Chapter 651: Fogged Up?
As the two slowly danced in silence, their eyes remained locked, staring deep into each other’s pupils. Soon enough, they forgot about their surroundings and only focused on each other. And as time went on, as the slow music danced in their ears, Marionette felt her heart and mind gradually calm down.
Her fingers fidgeted against Lillian’s before clamping tighter around the girl’s hand.
The longer Marionette stared into Lillian’s eyes, the more doubtful she became of her earlier assumptions about the girl. The love that could be found deep in Lillian’s eyes was insurmountable, even Marionette could recognise it at a glance; no matter how inexperienced with the emotion she may be.
In the face of such love, Marionette’s earlier assumptions steadily vanished.
Lillian, who had been staring into Marionette’s eyes, noticed a subtle change in them. And upon discovery of this, Lillian asked after a moment of thought:
“Marionette… Do you love me?”
Marionette widened her eyes and nodded instantly without a thought.
“Then… Why does it not feel like it?” Lillian asked in a quiet voice, her gaze breaking away for a split second to hide how hurt she was, “We’re supposed to be lovers, and yet, you’re giving the impression that you’re unfortable with me…”
“Lillian, I…” Marionette went speechless, stunned by what she heard. Her lips opened and closed, yet nothing came out. Not because she didn’t want to say something, but because her mind failed to put together a reply.
“I… I…”
‘Why can’t I get out my words?’
She needed to tell Lillian that it wasn’t true.
She needed to tell Lillian that she would never be unfortable around her.
She needed to tell Lillian that it was a mistake and that she was sorry.
Marionette now knew that her earlier thoughts were just fabricated lies. After all, there was no way Lillian would have done such a thing to her, right? She loved Lillian, and she knew Lillian loved her. That’s a fact and would never change.
Unfortunately, Lillian had no way of knowing about Marionette’s struggle. All the Rabbit could see was a person unable to properly respond.
Lillian became downcast, the glow in her eyes dimming a little as her grip on the Assassin loosened until they were fully separated.
Marionette, upon seeing this, immediately moved to retrieve Lillian’s hand. But to her horror, she watched as the Rabbit dodged her grab.
The Assassin widened her eyes to an astonishing degree.
“L-Lillian, wait—”
“Haha, it’s alright. I know when I’m being a bother.” Lillian smiled with a sad look in her eyes, “Marionette, I-… I’m gonna head off first. *Sniff* Y-you should get out of here soon too, okay.”
After saying that, Lillian turned and ran—hiding the tears that were bottled up in the corners of her eyes.
Marionette held a hand towards her, her eyes shaking as she watched the girl escape into a wall of… Fog?
“Hm? What’s going on?”
“Hey, is this part of the dance?”
“It feels a bit cold in here…”
A large cloud of fog arose inside the ballroom, awaking everyone from their dance and ultimately creating confusion; their vision was greatly obscured.
But there was someone who didn’t care about that in the least.
With her eyes shaking, Marionette pressed one hand against her chest as she watched Lillian’s disappearing figure.
‘No…’
The sight caused a repressed memory inside her to overlap.
‘No, no, no…’
She wasn’t sure why, but she felt breathless, like she couldn’t breathe. Like she had an imaginary weight pressing down against her lung, squeezing out all of her air. She felt her blood run cold.
“Ha… Ha… Ha…”
‘Is it because of the fog? Is it poison gas? Neurotoxins?’ She felt like her body was shutting down.
Marionette glanced around, now only realising the size of the fog. Besides feeling rather cold, the Assassin sensed there was nothing else to it.
‘Then, is it because Lillian left?’ Marionette thought, sensing herself being even more breathless at the recollection of the girl running away.
With gritted teeth, Marionette ran through the fog to chase after her.
“Lillian, e back!”
And after the moment she exited the ballroom, an angered roar echoed from within the fog:
“What the fuck!?”
A man with a long, brunette ponytail stumbled back. His green eyes, which bore a four-pointed star, were filled with rage and shock. Clutching the right side of his neck with his left hand, he held an empty syringe in his right.
He stared dangerously at Damien, “What the hell did you just inject me with, Damien?!”
“Humph, wouldn’t you like to know?” Damien snorted with a shit-eating grin, “Since we’ve been best friends for a very long time, and we’re hailed with the same title of ‘Talent’, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
With a step forward, Damien threw a heavy haymaker that launched Albrecht to the opposite side of the ballroom.
CRASH…!
“”ARGH!””
Hearing Albrecht land onto a group of people, Damien let out a snicker as he said, “Despite being just like me, I’ve hated how much of a snob you were for morality. And I hope what you’ll bee won’t carry that bit about you.”
“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?” Albrecht shouted, the four-pointed stars in his eyes lighting up.
The air around him swirled at remarkable speeds, and the ground beneath him cracked with mana. After getting up to his feet, he charged towards Damien, but abruptly fell to his knees halfway.
He collapsed to the ground, unmoving and silent.
Damien raised an eyebrow at this, but noticed a change that immediately caused him to turn tail and run—coincidentally, in the direction Marionette and Lillian went.
Everyone who watched him run began to feel fearful as well. As they were about to quickly leave, they watched as Albrecht got up from the ground.
To support him, a young nobleman went to his side, placing an arm under Albrecht’s armpits.
“Hey, hey, easy now. I saw what happened. Let’s quickly find you a hospital and get whatever got injected in you checked out…”
“…”
When the nobleman tried to hold him up, he felt something wriggle from underneath Albrecht’s clothes—like he was hiding a nest of snakes underneath his shirt.
As the nobleman was about to question it, he was suddenly held in place by Albrecht, who suddenly bit down on his face.
*Gasp!* Don’t run, Lillian! If you leave, how can we enjoy True Darkness’s Mukbang of Marionette’s emotions!?
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