Chapter 130 – Sly Operations (2)
Thinking of him, Lila felt regretful for having slacked off training for the preparation of the party. while leaving Hir to Hizette.
It was true that she had been hectic with all the preparations lately. However, it still shouldn’t serve as a justification as she could’ve found time for her daily practice by cutting down on her sleep.
Lila walked slowly in the direction where the boy had disappeared to. It seemed like he knew his way about the place seeing that he’d chosen to hide in the maze and not elsewhere. If so, there must have been an exit in the direction he fled to.
Her ring shook even faster as she walked toward the direction where the boy had headed before. Lila, whose walks had already turned to trots without her knowing, turned her head around. Edith hadn’t returned yet. I’m sure she would have come back if it was a dead end.
Lila was convinced that the maze had more than one exit. And as she was pretty certain that there was an exit to the direction she was headed, she figured that she would wait for Edith’s return after escaping from the maze.
After what felt like an eternity, Lila spotted an exit not far from where she was. Her trots turned to a light jog as she hurried to her freedom from the horrid complex.
When she finally left the maze, Lila was able to catch sight of quite a few people. More so, a viscount, who she remembered to have exchanged greetings with a few times, came right into her sight.
With a smile on her face, she promptly went up to the viscount and asked if she had seen a boy who seemed rather suspicious in the vicinity. The viscount then shook her head as she told Lila that she didn’t remember seeing anyone that fits her description.
Then I guess he didn’t come out this way.
It made sense, as all eyes would probably have turned his way if a boy who appeared to be distant from the noble society, hurried himself from the Maze garden all of sudden.
Lila brightened her smile to show her gratitude. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Haha, it’s nothing! However, I wouldn’t mind an invitation to the Wipere Mansion….”
“I would if only I had the time.” Although her tone was sweet, the viscount could tell that her proposal was refused.
The viscount returned with a bitter-sweet smile and walked away without making a further fuss. She somehow must have known that it was a preposterous demand after all.
Apart from the viscount, there were people almost everywhere who desperately wanted to strike up a conversation with Lila. While she turned away, some approached her in ones and twos. With gracious refusal, she looked carefully around at her surroundings.
Lila found it hard to concentrate from how much her necklace was buzzing, it was bustling so much that she could feel the rumbling in her head. Lacias must have been not far from where she was standing.
“Ah.” She felt something brushing on her cheek as she turned her head to her right.
“This is….” It was a black orb which was surrounded by a blue aura, Lacias’s ring. The ring, which had now backed away from her skin, moved at its own will as if it was trying to show her the way. Having caught the drift of the ring right away, Lila meekly followed as the ring led on.
Just as she thought, the ring led her to its very source.
“Lacias.”
“Lila, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” His voice sounded in near-distress. With his brows furrowed, Lacias stood by his ring along with his knights. “Is there something wrong?”
“I’ve found something unusual while I was searching outside, wait ….”
After striding up close to Lila, Lacias lowered his face close down to hers.
“What’s wrong with you?”, asked Lacias as he stared wide-eyed.
What is he talking about? Lila felt like she was the one who wanted to ask him the same thing.
“What do you mean?”
“This,” he said as he gently brushed across her lips with his index finger.
“Ah….” It was only with his touch that she was reminded once again of the stinging pain on her lips. “It’s nothing serious.”
Lacias shook his head in worry. “Of course it is. You’re bleeding. It must really hurt.”
Lila didn’t have time to be questioned about why she hurt her lips. “I have something more important to report.”
“…”
“I met this suspicious boy from the party earlier-”
“Lila.” interrupted Lucias as he gently covered her cheeks with both of his hands. However, his countenance was quite the contrary to the soft touch of his hands. His stiffened lips and distorted eyes were somehow giving off a cold impression from his looks.
“There’s nothing more important to me than the fact that you got injured. We can talk after we get your wound treated.”
She wouldn’t call it a wound as it was nothing more than just a slight cut on the skin of her lips. The matter almost made Lila bite into her lips again, only for a different reason this time.