Leon's smile stiffened for a moment.
He was a smart man.
And the thing smart people were best at was reading the situation.
The oxygen in the air seemed to have been sucked dry, replaced by a thick, sickly-sweet poisonous gas.
It was an aura unique to the Lucas siblings.
An aura of madness.
He had seen it before, back at the start of the term.
“I'll go see if the barbecue over there is ready.”
Leon placed the juice in his hand on the corner of the table, his movements as careful as if he were setting down a bomb.
Then he turned.
He walked away clean and quick.
He didn't even look back.
The bystanders retreated.
This small corner of the world instantly became a vacuum.
Tia stood where she was, data streams flashing wildly in her blue eyes.
Her arm rose, her fingertips already showing signs of transformation.
“Don't move.”
Bell's voice was very low.
He pressed down on Tia's shoulder.
He gripped hard, his knuckles turning white.
It was a warning.
And a protection.
In a place like this, under thousands of eyes, letting Tia reveal her combat form would be suicidal.
Watching Bell's movements, the curve of Cecilia's lips deepened.
“Brother is so gentle.”
She bypassed Tia.
Like a wisp of elusive smoke, or a slippery venomous snake.
She drifted over and pressed herself against Bell's side.
She completely ignored the Mithril machine capable of tearing steel apart.
In her eyes, there was only one person.
There had only ever been one person.
“Are you protecting this toy that much?”
Cecilia reached out.
Her slender, pale fingers rested on Bell's arm.
Through the fabric of his uniform, she traced the lines of his muscles upward.
Like some kind of mollusk.
“Get lost.”
Bell spat out the words coldly.
He tried to shake off her hand.
But Cecilia's strength was staggering.
It wasn't the strength of a young girl.
It was the grip of a monster.
She clamped down on Bell's forearm, her nails digging deep into the flesh, nearly piercing the fabric and stabbing into his skin.
“It's been so long. Won't Brother even give me a hug?”
Cecilia leaned in close.
Close enough for Bell's tense face to be reflected in her pupils.
There was also that sickly-sweet scent that made one want to gag.
Mixed with the smell of blood and some unknown floral fragrance.
It was the smell of death.
Her other hand brushed against Bell's chest.
Her fingertips toyed with the second button.
Then.
She suddenly reached inside.
She slipped directly into his collar.
Her cold fingertips pressed against his collarbone, sliding all the way down.
Everywhere they passed, goosebumps instantly rose on his skin.
“Your heart is beating so fast.”
Cecilia leaned against Bell's ear, her warm breath puffing against the carotid artery on the side of his neck.
It was like she was sniffing her food before eating it.
“Is it because you're so happy to see me?”
“Or...”
Her palm stopped over Bell's heart.
Through a thin layer of skin, she felt the violent pounding beneath.
“Are you afraid?”
Bell's entire body was stiff.
That hand was like a blade hanging over his heart.
With just a little force, she could rip his chest open and dig that heart out.
But he couldn't retreat.
Not even a single step.
Once he showed fear, this lunatic would be like a shark smelling blood, tearing him to shreds.
Bell raised his hand and grabbed Cecilia's wrist.
He squeezed.
As if he wanted to crush her bones.
“Take your filthy hand off me.”
Bell's voice sounded like it was squeezed through his teeth.
It was laced with ice.
“Filthy?”
Cecilia paused for a moment.
Then, she let out a string of bell-like laughter.
She laughed so hard her whole body trembled, leaning her weight entirely on Bell.
“Brother thinks I'm filthy?”
Her eyes suddenly became hazy, tinged with a morbid flush.
“But Brother.”
“The blood on my hands was all left from cleaning up trash for you.”
“Those people who wanted to steal Brother away.”
“Those people who made Brother unhappy.”
“I've handled them all for you.”
She stood on her tiptoes.
Her lips were almost touching Bell's chin.
“For Brother's sake, I've washed these hands in hell several times over.”
“Look.”
She pulled her hand out from Bell's clothes.
She held it out in front of him.
Fair, slender, and flawless.
But in Bell's eyes, it was covered in an indelible scarlet.
“See how clean it is?”
Cecilia looked at her hand with obsession, then looked at Bell.
Suddenly.
Her gaze fell on Bell's right hand, which was clad in a black glove.
That was the hand he had ruined when he twisted the valve of the Flame Demon Heart with his bare hands to resurrect Tia.
Although it had been treated, that searing pain still throbbed in his nerves from time to time.
Cecilia's expression changed.
It became cold and dark.
Jealous.
Like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.
“For the sake of this tin can, Brother didn't even want his hand anymore?”
She suddenly grabbed Bell's right hand.
Ignoring Bell's resistance, she forcibly pressed that hand against her cheek.
She rubbed her cheek against the rough leather of the glove.
“It really makes me jealous.”
“If I died too.”
“If I were crushed into a puddle of mud.”
“Would Brother go this far for me?”
Her voice was very soft.
Yet it was like a needle stabbing into Bell's eardrum.
“Would you fight the gods to take me back?”
“Would you leave yourself covered in scars for me?”
Bell looked at her.
He looked at this face that shared some resemblance to his own but was completely twisted.
That feeling of suffocation surged up like a tide.
Drowning his nose and mouth.
“No.”
Bell pulled his hand back.
The movement was resolute.
He rubbed his glove hard against his trousers, as if he had been contaminated by a virus.
“If you died.”
“I would pop champagne to celebrate.”
“Then I'd burn you to ash and flush you down the sewer.”
“Until not a single speck remained.”
The air went dead silent.
Even the wind stopped.
The expression on Cecilia's face froze for a moment.
Just as Bell thought she was going to go mad, to attack, to start a massacre in this square.
She smiled.
She smiled even more radiantly and sweetly than before.
There was even a trace of eerie satisfaction in it.
“That's wonderful.”
She stuck out the tip of her tongue and licked her dry lips.
“Brother really does love me the most after all.”
“Even if it's hate.”
“It's so intense, so pure.”
“It's ten thousand times better than those hypocritical ‘likes’.”
She took a step forward.
Her body was almost embedded in Bell's embrace.
Her hand began to wander restlessly again.
This time.
It slid directly toward his belt.
“Brother.”
“I'm not leaving this time.”
“I'll be watching you constantly.”
“I'll watch you eat, watch you sleep, watch you...”
She tilted her head and glanced at the expressionless Tia beside them.
Her eyes were full of contempt.
“...play house with this cold toy.”
“Until you grow tired of it.”
“Until you realize.”
“That only I.”
“Am the vessel that can truly hold everything of yours.”
Her finger hooked into Bell's belt buckle.
She gave it a light flick.
It made a sharp “snap.”
“After all.”
“The blood flowing in Brother's body is the same as mine.”
“We are both monsters.”
“Monsters.”
“Should be with monsters.”
“Right?”
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