Birds Of a Feather Flock Together (1)

"..."

Lizzy fell asleep in an instant after Ferzen changed her clothes, brought her to the bed, and laid her down.

After watching her in silence for a while, Ferzen closed the door to her hospital room and went out.

Perhaps because his uniform was wet, every breeze made his body shake.

He then walked to a deserted place before quietly taking out a cigarette and starting to smoke it.

Even though his complicated thoughts as well as the smoke coming out of his mouth made his head murky...

For some reason, he still didn't feel like putting the cigarettes down.

'Roer, Cesar.'

It seems like the reason you guys worked so hard to save Lizzy wasn't just because of familial love.

If your intention was to torment me, I should say it was a resounding success.

'You guys should do a toast in the underworld for that.''

However, if you just wanted Lizzy to be happy even if only for a little bit,

'...Your death was not a sacrifice, but merely a cowardly escape.'

Before long, Ferzen threw the burned cigarettes to the floor and crushed it with his foot before walking away.

* * * * *

"..."

On their way back to the mansion after they finished executing the death row inmate, Laura, who had been secretly looking at Yuriel in the carriage, turned her head towards the window.

Yuriel's condition didn't seem to be good, so Laura didn't want to make much eye contact with her.

In the first place, she didn't think anything would change even if she offered her some empty comfort.

The execution of the death row inmates before going to war.

It did not end with a simple slash to the neck.

To be precise, the death row inmates were killed by a method that could be said to be the most cruel.

In the case of the knights, they were tasked to cut the inmate's body little by little and watched them writhe in pain.

In the case of the wizards, their task was to focus on exploding the inmate's body to bits and pieces.

It might be cruel, but since the battlefield would have countless scenes that were even gorier than that if they did not do it in that fashion, it would defeat the purpose of preparing in advance.

On the other hand, thanks to the memories of her past life, Laura was far from affected by the experience.

To put it bluntly, she didn't feel any kind of emotion at all from the experience.

The number of people she had killed with her own hands was by no means small. Moreover, the horrors that she had committed together with her family in the basement of their mansion were, in some ways, comparable to the horrors of war.

It would be laughable for her to tremble just by brutally killing one death row inmate.

'...No matter what it is.'

Laura thought that Yuriel was, as expected, a woman who grew up in a prestigious family and looked at the sky.

If there was anything that was bothering her, it was the fact that tonight was the night where the full moon would rise.

In case Yuriel wanted to be comforted by Ferzen, what should she do?

A light sigh couldn't help but escape through her mouth as she thought about it.

However, when they arrived at the mansion, Yuriel made her realize that she was worried for nothing.

"Laura... Tell Ferzen when he returns."

"..."

"For today, I don't want anyone to come into my room."

Clack-!!

Without hearing Laura's response, Yuriel entered her room and locked the door.

"..."

Is this her attempt to indirectly ask Ferzen that she wanted him to come to comfort her?

However, soon after, Laura realized that was definitely not the case.

Euphemia was not present in this mansion in the first place, so there was no need for Yuriel to do such a troublesome thing.

Therefore, the only conclusion that she came to was that Yuriel did not want to show Ferzen that she was having a hard time over just killing one death row inmate.

'...You're strong.'

With a different sentiment than she had back in the carriage about her.

Laura thought that Yuriel was, as expected, a woman who grew up in a prestigious family and walked into her own bedroom.

* * * * *

Creak-!!

As soon as she entered her room, Yuriel plopped down to her bed and clenched her trembling hands.

Because the Alfred family was a family that dominated the underworld of the Ernes Empire, she had witnessed the miserable lives and deaths of many humans since she was young...

However, she realized that there was such a huge gap between simply seeing it and experiencing it herself.

Even now, she still felt like she could see the corpse of the inmate that was blown up by her magic.

Twitching bits and pieces of organs that stuck to the walls of the dark.

Bone fragments so broken to the point it was unknown which part of the body it originally belonged to.

It was so easy to turn one person into something unrecognizable.

The battlefield, the place she would soon go to, was a place with a high possibility that not only Ferzen, but also her, could meet the same fate as the inmate she had killed.

"Ha, ahaha... "

She was trembling because she couldn't bear the weight of killing one person, so she couldn't help but wonder why she had been stubborn about her placement against Ferzen the other day.

At the same time, she became painfully aware of the risk that Ferzen faced from being on the front line.

In her heart, if there was a different world where no one could ever find them, she wanted to run away with him to that place...

Knowing all too well that the thought was a meaningless assumption, Yuriel could only try to polish the weak reflection of herself in the mirror as best she could.

"..."

Then, suddenly, she turned her head and looked at the empty table as she had a strong urge to borrow the power of alcohol to cope.

But how could she do something to relieve her own burden when she had a child who would grow up seeing the most horrific sights in the world from the inside of her womb in her stomach?

'My baby...'

Once we finished enduring this difficult time.

'For me and for you...'

I will present you with the most beautiful and happiest life.

* * * * *

4 pm.

