Chapter 137: Anna and Kachina
On the same afternoon that Shivali visited Saint Nali University, in the outskirts of Saint Nali facing the ocean, a large western-style mansion stood at the foot of lush green hills, quietly observing the rise and fall of the waves.
At noon, with the sun shining brightly, the mansion was backed by greenery, receiving no sunlight at all, as if the entire room was shrouded in shadow.
A carriage slowly came to a stop in front of the mansion, and the door opened to reveal a lady wearing high heels.
The lady was dressed in conservative Nali traditional attire, her strikingly beautiful features were breathtaking. She wore a touch of crimson lipstick and carried a small handbag, her expression calm.
This was Anna from the Pink Pavilion. She surveyed the mansion, which was enveloped in shadows, stepped forward, and pressed the doorbell. It seemed that those inside were already aware of her visit today; after a chime, the closed door slowly opened, revealing a yard that gaped like the mouth of an abyss.
Anna, holding her handbag, entered the mansion at a leisurely pace. She arrived at the front of the house, where a maid opened the door with a smile, bowed to Anna, and said,
“Lady Anna, Lady Kachina has already arrived. The master is still swimming and needs you to wait a moment.”
“Okay.”
Anna nodded and slowly walked into the mansion.
No lights were on inside; the wooden walls and floor felt slightly cool compared to the summer outside.
Anna passed through the rooms in the foyer, noting the shelves on either side lined with frames containing black-and-white photographs. In one of them, a young captain wearing a captain’s hat embraced a beautiful lady, both smiling warmly at the camera.
Yet, Anna had seen all this many times before; she passed through the foyer without any reaction, crossing the living room straight to the door leading to the beach, where a beautiful lady in a white robe was kneeling, facing the sand.
Upon hearing footsteps behind her, the beautiful lady turned to look, and upon seeing Anna, a hint of mockery appeared on her face.
“Oh, Miss Anna, you finally made the effort to see the master today? I thought you’d forgotten about what the master arranged.”
Anna calmly glanced at her, also kneeling on the ground, facing the beach.
“There’s no need for Miss Kachina to worry about the matters of the Pink Pavilion. After all, there are far more things to attend to at the Pink Pavilion than there are in the Healing Room.”
“Ha, I’m afraid that both are just busy with useless matters.”
“When your Healing Room can bring in as much money as this, then you can talk to me about these things. As of now, you’re not qualified.”
“You!”
Just as Kachina was about to retaliate, slow footsteps came from the beach, causing both Kachina and Anna to change their expressions slightly and hurriedly kneel up straight, looking down and not daring to glance forward.
From the sand, an extraordinarily tall and sturdy old man walked slowly toward the house from the direction of the ocean.
The old man was wrapped in a thick and loose bath towel, completely covering his body while only revealing his elderly, wrinkled face.
A few strands of white hair fell across his head, slightly sticking together from the seawater he had just swum in. His gaze was somewhat cold, but upon seeing the two beauties kneeling quietly, he revealed a chilling smile.
“Anna, Kachina, you’re here.”
“Master.”
The two answered in unison. The tall old man nodded before walking in front of them.
His towering figure blocked out the sun behind him, casting shadows over the two. Kachina always felt a bit afraid every time she came, and at that moment, her body began to tremble uncontrollably in front of the old man.
As for Anna, she seemed accustomed to it; she lowered her head, eyes tightly shut, presenting a silent demeanor.
“Master, this is the revenue from the Healing Room for this month; please take a look.”
“This is the revenue from the Pink Pavilion; please have a look.”
The old man extended his hand to accept the receipts they offered, but instead of reading them, he looked toward the sky as if recalling something and said,
“Shivali’s people should have arrived in Nali by now, right?”
Upon hearing this, Kachina hurriedly replied,
“Yes, they just arrived at Saint Nali University this morning. An academic conference will be held there next Monday.”
While this matter was clearly under the responsibility of the Pink Pavilion, Kachina took it upon herself to report it on Anna’s behalf. However, Anna remained silent, knowing well the consequences of Kachina’s thoughtless chatter.
“This matter is under Anna’s responsibility; what gives you the right to interrupt?”
As expected, in the next moment, the old man cast a cold glance at Kachina. This sentence seemed to awaken Kachina’s fear, and her body uncontrollably began to slam her head against the ground.
As she struck the floor, she screamed,
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
With the apologies uttered, her body finally came to a stop, allowing her to painfully cover her face, yet she still did not get up.
