Ch. 135
Volume 2
Chapter 59 : Gemstone
“This place... really feels both unfamiliar and nostalgic.”
The moment she stepped down from the carriage, Anna looked at the streets and buildings around her, which had long since become completely different from those in her memories, and could not help sighing with emotion.
“Have you stayed here before, Senior?” Muen asked.
“I lived here for a while. Back then, though, this street was still considered one of the more chaotic places in the entire Lower City. I never expected that after only two years, it would already look completely new.
“I remember there used to be several alleyways over there. They were gloomy and sinister, but I often took them as shortcuts to save time. And now they are all gone.” Anna looked ahead and sighed.
The alleyways that had once held nothing but darkness and filth had long since been flattened and removed. In their place, beautiful two-story buildings now stood atop the ruins.
“I see...”
Looks like I picked the right place!
Muen let out an excited cry in his heart.
Returning to a place she had once known after two years apart would definitely make his senior feel at ease.
And on a pleasant date, a sense of ease was absolutely essential.
“Judging from how nostalgic you seem, Senior, your impression of this place must have been very deep back then,” Muen continued along that line of conversation.
“It was quite deep indeed.”
Anna touched her cheek and smiled.
“After all, this was where I beat several little thugs to death when they lusted after my body and tried to put their hands on me. I buried the bodies in the alleyway I was just talking about. I wonder whether they dug them up when these buildings were renovated? Sigh, it would be troublesome if they did. Those are several human lives, after all. Maybe some scary policemen would come to arrest me.”
“If that happens, Muen, my junior, you must use the Duke’s power to save me.”
“Huh?”
Muen’s expression instantly froze.
Although a little devil in his head kept telling him that at a moment like this, he ought to puff out his chest and say something gallant like, Senior, do not be afraid, a mere policeman could never lay a finger on you...
He had never expected that this was what she meant by nostalgia!
So this was where you killed people and buried the bodies?
Then did that not mean he had chosen this place completely wrong?!
“Pfft.”
Just as Muen was standing there with a pained expression, wondering whether he should quickly change locations while it was still early, Anna suddenly burst out laughing.
“I was lying, Junior.”
“Huh?”
“No matter how chaotic a place is, it is still part of the city. No matter what, no one would kill someone and bury the body on the spot. How stupid would a person have to be to do something like that?”
Muen froze for a moment, then reacted and said indignantly,
“Senior, you are teasing me again!”
“No, I am not.”
His senior put on a serious expression and lowered her voice.
“The truth is, I dismembered them first and hid the pieces under a house.”
“Ah.”
“Hehehe... Junior, that dazed look on your face is so amusing...”
Anna laughed so hard that she trembled all over like a flower swaying in the wind.
“How could that possibly be true? In your eyes, am I really the sort of bad woman who would casually kill people and even dismember them? If you think that way, your seniors will be very hurt.”
“Of course I know that you are a very gentle person, Senior.”
Entirely helpless against Anna’s little-devil personality, Muen scratched his head with a bitter smile.
“But I was thinking, if those people really wanted to put their hands on you, Senior, then would that not mean they deserved to die anyway?”
“...”
Anna’s smile stopped all at once, and she gazed at Muen in silence.
“Hmm? Is there something on my face?”
“Junior.”
“What is it?”
“Forget it. It is nothing.”
Anna suddenly changed the subject and once again smiled radiantly.
“Let us just treat it as my punishment for you.”
“Huh? Punishment?”
Muen was baffled. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Of course.”
Anna smiled as she extended a finger and touched the tip of Muen’s nose.
“You asked me out, and yet you did not even make plans in advance. You were still flipping through a guide on the spot. If it had been any other girl, she would have felt that she was not being taken seriously and would have gotten angry. Only someone as good-tempered as your senior would settle for merely teasing you a little.”
“So you noticed?” Muen scratched his head with a bitter smile.
“I thought I hid it very well.”
“At times like this, a woman’s senses are very sharp.”
There seemed to be a deeper meaning in her tone.
“So, Junior, you had better put away some of those little thoughts of yours.”
...
...
Now that he had already been found out, Muen simply thickened his skin and pulled out the 《Belland Dating Guide》, flipping through it right in front of Anna.
Before long, he settled on a route that looked fairly interesting.
They wandered along the street.
It was already late autumn, so even at noon under the bright sun, the air still carried traces of chill.
For the pedestrians on the street, however, the weather was just right.
On the thriving commercial street, the peddlers on both sides shouted energetically, all kinds of goods dazzled the eye, and the stream of passersby never ceased.
Anna stopped from time to time, showing interest in one or two little trinkets, and occasionally buying things that Muen found rather strange.
However, every time Muen expressed his desire to pay for her, Anna refused him.
As a result, Muen felt rather troubled. “Senior, if you keep doing this, how am I supposed to repay you?”
“Hehe... I do not want you to repay your debt of gratitude in such meaningless little matters.”
His senior put away the object she had just bought, something that looked like a black tree root, and smiled.
“Oh? Then what do you want, Senior—”
Muen had just been about to press further when a shrill cry from a street vendor interrupted him:
“Gemstones! True love gemstones! The legendary Tear of True Love! Tenfold compensation if it is fake!”
The Tear of True Love?
Muen frowned slightly.
In his memory, the Tear of True Love was that gemstone which jewel merchants had hyped up several years ago, claiming it symbolized pure and flawless love.
In the end, before it could even be sold for a good price, it was stolen.
How could such a precious gemstone possibly appear in a place like this?
Muen had been about to ignore it and walk past, but then he suddenly noticed Anna’s eyes light up, as though she were quite interested in it.
So he immediately changed what he was going to say. “How about we go take a look?”
Anna nodded lightly. “All right.”
The two of them walked over to the vendor’s stall.
The stall owner was an elderly man with a diseased, patchy scalp and an exceedingly ugly face.
The moment he saw Muen and Anna, he immediately stopped shouting and grinned, revealing a mouthful of large yellow teeth.
“You two, would you like to take a look? This is the legendary Tear of True Love, a magical gemstone that can help you find your true love!”
On the ground in front of him lay a crystal-clear pink gemstone the size of a pigeon’s egg, sparkling under the sunlight with an enchanting luster.
“Is it genuine?” Muen asked.
“Tenfold compensation if it is fake!”
The old man thumped his chest in assurance.
But Muen had not been asking him.
He had been asking Anna.
Anna bent down, picked up the gemstone, and examined it carefully.
Then she shook her head in disappointment.
“It is fake.”
“As expected.”
Muen took the gemstone from her and weighed it lightly in his hand.
Judging from the feel of it, not to mention a gemstone, it probably was not even a real stone.
And if it really had been the Tear of True Love worth a million, how could it possibly have been displayed so casually on the street for sale?
Anna had likely known that as well, so she had only come over with the attitude of giving it a try.
“Let us go.”
Muen shook his head, casually set the gemstone back down, and stopped wasting time, preparing to continue on to the next place.
But after taking only a single step, he suddenly felt his ankle grow heavy, so heavy that he could barely move forward.
When he turned back, the old man with the diseased scalp was clutching his leg with a face full of fury, shouting at the top of his lungs:
“You brat, you damaged my gemstone and think you can just walk away like that?”