Cloud never complained about orders. He’s recently started questioning his orders more and more.
Ayla felt even worse when he remembered how he had tried to dissuade that stupid girl from teaching toxicology, saying it wasn’t too early for her to do it.
“Okay. “That was originally the goal.”
Interfering with what his nephew is doing. Since he wasn’t ready yet, he tried to end it that way. but…
“You have to hurry. If we kill him here as an example, those timid old people who are hesitant to join me will have no choice but to trust me and follow me.”
Cowards who are desperate to preserve their lives.
With a displeased expression, Byron poured the remaining alcohol in his glass into his mouth in one go.
Needless to say, he was dissatisfied with the fact that he had to join hands with such people to reclaim a place that had been his since birth.
“Is it because of the hailing lady?”
Cloud asked cautiously. There could be no other reason for Byron’s sudden change in attitude.
He heard that he was quick-witted. Byron lowered his head slightly and smiled wickedly. Because his head was lowered, a shadow was cast on his face, making him feel several times more gloomy.
“That’s right. I thought my Ophelia would wait for me there forever.” I realized this time that I might not be able to do that.”
He was anxious. It felt like Ophelia would run away forever, out of his reach.
He had to quickly get everything back and hold her in his arms. Otherwise, everything would lose meaning.
“So, let’s stop talking nonsense and move quickly, right? If not now, when can I kill him? “I only trust you, Cloud Air.”
That way, his family will not be dishonored.
Byron filled his empty glass with alcohol again and gestured with his chin to signal Cloud to leave.
“Yes, my lord.”
And Cloud, as always, had no choice but to follow his master’s orders.
* * *
It was the moment she had been waiting for.
Ayla was lying on the bed and kept glancing over Laura’s movements.
Tonight, it was Laura’s turn to stay by her side, and Ayla put a small amount of sleeping pills in the water cup to put Laura to sleep.
Because it was specially concentrated, just one or two drops were enough to put Laura to sleep until the next morning.
She had no option but to continue glancing at Laura’s notice since all she had to do now was wait for Laura to sip the water.
“What’s wrong with you, lady?”
Laura opened her eyes, asking why he was staring at her so blankly instead of sleeping.
She didn’t seem to like the idea of having to watch her enemy’s daughter sleep without being able to sleep.
“… no.”
Arousing any more suspicion would have ruined the work, so Ayla turned toward the wall to avoid looking at Laura.
But her hearing was entirely focused on Laura. This was so as not to miss the sound of the hem of her clothes rustling even when Laura moved even slightly.
And after quite some time has passed.
Slurp. She could hear Laura drinking her water.
‘That’s enough.’
The effects of the medicine would soon spread, and young Laura would not be able to overcome the rush of sleep and would sleep soundly until tomorrow morning.
Ayla waited with a pounding heart for Laura to fall asleep.
“I can’t do it.” Why am I so sleepy?”
The sound of Laura making futile resistance against the approaching beast was heard. But soon, even breathing began to be heard.
Laura had finally fallen asleep.
“Laura?”
Ayla got up from the bed and poked and shook Laura.
But the effect of the sleeping pill she made was enormous. No matter how much she tried to wake Laura up, she fell into a deep sleep and couldn’t wake up.
Walking around in a white one-piece nightgown would attract too much attention, so she wore a black robe hanging on a coat rack over her clothes.
She was completely black, even wearing a hat. Although she was a little bright due to the street lamps that her humans had turned on, the darkness of her night was still enough to hide her.
She opened the window and looked outside. With good timing, she saw the bar door open and someone come out.
‘Cloud?’
It wasn’t easy to recognize him because he was wearing a black hood like hers, but looking at his tall height and sturdy physique, it was clearly Cloud.
‘Where are we going?’
Cloud’s main job was to protect Byron. In this dangerous city with people everywhere, at night. The fact that Cloud was moving instead of staying by Byron’s side would have meant that it was that important.
‘I have to chase it.’
She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but if she followed Cloud, she would definitely be able to get some information.
She looked out the window at the roof of the building next door. She was trying to gauge the distance to see if she could jump over it.
‘It’s quite possible.’
