55 The Truth 2

In front of the lonely house among the beautiful landscape, two lonely figures stood. They awkwardly looked at each other, not knowing what to do. The gentle breeze and warm sunlight surrounded them to lighten the atmosphere.

"So…" Noel spoke up after they stood there, "I'll be going."

"Ok," Lia nodded.

Yet none of them moved. Suddenly, Lia felt like crying. Goodbyes weren't easy, especially after everything they went through together.

"Yea ok," finally Noel was the first to move. As he took a step away from her house, she took a step closer to him.

Noel noticed and turned to her with a crooked smile, "Admit you gonna miss me."

"Shut up," Lia instantly retorted, "Don't pretend you're not affected too."

"Heh, I never said I wasn't," Noel approached her and after some thinking, he opened his arms, "How about it?"

Lia narrowed her eyes in disdain but she was actually happy about it. It's been a long time since she's hugged someone. She fought with herself before resigning herself into his arms. They wrapped around her tightly and her tears threatened to roll down her face.

To not let it happen, she quickly wriggled herself out of his embrace and said with a monotone voice, "Leave now."

She heard him sigh with a slight chuckle until his footsteps carried him far away.

For a long time, Lia remained in front of her front door refusing to enter the now lonely and bleak house. It lacked the presence of a person, so she decided to go into the city to idly spend her time at the boss's store.

Noel said that the G family would be taken care of, so Lia didn't need to concern herself with them. Min was the next target. However, to aim as high as the Ghost King was a lofty aspiration not many dared to have.

Lia was aware that with her current abilities, she might not even beat anyone from his private army. What was she supposed to do now? She hit a dead end. No clues about her power and no idea how to take down Min.

This was as far as she could go alone. Yet where should she get allies? Her only one walked away, leaving her alone and clueless.

From the day they left the facility up until Noel left, he had never mentioned her powers even once. She thought it would be better this way but now she regretted it. She should've asked for his opinion.

In the end, she did Min a favour by getting rid of the families he couldn't touch as the Ghost King. Lia really was in a slump. What was the use taking her revenge if it only made Min stronger?

"Miss, try this watermelon flavour," a staff from the boss's store gave her a glass of freshly pressed watermelon juice.

"Thank you," Lia smiled and accepted it. The staff already knew her.

"Did your friend not come?"

"Oh," she was referring to Noel, "No, he left for home."

"Ah, then would you like to try the new dessert boss came up with? It'll cheer you up!" the staff was very cute. Her dimples highlighted her earnest and genuine face.

"Do I seem this lonely?" Lia laughed.

"No, no, no!" the staff quickly shot it down.

"Actually," she giggled as she whispered in Lia's ear, "Boss wants you to try but is too embarrassed to ask because he doesn't want to rely on you. He wants to make you proud."

"I'd love to try."

The staff excitingly ran to the kitchen. Everyone working here was very lovely, Lia couldn't reject them.

The staff came back with a layered spongecake and set it in front of Lia.

"Are you having a break?" Lia wanted her to lend her some company.

"Yes!" the staff sat down after getting herself something to eat.

"By the way," her mouth was loose. She was chattery person, "have you heard of the rumours?"

"Rumours?"

"Yes! Have you not seen the soldiers patrolling nowadays?"

"I did," when Lia made her over to here, she was wondering about the sudden appearance of many men in black robes.

She had to cover her face in order to hide from them. She faintly could guess what they were here for but hearing it still unsettled her.

"Both P and C family got killed. It's frightening! Everyone's afraid, so the soldiers being here is super good. Although rumour says they are looking for the culprits in the core."

"So, they're actively seeking the ones who killed the families?"

"Yes, yes!" the staff was enthusiastic to gossip. Lia didn't mind but she was worried about the news.

"Do they know anything about the culprits?"

"I'm not sure but!" she raised her cup engrossed having someone to talk about this, "My friend heard soldiers talking about the description of a man. He might be a potential suspect!"

"Do you watch mortal shows?"

"I do, I do! Why? You too?"

Lia only asked because the staff was way too into this topic. Soon she was telling Lia about her favourite crime shows.

Lia should've suspected that Kil would tell Min about Noel. The description of a male fit 100% to Noel. It was a good thing he left, however, if anyone recognised him from the description the soldiers could easily trace him to her home.

In other words, it wasn't safe for Lia to stay here, "Are the soldiers in all of the core?"

"Huh?" the staff as still eagerly talking about her shows when Lia suddenly tossed the topic back to the previous one.

"I guess only the first layer. They don't think it's the second one."

"I see."

Afterwards, Lia humoured the staff and her obsession for mortal entertainment.

It was late afternoon when Lia left the store. There must be a reason why the soldiers weren't covering the second layer. Even if they thought the culprit might be close to the capital, it wasn't unreasonable they weren't.

If the soldiers weren't present in the second layer, it was the best idea for Lia to move there.

The city she as in was in the south of the first layer, close to the second layer. Her house was even further down south, closing the distance to the second layer.

At home, Lia packed some of her stuff. She didn't have much and there were no corpses to accompany her anymore.

However, she was still reluctant to leave this place behind. She had memories here and if Noel was going to come back, he couldn't find her.

So, she decided that once the tumult around the dead families was over, she would return.

Lia put on her cloak and hid her face. With a bag, she left her house. From her house, along the river and grass, she followed the path down to the border between the first and second layer.

The sun started to set and the evening grew colder. There was barely any difference between the first and second layer. Only a circle of barren land kept both of them apart, which was the border.

Lia walked across the green landscapes surrounding her house that directly connected to the barren land. The time to cover the distance to the border took around an hour.

She enjoyed the walk as she could clear her mind. Soon, Lia reached the barren land. It was an odd contrast to the vibrant cities in the back on both sides.

Few bushes of the size of a large table strayed around on the yellow, earthy ground. They were sparse with quite the distance between them. Apart from the vibrant plants, there was nothing to cover the naked place.

Lia set foot into the barren land. It would take another hour to cross it and reach the second layer.

Halfway through, Lia felt that something wasn't right. She had the hunch she wasn't alone. It wasn't necessarily a dangerous problem as not seldom people traversed in the core, however, her intuition told her, this was a complicated matter.

All the situation she's been prior in has honed her senses and she grew with the experience. Lia hid in one of the bushes. She sat down and gently pried the leaves with her fingers to create an opening for her to look out of.

Not much later, a troop of black-clad soldiers of around 50 marched past the land. Lia was about a good 100 metres away from them but she could never mistake that person in the white robe.

She balled her fists and stared after them. It was a bit shocking that not far behind her such a large crowd followed her yet she didn't notice them.

This many people didn't make any sounds and they came from the same direction she did. She was sure that there was no one behind her when she entered the barren land, so where did they come from?

Most of all what was their purpose coming to the border and seemingly targeting the second layer?

Did they find Noel or was there something else? Another secret Min was hiding from the world?

What loomed in the second layer for a whole troop of soldiers with their green glowing weapons, guided by an Elder to inauspiciously make their way out of the first layer?

Lia, on a whim, decided to follow them. In order not to get caught, she stayed in the bush until they were almost out of sight before she quietly jumped out.

She dusted her clothes off the few loose leaves and trailed behind them. She would figure out what their goal was and at the same time she could come up with a plan to stop them.

Even though Noel said the G family would be taken care of, if Lia saw them walking past her, she couldn't let them go easily.

While Elder G walked in front of the soldiers, in the far back, Lia never left her sight off her.