Death... and me

It didn't take long for Roan's group to return to the Blacksmith Workshop. This time, Calina's hair was white due to Rean's appearance-changing skill that used the Light Element. Not only that, her face and body structure were also different. The same could be said for both Roan and Frandin. Thanks to that, they avoided anyone's attention as they made their way back.

Roan then looked at Frandin with a dark expression.

"How should I punish you?"

Frandin felt like crying already.

"That was your fault, not mine. I insisted on not bringing her with us, didn't I?"

Roan narrowed his eyes after hearing that. Obviously, both of them had interpreted things differently when they talked about Calina coming out with them.

"Sigh... forget it. Next time, be more clear about these kinds of things. How was I supposed to know that blond hair is rare in this place?"

Frandin sighed in relief as he nodded.

"Fine. I thought you knew about that already. After all, you should have noticed that there wasn't a single blond-haired slave between all the human slaves we saw so far."

Roan had to admit that Frandin was right. That was a mistake on his part.

"Anyway, let's go out once more. We still need to obtain information regarding the Bloodline Trials. This time, it will be only you and me while I keep our appearances changed. Calina, you stay here with Rean and the others. Even though your appearance is different now, someone might stop us since Falin's group should be looking for a group of three."

Calina, who was still absent-minded, woke up once again. Obviously, the 'My Calina' incident was still all over her head.

"Eh?! Oh! Yeah... Sure."

However, just as Roan and Frandin were about to leave, Calina came back to herself and immediately stopped them.

"Wait a second!"

Roan and Frandin looked back at Calina, puzzlement on their faces.

"What is it?"

Seeing Roan's indifferent expression made Calina wonder whether she heard those words correctly or not.

"What do you mean by that? Can you repeat what you said when the Falin guy tried to take me as his own?"

Roan then avoided her eyes as he responded with a question of his own.

"What are you talking about?"

Calina was taken aback by that. It was the first time she had ever seen Roan acting like that.

"I'm obviously talking about the 'who said you could touch my... my... my... touch my...'"

The more she thought about it, the harder it became for her to repeat Roan's words.

Roan then took that change to turn around.

"Well, it seems like you don't remember it as well. Frandin, let's go."

Frandin didn't know what to say about that situation.

'Are these two idiots?'

Still, he had to follow Roan's orders.

Calina really felt like an idiot.

'Why are you hesitating right now? Didn't you jump naked right in front of him in the past? Get a hold of yourself, Calina!'

Eventually, she gritted her teeth and grabbed Roan's arm before he could leave.

"I'm talking about when you said 'My Calina!'"

Roan trembled a bit but immediately came back to himself as he responded indifferently.

"My Calina? What are you talking about? I've never said anything like that."

Hearing that, Calina felt her blood boil in rage.

"Like hell, you didn't! Do you think I'm deaf? You said that! You definitely, 100% sure, said that!"

Roan kept up his farce as he said.

"You're imagining things."

Calina snorted in response as she uttered in response.

"Oh, is that so? Then, let's ask our witness."

Calina then looked at Frandin, who didn't want to have anything to do with the actual situation, before asking.

"Back then, Roan said, 'Who said you can touch my Calina?' didn't he?"

Frandin was just about to nod when out of nowhere, he felt a cold aura coming from his side. When Frandin looked over, he could swear that he saw death staring at him. Roan's Dark Element was faintly coming out of his body, making Frandin feel like he plunged into a frozen lake.

'I'll die if I agree with her.'

Frandin bitterly smiled as he looked away before speaking.

"Ahem... I didn't hear anything."

Calina almost vomited blood. Even a kid would be able to tell that Frandin was blatantly lying!

"Fuck you! You're just afraid of Roan."

Frandin then looked outside the window.

"Look, it's such a nice day outside."

Calina was fuming as she shouted.

"Nice day, your head! There's a fucking snowstorm outside the City's protection formation! How the hell do you think that's a nice day?"

Calina then looked at Roan and said.

"I did not hear wrongly. You definitely said that."

Roan, who was satisfied with Frandin's answer, shrugged his shoulders, responding.

"I really don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, we're losing time here. Let's go, Frandin."

Roan didn't even give Calina a chance to answer.

'Life Style, First Form, Enhancement.'

'Death Style, First Movement Form, Shadow Steps.'

As fast as lightning, Roan grabbed Frandin's arm and disappeared from the room. Calina was then left there, stomping her feet on the ground in anger.

"You just wait!"

Without any other choice, she returned to the forging room where Rean worked on his weapons while Malaka, Qia, and Agis helped. Malaka and Calina had been friends for many years already. With that said, as soon as Calina arrived, Malaka noticed the difference in her behavior.

"Hey, hey, hey! Calina, what is it? How come you look so angry... no, there's anger there, but I can feel that you're also satisfied."

Rean and the others' attention were immediately piqued. Calina's face turned bright red once again after hearing Malaka's words.

"Couldn't you just stay quiet?"

Rean, of course, wouldn't let it pass that easily.

"Oh! It seems like Roan finally made the first move."

Calina was taken aback by Rean's words.

"How did you know?!"

Rean grinned as the others were taken aback.

In an instant, she fell for Rean's trap. Rean didn't know anything whatsoever. He just threw those words out to see what reaction she would show him. However, Rean didn't expect it to work so well.

"Wait! He really made a move?!"

Qia and Malaka quickly pulled Calina to their side.

"Speak, speak! What did he do?!"

Calina didn't know whether to laugh or cry anymore.