Chapter 49
“……”
A dull looking man occupied one side of the not very spacious room and stared blankly at Bjorn. After an awkward exchange of glances, the man turned his head and began looking over the displayed books, so he was likely a customer here to purchase one.
He had not expected a customer at this hour.
Bjorn, who wished to confess his feelings to Leila as soon as possible, grew impatient, yet he could hardly drive her customer away.
Thinking perhaps the man also had a lover or wife he wished to buy a gift for so early in the day gave him a faint sense of kinship and even a generous mood.
However, from the moment Leila appeared from inside the shop, the situation began to flow in a strange direction.
“Sir Bjorn?”
Seeing her draw back the curtain and come out of the storage room filled him with boundless relief, yet for some reason Leila looked more startled than necessary.
“What brings you here at this hour… I thought you wouldn’t have any reason to come here anymore.”
The words she spoke with a very troubled and awkward expression were difficult to understand. Moreover, seeing an attitude from Leila that couldn’t be called welcoming at all, a strange anxiety began to fill his heart.
She thought he would not come here anymore? He had never had such a conversation alluding to that with her, so what misunderstanding did she have?
He wanted to resolve this confusion and unease at once, but he couldn’t with a customer standing firmly in the shop.
While Bjorn wished the tactless, slow witted man would leave quickly, the man suddenly spoke.
“Ah, are you someone Miss Leila knows? I thought you were a customer.”
At the unexpected words from the man, Bjorn’s nerves tightened further. It was instinctive caution.
“If you thought I was a customer, you must be an acquaintance. May I ask for an introduction, Miss Leila?”
When he said so in a voice forced calm, Leila looked even more confused. She even let out a deep sigh with eyes that seemed faintly reddened.
Not knowing why she acted so made him even more anxious and frustrated. He wanted somehow to drive that fool away and speak alone with Leila, yet things didn’t go as he wished.
“S-Sir Bjorn. I don’t know what intention you have in doing this… Ah, did you perhaps come to check for yourself? Then don’t worry. I’m about to go out with Mr. Piache. As for dating him… The two of us should meet a bit more first, but still, seeing him like this, he seems like a good person.”
As she spoke her last words, Leila gave the man an awkward smile, and the bastard called Piache responded with a foolish grin.
Bjorn, who saw and heard all of it, could neither follow nor understand her words.
“Miss Leila, what on earth… do you mean…”
His throat had gone dry from shock and even his voice would not come out properly. The situation remained a maze.
Going out with that man, and continuing to meet him? He couldn’t comprehend this bolt from the blue that came overnight.
“Such fortune does not come often. I will do my best today so I may please you, Miss Leila.”
Leila said nothing, and instead the man who stepped closer to her answered as if delivering a final blow. Only after hearing the foolish words filled with petty hope did Bjorn’s anger heated mind begin working again.
So Leila, to his face, was saying she would go on a date with another man… and if she liked him, even consider a relationship?
His soaring heart crashed into the mud in an instant. Even if someone had suddenly struck his head with a hammer he would not have been more shocked. Unable to process the situation, Bjorn stood blankly.
Leila meeting another man. Though only a possibility, the shock spread through his body as if his heart were split with a chisel.
His divine power, affected by the owner’s sudden mental blow, rampaged on its own. Muscles all over his body tightened in spasms. His heart violently pumped blood. A tension like wartime rang in his ears with a piercing noise.
“What kind of… nonsense… What relationship…”
His tongue and mind both stiffened, and the words would not form properly. Even to himself he looked pathetic.
Even in that foolish state, Bjorn stared only at Leila. Hoping she would cancel her words at once. If she laughed and said it was a joke and came to him, he resolved he would let the matter pass.
But soon a second shock surged like a tidal wave.
“I promise I will truly try meeting him seriously, not just pretend. So please don’t worry.”
At that moment the divine power beyond Bjorn’s control surged as if it would burst his veins. He barely restrained the sudden force, yet from somewhere far outside the bookstore, a loud explosion rang out.
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