2.

Round 2: Center

Join forces with your pair and head to the citadel.

Though some problems had occurred, they successfully formed a pair and a new round appeared. Accordingly, Anaïs headed toward the destination citadel with Roderick. Or rather, she assumed they probably would.

Why assume? Because Roderick, who was leading the way, didn’t tell her at all where the two of them were going. Anaïs thought he had shut his mouth probably because they had gotten off on the wrong foot, and she regretted it.

It was all because of the joy that unknowingly showed when she met Roderick, who was someone she knew, even if only by name.

“You’re Roderick from the Cortez family, right?”

At this time, he didn’t ignore Anaïs’s question and responded properly. Though he couldn’t hide his puzzled expression about how she knew him, he still lowered the shotgun he was holding. She could tell his wariness had lessened.

“I don’t know you. Have we met somewhere before?”

He tried to recall Anaïs’s face, failed, and shook his head. Anaïs immediately confessed that they had never met directly.

“Your father from the family, Mr. Cortez, came to the office.”

“Office? What kind of office would father go to personally?”

“A detective office.”

“You’re saying you’re a detective?”

Roderick didn’t hide his thought that she didn’t look like one at all. He frowned while examining her from head to toe. Thanks to this, Anaïs felt deflated and mumbled in an even lower voice.

“Mr. Fred is the detective, and I’m just an assistant, no, a maid.”

She had tried to introduce herself as an assistant but corrected her identity to just a maid. It felt awkward to confidently say she was a detective’s assistant when she was in such a mess.

His gaze was still frightening. Whether he was suspicious that she had said assistant then changed her words, or whether he didn’t trust anything she said, he looked at her with sharp eyes as if he would see right through her. Though his build had grown tremendously, his gaze was exactly the same as shown in the photo.

‘Ah, it would have been nice if I at least had glasses……’

Anaïs thought this because it was hard to meet his gaze. She explained in a rambling way to let him know she wasn’t a liar.

“Mr. Cortez was trying to find you who had gone missing. You disappeared 6 months ago and there were no clues anywhere……”

“What color was the hat my father wearing when he went to your office?”

“Hat?”

Anaïs was flustered by the sudden question, but soon rolled her eyes around trying to recall. She soon shook her head.

“No. He wasn’t wearing a hat.”

“……Was father only looking for Roderick Cortez?”

“He was also looking for your brother. He said you both disappeared together.”

When she answered up to that point, Roderick seemed to accept that she had met his adoptive father at some detective office. He no longer asked about Mr. Cortez’s information and took out matches and a cigarette pack from his pocket.

“Where is the other person?”

Anaïs asked him as he was about to take out a cigarette from the pack. Roderick, who was about to light it, paused. His glance was cold.

“Other person?”

“Your brother. Harry Cortez……”

For Anaïs, she thought it was a reasonable question to ask. Because what Mr. Cortez had requested was the whereabouts of the ‘brothers.’

But Roderick made a fierce expression as if she had asked something she shouldn’t have.

“What would you do knowing that?”

The man who had shown a sharp reaction stopped lighting his cigarette and threw something at her. It was syringe-type healing medicine. It was exactly the same as the supplies she had obediently handed over to Harper.

“Treat your leg first. If you stay like that, you’ll bleed too much and die.”

He muttered to himself that it would be troublesome for him if his pair died carelessly. The syringe-type healing medicine contained a suspicious green liquid.

Could she really inject this?

Anaïs worried for a moment, but there was no other way. Her leg was in such a miserable state that it was too terrible to look at.

But she couldn’t use the syringe right away. She was a coward. As she held the syringe in her hand, closed her eyes tightly, and trembled, Roderick was exasperated asking what she was doing.

“How long are you going to stay like that?”

Even with his urging that wasn’t this what you asked for, Anaïs couldn’t quite gather her courage. She tried to take a deep breath and go through with it, but her hand stopped again just before.

She was a coward. She had never been anything but a coward in her life. The most courageous time in her life was when she asked if she couldn’t go out at night to make a snowman.

As she kept hesitating, a loud tsk sound was heard. It was Roderick. Perhaps frustrated, he snatched the syringe from Anaïs who couldn’t move and just stuck it into her leg.

