“No need for tea. We are both busy people, so I do not plan to be here for long.”

At Tatiana’s words, Dominic said nothing, but he sent the servant out with a gesture. Once the two of them were alone in the room, Tatiana immediately brought up the main subject.

“I won’t beat around the bush. The north is experiencing similar events to what is going on in the East.”

Dominic also didn’t waste time with useless pleasantries and went straight to the point.

“When you say similar events, you mean?”

“I mean, the ones you call heretics in the East are popping out, one after the other.”

Both of them had calm tones but their gazes on each other were filled with a sharp light.

Dominic leaned back into his chair, clasped his hands together, and placed them on his lap.

“So the heretics are causing a disturbance in several places. I believe the north should take a hard stand against them as well.”

“Like the East, you mean?”

A brief silence fell over the room for a moment.

Their faces were still as calm as ever but somehow, the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped a little. But when Dominic raised a corner of his lips in silent acknowledgment, the atmosphere changed again.

Tatiana opened her mouth first.

“I’m afraid you misunderstood what I just said.”

She spoke calmly, as if she hadn’t just targeted Dominic with her words.

“When I said heretics were popping out, one after the other, I didn’t mean they were causing trouble.”

Dominic tilted his head slightly.

“Is that so.”

“We have been finding strange corpses in several places. From their appearance, they looked similar to the heretics described in the East. But the circumstances are somewhat strange so…”

Tatiana paused for a few seconds before continuing.

“I came to the East because I was wondering if you guys knew anything about it.”

“I’m not sure. It seems the situation in the east and the north are a little different though.”

“I know the East is preparing to track down the heretics. Is there any clear evidence that the strings of unfortunate events have been the doing of heretics?”

“Yes.”

“What evidence?”

“I cannot let you know. It is secret intelligence that cannot be leaked outside.”

The blatant rejection without so much as a pause made Tatiana narrow her eyes.

“Crawford Head, I hope you aren’t acting this firm so quickly because of personal feelings?”

It was a subject that could be called sensitive, but Dominic casually followed in Tatiana’s steps and brought up the incident from many years ago.

“Are you talking about how my sister, Selena, was murdered by heretics?”

“…”

When Dominic showed such an attitude, Tatiana was forced to shut her mouth instead.

“I know better than to mix private grudges or affairs with public matters. Moreover, my relationship with Selena was not that close.”

Just like those words, his voice rang out in the room without the slightest emotion.

“Since you have had a relationship with the Crawford family for quite some time, don’t you know this as well, Tatiana-nim?”“…I guess I misspoke.”

Tatiana withdrew what she said a little earlier, but it wasn’t because she believed Dominic.

Knock-knock.

Right then, a knock came from outside the door.

“What is the matter?”

“The Salvatore Head is asking for a meeting.”

Dominic drew a thin smile then turned to Tatiana and said:

“I would love to hear more about what is happening in the North, but it seems I am now out of time. If you don’t mind, can we have this discussion another time?”

“I see. Indeed, I cannot hold on to a busy person for too long. I shall take my leave for today.”

Tatiana rose from her seat without a complaint.

‘He is definitely hiding something.’

However, she left Dominic’s room much more convinced than before.

* * *

When Yuri arrived at Anne-Marie’s house, she was greeted with good news.

“Ms. Yuri, the patient just woke up.”

Hearing that, Yuri went straight to the room where Lakis was in. Once Yuri opened the door, her eyes were filled with the sight of Lakis who had truly opened his eyes.

“Mr. Lakis.”

Lakis seemed to feel Yuri’s presence too because he sprang upright like he was about to jump out. Yuri quickly stopped him when she saw that:

“Wait, don’t get up. Just stay there.”

“Where did you go? I was looking for you once I opened my eyes, but I got worried because you weren’t there.”

Lakis’ voice rang out at the same time as hers, making Yuri’s expression turn a little strange.

He was the one who got injured so who should be the person worried here? But then again, Lakis was always the nagging type so Yuri just let it be.

“Mr. Lakis, how do you feel?”

When he heard Yuri’s question, Lakis replied like he had been waiting for it.

“I’m fine, it’s nothing. So let’s just go home already.”

At those words, Yuri paused. From what she heard, he had definitely just woken up, yet he was trying to get up like nothing was wrong.

“Sorry? What are you talking about?”

That response to Lakis came from Anne-Marie, who had just entered through the open door. Her expression was as if she had just heard something ridiculous.

But the moment he saw Anne-Marie, Lakis’ face turned alarmingly cold. His sharp eyes shone piercingly between his scattered hair. The sharpness of his gaze was enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end. But the moment Yuri turned to look at him, that expression magically disappeared.

