–
Yuri felt Lakisβ gaze following behind her, but she didnβt turn around till she opened the door to her room and went in.
Click, Slam!
Soon, Yuri leaned on the closed door of her room. Air slightly colder than that of the living room hit her wet cheeks.
Yuri lifted her hand and wiped off the tears that were making her skin cold. After the short dream-like moment passed, a familiar emptiness filled her heart.
As to whether this was a good thing or not, she couldnβt tell right now.
* * *
Maybe she was to blame, but the air in the house the next morning was a little awkward.
βGood morning, Mr. Lakis.β
Yuri greeted him first, her face calm as if nothing had happened the previous night.
Lakis lay sidewise on the sofa, and stared at her expressionless face quietly for a while before replying:
[Yeah, good morning.]
The both of them decided to just ignore the events from yesterday.
βWell then, Iβm off to work.β
A while later, Yuri walked out the door at the same time as usual.
[Take care.]
Lakis leaned against the sofa and saw Yuri off like that.
Yuriβs feet going through the front door stopped for a moment. She briefly glanced back at Lakis then she left.
* * *
After Yuri left the house, Lakis quietly listened to the departing footsteps. It was still early in the morning. Outside was a little restless with people who were just about to start their day.
Lakis covered his wound with his arm and raised his still aching body from the seat. His footsteps were silent as he moved to the window. He hid himself in the shadow of the window and peeked out through the slight crack of the curtains.
His blue eyes were cold and sharp under the sun, like a broken film over a lake. The air around him was so cold that it was hard to believe he was the seemingly harmless and gentle person that was seeing the house owner off just moments ago.
βHey, Lakis? I really didnβt do anything strange yesterday. Really!
After Yuri left, the bug got a hint of Lakisβ mood and made excuses once again.
Its shriveled voice sounded deflated, with a weak sense of accusation mixed in. Lakis had grilled and mentally tortured it overnight so of course, the voice in his head was a little depressed when it talked to him.
The reason for this was naturally due to what happened to Yuri last night. Yuri appeared strange while holding Lakisβ hand last night and she had even teared up; that sight still lingered before his eyes.
Lakis was also aware that yesterdayβs events werenβt due to the parasite in his body carrying out some other scheme. But even then, he couldnβt figure out what the hell that was yesterday. But at least, he was relieved to see she was feeling okay before she left for work.
βBy the way, are you really going out?
βYeah.β
The voice in his head then asked, changing the subject.
As it said, Lakis was planning on going out today. Of course, as his body wasnβt fully recovered yet, it would be too much if he pushed himself. But even if that was the case, he couldnβt remain hands-off like this.
In his mind, Lakis once again repeated the name of this place as he’d been told some time ago.
Grey Ferret.
And since this was the east, it meant it was under the jurisdiction of the Crawford family. So as long as his identity wasnβt revealed, it was worth moving around.
βBut Lakis…All that is good and all, but for now just take some more digestive medicine before you leave. Uuuk, I still want to hurl.
The sound ringing in his head eventually made Lakisβ face crumple into a frown.
βOh, for f*ckβs sake…donβt retch in someoneβs head like some ****.β[1]
The reason the bug was acting like this was because of the breakfast they ate this morning. Today again, the breakfast Yuri made was vomit-inducing but just like before, Lakis ate it all.
As a result, Lakis was significantly much leaner than when he just woke up this morning. As a matter of fact, Lakis was resistant to most drugs, so it wasnβt easy to get them to affect him which meant he had emptied half the bottle of digestive medicine.
That said, it was true his stomach was still feeling queasy so Lakis listened to the bug and poured more digestive medicine down his throat.
βPhew. I finally feel relieved. I mean, this is all because you keep chomping down all that garbage!
Perhaps the courage of the parasitic bug had revived in the meantime, because it shuddered like it hadnβt considered Lakisβ mood and grumbled.
βUgh, I havenβt tasted anything this bad since the food from when we were in that βgraveβ.
Lakis was disturbed by those words. Because he recalled a memory from his past that he didnβt even want to remember.
It was a memory from a long time ago, when he was in the βgraveβ that the bug was talking about. That place was also where Lakis first acquired this noisy parasite.
It was called a βgraveβ because no one ever came out alive. The only exception to that was Lakis. But he had to spend 5 years to get out of that loathsome place. And afterwards, he killed everyone who helped put him there.
To others, after Lakisβ father, the former lord of Carnot, died from a disease, his son killed all his competitors and gained the throne, but the truth was different. In the first place, the one who killed his father the former king, was Lakis himself.
Lakis had no reason to let him live. It was not enough for that man to set up that disgusting research institute in Carnot, but he was also a crazy bastard who used even his son as an experiment.
Lakis smiled icily and tightened his grip on the drug in his hand.
Crack!
Shatter!
The medicine bottle in Lakisβ hand broke into pieces.
βGasp!
The bug held its breath as it promptly realized Lakisβ mood had turned foul because of its slip of the tongue.
A ferocious energy surrounded Lakis as he stepped on the broken pieces of bottle and spilled medicine on the floor.
In the end, all who subjected Lakis to that humiliating memory died long ago and the place that reminded him of those memories was now also in ruins. Lakis had made it that way with his very own hands.
So it would be the same this time as well.