After Kachina quieted down, Anna slowly spoke.
“Carolina has arrived at Saint Nali University; she is on-site, and we can take action when the time comes.”
“Mm, I have always felt at ease with your work.”
The old man smiled, revealing a mouth almost devoid of teeth, making his foul-smelling breath seem deeply terrifying. His hand, adorned with a gold bracelet that sparkled faintly through the loose bath towel, reached out to ruffle Anna’s head, disarranging her distinguished hairstyle.
Anna showed no emotion, gazing straight at the old man, meeting his fearsome gaze. After a second, the old man continued slowly,
“For this matter, just have it arranged, and there’s another task I need to instruct you about. This one is very important. Don’t mess it up, or you know the consequences.”
He released Anna’s head, tapped the gold bracelet on his wrist, and said.
Anna lowered her head, a chilling hatred slowly crystallizing in her eyes. However, she concealed that emotion well, making it so that no one else could notice. Thus, when she spoke again, her tone remained calm,
“Please instruct me, Master.”
“An ocean subhuman has arrived in Saint Nali. She wrote a letter to the royal family, signing it as ‘Child of the Sea.’ I want you to bring that letter-writer back. Afterward, I’ll tell you everything I know. Remember, you must bring her back to me, and she has to be alive.”
The old man grinned greedily, rose again. Despite his hunched form due to old age, his height remained terrifyingly tall compared to others. He wrapped his bath towel more tightly around himself, laughing as he walked slowly toward the beach.
“Bring the Child of the Sea back.”
Anna lowered her head, watching as the figure grew farther away, her resentment crystallizing slowly into something tangible.
Yet, she still didn’t raise her head; she merely whispered,
“Yes.”
At the mansion’s entrance, Anna walked to the side of the carriage with her small handbag. Behind her, Kachina, dressed in white, pouted, covering her face while looking at Anna’s back, saying,
“The master asked me to assist you in catching that whatever, Child of the Sea. Do you need any help?”
The relationship between the two was quite poor. Although Anna had been around the old man longer than Kachina, Kachina was not the type to respect her elders. From Anna’s perspective, she was nothing more than a foolish and shortsighted idiot.
Hearing Kachina’s words from behind, Anna turned back with a strained smile and replied,
“You’ve done enough by doing nothing.”
“You!”
Kachina was quite angered by Anna’s words. Looking at the taciturn Anna, she gleefully imagined what the latter might look like after failing her task, then laughed as she walked toward her carriage.
“Ha, just don’t mess things up.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Anna irritated Kachina one last time before she got into the carriage, her expression gradually darkening, seemingly recalling the previous events that made her white-knuckled fingers tighten.
“Drive back to the Pink Pavilion.”
“Yes.”
With the crack of the whip against the horses’ hindquarters, the carriage moved, taking Anna away from the mansion that made her uncomfortable.
Within the carriage, which was empty but for her, Anna quietly stared at the mansion cloaked in shadows, along with the ocean behind it now fading from view.
She didn’t know what she was thinking. After a long, long while, she drew her gaze back from the disappearing mansion.
“Mother, bless me.”
She pressed her palms together, forming a standard Nali church prayer gesture. In the low recitation of her prayer, her restless, angry heart gradually began to calm.
She had been patient for so long; she only needed to wait a little longer. Just a little longer.
Anna pulled out a small promotional flyer from her bosom. The top of the flyer was filled with densely packed Nali text. Upon closer inspection, this piece of paper turned out to be a promotional flyer for church charity teachings, listing which instructors would be teaching at which church.
And after the name of the Full Moon Church, a circled “Fisher Benavides” stood out prominently among the lines of text.
She quietly focused on the name for a long time before burning the flyer to ashes with a match.
Anna tapped on the carriage door. After a second’s wait, the driver opened a small window and asked her from outside,
“Lady Anna, what orders do you have?”
“Go call the people in the mansion to the Snakehead Tavern and have the black market informants help look out for information regarding ocean subhumans. A reward of twenty thousand euros for any info on ocean subhumans; one hundred thousand euros for any info on the Child of the Sea.”
“Yes.”
After the driver finished replying, Anna closed the small window.
She reverently brought her hands together again, forming a meticulous prayer pose, lowering her head and repeatedly murmuring,
“May the Mother bless me. May the Mother bless me.”
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(End of this chapter)
