Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

Lacie looked at Charles like this, was silent for a moment, and suddenly felt a little proud.

It was she who turned the former hero into this. Could anyone else do it? Of course not. After all, she had left an indelible mark in the deepest part of Ciel's soul.

Ciel was only nineteen years old when he met her, and they spent three wonderful years together: adventures, travel, fighting monsters, and defeating countless enemies.

The relationship between the two of them had heated up rapidly in the past three years, and was almost at the breaking point - if she had not faked her death, it would probably not be long before Charles, who had been hesitating for so long, would have mustered up the courage to confess his feelings to her?

But there are not so many ifs in this world.

In the end, she helped Charles block the sword, then naturally faked her death, cut ties with Charles, and went back to being the Witch of Twilight.

Lacele guessed that if Charles had not found her and reestablished this wonderful connection with her, she might have remained single for the rest of her life.

The reason why he didn't get married was because he was afraid that he would never meet a girl as good as her again.

She once lit up Charles's world, but left cruelly.

From then on, Charles could only stay alone in the world that had become cold and dark again, accompanied by loneliness and living out his life in solitude.

Will it be so?

Lacele thought absentmindedly.

Maybe.

After all... no one understands Ciel better than her... that guy is just like that...

He will seal his heart and bury his love, and no girl will ever be able to enter his heart again, no matter if she is a princess from a foreign country, a dragon Valkyrie, or a quirky little half-orc girl.

He will never fall in love with anyone else except her, but...

——Including her.

Lacey suddenly wasn't so proud anymore.

She stared into Charles' eyes in a trance, and suddenly felt a little strange.

The white moonlight she created for Charles was so powerful that even she could hardly surpass it. She did block the possibility of Charles falling in love with other women, but at the same time, she also locked herself out.

Ciel likes a priest, but she is a witch.

It's so... weird. Even when she reappeared in front of Ciel as a priest and blew herself up, Ciel thought she was a fake - what do you mean, congratulations to Miss Priest on winning the second place in the Miss Priest Role-playing Competition, right?

As long as Charles firmly believed that Miss Priest was dead, no matter how hard she tried, she could not prove to Charles that Miss Priest was not dead. Even if she claimed that she had won the resurrection match, Charles, the referee with the final say, would send her off with a red card and declare her results invalid.

Sometimes, a dead person... no, it should be said that the dead white moonlight is much more useful than a living person who is close at hand, fragrant and soft.

But isn’t this a good thing?

Lacey couldn't help thinking again.

Charles wishfully believed that Miss Priest was dead and there was no chance of her winning the resurrection match - wasn't this a good thing for her? At least she didn't have to worry about Charles discovering her true identity.

From now on, the sky is high for birds to fly, and the sea is wide for fish to leap!

Never mess with the cage!

However...this doesn't seem to be a good thing.

My body was becoming heavier and heavier, and less and less responsive, probably due to the influence of alcohol.

Rachel had previously thought that she could drink a thousand glasses of this inferior wine without getting drunk, but she had obviously overestimated her weak body. Obviously, the sobriety of the soul could not drive away the confusion of the body, and on the contrary, Rachel felt that her thinking was gradually becoming slower.

She began to lower her head involuntarily and her eyelids began to twitch.

In order to prevent herself from falling headfirst onto the table, she subconsciously shook her head again, trying her best to stay awake, while reaching out her hand to support her cheek.

Her eyes wandered to Charles' face again.

Ciel still didn't notice she was staring at him.

It was obviously not like this before. When Charles was drinking, his eyes almost never left her, as if she was his whole world.

After realizing this belatedly, Lacie couldn't help but bite her lip lightly.

Should we say that she didn't know how to appreciate her blessings? Or did she not care about this at all at that time?

So it was only now that she suddenly realized that she had once been loved so passionately.

Then, a strange, twisted question that seemed to have existed for a long time but she had never considered floated up like a bubble in the deep sea, and burst with a "pop":

"If I want to experience the feeling of being loved so passionately like this again, what should I do?"

But Lei Sier knew the answer—she knew the answer better than anyone else:

"Ciel's heart... seems to have been blocked by me... myself."

So it was natural that Charles would never love her as passionately and unreservedly as before.

Perhaps, without realizing it, she had missed a very important opportunity.

Lacey suddenly felt a little breathless and her body seemed to have lost all strength, so she slowly lay down, buried her face in her arms, slowly closed her eyes, and her breathing became slower.

After a while, she stopped moving, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep due to exhaustion.

It was late at night, and all the other guests in the tavern had left, leaving only their table of guests in the originally bustling tavern.

The clerk who was standing behind the counter came over. He looked at Charles, then at Laciel who was already asleep on the table. He hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice:

"Guest, it's late. We are about to close."

Charles nodded and answered in a low voice:

"I understand. Wait a moment... wait a moment and then we'll leave."

After receiving the reply, the guy left without saying anything else.

At this time, Charles finally turned his head and looked at Laciel.

He silently peeked at the girl's familiar sleeping face, and at the same time closed the forbidden spell that had been activated actively rather than passively since he entered the tavern.

He had always known that Lacie would use magic to prevent herself from getting drunk, but he had never exposed her before - but this time, he wanted to try and see if the drunk girl would tell the truth after secretly removing Lacie's magic.

But in the end he didn't ask anything, even though Lacie was drunk and looked very easy to deceive. He only needed to open his mouth and Lacie would obey any of his orders.