The traitor would get a fitting end.
Lakis waited until the noise from people in the vicinity subsided. In order to get information while he recovered, there was somewhere he had to go first.
* * *
–
My day at the coffeehouse was pretty similar to any other day. That is, if you exclude the fact that I couldnβt really concentrate because I kept thinking about what happened with Lakis last night.
Last time, I rubbed my face in Lakisβ hand and this time, I even cried in front of him. The fact that I did this made me feel something similar to βshameβ, an emotion I havenβt felt in a while.
I call it βsimilar to shameβ because what I was feeling right now was so mediocre that it was hard for me to call it shame. If I could feel emotions normally, Iβd probably have destroyed a few walls at least.
I guess I was having more useless thoughts since it happened to be an idle time and not many customers were coming in. As I wiped the wet cup with the drying towel, I decided to think of something else to refresh my mood.
As I expected, a request from the client came in this time like always. They wanted me to get something on their behalf from the secret auction. Honestly to me, since they were using their money for an expensive bid anyways, wouldnβt it be simpler and easier to just ask me to steal it for them?
But it seems my client doesnβt think the same.
Well, I donβt intend to lure an honest eastern citizen into the world of crime either.
βMs. Yuri, this spring festival, would you like to go with…β
βI have a previous engagement.β
I turned around after turning down my 19th invitation for the day. There were a lot of people with such invitation today, probably because the day of the festival was drawing nearer. Of course, I refused them all.
And thatβs probably why the atmosphere in the coffeehouse was somewhat gloomy.
βWow, Ms. Yuri, popular as expected.β
Snow, who came to drink coffee as usual, spoke after watching me for a while. He seemed very intrigued by the current situation.
βSo you have a prior engagement, Ms. Yuri. Somehow, I thought you werenβt the type to be interested in things like festivals.β
Snowβs thought was right on the mark. My going to the festival was simply because of Anne-Marie. Not because I was really interested in going.
βKnowing Ms. Yuri is going, somehow makes me want to go too…urgh.β
βYes, Iβll take your order.β
I turned around before Snow could even finish his sentence and headed for another customer. I heard sulky mumblings about my cold-heartedness from behind me but I ignored that as well.
Snow didnβt stay long in the store, he soon paid for his coffee and went out the door.
β…?β
Then I suddenly felt something similar to a gaze and turned my head.
Caw, Caw!
βJust crows, huh.β
When I saw the crows flying around in front of the store, I thought of Odin. The job I gave him seemed to be taking more time than I thought.
I looked away from the open door and walked back to the inside of the store.
Translatorβs Corner:
[1] I wish I knew what the **** is supposed to be but I don’t. I’m keeping the spirit of the raw with all this censoring. Honestly, I fill in the blanks sometimes, but for this one, I got nothing.
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 31 - September 27, 2025
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 30 - September 25, 2025
- Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 137 - September 25, 2025
/)/)
( . .)βΒ΄ΛΒΊβ
( γ₯β‘ β
Λ β … +γ
Thanks for the chapter!
That strong reaction they have for each other, I need more!!! HAHAHAHA
less Lakis, go go away
Will they meet each other at the auction? Hmmmmmmm
My thoughts too, I really hope they find out each otherβs identity, though mainly him finding hers haha
Thanks for the chapter! π
S-So lovely… I really like the MC <3 <3 <3
thanks for the chapter~
i wonder how he will react once he discovers her identity…so curious~
Me 2 , TY 4 da chap.
Oh so Lakisβ father with the one who started the research institute and even had him experimented on. I donβt blame Lakis for killing him, if Yuri found out sheβd probably stop thinking of him as a villain. Lol! I canβt wait to read the next chapter!
Thx for update
Hmm? I didn’t expect for Lakis to be one of the experiment guinea pigs. Though I’m sure Yuri is definitely being experimented earlier than him. Thanks for the chapter desu~
Yea I’m sure Lakis wouldn’t have been experimented on without that first success which is Yuri.
Thank you very much
Thank you for the chapter π
thank u so much for this chapterΒ‘ looking forward for the next one.^^
I love the awkwardness xD
thanks for the chapter!!
Thank you for the chapter!
πΏπππππ πππ πππ πππππππ.
Thank you for the chapter !
Thank you! Κβ’α΄₯β’ΚοΎβ‘
Wow so the only one alive who has the best idea of what the rune fragments from the ruins, correction tomb as lakris gave away, are is lakis as he has a bug from there who knows the history and he himself having spent 5 yrs there, somehow i guess that means he was sent there 1 yr after yuri was a success experiment and came back and destroyed the research facility right away.
yeah… for sure censoring is annoying (β―Β°Π Β°)β―β§β§
thank you so much for the chapter (β°Λβ‘Λβ°)
I canβt believe they missed each other previously, in the lab!! Maybe thereβs a hidden history of Yuri helping Lakis? Really hope so… Thanks for the chapter!!
P.S. The βnextβ link at the top of the page less to the recommendation page
26 will be out in a few hrs
Hmm so the other one, a boy whom she saw next to her room/cage or something, whom Yuri said that actually had a successful rate aftr being injected with that thing from the ruins and she later didn’t saw after was actually Lakis??? Whoa. So that’s why, huh.
Ahh things are getting goooood π
The word ****, can be βshitβ