I Wish You Well In Your Next Love, My Love - Chapter 10

Was my memory idealized? After spending more than half his life in battle, his way of speaking had become rough.

But it was only his tongue that was harsh. His gaze, his touch, the warmth when he held me, they had been gentler than anything else.

“More than anything, I’m worried about his safety. I hear Lord Castion’s ability has become unstable, so he can’t be deployed in the field like before, that his hands shake so much he can’t even hold a sword properly. If Miss Arvina stayed by his side and purified him, wouldn’t he recover quickly? If the two of them got together, the whole world would celebrate.”

I couldn’t even give the automatic reply I had been making.

At the mention of his hands shaking, it felt as if a stone had dropped into my chest, and my breathing grew tight.

I loosened one of the buttons fastened up to just below my throat and tugged at my collar for no reason. I needed to control my expression, but my facial muscles wouldn’t move the way I wanted.

Just then, the shop door burst open, and a wave of warm air rushed inside.

It was a man already soaked in alcohol from early evening. His roughly shaved head, as if done by force, made him look so disheveled that for a moment I thought he might be an escaped convict.

Even so, the flashy clothes he wore made him look like a noble…

“Apologies, sir. We’re not open yet.”

“Once a customer walks in, that means you’re open!”

The man staggered and forced his way up to the bar. Turner and I exchanged a glance without speaking.

This was bad. A real nightmare customer.

“You should be serving drinks first, shouldn’t you? What the hell kind of business do you run if you’re that clueless?!”

“Would you like to look at the menu first?”

Turner opened the menu that had been standing nearby.

But the man didn’t even bother to glance at it and threw the menu aside. Then he pointed at one of the bottles on the keep shelf behind the bar.

It was the one Gerard had ordered earlier.

“Ah, that…”

Since only the seal had been opened, we could just give Gerard a new bottle if he came back. But it didn’t look like this troublemaker had any intention of paying.

Turner seemed to be thinking the same thing and hesitated. Just as we were wondering whether to call the patrol unit.

Bang! With a loud noise, Gerard’s bottle exploded.

Turner let out a short yelp, covered his ears, and crouched down.

“Do you think I’m a joke too? Just because I did some time, you think I’m some criminal bastard?!”

‘…Damn it, my luck really is terrible.’

The man was an Awakened. And an Awakened with a criminal record.

The moment he used his ability, a dangerous energy that hadn’t been noticeable before surged outward. It didn’t seem like he was about to go on rampage. He just needed something to take his anger out on.

The man, who had been staring at me, spoke.

“You a Purifier?”

“……”

“Is it okay for a Purifier to be working in a place like this?”

The corners of his mouth twisted into a vile grin.

“…Do you need purification?”

“Hah! Yeah, lemme try it.”

The man grabbed my wrist and yanked me hard toward him.

My upper body lurched forward. I braced myself by pressing my other hand against the bar.

The man rubbed my palm against his patchy-bearded face, then grinned lewdly.

“Go on. Do it.”

Disgust rose inside me, but calming this troublemaker and getting him out quickly came first. There was no way Turner or I could handle a rampaging Awakened.

I steadied my startled breathing and put my power into it.

“Can’t feel a thing.”

“Ugh.”

But my useless fourth-rank ability wasn’t any help even in a situation like this.

The wrist he was gripping began to ache. I frowned, but there was no way a man drunk on alcohol and some unknown anger would notice my expression.

“You doing this on purpose? You’re looking down on me and mocking me too, aren’t you?!”

Just as the man raised his thick arm high.

A blast of hot wind rushed across my face, and the hand gripping my wrist suddenly fell away.

Then came a heavy roar along with a tremor that felt like an earthquake.

For a moment, my thoughts stopped. Dust rose in clouds over my frozen face.

What just happened.

As my blurred vision slowly began to regain color, a large hand grabbed mine.

“This is going to bruise.”

“……”

“You seem to get hurt every time before we meet. You’re not doing it on purpose, are you?”

“…Lord Castion.”

• Author
• Recent Posts

mikan

Latest posts by mikan (see all)