Chapter 8- Most Wanted
Year 994, Midgard, City of Cagliamola
Rose's POV
It's been a few days since the attack. I thought as I walked the streets of Cagliamola, Alan was recovering from using magic, so I'm the one doing him some favors. At the moment I was walking through the markets with a shopping list in my hand.
Hanging on my shoulder was a bag and inside it was my coins and Rubrum, Alan insisted that I take it with me in case something bad happens, at first I refused, even though Rubrum and Noir were friendly, I couldn't help but be feel uncomfortable having a magic book with me at all times, I have no idea how to deal with magic, this kind of thing should be left to those who understand the subject.
As I walked I saw a crowd standing in front of a wall. What was happening? I approached the crowd. As I got closer I could hear bits and pieces of conversation.
"Aren't those two?"
"Why such a high reward?"
"Poor children."
"Who cares? I'll get the reward myself!"
"What's going on here?" I asked the crowd, one by one they all turned to me, some looked away when they saw me, others widened their eyes, and a small part was staring at me. The crowd parted and what I saw made my breath catch and my heart nearly stop beating.
Wanted posters, with Alan's face and mine covered the wall, I had a bounty of 250 gold coins and Alan had a bounty of 500 gold coins, I took a few steps back, suddenly I felt someone grabbing my arm, it was one of the men who was staring at me.
"You come with me!" He said.
"No! Let me go!" I tried to break free, but his grip was too strong. A red glow started to come out of my bag, a red bolt came out of it and hit the man in the chest, he started convulsing on the floor.
"She knows how to use magic!"
"Witch!"
The crowd started to flee from me, without thinking twice I ran home, on the way I picked up two wanted posters, Alan's and mine.
Alan's POV
I'm so bored. I thought as I lay in my bed and read a book. I don't have much to do at the moment, Rose insisted that I rest, I'm not as hurt as I was before, but she wasn't open to an argument. I put the book aside and stared at the ceiling.
Noir was sleeping on the shelf, he's been watching me relentlessly for days, I had to order him to get some rest, but I promised to wake him if I needed anything. Suddenly I heard the sound of the front door slamming . Did Rose come back early?
"ALAN!" Rose walked through our bedroom door, nearly knocking it off its hinges.
"There is a problem Rose?" She was scared, Rose ran to the bedroom window and closed the curtain, then went to the living room, closed the curtains on all the windows and locked the front door, she went back to the bedroom. I grabbed her by the shoulders and asked again.
"Rose what happened?"
"Here Alan, check this out!" She handed me two papers, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I read it several times, believing that my eyes were deceiving me, the fifth time I realized. The posters said the following.
"Sought after using magic without the Lords' explicit permission. Both individuals are extremely dangerous, if found keep your distance and report to the nearest local authorities. SIGNED: Caerula, Lord of the Land of Oceans."
"OPEN THE DOOR!" Someone was trying to break down the front door, I turned to Rose.
"We need to get out of here now!"
Rose nodded, together we ran around the house taking just what was necessary, in our case the clothes, the stolen money and food, we put everything in bags and in my backpack, I opened the bedroom window and helped Rose to jump , when I had one foot out the window I realized I had forgotten something. Noir!
I ran to the bookshelf and grabbed Noir "Noir wake up!" I screamed as I shook him, Noir woke up with a yawn.
"Wha… Lord Alan… What's going on?" Noir asked me sleepily.
The front door was knocked down and a group of guards entered the house "YOU THERE! STOP!"
I locked the bedroom door and the guards started trying to break it down "Noir! We need to flee now!"
"Yes Lord Alan!" Noir floated beside me and together we climbed out of the window, Rose stayed by my side and we ran through the streets of Cagliamola.
"THEY ARE RUNNING AWAY!" I saw a guard yell as he pointed at us and started chasing us, soon there was a group of guards behind us.
Rose and I turned right and entered the alleys of the city, left, right, right, left, left and went straight on, but there was a problem, the alley was a dead end. I had an idea, I just hope I don't get hurt too much this time.
"Noir tear down that wall!"
"As you wish!" Noir opened and a Dark Hand came out of it, the hand closed into a fist and flung itself against the wall, the wall was destroyed, chunks of stone flew in all directions.
I dropped to my knees breathing heavily, it wasn't too bad this time.
