“Oh, come on.”
In response, Red merely gave Letia the middle finger in silence.
If it were anyone else, he might have felt a flicker of interest, but seeing Letia… he felt like he was having a heart attack.
It was hard to imagine that the creature in front of him was human.
No one else would have performed the shocking feat of pulling down someone’s pants.
“My, my—don’t be shy!”
Letia completely ignored his disgust and grinned as she leaned in close.
“Come on, look into my eyes—be honest! If you want a hug, just take it.”
Red’s lips twitched.
He looked at Letia with a look of pure disdain.
“Do I look even the slightest bit shy to you?”
However, he had to admit that the noisy bickering this morning had indeed dissipated much of the lingering fear and dread from his nightmare.
He just felt an indescribable exhaustion.
It was probably because he had just finished an intense wrestling match with a monkey.
Letia keenly caught Red’s sigh, which was filled with complex emotions, and the “What did I do to deserve this?” expression on his face.
A genuinely soft curve pulled at the corners of her mouth.
‘The noise… is better than him shrinking into a corner and being gnawed at by those dark thoughts, right?’
“My, my,” Letia said in a brisk voice.
“See? You look so much more spirited now! Seeing you like this makes me happy from the bottom of my heart!”
“Heh…”
Hearing Letia’s laughter, Red only offered a dry chuckle.
He covered his entire face with his palm and sighed once more, as if reflecting on a past he couldn’t bear to revisit.
He didn’t even know how many times he had sighed this morning.
“I think this shouldn’t be called ‘getting more spirited’… it should be called ‘going crazy’…”
“Oh, the words are practically the same. Don’t worry about the details!” Letia waved her hand dismissively.
“The meaning changes completely when you flip things around!” Red retorted, unable to hold back.
“Do you think ‘Are you in middle school’ still makes sense if you read it backward? It makes no sense at all!”
“If it’s backward… it’s not necessarily impossible.”
Letia suddenly cupped her cheeks with both hands, instantly switching to a “service mode” filled with shy, bashful glances.
She spoke in the sugary-sweet tone of a young girlfriend.
“As long as Master Red is willing to take responsibility… and provides enough Luen Coins—I might actually consider it, you know?”
“Ever heard of reproductive isolation? Interspecies romance has no future.”
Red’s expression didn’t change as he expertly gave her the international gesture of friendship once again.
Although this action was somewhat disrespectful toward the opposite sex, Red had never treated Letia as a woman… nor did he see her as a human.
“Mommy, Mommy!”
While the two continued their bickering, the innocent and curious voice of a little girl came from outside.
“Are that brother and sister fighting?”
“No, darling,” the mother explained to the little girl patiently.
“That’s just a young couple flirting. They aren’t fighting.”
“Oh, I see…”
The little girl nodded as if she understood, and then the mother and daughter walked away.
Red and Letia remained in their previous positions, frozen in place.
Silence stretched between them for a long time.
One was holding up a middle finger, the other was cupping her cheeks.
The air was deathly still as the two stared at each other in awkward silence.
A full ten-something seconds passed.
“Ahem…”
Red was the first to yield.
He gave a tactical cough and stiffly changed the subject.
“So… how about… we go get something to eat first?”
“True, I am starving.”
Letia expressed her agreement.
The two ended their nonsensical farce and returned to the house.
***
After eating and drinking her fill, Letia intended to head to the Sacred Heart Monastery to check on the situation.
The gift Otto said he wanted to give her should still be in the study.
She was a bit curious about what kind of thing he wanted to give her that required such secrecy.
Amidst her wandering thoughts, her figure quietly merged into the solemn shadows of the Sacred Heart Monastery.
Even though Ella had informed her that her file was officially entered into the White Church’s system—meaning she was technically “one of them” now—Otto was currently missing.
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; who knew if the subordinates would cause any trouble?
To be safe, Letia decided to crouch low.
Like a silent phantom, she relied on her familiarity with the terrain to cautiously sneak inside.
Litt’s “passing” had cast a heavy shroud of gloom over the entire White Church.
Even if she hadn’t been a high-ranking official, the warmth she had selflessly spread like winter sunshine, her eyes that always held a kind smile, and her “Little Angel” persona that offered help to anyone had long been deeply etched into the hearts of many monks and believers.
At this moment, the air in the monastery was thick with an inescapable sense of regret and somber helplessness.
Letia’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to the temporary altar set up in the center of the cathedral.
There sat Litt’s cenotaph.
Pure white lilies and irises surrounded an enlarged photo of Litt from when she was alive.
The girl in the photo had a gentle, pure smile and clear eyes.
She looked so approachable and kind.
Around her, believers dressed in plain clothes formed a long queue.
Their expressions were solemn and sorrowful as they maintained perfect order, gently offering the white flowers in their hands.
The entire scene was permeated with a holy yet tragic silence.
Just watching this, Letia felt like she was going to lose it.
Especially when she remembered that she was the one who had played the role of Litt, she almost couldn’t resist walking up to the coffin and flash a peace sign.
Of course… she didn’t do it.
Mostly because she didn’t want to get beaten up.
So, after watching for a while, she pushed the tempting thought out of her mind.
Shifting her gaze away from the cenotaph, she continued to sneak silently toward Otto’s study.
The study wasn’t far from the cathedral, so in less than two minutes, Letia arrived at the door.
After seeing no one around, she pushed the door open gently and tiptoed inside.
Otto, who usually busied himself in the study, was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed no one had entered this room for the past few days.
The air was filled with a faint scent of wood, and a thin layer of dust covered the desk.
Letia looked around the room, finally letting her gaze fall upon Otto’s desk.
An exquisite gift box was resting quietly there.
Just seeing this box caused a strange, ominous feeling to sprout in Letia’s mind.
The Script in her mind began to react.
It wasn’t some kind of “certain death” ending, but rather… she saw a vision of herself with two massive dark circles under her eyes, looking like she was about to drop dead from overwork.
‘Hiss…’
Suddenly, Letia didn’t want this gift anymore.
Why does he feel so much disgust of anyway.