Chapter 76

By the time Yuri brought his coffee to him later, Damon’s face had settled down and regained its original color.

“I heard you have no relationship with Crawford as well, is that also true?”

But Damon asked a strange question again.

It was already strange when he asked if she was dating Genos Sheldon earlier, but this was even more so.

“I’m not sure why you had such a misunderstanding but yes.”

“Really? Not even a branch relative?”[1]

Despite Yuri’s reply, he asked again as if he couldn’t believe it till the end. Yuri looked at him without saying a word. Seeing her gaze that seemed to say, ‘I’m hearing all sorts of stupid questions today’, Damon got emotional.

“Then why do you look so alike? Dammit, I didn’t even know and misunderstood…!”

She could see his cheeks starting to heat up again. So…

To sum it up, he thought she was Genos Sheldon’s lover and a blood relation of the Crawfords and because of this misunderstanding, he started working on something that didn’t even exist?

Either ways, it was such a ridiculous misunderstanding that she couldn’t even figure out why he thought that.

The only reason Yuri could think of was that Kalian Crawford and Genos Sheldon came to this coffeehouse frequently…

Did he really have such a huge misunderstanding because of something like that?

For Yuri, such a reason was ridiculous but unfortunately, that was exactly why. Damon Salvatore was still flushed red with shame.

However, his current appearance was quite a contrast to his previous shamelessness, so it made a slight impression on Yuri. Only now did his expression fit the little cuteness in his appearance.

“Enjoy your coffee.”

Yuri turned away from Damon Salvatore’s embarrassed visage and walked away. After that, she didn’t pay anymore attention to Damon. Of course, since Gilbert still seemed uneasy, she spared a glance his way from time to time.

And soon enough, Damon paid for his coffee and stood up. Then he walked straight to Yuri who was mopping up a drink that another customer had spilled.

“I’m sorry for my rudeness previously.”

Damon apologized to Yuri with a serious look on his face. Yuri didn’t think she would get an apology so she found it somewhat unexpected.

“Sure, then don’t disrupt our business operations from now on, goodbye.”

Yuri said while nodding her head to show she understood. And after a brief pause, she started cleaning again. However, Damon didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he watched Yuri mop for a while then he opened his mouth again.

“Your name is Yuri, I believe. Why don’t you make a deal with me?”

Again, it was a sudden proposal.

Yuri’s gaze turned to Damon in front of her. She felt like she had been given a new quest. After ‘be my woman’ maybe the next one was ‘be my friend’.

“I won’t buy any medicine. I don’t believe in your truth.”[2]

Somehow, Damon’s tone seemed like he was about to ask if she believed in something, so she said that. And upon hearing that, Damon’s face crumpled.

But he soon managed his expression to a calm and spoke to Yuri.

“I don’t think you’ll lose anything from my offer. For now, just hear what I have to say…”

Flap!

Right then, a bird flew over Damon’s head.

“Ugh?! What the hell is this?”

It wasn’t a crow this time but a white bird. A dove controlled by Siren.

Chirp chirp!

“Thi, This crazy bird!”

It flew onto Damon’s head and keep flapping its wings. Its feet were gripped to Damon’s hair as if it was going to pull them out.

‘…And I was wondering if she got inspired by Odin’s crow last time, is she trying to follow it?’

Yuri furrowed her brows as she watched this scene.

“Uwaa!”

As expected, since Damon wasn’t a ‘sex bomb’ male lead, he struggled and tugged with the bird on his head.[3] At this rate, it might lead to the first balding male lead in history.

“Keep still for a moment, please.”

Most importantly, there were bird feathers on the floor she had just spent her time cleaning up. And since that annoyed her, Yuri reached out and grabbed Damon’s shoulders, stopping him from moving. At that moment, his body tilted to the side.

However, Yuri actually held him firmer and used her other hand to grab the bird’s neck, although not strong enough to hurt it.

Chirp!

After that, she looked straight at the bird and ordered it.

“Shh. Be quiet and go back.”

Actually, unlike Odin’s crows which were like another part of him, Siren’s controlled bird could not understand what people were saying. However, it wasn’t free from the law of the jungle so once it met Yuri eyes, the bird trembled and released its feet gripping onto Damon’s hair.

