“Wha…What are you talking about? Of course, I don’t!”
“What are you so startled about? Even kids my age are following the trend these days.”
Hestia said flatly, not caring if Anne-Marie was flustered or not then she turned around and began walking away.
“Since you’ve quit the clinic and have more ti on your hands, you might as well get one of your own, Unni.”
Anne-Marie’s eyes shook slightly as she looked at her younger sister who seed more mature than she was.
“Wait, Hestia…you said it’s the trend among kids your age. Don’t tell , you too…?”
Then Anne-Marie abruptly ca to her senses and quickly followed after Hestia. When Hestia heard that, she spun around to look at Anne-Marie like she was pricked.
“No! I was just saying other kids were doing it.”
“Hestia, if you do have one, you can be honest with . I’m not narrow-minded.”
Anne-Marie lost her mother at a young age and since she was much older than Hestia, she had practically raised Hestia by herself. Because of this, to Anne-Marie, her sister still looked like a child. So even if Hestia had a boyfriend, she only saw it as her playing house and it seed cute to her.
“So you can just let in on a little bit, hm? If you don’t have a boyfriend yet then, what about a boy you like? Is there anyone? I’ll be the only one that knows. Promise.”
Hestia looked at Anne-Marie who seed to be teasing her and wrinkled her nose.
“There’s nothing like that, okay?”
“Eyy, I don’t think so?”
Hestia’s cheek flushed slightly.
Only children would get angry at sothing like this for no reason. She was 12 years old now and practically an adult. So there was no reason forget to get into a childish argunt with her elder sister. Most of all, she really didn’t have a boyfriend or a boy she liked!
Of course, there was a face that ca up in her mind when Anne-Marie said that. The boy she got close to not long ago and often played with wherever Anne-Marie was not around. Her friend with animal ears and a tail.
But that kid was just a guy who was a friend. Really!
“It’s…It’s just a friend, okay?”
“Ah, just a friend.”
Although Hestia said that, Anne-Marie’s face had a beaming smile and she looked like she didn’t understand at all.
“It’s really just a friend!”
“Okay, I heard you. Friend, of course.”
It was the sa this ti.
In the end, Hestia got sulky with Anne-Marie.
“Hestia, where are you going?”
“I won’t play with you anymore!”
Hestia ran away from Anne-Marie and slamd the door of her room closed. Anne-Marie chuckled from behind. She was happy to see her sister acting like a child for the first ti in a while.
* * *
While Lakis was away from ho, Yuri looked at the reply she got from Damon Salvatore. The content was short and simple.
[Looking for philosopher’s stone. Requesting contact.]
But unfortunately, the ruin’s fragnt that Yuri had, had disappeared thanks to Odin. Yuri inwardly criticized Damon for sending a reply so late. If he had give a response a little earlier, Damon would have gotten his fragnt and Yuri would have gotten her money.
Still, Yuri didn’t ignore it and wrote a reply to Damon.
[You’re late, idiot.]
Flutter
Like before, the paper containing the short reply changed into a butterfly and flew away.
Yuri hadn’t yet replied to the client who had asked her to look for a philosopher’s stone. Until now, she hadn’t cared about who her client was, but she was thinking of using this opportunity to look into it.
However, Odin seed busy with sothing else lately so Yuri planned on doing it herself. Lakis went out often anyways so she could use that tispan to go out and investigate.
Suddenly, she rembered what happened when she ca ho with Lakis earlier. And she also rembered what she felt for a mont when she looked into Lakis’ eyes as they stood on the petal-strewn evening streets.
Yuri frowned slightly.
She raised her hand and pressed it to her chest.
‘…maybe it’s heart failure.’
She knew it wasn’t but for so reason, she inwardly acted like she didn’t know.
Then Yuri felt a presence approaching from outside. Since she was in the living room, she could also hear familiar footsteps walking up to the door.
It seed Lakis ca back early today.
But for so reason, he didn’t co in right away, instead he stood still outside for a while.
Yuri tilted her head and walked up to the door. Then her hand touched the doorknob.
However, the next mont, she felt another presence approaching and her hand stopped in place. Following that, she heard a small voice flowing beyond the door.
Yuri’s eyes narrowed for a mont.
Click.
When Lakis ca in a while later, Yuri was holding the watering can and watering the plants.
“Welco back, Mr. Lakis.”
At Yuri’s greeting, Lakis quickly responded, showing he was quite familiar with it now.
“I’m back, Ms. Yuri.”
The sll of the night air drifted off Lakis as he approached her. Yuri looked at Lakis’ face as he walked up to her. However, his expression was no different from usual.
So Yuri acted like she didn’t know about Anne-Marie and Lakis’ encounter outside the door earlier.
* * *
That night, Damon went to wash up before going to bed. He sent out all the attendants who ca to wait on him in the bathroom and soaked in the bathtub alone.
The bathroom was huge and luxurious which was in line with Salvatore family’s nobility.
