บท 23: Strange Town's Secret (4)
Aerine had only followed Lucian. While he seemed approachable, she still refrained herself a bit from asking too much. Lucian was still her contractor, and in certain case... someone who owns her.
The town wasn't that big, but when they were walking in a certain direction, it was as though the distance was getting farther away.
Aerine had noticed it earlier, but looking at her contractor, who seemed to ignore this anomaly, she chose to pretend that she also didn't notice it.
After all, the whole town was a huge anomaly!
"I'm always thinking..." Lucian's voice seemed to echo in the silent town.
Aerine almost jumped at that sudden sound and was startled. Pursing her lips, she quickly calmed down.
"What is it?" she asked, her gaze focused only on him.
Lucian also faced her without halting their steps; his hands were crossed in his chest, and a playful grin was etched on his lips.
"You're really unlucky... No," he shook his head and then seemed to ponder the right word, then continued sarcastically, "Ah! You're rather lucky to encounter anomalies like this."
Aerine's lips twitched, wanting to refute him, but since she knew that his words were not unfounded, she couldn't think of anything to defend herself. Not only that, she had not forgotten that he was her contractor.
Thinking of it, Lucian's words made some sense to them. The probability of a person having encounters with a supernatural anomaly was almost negligible, and one with extreme danger to it was even close to impossible.
These anomalies were all hard to come by and rare occurrences and Aerine had encountered one after leaving the city. Aerine would rather like it if she wasn't the lucky one.
"How would I know that this town is problematic?" Aerine forcefully defended herself. Since, it was true. When they chose it, how would they know there was something in this town?
Suddenly, Lucian stopped, which made Aerine also halt her steps.
"Why?"
Lucian was now frowning, unlike earlier, when he was rather relaxed, even with the abnormal distance of the path they were walking through.
"You're the one who chose it?" He asked, his eyes a bit solemn.
Aerine, noticing something wrong, began to pay even more attention. She nodded her head.
"Yes... Is there something wrong?"
Lucian stared at his contractee deeply, and looking at her innocent expression, he sighed somehow defeatedly. He resisted the urge to flick her head once more.
"Think of this, is the anomaly in this town recent, or has it been going on for quite a while?" he asked, as though giving another quiz to his student.
Aerine, who was only acquiring more common sense in the world, contemplated the answer. Her contractor was also patiently waiting for her answer.
She calmly assessed his question and the current situation. When they arrived in this town, clearly they didn't know that something was strange, and it was only Ronald who first noticed it.
Aerine's danger instincts weren't even triggered for a couple of days. Judging from it, the anomaly wasn't recent, and the hotel might be small with fewer guests. Aerine saw some tourists like themselves.
It was safe to conclude that they might be wandering in this town for who knew how long before them.
However, the question was... If this town was problematic, to begin with, and as Lucian said, it was only existing through the gaps of reality, how could it be one of the choices in the competition?
Finally realizing this, Aerine's eyes widened, and she looked at her contractor in disbelief. Was what she was thinking possible?
When she lifted her gaze after this realization, she noticed that her contractor's expression was already dark, and there wasn't any hint of playfulness with it.
"Someone set your group up," Lucian darkly remarked.
The correct words might be... Someone set Aerine up.
Aerine's expression fell heavily. It wasn't that she didn't have any suspicions, but since she was here and she was only thinking of any solutions to leave this place, she never delved too much into this topic.
And one thing she didn't dare to think that way was that she never thought it was possible. One, she didn't have enemies that she knew of in the competition, much less an enemy that knew her real identity.
If there was indeed someone targeting her there, the only plausible motive was the matter with her mother, but her sense of smell was extraordinary. If anyone with a scent of the ocean were in her vicinity, Aerine would immediately sense it.
Aerine also admitted that her guard was completely loose; she wasn't expecting that something might happen to her during this competition.
She wasn't cautious enough, and her ways of doing things were inexperienced. Aerine was completely new to the world, as a whole.
"But... why?" Aerine couldn't accept it; she had no clue why someone would send them into danger.
Unlike Aerine, who didn't have any clue of the intentions behind this, Lucian had some speculations, at least. This was the reason for his dark expression.
He almost wanted to blow up this place with full force alone. Lucian's full strength was generally sealed outside of hell, especially on the surface, but there was no problem destroying this level of anomaly.
Lucian was a very protective person. His subordinates also knew that, and it was also especially well-known in hell. He might be known for his eccentricity, but everyone acknowledges that Lucian was protective of his person.
And Aerine wasn't his subordinate; she was his first-ever contractee. The significance it holds couldn't be fully grasped by Aerine herself.
Aerine also began to be nervous after seeing Lucian's expressions. And she was also starting to think in the direction of the most possible motive in this.
"Is it... because of the contract?"
To her surprise, Lucian shook his head.
What was it, then? Aerine really had no clue.
Even if he was angry, Lucian could maintain a clear head, so he knew that it wasn't because of the contract. If someone managed to discern Aerine's involvement with him, this level of trouble was not enough; this was like child's play.
No one in hell knew that Lucian had signed a devil contract, and no one even dared imagine that he would sign a contract either.
There was something else, but it was undoubtedly related to him, indirectly.
"I heard Millicent is your manager."
Aerine nodded; soon her mouth gaped, and she stared at Lucian with a questioning gaze.
At her expression, Lucian's anger almost dissipated. He wondered if Aerine knew just how amusing her expression was.
"Hmm... someone who knew Millicent." Lucian's eyes flickered with a crimson hue. "In this world, only a few can recognize her."
Millicent wasn't an ordinary subordinate of his; she was generally low-profile since Elise also always shielded her from attention. To recognize her, one must be a part of another big camp in hell.
It had to be the subordinates of one of the Great Devils like Lucian.
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