Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 118

Annette’s involuntary shriek startled Lilliana, who was painting nearby, and she looked over at them.

“Annette? What’s going on? You’re not fighting with Damian, are you?”

Annette quickly waved her hand and put her arm around Damian’s shoulder.

“No, no. It’s nothing. We’re just talking.”

Lilliana shrugged and went back to her painting. Annette sighed and put Damian in a headlock, continuing, “So you’re saying that the life Lily wants could be a life with you.”

“There’s no guarantee of that.”

Damian obediently let Annette strangle him. She tightened her grip on his neck and said,

“Then you have to ask Lily! You can give her the choice!”

“Is that okay?”

Damian asked with an innocent face, and Annette, wondering if there was any point in strangling him, let go.

‘What am I doing with this idiot?’

“Damian… From what I’ve seen, Lily doesn’t seem to dislike you, so I don’t think you need to worry about that. Honestly, even if you confess and get rejected, what’s the harm? Neither Lily nor you seem like the type to suddenly become awkward with someone you’ve rejected. Just ask her, and then you can decide whether to stay friends or become lovers.”

“Okay…”

Damian still didn’t fully understand what Annette was saying, but he responded anyway. Annette picked up her knitting needles and yarn again.

“If you need this older sister’s help, just let me know anytime.”

She winked.

“Okay…”

As Damian slowly nodded, Annette sighed.

Annette’s words made Damian’s spirits soar for a moment.

‘Lovers…?’

He had never considered going beyond confirming his feelings and actually becoming lovers. Damian was content just being by Lilliana’s side…

‘Lovers?’

He tilted his head, his eyes not even glancing at the book in his hand.

‘So, lovers?’

Annette’s words were all so reasonable and sensible that Damian couldn’t refute them. He was confused about whether he should actually confess to Lilliana like Annette suggested.

‘No, even so, that’s…’

Damian looked at Lilliana with his eyes darting back and forth.

‘Even so, that’s not right, is it?’

He felt a mass of desire growing within him. He had been ignoring it until now, but after hearing Annette’s words, Damian couldn’t ignore its bubbling sound any longer.

***

—Found it.

Casey felt a chill as he heard something murmur those words.

He jumped up from his spot and hurriedly looked around. An ordinary crow, flapping its wings as it took flight, caught his eye.

There was nothing outwardly strange about it. But to Casey, who could read the energy attached to various objects thanks to his spirit abilities, the crow wasn’t alive.

“Damian!”

Casey unconsciously raised his voice and called out to Damian urgently.

Casey wasn’t someone who showed his emotions easily, so Damian sensed the unusual urgency in his voice.

In an instant, Damian’s eyes sharpened, and he jumped up and ran to Casey’s side. Casey pointed at the crow and shouted, “Shoot!”

Reflexively, Damian pulled out his gun from his waist and reached for the silencer. But seeing the crow Casey was pointing at, he clicked his tongue.

‘Too far!’

Using a silencer significantly reduced the effective range of the gun and also caused errors in the sights when aiming at a moving target.

Damian hesitated for a moment, then fired without the silencer.

Bang!

The jarring sound of gunfire echoed through the peaceful hill. At the same time, screams erupted from the startled crowd. Damian and Casey had no time to care.

The crow, apparently hit in the wing, briefly faltered in the air, losing its balance. But it soon regained its composure and soared high into the sky.

“Damian! Not the wings, aim for the heart!”

At Casey’s words, Damian aimed at the crow again and fired another shot.

Bang!

The gunshot echoed once more.

The crow, pierced through the chest, flapped its wings feebly a few times before its body stiffened and it plummeted to the ground. Casey, relieved, approached the fallen crow, but another presence emerged from behind him, and another crow sprang out.

“Oh no!”

Casey’s face was filled with dismay.

“There’s more than one! Damian!”

Once again, without questioning or arguing with Casey, Damian fired at the crow.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out in succession, but they only grazed the crow; unlike the first one, it wasn’t a clean hit.

Damian aimed for a third shot, but just before pulling the trigger, he realized it wouldn’t hit and clicked his tongue. As he expected, the bullet missed the crow.

Lowering his gun, he muttered, “It’s out of range.”

As Damian said, the crow was already flying high in the distance. He was confident he could hit it with a rifle, but it was difficult to hit a moving target from that distance with a handgun.

Damian holstered his revolver and quickly approached Lilliana. She had moved to where Annette was and was standing with her, both with shocked expressions.

“Lilliana, are you alright?”

Lilliana knew that the only thing that would cause Damian and Casey to react like this was a threat to her safety. So the moment Damian pulled out his gun, she knew something had happened.

Although surprised, she wasn’t angry because she understood the situation.

“I’ll ask why you pulled out your gun later, but I’m fine for now. But please calm Annette down first.”

Annette was half-hugging Lilliana, her face frozen in shock. Damian only then realized Annette was there. He scratched his head and said to her,

“I apologize, Ms. Annette. The situation was urgent, and there was no time to explain.”

“Damian? Casey? What was that all about?”

“That’s…”

Before Damian could figure out how to explain, Casey came running towards them. He was holding the crow he had shot earlier.

“Damian, we can’t stay here long. People heard the gunshots and called the police, they’re on their way now.”

“Yikes.”

Damian couldn’t help but let out a troubled groan. As Casey said, he could see two or three police officers in uniform, blowing whistles as they ran towards them.

“W-what do we do?”

Lilliana asked Damian in a panic at the appearance of the police, but he responded calmly, as if he had expected this.

“What else can we do? We have to run.”

Then, as if they had planned it, Damian and Casey quickly wrapped up everything on the mat, including the mat itself, and stuffed it all into their bags.

“Run!”

Lilliana and Annette, who had been watching blankly, were startled by Casey’s words and quickly pulled along by their hands.

“If you stay there, you’ll be dragged to the police station.”

“B-but…!”

“What’s going on, Damian?! Casey?!”

Annette still didn’t understand anything and just looked back and forth between Damian and Casey. However, perhaps realizing that things would get complicated the moment a gun was involved, she obediently ran as Damian instructed.

“Why did you shoot the gun?!”

“I’ll explain once we manage to escape.”

“I’m sorry, Annette. I’m so sorry!”

Unlike Damian, who didn’t seem particularly apologetic, Lilliana kept bowing her head to Annette. Annette didn’t even know why Lilliana was apologizing.

—————-

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