It was clear that if she hesitated, she would miss Cloud. She jumped and landed nimbly on the roof. It looked like a nimble wildcat.
‘Good. ‘There it is.’
After seeing Cloud’s appearance, she walked along the roof and followed him.
From roof to roof. And under another roof. It was a quick but silent movement.
There were still quite a few people walking around the city streets at night, but no one noticed Aila’s presence.
Except for one cat that was sleeping well on the roof but puffed out its tail in surprise due to the sudden appearance of a human.
‘Where did they go?’
She was jumping over the roof for a while, but stopped and looked around when she couldn’t see the cloud that had been visible just a moment ago.
She does miss it so vainly. As she lowered her body and looked around her, she found Cloud hiding in the alley across from her street, killing her presence.
‘Why did you suddenly hide yourself? If you’ve noticed that I’m being followed…’
Ayla swallowed her dry saliva and calmly hid behind the roof.
No, that won’t be it. There was no way he had noticed her presence. She was well aware of the difference in skill between Cloud and her.
There was no way he could have noticed her presence in that short period of time, even though I had not noticed it the whole time.
Then why?
He is hiding in that alley, waiting for something.
She decided to get down from the roof and take a closer look at Cloud. As she looked around to see which way to go, she noticed that the alley behind the building was deserted. It was a narrow gap that was embarrassing to even be called an alley.
After confirming once again that no one was in the alley, she quickly jumped off the roof.
She had obviously checked several times before jumping, but the moment she landed lightly on the floor,
Suddenly, a figure jumped out of the darkness.
“Huh!”
A young voice that seemed to have just gone through a transformation made her gasp in surprise as a person fell in front of her. Ayla was equally surprised.
‘Shit. Where did this guy come from?’
Seeing the boy look like he was about to scream, she quickly covered his mouth.
Because of her quick movements, the hood was removed, revealing her dazzling silver hair hidden beneath the robe in the moonlight.
The boy, whose mouth was suddenly covered by a girl who was shorter than her, looked at Ayla blankly with a puzzled expression.
‘Shh.’
She kept covering the boy’s mouth with her left hand and placed the index finger of her right hand on her lips. The boy, realizing what Ayla was talking about, nodded at her with a dumb expression.
Ayla slowly removed the hand covering the boy’s mouth and looked at his behavior. He was dressed strangely, with her black robe covered up just like hers.
The skin peeking through the robe looked smooth and elastic. He looked well-nourished, so it seemed like he was a noble boy who had been well-fed and raised.
The golden eyes that glowed even in the dark reminded her of Byron’s. With his long eyelashes and somewhat handsome face, he seemed to resemble Byron, who had a smooth face like a Gisaeng brother.
She didn’t know why he looked like Byron, but just being reminded of him was enough to make Ayla feel bad.
‘What is he doing?’
She was concerned about his sudden appearance without any trace of his presence, so she looked around and vaguely saw a light flickering from the place where the boy had suddenly appeared a moment ago. It quickly disappeared into thin air.
It was a trace of magic that she remembered seeing occasionally while living at the Duke’s house.
It seemed like a magic scroll had been used. Movement magic is high-level magic, so it is quite precious. He seemed to be from a wealthier family than he looked.
Judging from the luxurious attire he wore under his robe, he was not a person suited to a back alley like this.
There’s only one thing she can think of. It was clear that the noble master had gone out secretly.
“Looking at it, it looks like they’ll be in trouble if they sneak out and get caught. Let’s pretend we haven’t seen each other.”
Ayla spoke coldly in the quietest voice possible. She couldn’t waste time in a place like this. It is not possible that the cloud may have disappeared.
Ayla left the boy behind and quickly walked towards the outside of the alley.
“Wait for a sec…”
However, the boy persistently followed Ayla as if he had something to tell her. The boy had long legs for his young age, but he seemed to have a hard time following the agile Ayla.
With a frustrated grimace, Ayla paused. The reason for this was that there was a significant chance that Cloud would become aware of her existence if she emerged from the alley with her obtrusive tail.
“… what?”
Ayla stood crookedly with her arms crossed, an annoyed expression on her face.