Thinking of this, Charles felt helpless.

He cursed himself in his heart for being so useless and not knowing how to seize such a good opportunity. He stood up, untied his cloak, and gently covered Lacie with it.

"The nights in early spring are still cold, and it would be bad if you caught a cold."

He sat down again beside Rachel, thinking.

But at this moment, he suddenly felt someone gently tugging at the corner of his clothes - who else could it be? Of course, it was Lacie, the woman he loved and hated.

So he subconsciously looked at the girl.

The girl had opened her eyes without knowing when, but her expression was blank, and she looked around as if she had lost something important. It was not until she saw him with her sleepy eyes that she suddenly showed a reassuring, well-behaved smile.

"So you are here..."

She whispered, suddenly leaning towards Charles, burying her face in his chest, taking a deep breath, then closing her eyes, and resting her head on him like that, looking content.

"That's great……"

Charles heard her say in a soft, muffled voice.

Then she fell asleep again.

[To be continued]

-

22. Do you mind?

All the other patrons of the pub left.

Thus, the tavern that was originally bustling and a little crowded became quiet and empty again.

Occasionally, there was a clinking sound coming from the counter - that was the waiter clearing away the bottles and glasses, preparing for opening for business tomorrow.

All the gas lamps on the wall were turned on and the brightness was adjusted to the maximum, so the whole bar was no longer dim, but brightly lit, just like daytime. Two waiters walked around, sweeping the floor and wiping the table, busy as ever, and the light passed through their bodies and turned into criss-crossing silhouettes, projected on the ground.

Charles was worried that Laceline would be woken up, so he looked down at the girl worriedly.

But contrary to his expectation, the girl was sleeping soundly, her expression peaceful, a smile on her lips, and her pure white eyelashes were like angel wings.

Her upper body leaned towards him, her arms resting lightly on the armrests of the wheelchair, her head resting on his chest.

Charles didn't dare to move, for fear of waking up the sleeping girl leaning against him. The sense of mission that was natural to men made him subconsciously straighten his back and turn himself into a pillar or a wall.

"This way, Lacie might be able to lean on him more comfortably and feel more at ease."

That's what he thought.

But for some reason, as if by some mysterious force, like a satellite captured by the gravity of a star, Charles' gaze, which had originally rested on Rachel's eyelashes, unconsciously slowly shifted to Rachel's lips.

Rachel's lips are very tempting.

It is light pink like cherry blossoms, soft and warm, but I don’t know what it smells like?

Charles remembered that when Lacele was drinking with him, she had said something nonsense:

"A beautiful girl's mouth must be sweet and fragrant, definitely smells like strawberry! Do you understand? Oh, it's normal that you don't understand, after all, you have never kissed a girl before..."

When she finished speaking, she was still holding the bottle in one hand, and patted his shoulder with the other hand, and said to him heroically:

"Don't be sad, those women don't understand your kindness, but I do! If they don't feel sorry for you, I will!"

"——I am also a beautiful girl! Come! Close your eyes! I will let you kiss me and taste whether my beautiful girl's mouth is fragrant and sweet!"

To this day, Charles still can't guess whether Laciel used magic to eliminate the effects of alcohol at that time, and he still can't guess whether Laciel was serious or was joking with him.

In short, facing the female hooligan like Rachel, he shamefully chose to flee.

In the words of Lacelle: "I will not tolerate cowardice! Death to you cowardly lizard!"

Although the next morning, even Lacie chose to play dumb.

It was as if nothing had happened.

But how could nothing happen?

Charles remembered it clearly.

At that time, Lacie's whole face was flushed with the red brought by the alcohol, making her look particularly delicate and cute. She put the wine glass in her hand on the table with a "bang" and approached him aggressively.

Finally she came in front of him, stood there, with her hands on her hips, her little face raised, her azure blue eyes sparkling with shimmering light, she seemed a little shy, but also had a kind of determination that "things have come to this point and I have to rush forward".

She gave it all!

Charles, who was so close to her, could smell the scent of golden roses on her body which was becoming richer and stronger.

Sweet and fragrant, as if a bunch of golden roses were blooming before him - although in his eyes, this might be exactly what happened.

And this moment is just like that moment.

Charles smelled the familiar scent of flowers again... He originally thought that the golden rose had withered and left him forever... But in fact, she had never left, she was always there.

A strange feeling of security suddenly filled the hero's chest, and the messy fantasies in his mind were dispelled. He sniffed the rich floral scent that enveloped him, lowered his eyes, and gently pressed the jewelry box that he had kept carefully in his pocket through his clothes.

Then, the hero's eyes fell on the ring finger of the witch's right hand.

He suddenly laughed silently.

"I'm here," he moved his lips without making any sound, telling the girl leaning on him, "I'll always be here."

This time, no matter what, he would never let Lacie leave him again.

After all, they agreed to be lifelong companions.

……

The night was getting deeper and deeper. The early spring nights were especially cold. The changes brought about by the Goddess of Winter had not yet been completely eliminated by the Goddess of Spring. At this time, if you exhaled on the street, you could still see the white mist rising.

And the pub is probably really going to close this time.

A waiter walked over with tired steps and reminded Charles that they were closed for the day.

Charles nodded and said yes, but after a brief hesitation, he asked again:

"Mad John isn't here tonight?"

The man was stunned for a moment, then he looked at Charles warily from head to toe and asked:

"you are?"