Chapter 60. A Momentary Peace (6)

William’s face turned ugly—where has she gone to?

The people who passed by him gave him a dubious stare because he suddenly halted. However, William paid no notice and instead tried to speculate how long she had been missing—

—a few minutes ago? A moment ago?

“—Amelia—!!”

William finally regained his senses and started shouting her name. Of course, there was no reply. The eyes of the people passing by felt piercing.

To begin with, Amelia couldn’t speak. He hurriedly gazed around, however, there were only crowds of people—he couldn’t find her anywhere.

“…Amelia.”

A strong frustration rose in William’s heart.

He realized he had been too careless. Amelia, who had quietly spent her time in his mansion for the past two months was completely different from ‘Amelia’ he had first met.

Indeed, her supposed true nature that Lewis had gathered for William was completely different from the Amelia of today.

Lewis reported that Amelia had once rode a horse through the fields like a man. She was also daring enough to take both Bryan and Edward to a pub. Even though he was aware of such, still, he was careless.

“—darn it.”

—even though I’ve sworn to protect her, to make her happy—although unintentionally—I lost her this easily…! I’m such a joke…!

How was he supposed to face Lewis…!?

If something ill were to befall her… William began getting anxious.

William shook his head to shoo away such thoughts—he clenched his fist and stopped his breathing, slowly closing his eyes…

…it was some kind of gesture to calm down when he felt he was losing himself. He listened to his heartbeat—he exhaled and inhaled, adjusting his breath. Finally…—

—when he opened his eyes, he returned to the usual calm, sharp-eyed, William. His eyes captured everything in his vicinity, not missing a single minor event.

Yes. There must had been something that caught her interest. In such a town, in such a busy street, there was no way she would get into trouble. Even if she did, she would be smart enough to disentangle herself from being involved.

In other words, indeed, Amelia had probably found something. Something that was interesting enough for her to run without saying anything to him.

William, believing so, increased his pace.

“—goddammit!”

Lewis ran through the back alley, following Amelia.

Hannah and Lewis, who followed William and Amelia, witnessed Amelia suddenly running away from William. Lewis also caught a glance of what she had spotted before she started running.

What Amelia spotted—

—was a boy pickpocketing someone.

Lewis didn’t miss it, the way her pupils widened with sorrow before she started chasing the boy to the back alley.

Lewis guessed that the boy was probably Amelia’s acquaintance.

Hannah tried to go after Amelia, but Lewis beat her to it. He had already started running the moment she told she was going.

Amelia was chasing the pickpocketing boy. Even though he was her acquaintance, it would be somewhat troublesome—Lewis decided it would be dangerous for Hannah, a girl.

However, Amelia was faster than expected—he couldn’t grasp how she could sprint that fast with such thin legs. But that wasn’t the only reason—it was apparent that Amelia was familiar with the city. She never hesitated, even when the road split.

The same went for Lewis—however, he still couldn’t match her speed. The reason was, Lewis’ physical strength.

“Tch—!!”

After a while, Lewis was out of breath, he had no choice but to stop. He had to lean on a wall at the risk of falling over. Large amount of sweat dribbled down his forehead.

“—damn…”

The alley had narrowed. It was easy to get lost. The buildings were tall, narrowing the view of the sky.

The advantage was, the sun didn’t feel that searing. However, if the sun went down a little, he would be surrounded in total darkness.

“…This is why… I hate it…”

Lewis stared bitterly at his legs and muttered.

Who was the word directed at? What was it for? Was he even commenting about the current situation? The only obvious thing was the frustration contained deep within Lewis’ furrowed eyebrows.

However, it only lasted for a short time. Lewis took a deep breath and began moving his feet again. Nevertheless, he had no more strength left to run.

Lewis went through the narrow alleyway with a dazed expression. He was looking around for any open space, somewhere—searching through walking was too taxing. Unfortunately, Bennet couldn’t be called in such a narrow place.

He still couldn’t find an open space—

—he knew it was too early to give up. At least, according to his memory, there shouldn’t be any open spaces around there. He could’ve gone to the Boulevard, but the crowd would scare Bennet—

—he needed to think.

Lewis, annoyed, stared at the heavens. In a low voice, he muttered something—

—he used his last resort.

The power he used when Amelia fell into the river two months ago—

—the power only he could use. However, he rarely used it since it consumed a lot of physical strength.

Lewis slowly closed his eyes—he focused his consciousness. Soon after, terrible silence engulfed him. Painful tranquility governed his surroundings.

The only thing that came to his mind was the face of Amelia.