"Alan! Why did you do that?" Rose asked worriedly.
"WHAT WAS THIS?" The guards shouted down the alleys.
"Don't worry about me now, we need to run!" I yelled as I pushed Rose forward.
When we crossed the collapsed wall and ended up on the main street of Cagliamola, the exit was straight ahead. We ran down the street pushing people out of the way.
"Get out of the way!" Rose yelled as she pushed a woman aside.
"Out of the way!" I screamed as I pulled a man back.
The exit was close, but ended up being blocked by guards and the same man who questioned us at the inn, we stopped running, the guards behind us were approaching.
"I'm sorry about that boy, but for the sake of this town I'll have to arrest you!" The captain said as he drew his sword.
I looked at Rose. "Rose when I say it I want you to close your eyes. Understood?"
"Yes." She said while giving me a determined look.
I took a deep breath and yelled, "Noir! Punch the ground with all your might!"
"Yes Lord Alan." A Dark Hand came out of Noir, this hand being the biggest we've created so far, the hand started going up and then down towards the street.
"Rose now!" Rose closed her eyes and I grabbed her arm as I used my left arm to shield my eyes.
A few meters in front of us. As the hand hit the ground, the road cracked, tiles flew through the air and a great cloud of dust was raised, the guards around us screamed as dirt hit their eyes.
I ran forward without worrying about what was in my way, I bumped into something and heard a scream of pain, but I didn't stop running, when I removed my arm from my eyes, I saw that I was outside the city, Noir was right behind me.
"Rose you can open your eyes now." Rose opened her eyes and looked around.
"We escaped?"
"Not yet!" We ran towards the trees around the city, kept running into the forest until we were sure that we weren't being followed.
TIMESKIP
Rose's POV
It was already night, we were in a small clearing where we set up an improvised camp, I was building a fire, I made a circle of stones and I put branches and dry leaves in the center, now I just need to light it. How am I going to light this up?
"Miss Rose, allow me." It seems that Noir noticed my problem, he approached the fire and gave it a small shot of magic, the fire lit, I took a coat from one of the bags we were carrying and approached the fire to warm myself.
Rubrum was beside me, she hasn't done anything else since we escaped, Alan was leaning against a tree, his hand on his chest and breathing heavily. Will he look like this whenever he uses magic? What if the moment comes when he can't take it anymore? Who will fight in his place? Taking a deep breath, I started to approach Alan.
"Alan?" I asked as I approached him.
"Yea?" He replied.
"I want you to teach me how to fight!"
His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.
"But where did that come from?" He asked.
"I'm tired of just watching you almost die every time you use magic."
"Rose I don't think…" I didn't let him finish.
"Don't talk to me like that, look at you, looks like you're going to faint at any moment, I'm tired of being useless so teach me how to fight!" I demanded as I crossed my arms and stared at him.
He put his hand on his face while laughing "HAHAHA! Okay, I promise I'll teach you tomorrow, but for today let's just rest, the day was hard."
"Don't tell me!" She said annoyed.
"Here, sit by my side." He said as he patted the floor beside him, before going I took Rubrum in my arms, and sat next to Alan with Rubrum in my lap, Noir was floating next to Alan.
"So the Lords are looking for us, and they've put a high bounty on our heads, I'll be frank with you, if someone manages to capture us, that person won't have to work for the rest of their lives." He said to me.
"Wow, how encouraging." I said while rolling my eyes.
"HAHA! Don't worry, I have a plan, at first the original idea was to leave Midgard, to a place where the Lords have no influence, at first I thought about taking a ship to Egypt, China, or crossing Midgard until I reached Russia."
"I have no idea what those places are."
"The Land of the Ancients, The Land of Dragons and the Land of Blizzard respectively Egypt, China and Russia is what the people of my Land call these places."
"I understand. Why don't we go to your land?" I asked Alan.
"Do you really want to deal with people turning into pillars of salt or monsters?" He asked me. I didn't answer, it was a stupid question that I asked.
"Also, Japan, or the Land of the Rising Sun, call it what you like, is going through the Edo period, the borders are closed to everyone, nobody gets in, nobody gets out. The only way for them to open the borders again is at the base of the cannon."
"Oh! I didn't know."
