Bab 23: Chapter 23: Something went wrong

'Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible'.

Her brother had some feelings for Novem, which activated Charlotte's sixth sense and made her raise her guard against her brother's shadow servant, despite the fact that he could hide it with only training. Of course, Charlotte had only used the skill on her brother twice in the previous two years, but this time she wanted to use it more than anything else.

'How come I can't see his thoughts?' Charlotte inquired, dissatisfied with the system.

[The system protects the host's mind, so you can't probe into it, host 2].

'But what if I can sense his emotions?' She scoffed. What was the point of guarding his thoughts but not his emotions?

[This is because they are incomplete feelings, just like the ones shown to host 1 when he uses his skill to observe your love].

'At least he doesn't think I'm crazy.' She knew her brother would use the skill on her sooner or later (if he hadn't already). So she was concerned about how much it would reveal, but she was relieved when the system said it only revealed more superficial feelings. 'Imagine if he knew the true figure.' Charlotte let out a small laugh.

Charlotte kept on asking the system questions until they were close to the mansion. Her main question was whether she had the ability to observe her older brother's thoughts. She also asked if her passive ability 'Innocent Aura' made her look more attractive in her brother's eyes, only to receive a logical response from the system because he doesn't understand host 1's feelings and only knows that the effects of innocent aura only make her look more innocent and make people believe her words more easily.

'System, you're no fun.' She pouted.

[I was not created to entertain the hosts, only to punish and reward them.]

Charlotte sighed and shook her head. 'shut up.'

Novem abruptly stopped as Charlotte rambled through the system, confusing the two siblings. Her gaze wandered in a particular direction, coming to a halt in what appeared to be an empty, silent alleyway. But Novem narrowed her eyes for some reason. Alea appeared in the alley, as if in response to Novem's suspicion, searching for whatever it was they were looking at. Alea shook her head and walked away after a few seconds. Novem's eyes glowed with confusion.

'Did I hear wrong?' Novem pondered herself. She simply shook her head after a while, but her alertness had increased, and she placed her hand on both siblings' shoulders, ready to evacuate at any moment.

"Did something happen?" Nathaniel questioned.

"Nothing, young master, I just thought I heard something," Novem replied, her best reassuring smile on her face.

Nathaniel and Charlotte both looked at the alley, perplexed. There was nothing but broken glass bottles and dirty water puddles. 'Character information.' Nathaniel said, in an attempt to use his skill, but nothing appeared.

"(Did you see something?)" He asked by telepathy to his little sister due to his failure.

Charlotte's eyes scanned the alley intently, but she soon became dissatisfied. "(No. To use my skill, I need to observe the target, but I don't see anything there.)" She responded.

After determining that there was nothing, they resumed their walk, successfully entering Edevane's private residence after removing their disguises when Novem said the coast was clear

However, just before that, when the siblings were barely visible to the naked eye, a figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the alley. Sweat had gotten into his white hair. He staggered slightly, leaning back against the damp alley wall and exhaling a large puff of contained air. Still, he made a point of not moving or breathing too heavily for a while. His tense muscles relaxed slightly when his enhanced senses told him it was safe, but his fingers didn't stop rolling his dimensional ring, where he kept his prized spear.

'Did she hear me?' He couldn't believe it. He relievedly patted his chest. His calloused hands rubbed the smooth surface of his dark brown leather armor. 'Shadow servants are terrifying,' he thought to himself.

In comparison to those who could escape reality, his power, the bloodline of invisibility, was nothing. Invisibility only hidden his body, allowing light rays to pass through him, but it did not muffle his sounds, making him venerable to those with keen senses. Nonetheless, he had years of experience hiding. He could move so effortlessly that his presence was barely noticeable in the breeze. 'She's going to be a problem,' he couldn't help but think.

"Still... interesting." He smiled, reflecting on what he had just discovered. "House Edevane's young masters are visiting a tavern, and not just any tavern. Our tavern." He stopped leaning against the damp wall of the alley, his body beginning to gradually disappear from his feet to his head. "I'm curious what Belora thinks about this."

(***)

Nathaniel's point of view:

Novem, Charlotte, and I returned to Belora's tavern the next night, the last day before moving on to the next suspect. Suffice it to say, I wasn't thrilled with our progress thus far. Maybe I had overestimated myself. Perhaps I should seek assistance. But who? Our mother? That wasn't going to happen. We might even lose her trust if she discovers we went to these locations without her permission. The only way was to have results; with them, she might even trust me a little more, but without them, I only saw a dark future.

The ride to our destination was completely silent. We usually engage in some random telepathic conversation for my sister, but apparently my mood had affected her as well. Things were as usual in the red light district, full of life and in a party mood. I came to a halt and turned to face the two women who already knew what I was going to say.

"Come in a while after me" I said simply, and turned around.

We were right in front of the tavern, and Alea was watching me from the shadows on Novem's orders. Something I noticed was that there were more guards than usual at the entrance. Had I overlooked something? Instead of entering, I walked just front the door, where four guards stood guard with their guns at their waists. Inside, it appeared to be the same as before. So I shook my head and paid my admission fee.

As I walked into the tavern, I adjusted the hem of my sleeves. Despite the fact that it was less crowded than usual, people were still playing, drinking, and laughing while scantily clad girls danced sensuously in front of them. My gaze was drawn to the far corner of the room. I could see Belora from afar. He was conversing with a man I had never seen before. With his well-built physique, he appeared to be somewhat strong. He was dressed in rather opulent attire. Belora, on the other hand, wore the same fake smile I had grown to despise as well as his usual plush attire. In my mind, I decided that even if I didn't find anything today, I would tell Novem to send him to our dungeon anyway, because I was sure he was up to no good, and a little torture would give him pause for thought.

Putting aside my ramblings, I decided to observe for a while before sitting at his table. Maybe this is the key to getting to know Belora better. To my surprise, Belora smiled at me and fluttered his animal fur coat, as if he knew I was coming. Belora's eyes glowed with a mysterious tone behind the dark glasses, and instead of greeting me as he usually did, he placed a hand inside his coat and scanned the surroundings, as if looking for someone.

Charlotte and Novem entered the tavern, and I looked at him, slightly puzzled. Belora smiled almost imperceptibly, and his hand twitched under his coat. His gaze shifted to Charlotte, taking on an unusual hue. Charlotte appeared to recoil slightly. She was visibly uncomfortable and shocked, as if she had read his thoughts or seen his feelings.

"(What's going on-)"

Charlotte shouted to me through telepathy. "( B-Big brother!)"

"(What?)" Question, confused by her urgency, keeping an eye on Belora just in case.

"(He knows my name!)"

My body froze, my muscles tensed, and my mind whirled a thousand times. How could that be? They shouldn't have known our identities if no one was following us. What were we doing wrong? Under Belora's confident smile, which seemed to say that I had already won, I cursed in my head.