Chapter 8: CH 8

The person who pushed the sword before her eyes was Louis.

Juliana’s brain stopped working for a moment after his attack, the one who she thought was on the same side as her, had just thrown a sword at her.

‘Why did he attack me……?’

She almost lost her breath because of the cold air that was grazing her skin. Juliana regained her calm posture while staring at Louis. He swung the longsword back with one hand easily, then placed it back.

“It’s sharp.”

“……”

“Take this with you.” Louis said as he casually touched the sharp blade. Juliana let out her stifled breath, trying to calm her breath.

“Haah, why are you wielding the sword in such a dangerous way?” She blurted out. Her heart was pounding! She was startled because she thought he was attacking her. Juliana glared furiously at Louis.

“Oh. You almost got hurt.”

Louis closed and opened his eyes slowly, reciting in a very indifferent tone. Louis’ fingers slowly swept and touched the tip of the sword.

Juliana stared with a startled expression at Louis who had a nonchalant look on his face. She had many thoughts in her head in that brief moment, and the culprit who caused this was acting naturally.

“…Are you upset?”

As Juliana shot arrows through her eyes, Louis gently lowered his eyelashes and gazed at her.

It was breathtaking to see him touching the blade of the sword, running his white and fine knuckles over them. His outstretched and elongated fingers calmly swept over the blade as if he was playing a musical instrument.

He was dangerous. A red sign reverberated inside Juliana’s head. She turned her head to the side.

“….Angry, huh?”

Louis put the sword back into its sheath. He courteously held out the sheath against her with both of his hands and his head slightly bowed.

With his white skin, disheveled blue hair and red lips parted slightly, he closed his eyes as if he was ready to receive any punishment.

“If you wish to punish me, I’ll gladly accept it.”

(E/N: Ayyy, kinky stuff xDD)

Badump.

Strangely, Juliana’s heart pounded as if it was broken. Her palms were getting moist. Thump thump, Juliana shut her eyes tightly and calmed down her excited heart.

“I-I won’t let you go if you scare me again next time!”

“Yes, Juliana.”

He nodded with a blank look, once again making it clear.

“If you really do it again, I won’t let it slide!”

The scene from earlier kept lingering in her head.

“And, and what…. What kind of weapon should I take…?”

Juliana stuttered sloppily. She had an indescribably strange feeling. Why did the previous scene keep on repeating in her head?

She distanced herself slightly from Louis to gain composure.

Then, a question suddenly crossed her mind. Louis had moved flexibly, as if the sword and his body were one a while ago.

No matter how good he was at handling swords, she wondered how he could move fluidly like that.

Such skills would only be possible when they have a lot of experience.

A lingering doubt stayed in her mind that Louis might not be an ordinary person.

After reading this, Louis stared at the woman’s head.

It wasn’t fun to get caught already, so what was he supposed to do? He turned his dark eyes into crescents and pulled the corners of his mouth upwards.

“…….!”

Juliana flinched on seeing Louis, who suddenly showed a sweet smile to her.

‘This is a big problem.’

She nearly gawked at him. Juliana hurriedly shifted her eyes away.

“….Huh?”

While looking away with a conscious gaze, Juliana’s eyes saw a weapon stored in a glass window.

The weapon seemed to be a mix of black and red; different among the other weapons.

“What is this weapon for…?”

Juliana tilted her head and grasped the thing with both of her hands. What she had in her hand were the candles and whips.

“Th-That.”

Louis’ pupils quivered for a moment after he proceeded to stand casually next to her.

“Hmm….Where is this used for, Louis?”

She looked all around the side and thought about whether to take them or not.

“Maybe I will take this.”

She didn’t know what would be its use, but it would be used somewhere, so she carried it in her arms.

“Do you want to… take that, too?”

Louis, who was consistently monotonous all the time, had his voice trembling at the end. He couldn’t be trusted. He stared at Juliana with an incredulous look.

What was wrong with him…?

“Yes, I’m taking it. Maybe it’ll help us.”

Juliana uttered the words while nodding her head. Louis’ body trembled in surprise at that. His eyes widened in an instant.

“This is unexpected…”

His blue eyes were mixed with panic in a flash.

“What?”

“I think it’s still…. Not the time to use it yet.“

Louis’ upper body was tense. His voice wavered as he frowned slightly.