"Don't worry about that. Back to the point, the original idea was to leave Midgard, but due to the size of our rewards this has become almost impossible, people will keep an eye out in case we show up at some port, not to mention the guards that will patrol the place. " Alan then took a map out of his backpack.
"So my plan is to go to the Land of Forests. Where most of the non-human population of Midgard lives, the Land of Forests is huge, there is plenty of room for us to hide, most of the non-humans that live there are neutral towards other humans, except for the Lord of the Land of Forests. and his men, they hate the Lord. So what do you tell me?" He asked me while smiling.
"Well, I don't really have anywhere to go. So let's go with your plan." I said while smiling back.
"Very well, Cagliamola is in old Spain, close to Cathedral City, we are in a forest close to Cagliamola, if we go west we can cross the border between Cathedral City and the Land of Forests, we will stop in the region that was once known as Italy." Alan said as he dragged his finger across the map, I just nodded.
"Who knows? Maybe when we get to Italy I can show you what's left of Rome, the Colosseum must still be there. And the best part, I might end up meeting beautiful elf girls in the Land of Forests." He said while with a dreamy look on his face.
"Go dreaming about it, you virgin." I said while smiling and slapping his shoulder.
"Why do you have to doubt my dreams?" He asked while giving me an annoyed look.
"Because they will never come true." I replied back while smiling.
"You'll see, I'm going to find a beautiful red-haired elf, we're going to live together in a beautiful house in a village full of elves, we're going to have two children, red-haired twins, I'm going to wake up next to my beautiful wife every morning to the sound of my daughters running to our room and calling me daddy."
"Dream about it." I responded while laughing, only to choke when Alan shoved a loaf of bread into my mouth.
"Eat, you're less annoying when you're eating something." He said as he took another loaf of bread from one of the bags we brought.
I started to eat the bread and asked, "How much food do we have left?" He looked into the bag.
"We won't have to worry about hunting our own food for a while."
I shrugged, it's not that bad "If we have to hunt I'll just let you fight a bear with your bare hands."
"Do you want me to die by any chance?"
I sighed "How did you guess it?"
We kept looking at each other and started laughing.
"HAHAHAHA!"
Our laughter echoed through the forest, I didn't know how I was going to miss these moments.
Rose's POV
SPLASH!
"AAAHHH!" I woke up startled with water running down my face, when I looked up I saw Alan with an open leather canteen in his hand.
"Why did you do that?" I asked annoyed.
"I've been calling you for a while, but you haven't woken up."
"Why are you wasting our water?"
"Don't worry, there's a river just ahead." He said as he pointed towards the forest.
"What time is it?" I asked as I lifted up and rubbed my eyes.
"4 a.m." Alan said as he looked at a black rectangular object in his hands.
"4 a.m! Why did you wake me up so early? And what is that in your hand?"
"If you want to learn to fight we need to start as soon as possible. And that in my hand is my cell phone." He said while pointing the cell phone at me, a strong light came out of the cell phone blinding me, when my vision came back I was looking at a small painting of myself with a water soaked face and wide eyes.
"What is this?"
"It's a photo, this little device in my hands is a marvel of the technology of my land, it can record moments with photographs, play music, take notes, communicate with people at a distance."
All this in that little box? "So it's magic?" Alan gave me a disappointed look and said.
"Yes, it's magic. Here take it!" He said as he threw me an apple, I started to eat.
"When you're done, we'll begin your training."
I nodded yes.
Alan's POV
"Let's start!" I said to Rose in front of me, we were on the other side of the clearing.
"What are we going to do first?" Rose asked.
"Punch me with all your might." I said as she approached me.
"Why do I need to learn to punch? Isn't it just pulling your arm back with a clenched fist and then hitting someone as hard as you can?" She asked.
"I'll be honest with you Rose, a badly thrown punch is more likely to hurt you than your opponent. I say this from experience." I said as I placed my hand on her shoulder.
"Serious?"
I nodded and returned to the starting position "Come on, punch me!"
"Right." she said hesitantly.
Rose closed her fist, pulled her arm back as far as she could and threw her arm forward, I took a left step out of the way and I tripped her legs, she fell flat on her face. Rose got up and glared at me.
"Did you understand what I said? Your punch was sloppy, if I was someone trying to hurt you I would have done it by now, let me show you how to hit someone properly."