Once he got into the hot water, his whole body relaxed, and it felt like the fatigue of the day was lting away. But maybe because he was alone in a quiet place, his mind began to wander, and he rembered what Genos Sheldon said earlier in the day.
~
‘Anyways, even if I hate it, I’ll have to see your face as often as before from now on.’
‘I know you put soone to follow around lately. I didn’t know you wanted to see that much. Well, we’ll be crossing paths at any ti so look forward to it.’
~
Splash!
Damon struck the surface of the water with annoyance.
“That arrogant bastard…”
Thinking about it again made his anger rise and he swept back his wet hair which was poking his eyes.
Swoosh.
And right then, Damon noticed sothing white coming close to him in the midst of the vapor filled room.
It was a familiar white butterfly.
He was montarily startled.
It seed the person who claid to have the philosopher’s stone had already sent a reply. Even if that was the case, why did it have to co inside his bathroom and at such an odd hour too. Shouldn’t they have considered the ti and place?
The butterfly thoughtlessly flew to Damon in the bathtub and turned into paper right before his eyes.
Flutter.
“Ah!”
Damon hurried moved to pick up the white paper sitting on the water. He didn’t know what material it was made of but thankfully, it didn’t get wet. Even though Damon was touching it with wet fingers, he didn’t feel like it was getting smudged at all.
Damon frowned and lifted the paper with his thumb and index finger.
‘Hmph, seeing how they replied so quickly, I guess they must be anxious to sell the philosopher’s stone to ?’
With that thought in mind, Damon’s mouth twisted into a smirk. Then he looked down to check the reply. However, the very next mont, he couldn’t help but doubt his eyes.
[You’re late, idiot.]
This was because the short sentence written on the white paper was incredibly insolent.
You’re late, idiot…
You’re late, idiot?
“This…! Who has the nerve-!”
The veins on Damon’s forehead bulged.
He was already annoyed because of Genos Sheldon and now he felt like he was being mocked by soone whose na he didn’t even know so his anger surged.
He had to find them.
He would definitely find out what punk this was, damn it!
Damon crumpled the paper in his hand with indignation.
And like that, his peaceful bath ti of the day ca to a quick end.
* * *
Today was my day off from the coffeehouse.
So in agreent with my employnt contract, I was going to the old man’s…No, since I was going to be seeing him more often, it wasn’t quite right to keep calling him that.
So I was going to Grandpa Bastian’s…
No, that sounded weird too.
Either ways, I was going to the Crawford family house to see him.
“Yuri, I heard from Sebastian. You like puppies a lot?”
Even though today was my first official day at work, he took outside.
“Here, you can play with them as much as you want!”
Then he said that generously.
“Ms. Yuri!”
I suppose he said the sa thing to Anne-Marie because she was already on the lawn and waved to from where she was, surrounded by dogs.
I glanced behind .
There I saw Bastion standing next to the butler with a pleasant smile. I looked forward again and gazed at the scene in front of .
Hahaha! Bark! Bark!
A lovely girl running around the lawn with puppies and laughing. Combined with an elderly figure watching them with a warm smile. Sothing about it seed like the example of a peaceful family.
For now, I walked up to Anne-Marie like the old man recomnded, plus she was calling for .
“Hi, Ms. Yuri. Grandpa said we could play with the dogs, so I was giving them so snacks. Do you want to join ?”
Anne-Marie greeted happily.
Seeing Anne-Marie smiling brightly in the middle of the dogs gave a slightly odd feeling. I felt like I was only just rembering that she was a young girl who was only 20. Sohow, it also made think that Anne-Marie must have been like this before losing her father.
“Okay, give one too.”
I took one of the snacks for the dogs from Anne-Marie. Probably because they’d seen the other day, the dogs quickly ca up to with their tail wagging. Then again, even when they were seeing for the first ti, they ca up to without any vigilance.
But now, probably because I had a snack in my hand, the dogs were especially excited as they greeted .
The old man was sitting on a bench in the distance and watching and Anne-Marie with a nostalgic gaze. Did his late daughter like dogs too?
“Ms. Yuri, try throwing it too!”
After we finished feeding the dogs all the snacks, the trainer gave us a ball. It was easy to tell we were supposed to throw the ball and play with the dogs.
Only
Anne-Marie went first, skillfully throwing the ball behind the dogs. The dogs all ran off before scrambling for the ball, then one of them ca back with it in its mouth.
Anne-Marie giggled and stroked the dog’s neck. Then she ran over with her skirt and hair fluttering in the wind and handed the ball to .
I fiddled with the ball Anne-Marie gave to . It had been a while since I did this. How hard am I supposed to throw this again?[1]
Whoosh!
Translator’s Corner:
[1]What she literally says is: ‘is this much okay?’ as in ‘is this the right amount of force to throw the ball?’ I don’t know why I’m explaining this to be honest, but I felt like it.
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