Chapter 20
“Which eye of yours saw that it was a grave? Are you blind or something?”
Faced with such a life-or-death question, Leticia naturally would never admit it.
Her worldview was completely different from the people of this world. To her, those burned alive were nothing more than pitiful sacrifices. She pitied them, while people here did not.
On the contrary, they couldn’t wait to scatter a Witch’s ashes. How could anyone possibly build a grave for one?
If her actions were ever discovered, she might well be regarded as a Witch’s accomplice—the consequences would be dire!
“Heh, keep pretending. Not only do I know it’s a grave, I can also guess that the person wasn’t any good either!”
Stano snorted. He had only stumbled upon hints about the grave by chance. Though he hadn’t cared much at first, little by little, suspicion had built up.
After all, why pick a particular spot, occasionally pulling out weeds there? It couldn’t be just some whim to plant something.
So much time had passed, yet nothing grew there except weeds. That alone was suspicious.
Leticia never imagined that this brat had so much free time—that he would watch a “commoner’s” daily life for entertainment, even training himself to multitask in the process.
Clearly, boredom could make people do ridiculous things. Too well-fed, without phones or computers, he could only kill time this way.
“You’re overthinking.”
All Leticia could do was stubbornly deny any connection.
Yes—everything was just a coincidence, a trick of the eye!
“Hehe, fine.”
Stano’s voice was airy. “Then, what method can you come up with now?”
He suddenly seemed calmer, while Leticia’s thoughts about saving his uncle remained a muddled mess.
“Right now, the initiative is in my hands. Bamboo pole, what can you do?”
“Tch...”
Leticia fumed. She truly had no idea what to do.
The initiative had never been in her hands to begin with!
Still, one thing was a small blessing: this world’s religion also had something like “Sunday is a day of rest,” decreed by the highest god. The exact date differed, but the concept was the same.
On this day, the chapel rested, leaving only minimal cleaning staff and Assistant Clerics. Priest Marshall had long told her she didn’t need to study on this day—she could use her time freely.
So she had plenty of time to waste with this brat.
But only one day...
And that was su~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~per frustrating!
“I think...”
Leticia said weakly, “You won’t be able to save your uncle anyway. Why be so stubborn?”
Moreover, she had a strange premonition. If things went on like this, the brat was bound to face the worst possible outcome.
“But I want to try!”
As expected, reasoning was useless. This brat was like a bull—he’d never stop until he crashed headlong into a wall!
No, Leticia figured, even if he bashed his head against the wall until it cracked, he still wouldn’t repent!
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm.
“Stano Banson.”
“What is it?”
Stano’s tone was still careless, but hearing her call his full name, he felt a flicker of...
Panic?
“After today, I’ll do everything I can to sever this connection between us.”
Leticia said softly. “So today, I’ll agree to your request.”
“...”
Stano said nothing.
He felt that the wall between them, which had grown paper-thin, had thickened again.
And he was the one who had rebuilt it.
That weight pressing on his chest was suffocating. He had to admit—Leticia’s words unsettled him. Because deep inside, he truly did want to keep this friendship that had nothing to do with power or status.
But fate always buried such pure things. It forced people to choose, to destroy what was beautiful, and gave it a noble name:
Growth.
The two fell silent. Leticia’s heart was far from calm—what a joke. She took step after step, inwardly cursing the brat, while praying she wouldn’t end up getting herself killed this time.
“We’ll need plenty of time. So we must set out now.”