Rose got up and stared at me.
"First of all, the power of a punch comes from the lower body." I said as I put my right foot forward and my left foot back. Rose mimicked the movements, but it was still sloppy.
"Now I'm going to teach you how to clench your fist properly. Closes your hand tightly, placing your thumb over the other fingers, resting it over her middle finger. Squeeze your hand tight to avoid getting hurt when you punch, and keep your wrist as straight as possible." I told Rose while I did the aforementioned movements, she imitated them.
"If you punch with four fingers over your thumb, you can break a bone in your hand. Ideally, hit the opponent with the knuckle of your middle finger, keep your thumb over your middle finger to protect it and hold it in place. You got it?"
Rose nodded yes.
"Tell me, are you left-handed or right-handed?"
"Right."
"OK!"
"Place your dominant hand, your right hand, against your chin and lift your free hand. Bend your elbows and lift your right hand, bringing it close to your cheek pointing up, with your elbow close to your ribs. Raise your left hand in front of your body at the same height." Rose repeated my moves, she learns fast.
"Okay, now Bend your knees slightly to generate strength and balance. Every punch in the fight must start with a leg movement."
"Now I'm going to show you how to land a punch."
I turned my left foot and left knee inward, lifted my heel in one motion, turned my left foot and knee toward my imaginary opponent. I rotated my hips and chest towards the opponent. I stretched out my fist and let my arm swing inward as I struck and let my left arm follow the movement. I hit the imaginary opponent with the joint of my middle finger.
I looked at Rose "Now it's your turn."
I approached Rose and raised both hands with open palms "Start!"
And she did just that, the punches were slow and sloppy, but she would learn in time.
TIMESKIP
"There's something important I need to tell you, there's nothing stopping us from fighting dirty. What do I mean by that? We're not heroes and we're not in a martial arts tournament so there's no reason not to cheat. So if you want to get the upper hand in a fight, hit your enemies in their weak spots, kick a man in the balls, punch a person in the throat, stick your fingers in someone's eyes. You got it?"
"Yes!" Rose said with a determined look.
"Okay, let's continue!" I returned to the position with open palms.
"Start!" I regretted saying those words, as Rose decided to take my advice seriously and kick me in the balls.
"SON OF A BITCH!" I said as I bent my knees and grabbed my parts.
"HAHAHA!" Rose just laughed.
"Let's see if you think this is funny!" I placed the index and middle fingers of my left hand in a V position and stuck them in Rose's eyes, she stopped laughing and started screaming in pain as she rolled on the floor with her hands covering her eyes.
"AAAHHH!" she screamed.
"HAHAHA!" This time I'm the one laughing.
TIMESKIP
Alan's POV
"Lord Alan, are you sure about thAT?" Noir asked beside me.
"I don't know Noir." I replied.
"Can't we walk around?" Rose asked me.
I found myself in a difficult situation, I thought as I hid among the trees and looked at the city ahead, Fool's Marsh, if we cross the city we will reach the border between Cathedral City and Land of the Forests faster, but we run the risk of being found, if we go around the city and take another route the chance of being found will be lower, but it will take us longer to get to the border.
"Lord Alan, isn't this the town where the men who hired the criminals to capture Miss Rose live?" Noir you had to open your mouth!
Rose stared at me "Explain it now!"
"Well, do you remember when I made up the excuse to the guards that the bad guys wanted to take you?"
"Yea."
"It wasn't completely a lie, the thugs were hired by the brothel bosses to kill me, take you and the money back." I said it hesitantly, I was afraid of Rose's reaction, I didn't want her to worry about her old bosses coming after her.
"They did what?! And why didn't you tell me anything?!" Rose said as she looked me in the eyes.
"Rose, in just one night, we were attacked, you saw a man's severed head, met two magic books and slit a man's throat. Would you like me to tell you why they were there the same night it all happened?"
Rose averted her gaze and was thinking, "No."
"I figured, we're going to camp here, tomorrow we'll decide what to do." We went deeper into the forest and set up camp, Rose was quiet all this time.
TIMESKIP
Alan's POV
I woke up in the middle of the night with a bad feeling, looking around didn't find Rose, my baseball bat was gone, Noir was sleeping near a tree with Rubrum by his side. I ran towards the two.
