Tell Me To Regret, Don’t Tempt Me - Chapter 16
Chapter 16
It’s like an unspoken way of saying ‘Shut up about my existence’. Louis laughed in disbelief.
“Isn’t that a human inside a costume?”
Still chuckling in disbelief, Louis walked past the now-silent monkey and ventured further inside. After passing the monkey enclosure, a large cage came into view.
“Looks like we’re in the right place.”
The ducks, puppies, lions, and elephants he had seen in the circus show were each engrossed in their rewards, paying no attention to the newcomer. And there, in the deepest part of the enclosure, was the largest cage, where the Teria was confined.
“That little guy…”
A small child was staring at the Teria without any sign of fear. Determined to get the kid out of there quickly, Louis hastened his steps, but then he couldn’t believe his eyes.
The Teria he had learned about was naturally cold and fierce, not easily following humans.
Yet…
“How on earth is that possible?”
The Teria, licking the boy’s hand extended through the bars and rubbing its face against him, seemed like a gentle puppy. The Teria’s gem-like eyes were filled with tears as it gazed at the boy with a sorrowful look.
“It’s okay. I’ll get you out. Don’t worry. We’ll escape together.”
At the boy’s words, the Teria grunted and began to move around the cage, looking uneasy. Louis’s brow furrowed when he saw the Teria’s swollen belly.
A bulging belly that seemed ready to give birth at any moment.
“Hey.”
Startled by Louis’s call, the boy turned around. As the boy got scared, the Teria bared its teeth menacingly.
“It’s okay, Lily. He’s here to help us.”
When the boy spoke to the Teria, it retracted its teeth and then shuffled from one end of the cage to the other, keeping his eyes on Louis.
“I’m going to leave with Lily.”
Sensing what Louis was going to say, the boy insisted.
“How do you plan to get this big Teria out of here right now?”
“Well…”
“Stop being stubborn and let’s get out first. Once we’re outside, we can think of a way…”
Before Louis could finish convincing the boy, the voices of circus staff returning from their meal started to echo.
“Come on, follow me this way.”
Grabbing the boy’s thin wrist, Louis hid behind a stack of hay bales at the back of the cage. As soon as they were hidden, the gruff voices of the men became audible.
“How’s it going? Everything okay?”
“Huh! What’s that thing doing up and about?”
“Right? She’s usually just curled up. Keep a close eye on her! She’s as good as a goose that lays golden eggs.”
The two men, who were joking amongst themselves, eventually started telling dirty jokes and moved away. Seizing the opportunity, Louis noticed a small hole they could escape through if they lay down right behind them.
“Hey, if we go out through that…”
Louis didn’t finish his sentence because the person who was supposed to be listening wasn’t there anymore.
“That kid. Where did he go now?”
Louis emerged from the hay bales and looked around the enclosure where Teria was confined, expecting to find the boy there. As expected, the boy was indeed there.
“What are you doing…”
Before Louis could approach, he saw the boy, who was kneeling at the base of the large triple-locked cage, doing something on the ground. When the boy touched the ground, a blue light shimmered.
“You…”
The increasingly intense blue light wound around the lock like a snake, looking both holy and dangerously thrilling.
‘Click.’
The blue light that bound the lock flashed brightly, and then the lock fell to the ground with a thud.
Louis swallowed hard.
The child in those shabby, dirty clothes had just used magic. Even though he had seen it with his own eyes, Louis’s heart raced at the unbelievable sight.
With the lock on the ground, the heavy cage door creaked open.
“Lily! Come on out!”
The boy, who had stuck his hand through the crack in the door and pushed it open with all his might, called urgently for the Teria. Teria stepped through the open door and began to run in circles around the boy.
“Haha. Lily, that tickles.”
Louis couldn’t believe what he was seeing. If he hadn’t seen it himself, he would never, ever have believed such a scene if someone else had described it to him.
When their brief but joyous reunion ended, Louis finally snapped back to reality. The small hole he found was now useless. Teria couldn’t possibly fit through it.
Calm down, Louis. Stay calm. Think. You need to think of something.
The pounding of his heart in his ears was a stark reminder of how tense he was.
Normally, getting out of here would have been a piece of cake, but the Teria that was nuzzling the boy affectionately was pregnant.
Moreover, the collar around Teria’s neck clearly prevented her from using her strength.
Louis’s gaze shifted to the boy. Hugging Teria’s head and crying, the boy looked even younger than Vivian.
