The Extra Guardian Missed the Right Time to Leave

The voices of the two bullies, who were shouting loudly, suddenly stopped. All that remained was the acrid smell of ammunition.

No matter how hard she held her breath, the smell seeped into Eugenia’s nose. The man became quiet, but Eugenia’s trembling did not stop. His fingertips were turning white as she was gripping the collar of Enrique’s robe so tightly.

Her mouth was so dry that no voice came out.

“No way…”

Enrique was in her arms, hugging her as much as she could, and only after a long time did she ask her question in a trembling voice.

“Am… Am I going to die?”

Was it such a stupid question?

‘If you fired a gun like that, there’s no way you wouldn’t have hit it from this distance… If I had been hit, I would have died instantly.’

But she didn’t have the courage to turn around and check it with her own eyes. Eugenia was only holding Enrique’s collar tightly and lowering her gaze.

‘What if this man named Enrique is more dangerous than I thought?’

Of course, the guys who tried to kidnap her were bad guys. Still, the fact that he fired his gun without hesitation meant that Enrique was no ordinary person.

A fear arose in Eugenia’s heart.

‘Could it be that what I did put Joshua and Selmia in more danger?’

What should she do next?

Her mind was jumbled.

Meanwhile, Enrique, who had been standing still after hearing Eugenia’s question, let out a light sigh. At the same time, the muscles that had stopped began to move again. He lowered his arms, which had been stretched out in front of him, back into place.

Eugenia flinched at every small movement Enrique made.

Enrique removed his hand from Eugenia’s waist that he was holding to fix his posture. It seemed like he was showing consideration because she thought it would be a good idea to check what the situation was like for herself.

Eugenia hesitated and took a step or two back, as if to increase the distance between her and Enrique. Then, holding her breath, she slowly turned around. As soon as she bleeds, she would close her eyes, and that’s what she was thinking.

“…ah.”

But the situation depicted before her eyes was not like that at all.

The men were sitting at the end of a dead end, leaning against the wall. In one, the black eye was completely turned and only the white part was visible, and in the other, his head was lowered. But there were no traces of blood anywhere.

She could tell that their breath was connected by the slow rise and fall of their stomachs and chests.

‘You’ve lost your mind.’

Eugenia finally swept her chest and let out a long breath that she had been holding. She looked up again and checked the men’s condition. There was a hole in the wall they were leaning against. It was exactly around the head, shoulders, and waist. And another foot beneath their feet. There was a clear trace of the bullet ricocheting off.

Eugenia swallowed her dry saliva.

‘All of those bullet marks remained less than a centimeter away from the human body.’

Even if the hand had been shaken just a little bit, it would have hit the human body. That seemed to mean that Enrique had deliberately missed the mark.

‘This man, his shooting skills are amazing.’

It certainly didn’t seem like he’s an ordinary person.

While she was thinking those thoughts, she heard Enrique’s voice from behind. It was a muttering, like talking to himself.

“I meant to scare them, but I didn’t think they would be so weak that they would faint.”

Hmm. Did he really not know?

Eugenia honestly couldn’t believe what he said.

“Miss Eugenia, I asked you if you killed her. I really want to ask you a question.”

This time Enrique asked her this question.

“Don’t you remember what I said earlier?”

“…yes?”

Eugenia turned around and faced Enrique. His blue eyes glowed slightly darkly, as if he was bored.

“I refuse to do anything that is troublesome.”

He said in an indifferent tone. Eugenia nodded her head a beat later.

“Ah… You said so. “I remember it clearly.”

When you kill someone, things get complicated. They wouldn’t even know if I did it secretly.

No matter how much that man… Even if there were few people like now, he wasn’t the kind of person who would do something like that in broad daylight.

Eugenia took a quick breath and hurriedly put her hands together and bowed her head towards Enrique.

“I was late to say hello. It really helped me a lot. If it weren’t for Enrique, I would have been in big trouble. Thank you very much.”

Enrique didn’t seem to have any intention of being condescending, so instead of greeting her with a brief nod of his head, Enrique greeted her.

