"No, stop..."
Janus licked his lips, and Ayra assud it was due to the blood in her mouth, hoping he wasn't enjoying the taste of her nosebleed. As she backed away tentatively, surprisingly, Janus didn’t pursue her. His eyes still shimred with excitent, yet sohow, his mood seed slightly deflated.
Confused, Ayra watched as Janus fumbled with his body, shaking slightly. He shoved his hot hand under the cold nape of her neck and clicked his tongue lightly.
"Cold?"
Staring intensely at the blood seeping through the fingers covering her nose and mouth, Janus asked. Only then did Ayra realize she was shivering from the cold. She had only planned to step outside briefly, but their ti outdoors had unexpectedly stretched, leading to her shaking as the residual warmth from their activities wore off.
"Yeah, it’s a bit cold..."
"This is considered warm weather, though. Are you perhaps a bit frail?"
It was a bit rich to hear such a thing from soone whose body was designed to withstand much, evident from his max HP of 9,999,999. Ayra fumbled in her subspace pocket for a handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth. Janus observed her pale complexion closely.
"Do you have a chronic illness?"
"No, just... I tend to get nosebleeds easily when I'm tired."
It was disheartening to be asked about a chronic disease just because of a nosebleed. It was rely fatigue.
Contrary to his previous threat of ravishing her until she fainted, Janus now held her warmly in his arms until the nosebleed stopped. ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) His body heat was so tender it made her nose tingle annoyingly. As the bleeding slowed, Ayra soaked a new handkerchief in water, recalling sothing Janus had said.
‘It was also the first ti soone was so eager to see .’
She knew it ant he had just had a lustful dream, but it still made her heart flutter foolishly. She tried desperately to suppress her growing fondness and feelings for Janus, but it was futile. Falling for soone was incredibly hard to resist.
"Will you be heading back to Solar soon?"
"Yeah. Everything’s wrapped up now..."
"Should we go back together?"
Janus asked as he took the wet handkerchief from Ayra to wipe her face, making sure no traces of blood remained before carefully folding it and wiping her hands as well. Caught off guard by his gentleness, she nodded, suddenly feeling greedy.
‘...Should I ask him to stay in my territory a little longer?’
He had co looking for his lover and had been away from Solar for nearly ten years. Ayra harbored a hope, however slight, that she might be the lover Janus was searching for. Even if she wasn't the fated lover he sought, could she not beco a comfortable and familiar one through effort? Their favorability was only at four, but perhaps it could grow if they continued to spend ti together.
These greedy thoughts swirled chaotically in her mind. She knew harboring such desires was a recipe for disaster, yet she couldn’t help herself. Just as Ayra was about to speak, Janus released his embrace as if he had read her turmoil.
"Your coat is at the entrance, right? Here it is. Let’s find a nearby inn to warm up first."
Ayra swallowed the words that had nearly burst forth and nodded. It really was too cold. Returning to Solar would undoubtedly bring a mountain of work, and falling ill now would be disastrous. If she fell sick, the chief administrator would probably collapse from overwork.
Quietly, Ayra watched Janus’s back as he moved away. She waited with her arms crossed, but for so reason, his return seed delayed.
"Has he still not found my coat?"
She muttered as footsteps approached. She looked up toward the entrance of the alley, but there was no sign of Janus. Suddenly, a stone popped up in front of her with an alert ssage.
Now behind you...
“...Huh?”
Ayra furrowed her brow. The alert had appeared and disappeared so quickly she hadn’t managed to read it properly. As she raised her hands in surprise, the stone cald down, its 'Alert' fading away.
"Didn’t you just display an ergency warning?"
As if it had never issued a warning, the elental fluttered innocently into her arms. Ayra pulled it by the sides, questioning it as it avoided her gaze and produced a heart. She tried to recall the ssage—it had definitely said, 'Now behind you.'
A chill ran down her spine, and she tensively turned around, only to be t with the glint of a white blade in the darkness.
"...!"
It was too late! She hastily summoned a defensive barrier from the ground, but the blade seed destined to reach her throat first. However, before the blade could strike, a scream erupted from the attacker.
"Aaagh!"
The assailant dropped his sword, clutching his wrist where a blood-red hole now oozed. Another object whizzed through the air and embedded itself in his ankle. This ti, he couldn’t scream; his mouth was swiftly covered from behind.
"Shh, let’s keep it quiet, Mishio. Making noise here will just draw unwanted attention."
Janus’s smooth voice spoke as he lifted Mishio off the ground. Only then did Ayra realize the man who had tried to kill her was nad Mishio.
Mishio flailed, hitting and scratching at Janus’s arm, even as his own blood stained it. But Janus remained unmoved.
"Here, your coat. Before you catch a cold."
After crippling Mishio’s wrist and ankle, Janus nonchalantly handed her the coat. Dumbfounded, Ayra deactivated her half-raised barrier and reflexively took the coat. Although Janus had secured their safety, she didn’t forget to sneakily disable the pebble's tardy ergency alert.
The pebble, sweating, quietly displayed Mishio’s stats.
HP: 22,534
MP: ???
Physical Attack: ???
Magical Attack: ???
Favorability: -21♡
As Ayra stared intently at the stat window, Janus said in a soft voice.
“If it’s too cold, you can go ahead.”
"No. I’ll go with you."
She quickly put on the thick coat as she replied. Considering he was wounded yet still had about 20,000 HP, Mishio must have been quite capable, reminiscent of Nilma Argan’s royal guards.
Following Janus, Ayra fiddled with her coat's collar, noticing two buttons were missing.
‘Could the weapon he used against Mishio have been my buttons...?’
As if carrying a rag doll, Janus effortlessly dragged Mishio, whose face had turned pale with terror, through the winding alleys. By the ti they stopped in a decrepit and shadowy courtyard surrounded by crumbling houses, any passersby or vagrants quickly fled at the sight of the bloodied Mishio being dragged in.
“Now, why don’t we hear why you tried to kill my lover?”
Mishio, drained of color from the blood loss, trembled violently. He clenched the holes in his wrist and ankle and shut his mouth tight. When Janus drew an old sword from his waist, Mishio’s complexion turned stark white.
“You know I don’t ask long questions.”
Ayra watched the two quietly from a step back, puzzled by Janus’s lack of emotional turmoil, even though his favorability towards her was only a four. But his detachnt even towards a friend’s betrayal was difficult to comprehend.
Mishio, caught at the scene, started pleading.
"Janus, just this once, let it go. I’m your friend. We’ve been close friends for five years."
"Yes, friends. That’s why I’m still going easy on you."
Janus playfully jabbed Mishio's knee with the tip of his sword, eliciting a muffled cry from him. The smile vanished from Janus’s lips, replaced by a chilling and detached look in his crimson eyes.
Mishio sensed the change too. He stiffened with fear, then crawled towards Janus.
"I had no money."
“Hmm? With your skills, a few hunts should earn you plenty.”
Janus looked down indifferently at the bloodied hand clinging to his pant leg.
"I gambled it away, I needed money... I saw that your lover seed to have won quite a bit. So I... I tried to rob..."
It was a lie. The conviction in the attack, the gleam in his eyes in the dark—it was clear he wasn’t just a robber. Ayra had felt genuine murderous intent.
This man was an assassin, not just a thief.
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