Chapter 21: Strange Town's Secret (2)
A few seconds had passed, and Mr. Devil suddenly looked at Aerine again. They were still in the same position, where Lucian was sitting on the railings while Aerine was almost standing between his legs.
For the two, they never bothered with this position too much. However, if one of Lucian's subordinates and even just Elise saw this... The woman's expression would be pretty interesting.
"This is rather troublesome," he muttered.
Aerine slightly tilted her head, confused, but she was much more carefree now that Lucian was here.
"What is?"
"This place seems not to exist in the real world."
Aerine's eyes widened in shock at his words; if not for her contractor's presence, her fear would certainly return. Although it wasn't that she wasn't nervous at this moment.
She still was, but Lucian being there with her made her heart calm down, just like when she constantly rubbed her mark whenever she was anxious.
"Are we... in another dimension?" Aerine hesitantly inquired; she wasn't really sure about this since even in the bit of her knowledge about the supernatural world, there was no mention if dimensions were real.
She only asked that, referring to the fantasy world in books she once read.
At this question, Lucian blankly looked at her, and before Aerine could react, she was already shutting her eyes in pain. Lucian had flicked her head!
Aerine opened her eyes and then pitifully looked at her contract while rubbing her forehead.
"Why?" She couldn't understand the reason he flicked her head. Was her question too ridiculous?
Lucian didn't directly answer her but instead asked for something else. "What do you know about dimensions?"
Aerine bit her lips and began to ponder the answer. Lucian was eyeing him, smiling evilly. When she felt the pain of that flick, she didn't want to give the wrong answer.
"Uhm... like hell?" She answered, then she closed her eyes, as though preparing herself for that sudden pain.
And yet, a few seconds later, when she didn't feel any pain, Aerine opened her eyes again, only to be greeted by the devil's contemptuous eyes.
"Is my answer... correct?"
Lucian held the railings as he stretched a bit.
"Half. Hell is considered a fantastical dimension by humans but strictly speaking, it is connected, and part of this reality, it's just not accessible to most people."
Lucian didn't even know why he was explaining and answering her questions, but since he was idle, telling his contractee this might be deemed beneficial so she wouldn't be dumb enough to be embroiled in this kind of situation again.
Aerine was only listening to him intently; she didn't even dare neglect a word.
This too gave Lucian a newfound experience, as he never talked casually to anyone before, much less explained something to them.
"And this place... is on a border within the gaps of reality."
When Lucian arrived here, he didn't really go through an 'entrance, as he was directly summoned by Aerine, so he appeared just beside her. And so he didn't notice it yet then.
Now, that he had managed to observe the surroundings, Lucian began to suspect where the anomaly in this town was coming from.
Aerine suddenly began to be enveloped again by the gravity of the situation, and she instantly became solemn once more.
"Can you... solve this anomaly?"
Lucian then shrugged, "Why should I?"
Aerine was then stumped. Right, why should he? Mr. Devil was powerful enough to come here, so... He could leave whenever he wanted to.
"But..." Aerine trailed off, wanting to say something, something reasonable enough to convince him, but... She didn't know anything aside from her being his contractee.
And that seemed like it wasn't enough of a reason to make him move.
"Do you want to know?" Suddenly, Mr. Devil asked.
"Huh?"
"Are you curious to know the anomaly of this place?"
Aerine fell silent. Honestly, she isn't really curious to know. She was educated by her mother since she was a child about the dangers of their world, and there were mysterious things that they weren't supposed to be privy to, such as the matter of hell and other ancient beings.
Especially if one's ability was not enough to protect themselves. And so, Aerine's first course of action when she found the anomaly here was to leave and not be involved with it too much.
However, now that she was being questioned about it, Aerine tried to ask herself, Was she curious?
"How about you, Mr. Devil?" Aerine asked in the spur of a moment that she even forgot to drop that address.
After she finished, Aerine covered her mouth; her eyes widened as she looked at her contractor's expression!
Was she being too presumptuous with him just because he arrived to save her again? To her surprise, Mr. Devil merely lifted a brow at her.
"Mr. Devil?" Another. Another first time. Although Lucian was called a lot of nicknames throughout his life, there was never that kind of simple and almost childish nickname.
Aerine bit her lips again; she looked like she was about to cry.
"Uhm... it's because... I don't know your name," she reasoned, more like digging a deeper grave for herself.
Lucian nodded; it made sense. Contrary to a lot of people's impressions, he was rather reasonable and forgiving, even if no one would believe this so-called bullshit in hell. Even his subordinates might call someone claiming that to be a lunatic.
"Do you want to know my name?" Lucian asked, his voice a bit enchanting.
Aerine gulped; her curiosity and danger sense were fighting inside of her at this moment. Ultimately, the former won.
"C-Can I?" She nervously asked.
"Lucian," Lucian spoke rather quickly. "You can call me that or that one earlier. I don't really mind that much."
It was true. Lucian never cared about such matters; he was even called far worse, and Aerine's nickname was the most childish of them, but something about it seemed to amuse him greatly.
Or perhaps, because she was his contractee, Lucian was going easy on her? He soon dismissed this reason afterward.
Lucian. Aerine repeated it in her mind, and the more she repeated it, the more she liked this name.
"Lucian..." Aerine closed her mouth after speaking it out loud, her eyes watching the expression of the man in front of her. And seeing him, he seemed to not really mind.
She smiled brightly and then called his name once more. The name of her savior.
"Lucian." Aerine's voice was good to begin with, but there was something else as she spoke that name. The way her eyes glittered when she called him... It was as if the name was not a devil's name in her tongue.
Lucian blinked and observed his contractee. Another.
He laughed inwardly. He knew why he was going easy on her. It wasn't only because she was his contractee. It was because she was Aerine.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone