The Freak Show Foreman Chapter 159 Black and Gold – 30

Reyna woke up 30 minutes before the promised ti with the driver.

That was quite disappointing for Wonderstein.

There were only a few hours left until the deadline for fulfilling her father's duties.

He now expected her to make a final effort.

He was very tense at the thought that she might demand more than what he had done so far.

But when she woke up, she seed strangely subdued.

At first, he thought it was because she was still half asleep, but she didn't say a word until she got off the carriage and entered the villa.

He noticed that sothing was wrong when he saw her gloomy expression.

Even after dinner, her mood did not improve as she bid farewell to the mbers.

Her attitude towards them was cold.

She, who had beco quite friendly with the mbers, seed to have reverted to the way she was when they first t today.

She didn't respond to Sven's jokes, replied coldly to Yurakne's kindness, and brushed off the friendly approaches of the other mbers.

It was the sa when she was alone with Wonderstein.

Although she still called him dad, there was a distance in her words that he hadn't felt before.

Perhaps she was detaching herself from the thought of leaving.

Wonderstein was relieved that she did not make unreasonable demands, but on the other hand, he felt sorry for her.

That's why he suggested a night walk.

He took her to the edge of the cliff in front of the villa.

"Why did we co here, Dad? I can't see anything…."

Wonderstein held her shoulders nervously.

"Hold on tight. You are about to fall."

"What? Wha-what… Ahhh!"

Wonderstein held her and jumped off the cliff.

It was dizzying to fall from a height of almost 100 ters.

Reyna quickly clung to him.

But before her first scream could leave her mouth, their bodies stopped abruptly.

"Ah…."

She felt cold sweat spreading on her back.

She looked down.

It was too dark to see clearly, but she could tell that sothing solid was supporting the ground.

"Haha, did my daughter get scared? We only fell about 3m."

She flinched at his playful tone.

"You're, you're so an. I almost…."

She swallowed the words that she almost peed herself.

No matter how much she pretended to be a child, it was hard for her to say that in front of people because of the mory of being embarrassed in front of them.

"You can co down now."

Although Wonderstein said so, Reyna still didn't want to let go of his body and think about falling.

"I can't see anything…. If I step on it by mistake…."

Then he suddenly waved his hand in the air.

Then a hazy light spread in the air.

He had sprayed a substance that glowed green, like dew, into the air.

The shapes of the surrounding objects beca visible.

"Wow…."

She admired his talent and carefully got off his body.

They stood in a hollow below the cliff.

It wasn't that big, but it was big enough for two people to lie down.

"How did you know about this place?"

"Dub… I an, Ella's pigeon, found it while flying around. It seems to be a nesting place for birds that originally nested on the cliffs."

Ella.

The child who took her father away.

And her 'Dad', too, seems to have…

Reyna felt a sense of discomfort brewing inside her.

"Has she been here with you too?"

"Once during the day."

She felt better at his words.

Because it ant that it was her first ti at night with him.

"How about it. The view from above is a little different, isn't it?"

The two looked towards the sea.

The sky, dotted with stars, caught their eyes.

In the lodging where they stayed, the stars were not visible due to the lights emanating from the nearby mansions.

But this place was under the shadow of the cliff, so there was less light interference.

She was more grateful for his heartfelt gesture than the beauty of the scenery.

"Thank you. Dad. It's beautiful."

That's how they sat on the cliff's edge, looking up at the night sky.

Reyna seed to muster so energy, expressing affection again by playfully poking his chest or burying her face in his chest, just as before.

About an hour passed like that.

Reyna spoke again in a subdued voice.

"We'll be parting ways soon, Dad."

Her words made Wonderstein grin.

"So that's why you've been so lancholic?"

"…No. I already accepted it two days ago when we made the promise, Dad, but…"

She paused for a mont.

"I had a dream earlier."

"During the carriage ride?"

"Yes."

Sensing her slight trembling, he hugged her tightly.

"It was a nightmare?"

"No."

She shook her head, offering a faint smile.

Her eyes grew misty.

"It was such a good dream. It was a world where everything I wished for ca true."

"What did you wish for?"

She hesitated briefly, biting her lip, then continued.

"That you were actually my real dad. The man in the Golden Carnival was fake. You ca to confront him and take back."

It must have been a concoction of her deeply rooted desires, resulting in such a pleasant dream.

A dream sweet enough to be satisfying.

Wonderstein understood why she suddenly felt lancholic.

What she had longed for so much.

The problem was that it was just a dream.

In reality, it was quite the opposite.

Simon was her only real family, and he was not a real father, just faithfully acting according to the contract.

"Thank you for trying so hard."

She distanced herself from him.

"Reyna…"

"Don't worry too much. I'm okay now. You're…"

She regretted her words soon after.

"Anyway, we're not even real father and daughter."

Sadly, the two days she thought she would gain courage vanished the mont she realized this was 'fake'.

Wonderstein felt helpless.

If she ca to this realization like this, there was nothing more he could do.

The two returned to their lodgings without saying a word.

Entering the room, she began to pack.

Just two weeks.

An experience that would never happen again in a lifeti.

It was ti to return to reality.

While sorting through her belongings, she found sothing.

It was a bag of clothes she had brought from the Golden Carnival.

