The Sinners' Queen

First, these days she couldn"t help but feel like schooling was already not one of her priorities. This was not influenced by being a rich man"s daughter or a magnate"s secret lover. With the many threats in her and loved ones" lives she honestly sometimes could not set her mind at ease even if she was at a place meant for learning. Also, even if she goes today, it wouldn"t be as fruitful as learning some means of self-defense. Anyway, the only event today there was the announcement of rankings.

Second, of course, she was angry at the latest mission issued by the system. Or actually, she had been stressed by the missions issued by it. Last time, it wanted her to commit adultery, this time, to stab someone included in her list of people to protect. Really, when given the chance and way to do it, she"d make sure to remove the annoying thing in her head!

Third, she wants to vent her frustration and anger! The safest and most productive way was to shoot bullets at a non-moving and non-living target. She gets to distress without worrying whether it would die or not.

Fourth, of course, to improve her marksmans.h.i.+p! She could still not forget what happened last Sat.u.r.day wherein her non-existent marksmans.h.i.+p almost cost her of her life. She really wants to register it already as one of her skills so that she could upgrade it to S or A level. Only when that happens would she gain enough peace of mind.

With this in mind, she aimed at the target and pulled the trigger.

"832..." she said as to remind herself how many shots the skill away was.

Sofony almost cried seeing how low her proficiency was. If this rate continues, she"d probably only complete the quota after ten more days, which means if something bad happens before that, then she"d most likely die without managing to defend herself.

"Missy, it"s already 12 noon. Go grab something to eat first!"

She politely smiled at Claus, one of the mentors here who also claimed himself friends with Gio, and said, "Thanks for the reminder."

After exhaling, she removed her ear and eye protectors and left the practice gun on the stand.

Ten minutes later, Sofony was already inside a convenience store two floors downstairs, queuing towards the counter with a lunch box in hand. As she was walking while busy checking the posters and huge pictures of offers above the counter, she didn"t notice the tall person coming from her right trying to cut the long line to get to the cabinets of liquors.

"Ouch!"

When the collision occurred, the guy wearing a grey turtleneck s.h.i.+rt and fitted pants was the one who cried out in pain. His right hand went to his aching left lower arm before instinctively turning to the person responsible for this. He was about to shout in anger when he saw the stupid person who didn"t make way for the great him was actually a beautiful girl with long hair and an impossibly fair complexion.

She was dumbfoundedly looking down to the mess of food scattered on the convenient store"s tiled flooring.

Probably feeling sorry for her, the male cas.h.i.+er walked out of the low door next to the counter and volunteered to clean it up. By this time, Sofony had already recovered and offered to help. The boy blus.h.i.+ngly denied her. He quickened his hands and within ten seconds, he had already brought the dustpan away.

Sofony wryly said, "I"m really sorry, and thank you. No worries, I"ll still pay for it. After all, it"s me holding it which means half the blame is mine."

The man who caused the trouble frowned at her as she apologetically said this to the staff. He then said, "Miss, aren"t you supposed to apologize to me first?"

The man"s voice caught Sofony"s attention hence her eyes went to him. She first looked at his hand holding the left arm then to his displeased face. Annoyance flashed in her eyes when she remembered his question. However, knowing it was bad manners to cause a small matter to escalate into something big, she chose to just apologize and let things be bygone.

"Yeah, Mister. I"m sorry too," she curtly said.

Everyone near who witnessed what happened knew she was merely acquiescing in order to not complicate things anymore. After all, every eye saw that it was the guy who wants to take a shortcut and b.u.mped into her.

Unfortunately, Sofony seemed to have encountered a shameless one. And actually, this apparently always happened whenever she was at this building.

To her sorry, he actually had the cheeks to laugh and reply, "I accept your sorry but you still have to compensate me. See, my arm is hurt!"

Sofony"s expression became weird. She took a glance again at his arm. It doesn"t look injured, and even if he felt pain from their collision, it would have subsided by now. Why was this grown man behaving this way?

She had a hunch so she tried to confirm it, "Then what do you want?"

He grinned, "Why don"t you accompany me to the nearby clinic and then after that we"ll consider us even?"

"Oh... another pervert. I"m so unlucky... Why is the world full of people like this..." she groaned inwardly.

After suppressing the urge to shake her head, she met the man"s eyes, hers faintly glowing for three seconds.

In a calm voice, she replied, "Sir, since apology is already accepted, we can now be considered even. I thank you for being understanding. Now we can part ways and write this minor matter off in our mind. I believe you don"t have any problem with that, right?"

She waited a couple of seconds to see the result and when nothing seemingly went wrong with her hypnosis, she turned around and went back to get another lunch box. She pursed her lips when she found that there"s no more sweet and sour pork there.

"Ugh, the only decent meal set here is out of stocks."

She scoffed, "If you"re planning to deduct points after saying the address, no thanks. Can you shut up? I don"t want to hear your voice! You"ve never been pleasant to my eyes, especially after you issued two stupid missions consecutively!"

Sofony also heard a sneer within her mind. But she ignored it and focused on checking the available meal sets in the refrigerated display rack.

Actually, she understood how weird for someone who already has money and status to keep eating cheap boxed meals like this. But old habits die hard. It was just like how smoking addicts find it torturous to give up cigarettes.

Also, since she wanted to go back to the shooting range as soon as possible without having to resort to bread and water, boxed meals were the next best option for her. She didn"t get what is so hard to understand in her choice.

After shaking her head, she reached out to a set and turned around to go back to counter. However, she didn"t know what G.o.d of unluckiness latched onto her today to actually end up b.u.mping into the same guy twice!

Her lunch dived towards the floor once again! And some of the rice and sauce even got stuck to her rubber shoes and the lower part of her jeans!

"Oops, I"m sorry. It"s not my intention. Believe me."

Sofony barely hid the frustration in her face. She looked up to the guy earlier and wondered if she was simply unlucky or if he was taking revenge against her.

His face showed the opposite of what he said! He didn"t look the least bit apologetic, and when she recalled how he b.u.mped into her again, the thing didn"t seem like an accident!

Just to calm herself, she had to repeatedly chant in her mind that life is like this and there are all sorts of people in the world.

Only after that did she manage to say, "I"m fine. Apology accepted."

The man shook his head though. "No, you"re not fine. Your clothes are at least not. Why don"t I bring you to a boutique for a change of clothes? I will pay for everything, of course!"

After hearing him, her face immediately darkened. By now she already understood what this guy really wanted. Due to this, she could no longer help but say, "How about you go there by yourself? And while you"re at it, try the lady dresses there? I"m sure they will fit you! No, they"ll surely make you even more beautiful! So you"ll walk around the streets and populous places wearing that!"

She gave him one last glare before walking past him. As payment for the two ruined lunch boxes, she left a few bills on the counter and walked out of the place without getting her change.

And then the moment she went back to the shooting range, she immediately picked up her gun and vented her anger and hunger to the innocent practice targets at the distance, imagining it was Clarissa and that man"s annoying faces!

.....