Anne-Marie walked up to the two of them, holding a box of first-aid supplies. Then she spoke urgently as if it had been a close call.

“Absolutely not. This one over here needs to lie down and not do anything for at least a week, while the one over there needs to stay in bed for at least 4 weeks.”

‘I don’t think it needs to be that long…’

Yuri subconsciously thought when she heard that.

Lakis’ wound looked much smaller than last time, so she figured he would be healed enough to move around in about half-a-day. And even Odin, whose body was almost turned into a rag, would be able to move around freely by tomorrow or the day after.

However, Annemarie didn’t know about their monstrous resilience, so it was understandable that she thought that way.

Either way, Yuri was also against Lakis getting up and moving around right now like he asked. After all, if he got up and his sutured wound burst open, Anne-Marie would just be inconvenienced again.“Mr. Lakis, I also think it would be best if you stayed here for a day or two while we monitor your condition.”

At those words, Lakis furrowed his brows and opened his mouth. But before he could say a word of refusal, Yuri looked at Anne-Marie and hammered in the nail.

“Well, I’m sorry but I guess I’ll leave us in your care, Ms. Anne-Marie.”

“No need to be sorry. That’s not necessary at all, just make yourself comfortable.”

The kind-hearted Anne-Marie hurried tried to relieve Yuri’s mind when she saw Yuri go to the extent of even lowering her head.

On the other hand, Lakis felt rebellious against this developing situation that was reflecting his will at all.

“No, I know the condition of my body the best.”

A slightly peeved voice came from Lakis. At this point, Yuri felt something was strange.

Maybe she was thinking too much but somehow, since a while ago, Lakis had been acting as if he wanted to leave this place as fast as possible.

Lakis dropped the blanket he had picked up a little earlier to the floor and fully got up from the sofa.

“Ms. Yuri, I can move just fine now…”

“Stop being so stubborn when Ms. Yuri is already this worried.”

But when he heard Anne-Marie’s firm voice right after, Lakis eventually couldn’t continue talking.

“Consider the feelings of your loved one standing watch next to you. Do you know how worried Ms. Yuri was last night? She couldn’t even sleep.” [1]

Lakis was suddenly at a loss for words and went silent. Soon, his eyes shook slightly, and he sat back down on the sofa he just rose from.

As she watched Lakis turn obedient, Yuri’s brow raised slightly.

“You can’t get up so suddenly like you just did either. I have to re-check your injury.”

Anne-Marie approached Lakis while continuing to talk firmly like she was dealing with a patient who just wouldn’t listen.

Lakis frowned like there was something he was still unhappy about, but he didn’t refute again like earlier.

“Ng…”

Right then, a small groan came from behind Yuri. It seemed Odin was just waking up.

“Arachne…hn, huh?”

As expected, once Odin opened his eyes, he called Yuri’s name as she was the first thing in his blurry sight. Then his gaze slid to the side and fell on Lakis who was sending him a bitter look with a crumpled face behind Yuri. Lakis was sending Odin a chilling gaze like a snake looking upon a frog.

At that silent gaze which seemed as if it was checking for something, Odin suddenly felt goosebumps on his neck. But that feeling soon disappeared because it was pushed aside by a different sensation.

“Odin, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Sensing that something was odd, Yuri’s eyes narrowed, and she asked Odin. Odin’s eyes which were looking at Lakis quickly turned dazed.

Seeing that, Lakis’ face crumpled even more.

“Sh, shoes…”

Yuri sighed inwardly once she heard Odin’s dazed muttering.

“Let me lick your…ack!”

Yuri caught Odin as he wobbled on the sofa after stretching out his hand and trying to get up.

“Ah, patient-nim! Are you okay?”

Fortunately, she stopped him from falling off the sofa but with that alone, Odin screamed as if he was in immense pain.

“I think the patient is having hallucinations!”

Anne-Marie hurriedly rushed over and began to check Odin’s condition. Meanwhile, Yuri was struck with a strange hunch and alternated glances between Lakis and Odin.

However, she couldn’t find any unease on Lakis’ face since he was already acting innocent. So in the end, Yuri had no choice but to put her suspicion aside for now.

Translator’s Corner:

[1] Ahh, the words for [loved one] can be interpreted in different ways. Girlfriend, sweetheart, lover, beloved, etc. I thought it was cute how Lakis went silent after hearing that.

*I initially translated it to girlfriend then I remembered when Yuri and Anne-Marie had that little girl talk about Yuri’s relationship and Yuri was like ‘I’m not sure what my relationship is’ or something like that. I think it’s in chapter 110.