There, she noticed one piece of clothing.

It was smaller and cleaner than the others.

The mont she saw it, mories from the day before yesterday flashed before her eyes, igniting a fire in her chest.

There was only one hour left until the promised Tuesday.

There was one last thing she wanted to do.

However, even for her, who had been constantly clinging to Wonderstein, it was a matter too embarrassing to even ntion.

After hesitating for thirty minutes, she stood up with a loud shout.

How many tis in her life had she mustered such courage?

She pampered herself.

Yeah. It's not that big of a deal.

Didn't Yurakne say that?

It's just sothing that happens routinely in this circus.

Even though she is not a freak perforr….

There's no reason why she can't do what Maya did!

I'm my dad's daughter now!

In fact, that makes her even more confident!

Reyna, dressed, descended to Wonderstein's room downstairs.

She quickly hid the clothes she had brought behind her back and avoided his gaze.

Now, with less than 30 minutes left, there was no other chance but now.

She closed her eyes tightly and shouted.

"Please help change my clothes!"

"…Pardon?"

It was such a startling request that he montarily spoke in honorifics, even though he had been prepared to play along.

Wonderstein beckoned her into the room.

And, face reddened with embarrassnt, he cald her down as she rambled on nervously.

He couldn't understand why Yurakne, Maya, and the bathroom were brought up.

Soon he burst into laughter after hearing what had happened the day before from her.

She had misunderstood what had happened inside her dressing room without knowing her own abilities.

Yurakne had also teased her intentionally.

He was about to correct her misunderstanding, but he soon closed his mouth.

Magic loses its effect when secrets are revealed.

He didn't distrust her, but she was also the one who couldn't be free from Simon's constraint.

If he ordered, she would have to reveal everything she saw here.

"W-what are you going to do, Dad?"

Reyna anxiously waited for his response, sitting in a chair.

Wonderstein comforted her with a gentle smile and whispered in her ear.

"Undress."

She couldn't bring herself to look him in the face and undress, so she turned her back to him and started taking off her clothes.

Her coat, top, and bottom slid down her curved body to the floor one by one.

Except for a pair of underwear, not a single thread of clothing remained on her body.

Reyna looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Large chest, slender waist, well-balanced hips.

Her body boasted perfect proportions like a sculpture.

As she pretended to look into the mirror, she stole a glance at Wonderstein's face standing behind her.

There was no trace of hesitation or change in his expression.

He was always like this.

Even if she made unreasonable demands, his expression remained unchanged.

But this ti, she felt a sense of relief and disappointnt at the sa ti.

She thought she could break him this ti…

He approached her from behind and dressed her one by one.

Crossing the straps of the leather corset in an X shape and tying them behind her back, connecting the straps of the dress with rings, and clipping the joints of the cloak.

The clothes were so tight that she felt it might burst if she bent her waist.

So she even asked him to help her with the socks and shoes that she originally wore on her own.

Leaning against the wall with both legs crossed, she stretched out her legs for him to put on the shoes.

"Please trust ."

She found herself making the demand she thought rude when it was Maya.

However, Wonderstein complied with her request without any hint of discomfort.

In his eyes, it seed that if she made even the slightest unreasonable movent, her clothes might not hold up.

But for a mont, she couldn't tell if it was the right decision.

Her breath beca ragged as his hand brushed against the sole of her foot and slipped between her toes, as if the chest strap would burst and explode with each exit.

Fortunately, such a thing did not happen.

Fully dressed, she turned around in front of him.

"Is it too small?"

"Yeah, it is."

"It's the dress I made four years ago."

He nodded at her words.

For so reason, he had ntioned that so parts didn't fit well.

The hem of the skirt, which originally seed to cover the knees, barely hung on her thighs, exposing them all and barely clinging to her hips. The fact that the flesh of her back showed behind the corset and that her chest was barely contained, revealing her bones, didn't seem to be the intention of the original dressmaker.

"At 13, the genius girl who defeated all the graduates of Lekachep! It was my father's debut strategy for . This dress was made to fit back then. At that ti, my father wasn't the director of 'Golden' Carnival like now. So, I made it myself with the sa color arrangent… But in the end, since my father couldn't achieve the results he wanted back then, I never wore this dress."

Rembering the fantasies she had held at that ti, she looked Wonderstein straight in the eye.

"It's almost Tuesday."

It's ti.

She had done everything she wanted to do with this.

There was no more greed.

But…

"I'd like to continue being together like this."

Her words were the closest to her true feelings.

Then, the sound of a bell rang, indicating midnight.

There was a large clock in this villa, perhaps reflecting the owner's taste.

That was where the sound ca from.

"Director."

She called him with a slightly firr voice than the past two days, but softer than before.

She gave him a faint smile, nodding her head slightly.

"Thank you for granting my naive request. Thanks to you, I had a good ti."

"…Yes. I had fun too. Reyna, you did well too."

Once again, the two people who had beco strangers looked at each other silently for a mont.

In the brief mont signaling the end of the magic, a myriad of emotions crossed their faces.

With the last sound of the bell, Reyna bowed her head one last ti and left the room.

The bell stopped.

In the silent room, Wonderstein heard the sound of the quest completion window popping up.