16. Sorry to interrupt, you two continue.
Evelyn, who was solely focused on catching the murderer, naturally had no idea what Emilia was thinking. As soon as she left the apartment building, she flew straight towards the western suburbs.
In fact, if following her usual course of action, encountering such a severe and clueless incident, she would have run back to Hell to use its powers to directly pull the offender out along the causal line of the deceased’s soul.
But the only downside of doing so was— it took too much time.
Moreover, this time involved the Blood Clan, and returning to Hell was clearly not as quick as going directly to find that person.
“I’m here!”
As a vintage-style Western mansion gradually came into view, Evelyn realized she had reached her destination.
This was a large mansion wedged into a rocky mountain, grand in scale and classic in style, resembling a castle inhabited by medieval nobles. The pitch-black walls, built from unknown materials, had a magnificent rose window glowing eerily. The main colors of the stained glass were orange-red, deepening from top to bottom, resembling a splendid red lotus quietly blooming; the mansion’s heavy door was tightly closed, entwined with countless sharp thorns, seemingly warning outsiders: No entry for the living.
Such a solemn and classical building, if it appeared before the world, would undoubtedly attract countless curious gazes and exclamations of awe. Yet, regrettably, due to the cognitive obstructive magic that suffused most of the rocky mountain in the suburbs, even if an ordinary person was lucky enough to stumble upon the mansion’s entrance, they would absolutely not notice its presence, let alone enter it.
Only esteemed guests who were on good terms with the mansion’s owner would qualify to step inside.
Evelyn went straight to the mansion’s front door, skillfully retrieved a pure gold key inlaid with a red ruby from her dress pocket, and gently turned it in the lock! With a crisp “click,” the thorns that covered the whole door quickly melted away like summer snow.
In her eagerness, Evelyn pushed the door open quickly and dashed toward the main room of the mansion.
At the same time, a red-haired girl dressed as a maid was cleaning up fallen leaves in the mansion’s courtyard. Noticing someone intrude, she looked up in surprise, and then saw Evelyn entering the main room with an anxious expression, barely taking the time to greet her.
“Evelyn? What are you…”
“Sorry, Laura! I need to find Nolan urgently!”
“Wait a minute! The princess is not very available right now…”
The girl named Laura hurriedly called out to stop Evelyn, but unexpectedly, Evelyn didn’t hear her words at all and dashed inside, leaving Laura standing stiffly alone, swaying in the wind.
……
Evelyn rushed up three flights of stairs, barely catching her breath before she pushed open the bedroom door of the mansion’s owner.
“Nolan! Something’s happened! I need your… help…?”
As soon as she entered the room, Evelyn was stunned by the sight before her: on a lavishly decorated princess bed, two ragged girls were entangled with each other. The girl at the bottom looked to be only about ten years old, appearing even younger than Evelyn, with waist-length silver hair and large scarlet eyes filled with mist. She was loosely draped in an obviously expensive Gothic dress, resembling a pitiful flower; the girl on top also appeared young, but unlike the silver-haired girl below, she wore a black leather collar around her neck connected to a long chain, appearing very pitiable.
Upon seeing Evelyn suddenly burst in, both girls looked noticeably stiff. The silver-haired girl’s face, already flushed, turned crimson as if she might burst into tears at any moment; the girl on top frowned in annoyance, looking at Evelyn with a “you ruined my good time” expression.
“Um… sorry to interrupt, you two continue… continue…”
Evelyn awkwardly cleared her throat a couple of times and slowly retreated from the room, slamming the door shut! The next moment, a despairing scream of shame erupted from the silver-haired girl inside…
……
“Cough, cough, Evelyn, what did I say?”
“Sorry, Laura, I promise I’ll be more careful next time. Interrupting a couple’s intimacy was my fault…”
In the mansion’s living room, Evelyn sat facing Laura, the maid, and the two girls who had already changed clothes. Laura spoke to Evelyn with evident exasperation, while Evelyn appeared embarrassed, glancing occasionally at the still somewhat blushing silver-haired girl and the white-haired girl beside her, who was staring at her with a face full of regret.
“Damn it, Evelyn! You ruined my good time! We were so close! I could have completely devoured Nolan~ How infuriating!!!”
The white-haired girl was clearly very upset over Evelyn’s interruption, her little face pouting adorably, making one feel an urge to pinch it playfully.
“Ah! Lina, please stop talking! This is so embarrassing…”
Meanwhile, the silver-haired girl seemed rather weak, tugging at the hem of the white-haired girl’s dress carefully, her large, watery scarlet eyes looking up at her pitifully.
“Don’t make excuses for me, Nolan. I acted too impulsively this time and accidentally interrupted your good time…”
Evelyn displayed a pained expression, prompting the silver-haired girl named Nolan to grow flustered, hurriedly trying to defend herself.
“N-no, really, Evelyn! Don’t misunderstand!!! We were really not doing anything strange…”
Perhaps due to being overly nervous and shy, Nolan’s speech became somewhat jumbled. Seeing Evelyn still wearing a knowing expression, she sniffled, her eyes returning to that watery state.
“Wah… wah… we really weren’t, Nolan is a good girl, Nolan wouldn’t do that kind of thing… wahhhh—”
Finally, Nolan broke into tears again, justifying herself amidst her sobs, while the maid hurriedly fetched a handkerchief to help wipe her tears, softly comforting her.
“Alright, alright, the princess is a good girl, the princess won’t cry anymore…”
Sigh, Evelyn suddenly began to reconsider whether coming to find Nolan was the right choice after all.
This princess of the Blood Clan truly remains as ever a delicate damsel…
