Chapter 45 (1/2)

Chapter 45

“Good thinking”

Rosetta s across the floor

There were tiive up quickly, but Rosetta didn’t hate seeing it

Even if it was pathetic, wouldn’t it be better to survive rather than to show a bit of courage that would still lead you to your death anyway?

Ah, of course, that’s to say if you wanted to survive

With one hand still over the back of Harron’s head, Rosetta slowly raised her other hand fro the touch

Their eyes widened as the distance between Harron and that hand gradually grew narrower

However it felt as if that hand was not that of a woed mouth of a monster

Gulp

They sed dryly The way their throat quivered ient the situation was for them

“…S…Spa…re me…”

The stuttered words eventually became a broken sentence, yet the hand did not stop and slowly approached its goal

The hand went up near Harron’s nose bridge

The fingertips that touched their face were cold

Harron clenched their hands into fists because the cold sensation was rounded them back to reality It would have been better if this were a dream

The hand over their nose soon seized thethe lower half of their face

Then, it was pulled doithout one hint of hesitation nor mercy

Tuk With that shtly behind their hair broke without resistance, and the long, faded gray-brown hair drooped beneath the hood

As their face was suddenly exposed, the lukewarm, early summer air hit them

To the point that Harron couldn’t breathe

Rosetta stared at Harron’s face for a long while

A tan complexion and dark brown eyes, which was thein the empire, then dry, chapped lips

Well, the dark brown eyes couldn’t be seen properly because of howaverted in fear that their eyes ht meet the eyes beneath this veil Even for a moment, even by chance

As Rosetta faced them—no, as the veil faced the within

The only thing they could i beneath that veil was the face of a monster with a torn mouth

Common sense would say that this was impossible

However, the fact that her face was covered heightened even greater fear

Whenever ghost stories were told, it wasit yourself Nothing wassilence continued for the longest time, Rosetta nodded andact”

Contrary to what she said was ‘interesting’, there was a subtle hint of irritation in her voice

Soon, Rosetta let go of her other hand’s grasp on Harron at the back of their head

Because they flinched so hard, Harron almost fell face forward

Fortunately, they avoided a disaster by instinctively covering their face with their arms But because their body was so coiled with tension, fear and fatigue, they were frozen there on the ground, gasping out heavily

“Huuk… Huuk…”

As Rosetta glanced down at Harron with a bored look, she reached into her pocket and took so face down, gasping for air, she then turned to them and put that object into their own pocket

At the height of fear, the h they were a deer in front of headlights

Currently, Harron was in that state

Harron was so uncomfortable and so terribly afraid of what Rosetta had pushed into their pocket, but they couldn’t er because of this fear that went beyond rationality

They just tried desperately again to move their arms and push themselves up so that they could find a way to escape

Hitting Harron hard across the chest was a strong desire to live

After shoving that thing into the collapsed person’s pocket, the woman raised herself

She reached slowly towards the dagger that Harron had earlier, then picked it up

Watching the woed in their throat, Harron blinked

They felt a hot sensation pooling around their eyes

At this very moment, they suddenly wanted to see their family

Someone

Someone Harron had to protect… Perhaps someone else who could protect them in turn

“Sa… Save… me, please…”

Their lips felt so wooden that they had not been able to speak all this time, but another broken sentence was formed after many pauses

With a dull step forward, the woman crouched down in front of the fallen person

As Harron raised their head, what they saw instantly was the woht in front of their face

“Mroaned, but as they did not feel the flash of pain that they were expecting, Harron slowly opened their eyes once more

And this time, the woman’s open palm was in front of Harron’s eyes

Pale, s palnificence, folded in an instant Only one finger was left up

“Now, look closely”

“…What?”

Harron could only ask back in confusion at the woer turned slowly to one side, as if telling Harron to focus there

Harron stared at the finger just as they were told

And, apparently, there was a ser

It looked to be a very thin slice, but still, s that Harron saw exactly what she was asking them to look at, Rosetta raised herself to her feet

“You’re the one who gave me this wound This—you did this”

“This… What…”

“Froive you thirty seconds”

Rosetta spoke with a firm voice After which, she backed away

One, two, three steps backward

Without realizing it, Harron staggered to their feet, just as Rosetta was leisurely distancing herself

Exhausted to the bone, Harron staggered froround and nearly lost their balance several tiround Harron stared back at Rosetta

Ar still Then, she shook her head once, gesturing to one other side

Over there, at the other side of the dead end alley, towards the only path of escape

“Run”

“Huh?”

“I’ll give you thirty seconds to run”

At the wori Harron right now, or was she really…