Chapter 21

Citrina replied with caution, “…What I’ve said, please forget about it.” She pretended to be calm. She doesn’t want to abolish the favorable impression she has worked so far.

“Citrina, brother, look at this!” It was her relief pitcher, Aron.

He was a few steps ahead of them and pointed his finger in front.

“The murals are really pretty.”

Certainly, there were several high walls around the square covered with beautiful murals.

‘There’s a mermaid mural, the emperor’s coffin mural… There are so many of them.’

Desian stayed by Citrina’s side as if to protect her. In contrast, Aron being incredibly excited was already further at the front.

“So the capital is like this, so cool. Come on, Citrina, brother!”

“Yes, coming.”

She had been walking along with them and looking at the murals in awe.

To be precise, she was amazed by the city’s security.

Really, it was peaceful and no violence. The faces of the people passing by are like flowers in full bloom, full of smiles. It felt like an ideal city.

‘No, how can it be so peaceful without anyone in light dispute?’ She looked around and didn’t see a single bully…

According to her memory, the center is always crowded, and there is often a quarrel between punks.

Where on earth are the bullies?

It was Aron who gave the answer to Citrina.

“Citirina, look over there.”

“Hm?”

His finger pointed at a dark alley.

“Wow. Doesn’t it look really scary over there?”

“Yes, it does.” Citrina laughed as she answered.

It’s there, a dark alley.

“Shall we go? What do you think? It must be amazing, right brother?”

Aron’s curious eyes sparkled.

Seeing Citrina nodding with a bright smile, he too nodded his head with a blunt face.

The three walked side by side. Citrina couldn’t help but think it was amazing. Aron on her left and Desian on her right. No one would probably be this safe in a dark alley..

“It’s dark and there seems to be nothing in here. Shall we go somewhere else?”

They can’t go back without a harvest. Citrina seemed to have carelessly sat on the pavement.

“Maybe we’ll find something if we go a little further. It might be fun.”

“Let’s go on a fun adventure!”

Aron was excited and sped up his steps. He was walking a little ahead of Citrina.

“You’re walking too fast, Aron.”

Desian, who had been silent until now, restrained Aron.

“Oh, yes. We’re supposed to stay close to Citrina.” Aron’s pace slowed down.

How many minutes had it been like that?

As per Citrina’s wish, they soon met a man who appeared to be a bully. His beard was shaggy, he had a knife with dripping blood in his hand, and tattoos on his arm. His eyes also were dark.

‘He’s carrying a knife dripping with blood! That kind of person. Perfect.’

By the time she opened her mouth, the man with a frightening expression gave out a sigh and spoke to himself, “Phew. Done. I’m done being a butcher again for today. I need to work hard for my sick mother.”

Citrina shut her mouth immediately. He seemed to be the owner of a butcher shop in a back alley.

‘… You shouldn’t judge people by their appearances, Citrina Foluin.’

She began to reflect on herself. Aside from that person, she couldn’t really see a villainous person.

‘Should I just give up? I didn’t die and I’m just giving trouble for myself.’

It was then she heard a husky voice from behind. It looks like the kind of person she was looking for had come.

“Hey, you there.”

Aron and Desian ignored the voice. The man sounded like a sweet baby (to them).

The sound of the wind was heard, and soon the man stopped in front of them with quick steps.

“What fearless kids. Two greenies and one young lady?”

He was a man that looked really dreadful with his head shaved. Clearly, he has a bad attitude.

‘Finally, we got one bully.’

Citrina tried to hold back her laughter by applying force to the corner of her mouth.

“Heh? Why is this young lady laughing? But it looks like you have a lot of money, why don’t you bring them out? Huh?”

Citrina’s clothes weren’t something that a commoner would wear. The same was true with Aron and Desian. The Duke’s abuse to his sons was something unknown to the outside world.

‘This time it’s real.’

Citrina looked at the bully, bit her lips and said seriously, “You can’t live like that. Trying to steal money from defenseless people.”

This is more like a harmless threat. She admitted, her acting skills were terrible.

“People should live morally. We should be nice to one another. If you live like that, retribution will come.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Citrina, should we go?” asked Desian, who completely ignored the bully.

Citrina shouted with delight inwardly. According to the original plot, the body of the bully was the only thing that was left behind. But right now, Desian was being patient.

“What are you talking about?”

The bully continued to talk as if he had lost his mind. Standing tall and unfazed, naturally ignored his threatening words, she replied as she looked at Desian,”Yes, let’s go. I’m afraid of people threatening me for my money. Let’s teleport to another place…”

Desian’s expression became terrifying.

“Are you scared, Citrina?”

“…Yes?”

That’s not an expression without stimulation. Citrina asked slowly.

“Then I’ll help you. You won’t get scared.”

He covered her eyes with one hand before she could even open her mouth.

Complete darkness was all she could see. As if in a vacuum, she also couldn’t hear any sound.

‘What the hell is going on now?’

There was a few seconds of silence. It was a short moment, but to her it felt very long. It wasn’t in her mind.

“Citrina.”

As Desian spoke, light slowly traveled back in her eyes. Citrina blinked.

She’s back in the plaza, to where they were previously.

“There’s nothing to be scared of anymore.”

“Huh? Oh, right. Citrina. Nothing happened. We just teleported right away, so it should be fine.” Aron comforted her with a confused look.

“Oh, did we just teleport?”

“Of, of course. Shall we go get something to drink? I’m thirsty. Citrina, there’s a strange-looking building up front! Shall we go there?”

Aron hastily cut her off while Desian just acted like his natural self. But Aron’s actions were off, as if he was acting.

‘Since it felt just like a moment, we must just have teleported, right?’

She’s suspicious, but…

Anyway, Citrina decided to answer Aron’s question first.

“Sure. That’ll be nice.”

Aron led the way to the cafe she had seen before.

Citrina was finally able to see a moderately small café since Aron described it as ‘the cafe up front’. She couldn’t stop her mouth from opening as she saw a cafe that resembled a greek temple.

The map in Citrina’s mind wasn’t really painted vividly. The only clear picture in her mind were:

Bleggio, a cost-effective bakery where she usually buys bread in a hurry during her busy time. The streets she usually passed by and the fountain she’s never seen before because of her busyness. On late weekends, she would go and rest to a one-cent juice shop called Serage. That if you add 1 more cent, you can drink watermelon juice, but she didn’t want to waste money, so she only drank orange juice which only costs one cent.

… Thinking of her past actions she couldn’t help but groan.

‘All three places were completely cost-effective. Really, no matter how ruined and lesser than the title of their nobility they are, how could I have acted like this when I’m a young lady from a Baron’s house?

I felt sorry for the Citrina of the past who needed to use her earned money to sustain the Baron house.

‘Right, there was a place like this in the plaza.’

As she walked into the temple-like cafe, she carefully checked her wallet.

‘I can buy it.’

However, it pains her.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to pay.

This café was a salon where only nobles could enter, and it was not necessary to pay in cash immediately. Although there was that system, the guests need to put their family name on the ledger.

When she heard that, Citrina’s expression turned pale.

‘Can I put the duke’s family name Pietro?’

The two young masters of the Pietro family are truly young masters of a rich family. So Desian and Aron didn’t really seem to care about the regulations.

They chose to sit at the centermost table of the cafe. Aron and Desian were sitting side by side across from Citrina.

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