Mikhail shook a bit. He raised his body up and wiped the blood from his mouth and the tears from his eyes with a handkerchief he kept in his chest pocket."If only there was a bead of sweat on his forehead... Then it"d be perfect!"
Felicia"s face switched from full of disappointment to one that looked at a recently completed masterpiece. As Cole was looking at such a face, this was the only thing he thought of.
"She"s thinking of something stupid again..."
Mikhail straightened himself up and faced Eva head-on. He didn"t act like he would die from cuteness as Cole would expect. He instead had a bit of a sorrowful smile on his face and simply patted Eva on the head.
"?"
After that, he fixed his suit and decided to go back inside for a bit. He could discuss things with Cole later and ask Igor to explain things. But just as he about to leave...
"Orange Juice."
"!!"
He shook slightly and it looked like he was about to spit blood again. He regained his composure and before leaving, gave a cold glare towards Cole. He then took Igor by the ear and then left, leaving the Ashwell household behind.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Everyone stayed silent. They weren"t sure what to say now that the conversation topics had left the table. The atmosphere grew awkward with the silence until Felicia broke it.
"Hey, Cole."
"What?"
"This counts as a mission, right?"
"Hmm... I guess?"
"Then for my reward.."
Cole immediately started preparing his brain for any lewd things that might come out Felicia"s mouth. She had gone with the "pay with your body" route so he had a strong feeling that while it might not be right then and then, she"ll eventually request something that can"t be heard by children.
"Let"s go on a date!"
She raised her fist in the air with a happy smile and on her face was a wide grin. Cole secretly let out a sigh of relief. It looks like we still in the safe-for-work zone.
"Still, that was surprisingly innocent."
Although Cole had such a thought in his mind, his eyes that were staring at Felicia still held a suspicious glint.
"...Hey. Why are you looking at me as if I"m some kind of pervert?
"Why, you"re not?"
"I prefer to be referred to as "an appreciator of the bare form and the desires that come with it""
Felicia then put on a face filled with benevolence and purity that could actually rival the Virgin Mary"s. Both Cole and Eva weren"t sure how, but it was as if there was a ring of light glowing from behind Felicia.
And that just didn"t make sense, they were outside after all.
"So in other words, a pervert."
With his words, the light dimmed and eventually disappeared and the only thing left was a grumpy-faced Felicia. As this exchange going on, question marks repeatedly appeared over Eva"s head and inside her mind.
Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she decided to ask Cole, the adult that wasn"t grumpily drawing circles on their floor because of certain reasons.
"Papa, what"s -"
"A certain something that you will naturally come to know of later on."
"..."
She turned silent at her father"s words. Eva started debating inside her head if she would wait for when such a time comes or go look it up herself if she remembers later. In the end, curiosity got the better of her once again.
"I"ll go look it up in a dictionary when I come back home."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Felicia teleported them to a city again and rather than following the supposed "rules" and the proper "flow" of a date, Cole just let her run wild while he carried Eva on his shoulders. He actually found it a bit fun.
He had retracted the frames on his face put on a headband on Eva while Felicia put his on him. While she did so, she seemed to have an extremely satisfied face for some race.
Eva had also wanted to run wild like Felicia but instead of making her body do so, she had her eyes dart all around the place.
The streets looked different from the last time she went there for the amus.e.m.e.nt park. There were a lot of pairs of people holding hands and sharing eye contact with each other. Various shades of pink and red could be found nearly everywhere.
There were all sorts of decorations lining the storefronts of various buildings and a few people were selling heart-shaped balloons. Now that Eva thought about it, it was like that as well at the cafe and the cosplay store. Although the cosplay store wasn"t decorated as much.
"Papa. Why"s everything covered in hearts today?"
"That"s because it"s Valentine"s day."
"What"s that?"
Cole had expected this. If Eva didn"t know Christmas, she probably didn"t know any other holidays either. Well, that was fine, he could slowly teach her after all.
"A holiday that was made so that companies increase the commercial sales of chocolate all across the world."
"..."
Eva felt confused. Was that really the reason behind so many couples being at this place at this point in time? She didn"t know what "commercial sales" what but since getting chocolate cost money, she a.s.sumed that it was something related to money.
"...So it"s a holiday about money?"
"Yes and no."