Since she had no intention of tormenting the bird, Yuri also let go.

Flap!

With that, the bird hurriedly spread its wings like it was fleeing and soared into the sky. Yuri suddenly felt a prickling gaze on her and looked down.

And she met Damon’s wide open eyes.

Only then did she realize what position Damon and herself were in. Damon almost fell into an empty chair and was leaning back against the table. While Yuri was holding his shoulder and her upper body was tilted slightly so their bodies were somewhat close to each other.

Damon looked stupefied as he stared at Yuri. He seemed very surprised by what just happened.

“Are you okay?”

Yuri let go of Damon, stepped back and perfunctorily asked. But for some reason, Damon didn’t straighten up after Yuri moved away. His black eyes were trembling slightly, and they were still nailed to Yuri’s frame.

“Hello?”

When Yuri tilted her head and called out again, Damon finally sucked in a breath like he had just woken up from a dream.

Clang!

Then he pushed the chair back and sprang to his feet.

“I, I, I’m going to go!”

Damon loudly announced then strangely left the coffeehouse in a hurry. Right before he turned around, she saw that his face was much redder than before.

“Bye, customer-nim.”

Yuri sent him off in a nonchalant tone.

‘He should probably tidy up his hair.’

His blue hair was tidy and neat when he arrived at the coffeehouse but thanks to the bird’s bombardment, it had completely become a magpie’s nest. However, Damon didn’t seem to be aware of that.

Of course, it wasn’t any of Yuri’s business so after a while, she brought out a broom and began to sweep up the feathers on the floor. Like she thought, it seemed she would have to tell Siren not to follow Odin in doing this kind of thing.

* * *

“Gasp, that surprised me!”

Meanwhile, Siren was shocked when she sensed that her connection with the dove she was controlling was broken.

‘I-Is she angry with me?’

She recalled how cold Arachne’s eyes were when she looked at the bird earlier and her heart thundered relentlessly. She didn’t know what Odin was doing nowadays but she remembered that Odin used to punish the guys that bothered Arachne like this, so she decided to try it once. She felt like she could be a kind of knight protecting Arachne and got excited for no reason…

From what she could tell, Arachne was not happy with it at all.

‘But she didn’t say anything to Odin!’

Siren was shriveled up, feeling sad then she suddenly felt aggrieved and pursed her lips. Like she thought, she was the only one Arachne didn’t like.

‘…no! Arachne doesn’t hate me!’n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Siren flapped her wings and denied it. She didn’t even want to imagine Arachne hating herself. And so, like she was having an identity crisis, she praised herself and found fault with herself. Then she suddenly realized that her surroundings were quiet and frowned.

“Hey, watchdog!”

She raised her voice and called for Leo but got no reply. Even if he wasn’t glad to hear her call him, she didn’t even hear a growl of annoyance.

‘Where did this watchdog go now?’

Siren looked around, feeling suspicious. Strangely enough, Leo was away from the hideout more often these days. She had no idea where or what he was doing.

‘I want to go out too.’

For a while now, Siren slept during every spare time she had, and thanks to that, her body was very stiff. In exchange though, her wings had slowly began regain their shine so she was quite proud.

‘Hmph, let him cause trouble outside. Then it will be easier for Arachne to throw away that watchdog.’

Siren snorted then brought out the hair growth solution Arachne bought for her and began to apply it diligently.

She still didn’t like Leo who was glued to Arachne’s side. So she couldn’t ask for anything better if he wandered around and caused trouble, making Arachne’s affection for him to fall.

Just thinking about it made Siren satisfied and she hummed a little tune.

‘Ah, I shouldn’t be doing this, I need to send a bird to check!’

Then a thought suddenly flashed in her mind and just like when she peeked at the coffeehouse earlier, she linked up with a bird that was flying nearby.

Translator’s Corner:

[1] He says not ‘even a collateral family’ but I tried to use something easier to understand. Basically an indirect descendant of a family. Someone said distant relative might work too.

[2] The ‘truth’ here can mean enlightenment, or religious truth. She’s said something similar to Snow in Chapter 38.

[3] Err, the ‘sex bomb’ here basically means he’s not a male lead with those 6 pack abs. You know, the entire package.