Clearly, this child had used magic. Without even a magic stone… The three large locks lying broken and crumpled on the ground attested to that. Right above where the locks had fallen, Louis recognized a pattern he had seen in books before.
It was a magic formula used by wizards.
“Oh, no! Teria. The Teria’s out of the cage!”
Shit!
Someone had noticed the Teria outside the cage and shouted loudly. The backstage area began to buzz with commotion.
“What are you guys doing!”
“How, how did the Teria get out?”
One by one, more and more circus workers appeared with weapons. The boy stood in front of the Teria, shouting.
“You took her away without permission and locked her up like this! And you call yourselves human! Lily is… Lily!”
“It’s that brat again.”
The circus ringmaster, who had suddenly appeared, pushed his way through the staff. He glanced at the snarling Teria, the boy glaring fiercely in front of her, who was glaring at him like he was going to kill him, and at the handsome young man whose eyes had been unsettling him since the beginning.
“If I’d known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have let you anywhere near the circus tent…….”
Clicking his tongue, the circus ringmaster snatched a sword from a nearby staff.
“Put Teria back in the cage quietly and leave, and I’ll be generous enough to pretend this never happened.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Hey, kid. Teria is our property. We hired hunters to catch her, and they brought her to us. We even had to pay extra because she was pregnant. Do you have any idea how much that cost?”
The circus ringmaster swung the sword in the air as if to intimidate them. Louis took a few steps back, dodging the sword as it whizzed through the air, his eyes cold.
“How much?”
“What?”
“The money, the money you paid the hunter, the money you gave him. How much?”
“Ha!”
The circus ringmaster sneered and looked Louis up and down.
His clothes weren’t much different from those of commoners, but his well-manicured nails and hair, along with the aura he exuded, indicated he was no commoner.
At best, he must be the son of a lower noble with some money.
The circus ringmaster extended his sword towards Louis.
“We don’t need your money. Teria belongs to us. If you don’t want to see her hurt, get out of here.”
Louis closed his eyes tightly and then opened them.
Was that really the only way to go?
He took out his pocket watch from his vest and checked the time. It had been over an hour since the circus had ended.
Calculating roughly, by now…
“Didn’t you hear me? Get out of here immediately!”
“No.”
“What?”
As he put the pocket watch back into his vest, Louis spoke.
“Is your hearing bad? I said no.”
“You, you little—”
“By the looks of it, Teria seems quite attached to that boy…”
The circus staff drew their swords, and the frightened boy did his best to shield the Teria. His legs trembled pathetically, but his eyes were resolute.
Those piercing blue eyes were similar to the Teria’s—sharp and fierce, yet beautiful. Louis shifted his gaze from the boy to the circus ringmaster, his expression cold and unforgiving.
“Did you pay poachers to capture the Teria?”
“P-poachers?”
“Teria is a rare animal. Both the Empire and the Mages strictly regulate poaching in areas where Terias live. I’m curious how you managed to capture one so easily.”
“We’re legitimate! We bought her fair and square!”
The circus ringmaster’s plump face turned red and purple at Louis’s accusation.
“What are you all waiting for? Get them out of here and put the Teria back in the cage!”
At the ringmaster’s command, Teria growled lowly. The staff hesitated, clearly afraid to approach.
“Seize them!”
The reluctant staff began to move at the ringmaster’s command. Their target was obviously the Teria. They considered Louis and the boy easy to overpower.
“No!”
“Move aside!”
The boy, standing his ground in front of the Teria, was easily shoved aside by one of the burly circus staff.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Louis shouted as he tried to reach the prone boy.
“I’m fine, just save Lily!”
The boy pointed to where the Teria was. One of the staff had placed a rod near Teria’s collar, causing her to collapse in pain, whining helplessly.
“Don’t come any closer to her!”
As Louis took a step towards Teria, a sharp blade was suddenly at his throat.
It was an insignificant-looking knife, but the blade was quite sharp. The cold steel touched Louis’s neck, creating a thin red line where it grazed his skin. Tiny beads of blood began to form.
“If you don’t want to hurt yourself even more, step back!”
The circus ringmaster thought the boys would surely be terrified and run by now. But when he saw the golden eyes of the boy he was threatening, he hesitated.
“Are you sure you won’t regret this?”
“You little brats better not regret this. No matter how noble you are, theft is still a crime.”
The master sneered, his face twisted into a cruel grin.
“Do you know what crime is more severe than theft in the Tapeullon Empire?”
Louis raised his chin towards the sneering ringmaster. The ringmaster swallowed dryly and gripped his sword tighter.