Cole then peered over at Felicia who was excitedly waiting for a store"s chocolate sale to start. But since she would be bored from just walking around the store, she decided to go hit on some girls.
She had changed into a ponytail, high-waist jeans, a white crop top, and a black blazer so because of that, her girl-crush power was quite high at the moment. Add her cool smile mode and voila! You have a s.e.xuality confuser
"It"s a holiday that"s perfect to serve as Felicia"s birthday."
"Felicia"s? Why?"
"Because another kind of business also thrives on this day."
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Curiosity reared its head once again in Eva"s mind but something was telling her that this time, it was better to not investigate that matter.
After casually stealing a maiden"s soul away, Felicia went over to Cole and Eva.
"Oh, what are you two doing over there? Hurry up! The sale is gonna start soon!"
"That"s great and all but don"t we still have to go to a cake shop?"
"Eh, why?"
Felicia tilted her head to one side and blinked her eyes in puzzlement. She didn"t get what Cole was getting at and stayed that way until Cole opened his mouth again.
"Why, you ask? It"s because it"s also your birthday today right?"
"..."
"Ah, you"re right!"
Felicia went silent with a vacant look in her eyes and then glowed up when the realization had hit her.
Cole sighed and shook his head at Felicia"s reaction and so did Eva. He gave back the captured female hearts Felicia had stolen, got tons of chocolate during the sale, and then dragged Felicia out of the store to go celebrate her birthday.
However, as they had left, they ended up starting a war over "Black-haired Beauty", or the "Silver-haired Knight".
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Uwaa... I totally forgot."
Felicia said with a bit of a sorry tone in her voice. It had become a bit late and they decided to walk a bit before heading back home. Eva had fallen asleep and had been moved into a piggyback position.
They had gone out to eat and ate some cake with an extra box to bring home.
"I always do so because every February 14, the only thing on my mind are all the chocolate sales going on."
Cole could relate. He liked about every single kind and type of chocolate there was so there was no way he would miss on some good sales. There were times though where he got a lot for free.
"Now that I think about it, you probably have the same problem too, don"t you?"
"What problem?"
"You know, forgetting your birthday because it"s a holiday."
"Hmm... Maybe? I think people eventually all forget to celebrate them at one point. Holiday or not.
"I see..."
Felicia brought out a lollipop and started licking it. A veil silence was cast over them once again but unlike earlier in the day, it felt serene.
"By the way, Cole."
"Hm?"
Cole answered with a small sound in acknowledgement. He was stuck thinking about how different the same country could change greatly depending on what they did beforehand.
Maybe if the〈Times Zone〉didn"t experience a zombie virus, maybe it would be a lot more similar to the〈Avant Zone〉. Felicia took the lollipop out of her mouth and tossed the wrapper into a nearby trash can.
"...Why did you lie?"
Neither of them stopped walking. Cole felt that it was a bit out of the blue and wasn"t sure about what Felicia was referring to.
"...Lie about what?"
They still didn"t stop walking. It seems Felicia didn"t have the intention of making it into a serious problem since she lightened up her tone with her next sentence.
"Remember the time when you told me that people were scared of you back then? There"s no way that could be the case."
"You"re good-looking, smart, and could easily fake a personality to fit in with the ma.s.ses."
"What"s more..."
Felicia paused. The sun was setting, leaving a gentle orange glow over the bay walk. The wind rushed past Felicia"s hair. Once again, Cole felt like she wasn"t real. There were times where she looked as if she had jumped out from a picture, a painting. This time she looked like she came from a movie.
"There"s also the kind of society that the〈Avant Zone〉is..."
Cole looked down. He ended up thinking about his days in the〈Avant Zone〉. It"s not like they were sad or unhappy, they were just... He couldn"t exactly describe it. Tense? Compet.i.tive? It felt like that was it but they weren"t exactly a perfect fit.
"Hm?"
"It"s nothing."
"Felicia?"
"What?"
Felicia stopped and turned back to Cole. He thought of what to say at first but then put on a small smile. Felicia thought that it looked to be the most genuine one she had seen from him so far.
"Happy Birthday."
*THUMP*
For just a second, Felicia felt like her heart rate increased. She also felt like her eyes were going to burst into tears at any second and her knees would give wat. But the grat.i.tude welling up in her chest didn"t let her do that.
With the glow of the setting sun, she showed off a smile that was full of happiness.
"...Thank you."