Huh? What’s too early? Did he say it’s too early to run? Was he trying to say that we shouldn’t provoke someone we didn’t know about?

Juliana blinked at his vague words.

“It’s not too early. We have to hurry as soon as possible.” Juliana said sternly, as if she wouldn’t accept any more bizarre incidents to happen.

Silence.

She observed the serious look on Louis’ face.

She had never seen such a look on him before. Louis, who didn’t even look worried when he woke up in a strange place.

Louis put a look of agreement shortly after. He held out to Juliana’s hand.

“…….Let me hold it for you…“

“What? Well… I’d appreciate it if you could.”

She wondered what he was thinking so hard, but Juliana smiled brightly when he said that he would carry a weapon for her, and she passed it over to him. Louis received the weapon with trembling hands.

The two left the weapons warehouse trudgingly and walked side by side through the secret passage.

“We got unexpected weaponry, and we’ve gained it on our own as well!”

Juliana was excited to get weapons to be used for their escape. Her stiff shoulders relaxed a bit.

“……..”

There was no answer from Louis. Juliana glanced at him. Louis held the weapon in his hands as if it was a sacred object.

A question mark rose up to Juliana’s face. What’s wrong with him…?

Juliana, who stared at him with a strange look, soon turned her head back forward again.

She felt strangely uncomfortable. What was this feeling as if she had missed something…? The two came out of the secret passage safely in silence.

Juliana, who just got out of the secret passage, quickly looked around the room. There was no sign of anyone showing up while they were away.

She stood in front of the door with the intention of trying out the weapon she had brought. With a deep breath, she held the sledgehammer with both of her hands.

‘Huhu, if I hit the door with this kind of weapon, it’ll disintegrate.’

Juliana smashed the door that was as hard as marbles with all of the power she had.

“…..Aghh!”

Juliana screamed as her strength was reflected. Her arms were trembling. If it wasn’t for the protective magic in the ring, it would have been a big shock to her. The sudden pain brought tears to Juliana’s eyes.

“Aghh, it hurts, it hurts!”

Juliana fell on the floor. She couldn’t hold back the tears that were dripping down her cheeks.

“Oh no…. Are you alright, Juliana?”

Louis approached Juliana with a surprised look. Then he knelt down and blew on Juliana’s arm.

‘This idiot! Don’t blow in this kind of situation……!’

She almost lost her temper and got angry at him.

However, Juliana only bit her lip because of the pain she felt in her arms.

Louis’ body stiffened for a moment by Juliana’s tears falling on her cheeks. He pulled out a handkerchief that was embroidered with lace from his pants’ pocket. Then he slowly wiped Juliana’s eye and lowered it a little.

“Blow your nose, Juliana.”

“…..”

Louis covered her nose with the handkerchief. Juliana blinked her eyes.

“You can blow your nose comfortably now.”

She had a runny nose and was embarrassed by Louis’ behavior, so tears welled up even more. Juliana sniffed. She couldn’t look at him at all. Juliana pushed his hand aside.

“No…. that’s enough.”

“… Your face is stained.”

“What? Wh-why didn’t…?”

She quickly put her nose back into the handkerchief that she had put aside before. Juliana pounced at Louis’ slow attempt when he was about to put away the handkerchief.

“…It was a joke.”

Juliana’s face became red. She was embarrassed and only hit Louis’ shoulder to vent out her anger.

After a while, the pain in her arm went away thanks to the protective magic in the ring. There was only a little bit of numbness remaining.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m feeling better now.” Juliana answered in a small voice.

Was it because she had been trying to escape all day today? Her eyelids were getting tired. Juliana covered her mouth as she thought she was about to yawn.

“You’re tired.” Louis said and looked at her with a serene look on his face. Juliana nodded slightly. She was tired….

“Huh?”

Juliana, who was closing her eyes, opened her eyes, dazed at the sensation of her body floating. Louis was holding her body.

“Please stay still.”

He carried Juliana on his back and strode over to lay her down on the bed.

“Ah! It’s okay!”

“You should go to bed today.”

“Ah, no….”

Louis slowly covered the blanket up to her neck. Juliana leaned her head back with a blank look and glanced up at him.

They need to get out of here as soon as possible…

She needed to try the rest of her new weapons…

Several thoughts ran through her mind. But Juliana closed her eyes at the gentle hand that patted her stomach slowly.

She fell asleep like magic.