in my dream the day I collapsed in front of the police station.
“Arbice! Arbice!”
Shine’s shout rang out in the narrow alley, and the sounds of people murmuring were heard. The person carrying me turned around.
“No… Shine…”
‘It was said that even if you are bitten by a tiger, you will survive as long as you come to your senses… You have to memorize the surroundings and the order of alleys…’
But my eyelids kept not listening to me. There must have been something on the cloth that covered my mouth earlier, and my consciousness gradually faded. In the end, my hands and feet went limp toward the floor.
* * *
(12.28_3_Rabbit)
The rooftop of the tall merchant guild building, just below the dark clouds. Luke sat down on a wooden box on the rooftop and retrieved his knife. Even though the sheath was not used, the long black sword disappeared completely with just a motion as if pushing the sword through the sleeve. Right next to him, a giant spider-like creature with eight eyes was lolling. Even with a huge creature next to him that would have shocked anyone, he remained completely calm. He looked beyond calm and a little bored.
Luke took his map out of his pocket and unfolded it. When he opened it up, the map was the size of a newspaper and was filled with abbreviations that only he could recognize in various places. He took out a pen and drew an X over today’s date written in the Merchant Guild section of the map.
“I heard it happens like this. A lot has changed in this episode, so I thought this might be different too.”
Luke muttered that and folded up the map and put it away.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on January, 11.
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