"Noir, Rubrum! Wake up!"
Noir woke up, Rubrum just flashed a red light "Lord Alan! Are we being attacked?"
"No, Rose disappeared, I think she went to Fool's Marsh, we need to find her!"
"You can count on this humble servant, Lord Alan!" Noir floated up beside me.
Rubrum's light intensified, it looks like she wants to help too, I quickly packed our things, leaving everything unnecessary behind, and ran towards Fool's Marsh with Noir by my side and Rubrum in my backpack hand, apparently we'll have to cross the city.
Rose's POV
I ran through the alleys of Fool's Marsh, thinking about what I was about to do, I know it's stupid, but since Alan told me the truth, I couldn't sleep peacefully, on the way I couldn't help but wonder. Why? Why did my mother sell me? Why did the bosses go trought so much trouble to find me and bring me back? Why can't they leave me alone? Why can't I have a normal life?
Here it is! I stopped in front of the brothel, it was a three-story building, too big to be a normal brothel, if I remember correctly it was only frequented by rich people, I walked to the front door and knocked.
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The one who opened it was one of the bosses, specifically the one whose nose was crushed by Alan. When he saw who had knocked on the door, he widened his eyes angrily and yelled.
"You!"
"Yes. Me."
I replied without emotion, I swung the metal club that Alan always carried towards the man's balls, he bent over in pain, I didn't stoped there, I swung the club and hit him on the right side of the face, he fell on his back on the ground, I approached him, put my right foot on his chest and raised the club with both hands and brought it down on his head with all my strength.
I didn't stop, I kept hitting, blood splashed on my face, but I didn't stop, the club was smeared with blood, but I didn't stop, teeth flew out of the boss's mouth, but I didn't stop.
"Please stop!" The boss managed to scream amidst all the knocked out teeth, swollen lips and blood running from his mouth.
BUT
I
DIDN'T
STOP
I continued beating him for a long time, until the boss stopped moving, I put my ear close his chest, I didn't hear his heart beating, great. At the entrance of the brothel there was a counter full of liquor bottles, with a shelf full of bottles, I saw my reflection in one of those bottles. You know, I never looked at myself in a mirror, I never considered myself beautiful, but most of all, I was ashamed, ashamed of what would be looking at me on the other side of the mirror. Well, today for the first time in my life I saw my reflection, I regretted having done it.
The one looking back at me was a girl with messy white hair, empty pink eyes and a bloodstained face. In the bottle I also saw the reflection of someone behind me, it was one of the bosses, the one who had his jaw broken by Alan, he grabbed me by the back of my shirt and threw me towards the counter, I hit the shelf right behind it, I felt wood and bottles breaking on my back, bottles fell beside me towards the floor.
The boss came around the counter and came towards me, looking to the side I saw that the club was out of my reach, but there was something else close to me that I could use as a weapon, I took this thing. The boss grabbed me again by the collar of my shirt and lifted me up to his face, he gave me an angry look, I gave an emotionless look, he pulled his closed fist back ready to punch me, or it would, as I took out the broken bottle I was hiding behind my back and slashed his throat.
The boss let go of me, I fell to the ground, the boss panicked, he tried to cover the cut with his hands, but it wasn't enough, soon he fell to the ground choking on his own blood.
"What's all that noise?!"
The last boss showed up, the one who had his leg broken, when he saw me covered in blood and the two men dead he tried to run but couldn't get far due to the crutches he was using, I calmly walked towards the man and kicked each one from his crutches, he fell flat on his face, he started to crawl, I grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him to face me.
"Wait!" He screamed.
I lifted the broken bottle with my right hand and lowered it towards his left eye.
"AAAHHH!" His screams echoed through the brothel.
I took the bottle from his left eye and stuck it in his right eye.
"AAAHHH!" Once again he screamed, I ignored the screams, I kept stabbing until he stopped moving, he must have died some time ago, but for some reason I didn't stop.
"AAAHHH!" I was interrupted by a scream, it was one of the prostitutes who had come out of one of the rooms, probably came to check the source of the noise, the doors of the other rooms of the brothel started to open.
"What did you do?!" The hooker asked as she backed away, I approached her, more people started to leave the rooms.