“If Enrique had not happened to pass by here, what would have happened…”

It was when she trailed off as if she was dizzy just thinking about it.

“It’s not a coincidence.”

Enrique corrected her briefly in a gruff voice.

Eugenia’s eyes widened.

“…yes? What do you mean by that?”

“I was looking for you, Miss Eugenia.”

A gaze staring straight ahead. The look in his eyes that seemed vaguely dark made her feel like her throat was burning.

Eugenia bit her lips and carefully swallowed the saliva that had accumulated in her new mouth, which she did not even know existed. The next question was almost a whisper.

“Me? Why?”

The corners of Enrique’s lips gently curled up.

Wow, that guy. You know how to laugh too.

It was a very nice smile, so Eugenia stared at his face without even realizing it.

“I changed my mind and came to hire you.”

“…yes?”

Her pupils dilated for a moment. She then raised her hand to her lips in disbelief, and asked in a slightly trembling voice.

“That is… Are you sure? Are you seriously going to hire me? Even though you know the whole situation?”

Enrique’s dark eyebrows gathered slightly between his eyebrows. He asked back as she frowned.

“You are asking the obvious. In Miss Eugenia’s eyes, do I look like someone who will move around needlessly for things that aren’t necessary?”

“No. Not at all.”

When she shook her head in denial, Enrique also pulled his chin towards her body.

“Good. Then there is no need to go to the trouble of explaining further.”

Then his gaze briefly turned to the two men lying against the wall.

“We’ll share the details as we go. It’s quiet here, but I don’t think it’s a particularly good place for conversation.”

“Yes, I agree.”

Eugenia nodded her head eagerly, then looked at Enrique again and muttered with a worried look on her face.

“But I don’t know if it’s okay to leave those people as they are.”

Since it was actually more of a question, Enrique responded naturally.

“It might be a cold, but do you care?”

“Should I really care about the health of those men?”

Eugenia frowned slightly, then twisted her mouth and smiled.

“These are the people who were chasing me. If you even report it to the security forces… I was wondering what to do.”

However, unlike Eugenia, Enrique did not seem to have any concerns.

“If you had planned to do that, you would have come with the police officer from the beginning.”

He continued speaking while maintaining an indifferent attitude.

“The two of them probably came because they didn’t want to reduce their share. So don’t worry, I will turn on my eyes and look for you, but I won’t report anything.”

“Hmm… If that’s the case, I’m glad.”

Eugenia concluded her words, looking as if her worry had not completely disappeared.

‘Well, well. They don’t know where I’m staying anyway.’

Although this was the end of the Duchy of Halland, it was a fairly large city with many people staying because it was a border area. There were many inns and a considerable number of out-of-towners. No matter how much you grind your teeth, you will not find yourself easily.

‘And this guy said he was hiring me. So, all I have to do is get out of here quickly before they find me.’

Eugenia barely managed to control her frightened heart. It seemed that trying to keep positive thoughts was working. The pounding of her heart subsided considerably. Only then did Eugenia have the time to take a breath and look around her.

At the end of her gaze, she saw a revolver in Enrique’s right hand. The barrel of the gun was quite long, and at a glance it looked like something extra had been added.

Enrique, too, was removing the thing attached to the barrel with a familiar hand, as if the revolver did not look like that.

Eugenia recognized this and muttered inadvertently.

“A silencer… That’s why the sound was so quiet.”

At that moment, Enrique’s hand stopped for a moment. His eyes narrowed at Eugenia. But it only lasted for a moment, and he returned to focusing on cleaning his gun and asked back in a nonchalant tone.

“Do you know what a silencer is?”

It was a short question. But he was watching closely.

‘He can’t believe I found out what this is.’

Enrique held his breath and waited for Eugenia’s answer. Eugenia smiled sheepishly, scratched the bridge of her nose and rolled her eyes.

“Well, just the name. You’re attaching it to a gun. Making less noise when shooting, is not it?”

“…that’s right.”

Enrique answered half a beat slower and nodded his head.

 

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Translator Note: