Chapter 101

“Repeat that for me . ”

Lakis’ footstep delayed for a moment . Odin was quick to read the atmosphere and knew that he must beg for forgiveness right now so he prostrated before Lakis .

The crow flapping its wings in the sky clung to Lakis’ legs as it black feathers fluttered in the night sky .

“I’m sorry, Lakis-nim! This Odin was useless! I couldn’t get a single ruin’s fragment, so I stole…!”

“F***, not that…You, after you clean up this place, go to the warehouse and wait . ”

Odin’s face was haggard, but he flapped his wings and staggered off to follow Lakis’ order .

Lakis’ expression was still crumpled as he moved to start following Yuri’s traces again .

—Eh, what the . So she isn’t going to stuff him?

And after a while, the bug mumbled as if it was disappointed . Yuri threw the man who intruded into the auction house over the wall of some mansion then she turned around and left .

It belonged to one of the great nobles of the East, the Salvatore family .

After climbing a tree to look over the situation, Lakis’ eyes narrowed .

‘Now that I think about it, that red-haired guy who met the blue-haired guy in front of the coffeehouse is Genos Sheldon . The one called the Guardian of the East . ’

This was something he found out when he followed the guy last time and did some investigation .

There was a Crawford involved then a Sheldon followed and this time, it was a Salvatore .

Crumble…

As Lakis’ vice grip on the tree tightened, cracks began to appear from the area he was touching .

He couldn’t understand why those hateful bastards kept getting involved around Yuri .

—Lakis, isn’t it a secret that you went out? You better start hurrying back .

For now, once he heard what the bug said, Lakis set that aside for the future and turned around .

“Search everywhere!”

Clang!

The sound of the mansion door opening rang out behind him and at the same time, he could heard the little sounds of people moving out .

‘Hah, ungrateful bastard . ’

Even though Yuri let him live, that ungrateful twat sent people to catch her . Lakis clicked his tongue and thought, this is why you shouldn’t be charitable to people . He began to speed up in the direction of the house so that he could get there before Yuri arrived .

* * *

I focused my senses on the faint presence following me .

‘At this point, I guess I can say it wasn’t a miracle at all . ’

I eventually clicked my tongue . The target of my admiration was Lakis who was behind me . Actually, for a while now, I’d known that Lakis was following me .

Of course, I didn’t know from the start . I first grew suspicious when Damon Salvatore first came into the building and the presence following him suddenly disappeared .

No, honestly, when I saw Lakis blocking me before I left the house, I had a slight suspicion that he might follow me secretly after I left . When I said I’d try to come back as soon as possible, Lakis looked like he had conceded but I sensed an almost instinctive sign of suspicion from him .

Well, wouldn’t it be funny if someone from the underworld believed what another person said at face value?

And so, as I left the house and headed to my destination, I checked back from time to time in a non-obvious manner . However, Lakis’ concealment was more than outstanding .

It was to the point that I only sensed his presence for the first time after I entered the auction house and looked around for a bit . But once I was aware of it, I could perceive the presence of someone following me, even if it was only faint .

Fwip!

I glanced at the movements behind me for a second then I sped up in a direction different from home . At that, the movement which was following my steps slowed down for a moment . Then it followed up in the direction I was moving instead of heading to the house .

When I reached a river that wasn’t too far from the house, I came to a stop . The ripples of the flowing water glistened in the moonlight . I pulled down my hood and the refreshing wind blew against my hair .

“The night view by the river is quite pretty . It would be better if I had someone to walk around with . ”

My voice, which was neither loud nor soft, was carried by the night river and spread around . If anyone saw this, they might think some random woman was talking to herself .

But after a while, someone silently appeared behind me .

“…so you knew . That I was here . ”

A mild whisper spread through the night air . I turned around and saw a man standing about four or five steps away from me .

The wind that scattered my hair flitted past Lakis’ frame .

“When did you notice?”

Lakis’ hair swayed slightly as it shimmered under the moonlight as if it was sprinkled with gold . Maybe it was because he suited the night so well . Him just standing there quietly made me feel like I was in a photo shoot .

“From the start . ”

I lied through my teeth .

I actually knew in the middle but there was no need to say it as it is . Since I said I knew from the beginning then I figured that next time, Lakis wouldn’t rashly follow me .

“Come closer, Mr . Lakis . ”

At that, Lakis who had been staring at my face as if he was trying to gauge my mood, slowly narrowed our distance .

“Since we’re outside anyways, let’s take a walk before going back .

It’s night and there’s no other people around so we don’t have to worry about people’s gazes, right?”

When I readily took his hand first, Lakis’ eyes narrowed .

“You’re not angry . ”

“That doesn’t mean you can follow me secretly like this again . ”

In the first place, my boiling point was much higher than other people so even though Lakis followed me this time, I didn’t get angry nor did my mood drop to a freezing point . Besides, I knew Lakis acted like this because he was worried about me…

Above all, there was also a time where I thought about following Lakis too . Of course, I ended up not putting it into action because it was too annoying .

“If we were to reverse this, would you like for me to follow you in secret?”

Still, I figured he could put himself in my shoes and asked . At that, Lakis’ face stiffened .

“The idea of you following me is so…”

He used the hand I wasn’t holding to cover his face as if he was surprised . But somehow, this was not the reaction I expected .

‘Wait, why is he acting shy?’

On top of that, the glimpse of Lakis I could see between his hand showed that his expression was nothing like someone who was imagining something unpleasant . Rather, he looked like he was seeing something so cute that he couldn’t help but want to take a bite…

“But it’s dangerous so don’t . ”

Just when my gaze was about to turn cold, Lakis suddenly turned to me with a serious look on his face and said that . So in other words, as long as it wasn’t dangerous, it was okay for me to follow him . That seemed to be what he was saying .

No, judging from the reaction he had just now, it wasn’t just ‘okay’, it was more than welcome .

I already knew this before but Lakis’ common sense was different from ordinary people .

‘Like I thought, I shouldn’t have expected ‘putting himself in my shoes’ to have any effect . ’

“Anyway, Mr . Lakis…if you do this again, I’ll be angry . ”

I simply spoke straightforwardly .

“Also, there was someone with me earlier . Don’t kill him . ”

I said that because I guessed Lakis must have seen Damon Salvatore and as expected, he flinched .

“Don’t cripple him either . ”

Still, my suspicions didn’t lessen so I added that firmly .

“I am not so weak that I need you to protect me, Mr . Lakis . No matter who it is, if there’s something I need to deal with later, I can do it myself . Do you understand what I mean?”

Honestly, even if this didn’t happen today, I’d been wanting to say this at some point .

Lakis looked at me without saying anything for a while . Then he slowly parted his lips .

“I understand what you mean . ”

It was a simple answer . For now, I was satisfied with that .

Lakis and I did not go straight home, instead we spent some time walking by the river . The weather was perfectly refreshing and the houses around were lit here and there so the night view by the river was not too bad .

What Lakis said on the way back from the coffeehouse not long ago was right . If I were to have a relationship, I wanted to have a romance as ordinary as other people .

“It’s my first time walking with you at night . ”

“You talk as if you’ve walked with someone else before . ”

Uh .

I said it in passing but when I heard Lakis’ reply, I unconsciously came to a stop . I suddenly felt like he’d hit the nail on the head so I inadvertently looked up at the person beside me .

Then our eyes met .

Lakis’ eyes crinkled as he smiled .

“Ah, did I get it right?”

He was giving a pretty smile but seeing that, somehow my back felt a little cold . For some reason, I felt like a dark aura was seeping out of Lakis .

“No . It’s probably just your imagination . ”

Oddly enough, I felt like someone who mistakenly brought up their ex-boyfriend in front of their current boyfriend so I reflexively made an excuse . But even I couldn’t understand why I made such an excuse and I soon frowned . Shouldn’t I just be honest?

It didn’t even happen now, it was in my previous life . On top of that, it wasn’t even with someone I was dating . It was just a little flirting, we ate dinner, watched a movie and since the weather was good, we took a walk .

No wait, even if it was someone I was dating, is there a problem? But why did I make excuses as if I was watching Lakis’ mood?

Lakis looked down at my frowning face then he tilted his head slightly .

“Hmm, is that so? I guess it’s just me . ”

Lakis didn’t question me more about that . Maybe he didn’t want to press on since he did just follow me secretly and he didn’t want to quibble with me over this . Or maybe he saw that my mood was a little worse than before so he let it go . Or maybe he saw my reaction and decided to just believe what I said .

Whichever it was, since Lakis wasn’t digging in anymore about this, my mood recovered a little .