Startled, Anaïs opened her eyes wide. The needle was bigger and more painful than expected. Without knowing it, she grabbed his shoulder.

Roderick administered the medicine without caring. He threw the used syringe carelessly on the ground, got up from his seat, and looked at the watch at his waist.

Bang, her heart suddenly beat very strongly. What had started beating slowly and strongly gradually became painfully fast. It was like someone punching with all their might. She felt nauseous and cold sweat flowed from her hands.

While Anaïs was panting holding her heart, Roderick looked down at her with indifferent eyes and lit his cigarette.

“One leg should take about 30 minutes. Lie down during that time.”

Puff, the face of the man blowing cigarette smoke looked like a grim reaper waiting for her to die.

Anaïs became afraid of what would happen if she closed her eyes even for a moment. However, she found it hard to maintain her consciousness completely. Perhaps because of the medicine’s power, everything spun before her eyes and even sitting was an ordeal.

She eventually collapsed forward and lost consciousness.

From when she woke up, he walked ahead first without saying a word. There were no kind words asking how her body was. He just occasionally turned around to check if she was following him properly.

‘The medicine was effective so my leg doesn’t hurt anymore. The place where I was shot healed cleanly. Thanks for asking.’

She secretly glared at the back of his head while being sarcastic inwardly. After being harshly treated by Harper and Mason, she had become somewhat sensitive.

That was understandable because Roderick repeated exactly the same thing those two had done. Though he didn’t tell her to hand over everything she had, whenever he discovered wooden boxes, cabins, warehouses and such, he immediately checked what was inside.

“We’re too late after all.”

Whether fortunate or not, his luck didn’t seem much better than Anaïs’s. The boxes were all broken as if someone had already taken all the items.

When Roderick found only box remains and got nothing, he irritably took out cigarettes from his pocket, perhaps frustrated.

“Damn.”

He had been smoking whenever he had a chance to catch his breath, and it seemed his cigarettes had run out. He crushed the pack with his fist and threw it far toward the forest.

Had Harper and Mason taken everything?

Anaïs thought while carefully examining the already emptied wooden boxes to see if there was anything left. Then something glittering caught her eye under the debris. Something seemed to be buried in the ground. She dug around with an iron rod that was lying around carelessly.

The identity of the glittering thing was a tin case mainly used for containing cookies. Being hungry, she hoped there were real cookies inside.

Unfortunately, what came out of the tin case was cigarettes. For her who didn’t smoke at all, it was quite disappointing.

“Roderick.”

Still, since she found it, she should give it to him. If he had cigarettes, he might be a little less irritable with her. Anaïs hopefully handed him the cigarettes she had just found.

“Where did you find this?”

He seemed quite surprised that items had come from a place he didn’t know about. Anaïs pointed with her finger to where the tin case had come from.

“Are there matches too?”

“Here.”

Anaïs was about to take out one match but generously gave him five. The effect of her generosity was quite evident.

“At least you’re earning your medicine cost.”

Though his brow was still furrowed, the anger that had been openly displayed was greatly reduced. Anaïs felt relieved. He might also be a betrayer and con artist like Harper, but anyway, he was someone she had to act with for now. It wouldn’t hurt to gain his favor.

Thanks to the cigarettes, he opened his mouth again. Anaïs gathered courage and asked him again.

“How did you end up in a place like this?”

He put the cigarette in his mouth and cast an annoyed glance. It was a better reaction compared to not even pretending to listen. Anaïs gathered her breaking spirit and shared her story.

She had received an invitation typed in gold ink on a red envelope, and it had originally come addressed to Mr. Fred.

“You received someone else’s letter and got dragged into this shitty place? What a damn unlucky woman.”

Roderick burst into laughter as if her story was absurd. It was the first time he laughed. Though it was closer to ridicule, Anaïs felt relieved.

She had thought he had grown into a man who absolutely never laughed. The face of the boy who had smiled brightly at his brother still remained somewhat. That fact somehow comforted her.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything more to salvage on this path.”

He suggested they enter a more dangerous path to procure necessary items. Whether it was a dangerous or easy path, Anaïs had no way of knowing. Without saying anything, he seemed to have a lot of game playing experience and she just followed as he led the way as a guide.