Ferzen, who had returned to his mansion, found the atmosphere in the mansion to be so quiet to the point he thought that both Laura and Yuriel had not returned yet.

However, it was unlikely to be the case since there was no way that the carriage that was parked inside the mansion would return alone.

Ferzen then moved and stood in front of Yuriel's room. However, just when he was about to knock on her door...

"Y-you can't..."

"..."

Laura, who opened the door with a squeak, came out of her room and blocked him.

"What do you mean?"

"T-today... S-she said... She doesn't want anyone... to enter..."

"..."

Laura didn't seem to be lying to him.

In the first place, there would be no reason for her to lie to him.

"Is that so?"

Therefore, Ferzen just put his hand that he was about to use to knock on the door, and meekly turned his back.

The reason Yuriel did not want anyone to enter her room, including himself, was without a doubt because she did not want to show her weakened and shaken self to anyone.

However, rather than wanting to respect her decision, his heart... Wanted to be by her side and become Yuriel's strength.

But Ferzen knew better than anyone that his current self would not be of any help to her.

If it's Yuriel who was always quick-witted, she would be the one who offers him comfort rather than receiving it.

...Since the seats of the host and guest would be reversed, there would be no point in forcing the door to open.

"I'll stop by in the evening."

Ferzen left those words to Laura and entered his own bedroom.

* * * * *

The world was painted in red as the sunset.

The sunset, which was seen through the window, showed that night would come soon, so Laura left her bedroom and quietly walked to another room.

If her curse was triggered when she was in her bedroom, all the noises made during the process would be heard all the way to the room where Yuriel was staying.

Since Ferzen didn't want that to happen either, Laura entered the empty, quiet room and began to prepare alone.

'...I don't think he will find it to be strange.'

Even though the room only had a few pieces of furniture, among it was a large full-length mirror. Laura looked at her reflection on it and swallowed her awkwardness.

Normally, she preferred to wear cheap clothes that were sold at the market because in the end, the clothes would get dirty from the struggle she did while under the influence of the curse.

However, right now, she was dressed like a wife welcoming her husband on their first night.

In particular, her pure white makeup, which complemented her pale skin, brought her cuteness out more while also adding some sense of flirtatiousness.

Her current looks might be a reflection of her desire to look good to Ferzen, at the very least on this full moon night.

After all, she wanted him to realize that he was not mating with an animal that had her looks, but rather with a woman named Laura.

Laura, who had completed all her preparations, quietly waited for Ferzen before she quietly looked at her reflection in the mirror and touched her breasts.

'I've never been particularly dissatisfied with my current body...'

Of course, there were many times when she found that her delicate skin was bothersome under the intense sunlight.

However, she never found her body to be lacking.

So Laura could not help but laugh wryly when she suddenly had a thought of how different things would be if she had the body of a more mature woman, like her former self.

How could she not find it to be funny when her act was no different from a female stamping their feet to get the attention of a young boy even just once?

'I can understand now why prostitutes, with bodies so obscene to the point they could be considered vulgar, have such high self-esteem.'

In light of that, Laura felt a strange sense of discomfort when she realized that Euphemia, who came from a humble background, had one thing that was better than her.

Clack-!!

But before she could even ruminate on that strange discomfort, Laura put her thoughts aside when she saw Ferzen open the door and enter.

"..."

Step-!!

After he closed the door without saying a word, he walked to the chair in front of the window and sat down without even looking at her.

She'd hoped that she would hear his thoughts regarding her clothes in any way.

However, before she could even harbor such disappointment, Laura could not help but carefully observe Ferzen's mood as she smelled a strong smell of tobacco and alcohol from him.

...How could she put his appearance in words, she wondered?

It felt like watching an exhausted wolf that was unable to find prey in the winter.

Even though she couldn't help but wonder about what kind of problems had made the man called Ferzen have such a hard time. Considering his usual words and actions, she felt that he would be uncomfortable showing this side of himself to others.

'Ah...'

When Laura met Ferzen's gaze, she realized.

She was the one who would lose her mind shortly, so it would not be strange for him to show that side of him to her.

In particular, his crimson eyes which contain her reflection, seemed to be looking at the only prey he could find in the empty field that was covered in snow.

"..."

That's right, perhaps Ferzen was trying to vent all the emotions he was currently harboring on her as she would soon lose her senses.

As Laura noticed that, she started to feel uneasy.

Soon enough, she would find herself rolling in the bed as an emotional trash can for a man called Ferzen, merely waiting to receive his seed.

However, the fact that he showed her his vulnerable side and tried to seek comfort from her when she was under the influence of the curse was... Something that she both hated and liked.

However, if there's one thing that left her wanting,

It was the fact that the clothes that she was dressed in and the makeup that she had lightly applied would be of no use.

'It would be nice if he did not blatantly ignore my effort...'

Since she was the one who would greedily covet his body soon, it was inevitable that a situation that was closer to copulation than intercourse would occur.

As the rays of the sun beyond the window completely disappeared, the full moon which was more brilliant than ever rose and decorated the night sky.