CH 124

“We’re all meeting here.”

Zagnac and Azela both turned their heads simultaneously at the familiar voice.

Lane, wearing a parasol to shelter herself from the blazing sun, stood in front of the boutique shop. With a lollipop in her mouth, she glanced back and forth at them and smiled. It was the first time they saw her after she tearfully told them that her contractor, the dwarf, had died.

‘Should I greet her?’

Not knowing what to say to her, Azela stood with a hesitant face while Lane waved her hand lightly first.

“You’re still there, contractor.”

When she looked away at Lane’s tone as if she wasn’t happy that she was there, Azela lost her will to greet her as well. She didn’t want to be polite to the devil who didn’t respect her.

Meanwhile, seeing that Lane tilted her head at Azela, who didn’t accept her greeting despite her greeting, Zagnac asked, changing the mood.

“Lane, what are you doing here? You don’t like humans and you don’t like hanging out with humans, don’t you.”

“I do.”

Lane responded lightly and folded the parasol she was wearing. Then, with her finger, she pointed to the boutique shop where Zagnac and Azela had just appeared.

“The clothes here are rumored to be very good and elegant among humans, so I came to get one.”

“My boutique shop?”

“…Is this your boutique shop?”

At those words, she frowned as she stared at the boutique shop. Lane folded her fingers that were pointed to the boutique shop and shook her head, clicking her tongue.

“I came here for no reason. If I had known it was your place, I wouldn’t have come.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“It can’t be a good thing.”

Lane grunted and opened the parasol again. She was really determined not to enter the boutique shop. It seemed that despite saying she didn’t like humans, she seemed to be quite interested in human clothes.

Zagnac asked urgently as he saw Lane turning her body around without saying a word.

“Are you going back?”

“No, I will be staying in the human world a little more.”

“Why?”

“I was thinking about making the next contractor a human.”

It was worrisome what would happen if Lane was still heartbroken that her former contractor, the Dwarf, left, but Lane seemed to have completely forgotten about it. When Azela looked at her, she let out a sigh of relief as she saw Lane’s bright expression, unlike the last time.

On the contrary, Zagnac, however, frowned at Lane’s words.

“…Why? You don’t like humans.”

“That’s right.”

“You said contracts with humans are too short.”

“That’s right.”

“You even said that human souls, no matter how noble, are insignificant compared to your contractors.”

“You remembered everything well.”

Hearing Zagnac’s words, Lane turned her upper body to look at him.

“A lot of races I can contract with have disappeared. Perhaps, sooner or later, truly only the human race will remain in this world… as humans want.”

Lane said the last words, ‘as humans want,’ and turned her gaze to look at Azela.

Even though the extinction of the species was not Azela’s fault, hearing her words, she felt guilty and bowed her head. After all, it was humans who destroyed and drove out the different races in this world.

“So, I’m preparing to pick out a human. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get a good-spirited human like you as my contractor.”

Saying so, she licked her red lips with her tongue and her eyes twinkled with lust for her.

Seeing that, Zagnac raised his palm to block Azela from her view. Lane, who was looking at Azela, turned around without hesitation.

“…Are you okay?”

As Lane took a step, Zagnac turned his head to Azela and asked a small question. As she was about to reply that she was fine, Lane, who was walking far away, suddenly stopped and turned her upper body.

“Oh.”

“….?”

“By the way, Zagnac.”

Lane raised her finger and pointed at Azela.

“Why don’t you eat her? She seems to be ripe enough.”

“….!”

“She was much better than last time. She seems to have a sweet scent all the way up here.”

It wasn’t a malicious word. Lane must have been really curious as to why did he keep a ripe soul by his side and not eat it? At the same time, hearing her question, Azela’s eyes fluttered as she turned her stiff head to look at Zagnac.

“Lane.”

“The other day, since you like sweet things so much, I wondered if you would leave her on and eat her when she tastes best, but now I’m curious.”

“Shut up.”

“Of course, it’s not the best stage yet… but it’s quite different? Whether you eat her now or then, the taste won’t be much different.”

Lane smiled brightly with a red smile.

Unlike her, Zagnac’s face hardened. It looked like he was going to bite her neck at any moment, though she still had a bright smile on her red lips.

“Eat her.”

Lane uttered briefly.

With that short word, Azela felt as if her heart had stopped. And at that moment, the wind blew up. It happened in the blink of an eye.

With the strong wind, Zagnac, who had been by her side, approached Lane in an instant and grabbed her neck tightly. He was clenching his hand until her face turned bright red, but Lane remained calm without changing a single fold on her face.

“Zagnac…!”

She hurriedly ran to Zagnac and grabbed him. This was a street. There were many eyes of people who saw him and might recognize him as Duke ferial. Moreover, it was in front of his boutique shop. This kind of behavior was an act that would be many nobles’ gossip.

Still, despite Azela’s restraint, he did not budge.

“You react in an unusual way.”

“I told you to shut up.”

“What a big deal? You, who was desperate to live by hiding your body odor among humans.”

As he grabbed Lance by the neck, she glanced at the surroundings casually. It seemed that many people passing by the street were glancing at them.

“You act like you’re revealing your identity like this.”

“Shut up.”

“You must have liked your contractor quite a bit.”

Seeing her calm expression, Zagnac gritted his teeth and gave his hand more strength. Veins spurted out violently on the back of his hand, and a grotesque sound of bones breaking was heard.

Azela hurriedly looked at Lane with dismay, but she remained calm despite it all. At first glance, she didn’t even think Lane was choking.

“After living with humans…”

“….”

“I’m not mistaken that you’ve become a real human?”