"ROSE!" I heard a scream behind me, it was Alan, he walked into the brothel and stood there looking at me, I couldn't identify the emotion in his eyes. Worry? Rage? Disgust? Happiness? I can't say.
"Rose? Are you okay?" He asked as he approached me. I didn't answer, I just approached him, suddenly Alan ran towards me, passing me and hitting someone behind me, when I turned around I saw one of the brothel customers with a bottle in his hand. Probably to hit me on the head.
Alan then turned to the prostitutes and customers in the hallway and said.
"Get out of here now!" No one moved, Alan then approached the counter and raised his fist and yelled as he hit the counter.
"I SAID NOW!"
The central part of the counter was smashed and the left and right sides of the counter were ripped off the floor. With this show of strenght the clients and prostitutes ran past us and out of the brothel.
When I looked at Alan he had taken one of the bottles from the counter that was still whole, uncorked the bottle and took a big gulp, then he dragged the bosse's bodies towards the counter and started spilling drinks on the counter, the bodies, and on the floor of the brothel, the remaining bottles he kept in his backpack.
"Noir, can you come over here for a minute?"
"Yes Lord Alan." Noir came through the door.
"Noir shoot here." Noir did just that, he shot the counter, soon the drink started to catch fire, the fire spread through the bodies and would soon spread to the floor.
"Rose let's go." I didn't answer, I took the metal club and offered it to him.
"Keep it, you need it more than I do." I nodded, the three of us walked out the door and Alan locked it behind him.
We walked away from the brothel and watched through the windows as the fire spread, Alan then turned to me and stared with an emotionless gaze, part of his face being lit by the fire, I returned his gaze with the same emotion.
"Do you know what you did today?"
"Yea."
"You regret?"
"No."
We stared at each other again.
"Do you want a hug?" he asked as he opened his arms.
"Yes." I said as I hugged him.
"Please don't do this again."
I didn't answer.
"MY GOD!"
"FIRE!"
"BRING OUT THE BUCKETS!"
We heard screams in the distance.
"We need to get out of here! Noir, Rose let's go!" Alan said as he started to run. And that we did, we crossed the city and only stopped when it started to get dark.
TIMESKIP
Rose's POV
"Here." Alan said as he offered me one of the bottles of liquor he took from the brothel. I took the bottle.
"You? Offering me a drink? Weren't you the one who said I couldn't drink until I was older?" I asked as I uncorked the bottle and took a sip. Great, cheap drink.
"Considering what we did today, drinking alcohol is the least of our problems." Alan replied as he opened his own bottle and took a sip.
"Rose what happened? Why did you do that?" Alan asked me.
"I was tired. All the years I spent in that hell, every day I wanted to run away, until I finally did, only for them to come after me. I just wish they would leave me alone. So I decided to get tover with this." I replied.
"And how do you feel now?"
"I don't know. It's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but at the same time I can't believe what I've done. Before I wondered if I would be able to kill someone, today I found out that I am." I took another sip.
"Me too. I discovered this when I arrived in Midgard."
"Alan? Will this get any easier? Kill, I mean."
"Pray it doesn't. I recommend not thinking too much about it, you are not alone in this." Alan said as he pointed at himself and Noir and Rubrum who were resting near a tree.
"Thanks." I said while giving a small smile.
"You're welcome." Alan replied as I smiled back.
That night we ate and drank until we fell asleep. What I didn't know was the consequences of our actions that day.
Land of Oceans
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"Come in." Caerula replied as she put on makeup in her room in front of a mirror, by the reflection in the mirror, Caerula saw that it was her butler.
"Lady Caerula, the wanted have been spotted in the town of Fool's Marsh." the butler said.
"Yes, and…" Caerula asked with disinterest.
The butler then gulped, "Well Lady Caerula, they set fire to the brothel in Fool's Marsh that was financed by you."
"They did what?! Increase their bounty, but I want them alive, got it?!"
"Yes Lady Caerula!" The butler bowed and left the room.
Caerula then looked at her left hand, it was slightly aging "Those bastards, they destroyed one of my 'Fountains of Youth'!"
Caerula then rang a bell and a maid entered her room.
DING
"Yes Lady Caerula?" the maid asked as she bowed.
"Come closer!" The maid approached Caerula, unfortunately she didn't notice the cruel smile that Caerula hid behind her fan.
END OF CHAPTER