Chapter 143
‘I’ve been here before.’
If her memory was correct, this was the place the guild master had shown her, where that woman had lived with her daughter.
But since she hadn’t found anything there before, Kirine couldn’t understand why the coordinates pointed here. Still, she couldn’t ignore it, so she entered the house again, deciding it was worth the risk of being deceived.
However, before she could even step inside, she noticed something was different about the atmosphere.
‘I sense a presence?’
It was definitely human.
The moment she realized this, Kirine looked around tensely. As she checked each room on the first floor one by one, she heard soft breathing from the end of the corridor.
‘Could it be…’
Her careful steps gradually quickened.
‘Please, please, please.’
Before she knew it, she was desperately praying as she ran to the end of the corridor and immediately opened the door. As soon as she did, she ran toward Ares with a sigh of relief.
“Ares!”
Finding Ares leaning against the wall and letting out shallow groans, Kirine immediately checked his condition. Her heart wrenched seeing him covered in blood, wondering what had happened to him.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere else?”
As soon as she noticed the blood flowing from Ares’s hand, Kirine grabbed him and asked, but Ares, already half-unconscious, could only pant without properly answering.
“Ah… you finally came…”
The moment he recognized Kirine through his blurry vision, Ares dropped his head with a long sigh.
“Do you know how long I’ve been searching? Where have you been all this time…”
Cutting off her scolding, Kirine unwrapped the cloth from Ares’s hand and cast a healing spell.
‘First, I need to treat his wounds…’
She could hear the full story later; getting Ares out of here came first.
Just as she was about to put Ares’s arm over her shoulder to move him, she noticed a magic circle nearby.
‘That…’
It looked exactly like the pattern she’d seen when Ares had been forcibly transported.
Feeling ominous, Kirine quickly wrapped her arm around Ares’s waist to move him, but at that moment, black light began pouring from the magic circle.
“Aria, Aria, Aria.”
Simultaneously, a familiar woman appeared outside the magic circle. The woman who had kidnapped Ares.
‘So she didn’t die after all.’
Though Kirine thought this was finally the time to end this ill-fated connection properly, seeing the unconscious Ares made her hesitate.
‘Still, Ares comes first…’
Just as she thought they should at least move somewhere else, the woman’s eyes widened and she lunged at Kirine.
“Give me back my daughter, my daughter!”
The moment she spotted Ares in Kirine’s arms, the woman started charging like a madwoman. Startled, Kirine quickly propped Ares against the wall.
“Please, just stop this already!”
Kirine shouted irritably as she barely dodged the woman and moved to the side.
“Ares is not your daughter!”
As much as she hated to admit it, Ares did look very similar to the woman’s dead daughter. So similar that strangers might have mistaken them for twins.
But Ares was no longer the powerless child who had been imprisoned by this woman years ago.
“If you want to find your daughter, die and meet her!”
Thinking about how hard Ares had worked to overcome his memories of weakness and vulnerability made Kirine’s blood boil.
“Just leave Ares alone already!”
When would this woman’s obsession end? She was sick of it all.
Having dodged the woman and returned to Ares’s side, Kirine stood in front of him protectively, as if shielding him from the woman.
“I…”
Just as the flustered woman was about to speak, Ares, who had partially regained consciousness, grabbed Kirine’s wrist.
“Kirine…”
“Are you alright?”
Before the surprised Kirine could check him, Ares made a request.
“Help me up.”
“No, just stay seated.”
“I’m fine, just help me stand.”
“…”
“Quickly.”
At his persistent request, Kirine reluctantly took his arm. Thanks to her help, Ares managed to stand, caught his breath, and slowly approached the woman.
“Ares.”
Though Kirine tried to stop him after realizing what he was doing, Ares nodded to indicate he was fine and continued approaching the woman.
The woman, who had been staring at Ares with a confused expression, froze in surprise as he approached her willingly.
Sensing she had no intention to attack, Ares pulled something from his pocket.
“Do I still look like your daughter to you?”
“…”
It was a drawing he’d found in the wardrobe of the room where he’d been imprisoned. Judging by the amateur skill, it seemed to have been drawn by the woman’s daughter.
“If you miss your daughter, go meet her.”
“…”
“She might still be waiting for you.”
“I, I…”
Her expression showed she wanted to say something but didn’t know what.
Seeing her lost expression, Ares let out a long sigh and placed the drawing in her hand.
“Your daughter isn’t here, so you should look elsewhere.”
“…”
It meant this should end now. The woman, understanding properly, stared at the drawing Ares had given her for a long time before dropping her head weakly. Her shoulders began to shake visibly.
“Ares.”
Noticing the woman crying, Kirine pulled at Ares’s collar from behind. It meant they should leave.
Ares understood just from her voice calling him, without needing words, and was about to take Kirine’s hand when he sensed an intense presence. Before they could turn around, they saw the woman collapse forward.
Before they could grasp what had happened, a bloody scene unfolded before their eyes.
“Ah, how boring.”
The first to freeze at the leisurely yet irritated voice was Kirine.
“You…”
The shock was so great that Kirine could barely speak.
But the other person simply smiled, admiring her expression while holding the blood-stained sword that had just pierced the woman.
“This is too boring, isn’t it?”
Blood from the woman he had just killed had splattered onto the golden hair of the one they called the incarnation of an angel.
