Chapter 60 – You Don’t Like Me (2)

She adjusted her grip on her wand, her hands were clammy with sweat. Her mind was a whirlwind of emotions and it was such a nerve-racking state to be in. She was only snapped back to her senses when Amelia called her.

“Debra, what are you still doing here?” Amelia asked, wiping the sweat off her brow. The blood on the witch’s head ceased and the gaping wound was stitched close. She saw a tensed Debra from the corner of her eye, and she was surprised to see how startled Debra got when she called her.

“I…” Debra’s voice was hoarse, her heart thrashing wildly when Amelia turned fully to look at her. Guilty with her treacherous thoughts, she made a show of checking the slain knights on the ground to make it seem like she was occupied with something. She was so wound up that her palms were trembling, and she hoped that Amelia wouldn’t see it.

Debra clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking. She looked at her feet, ashamed of harboring such thoughts to her fellow saint.

Amelia saw how troubled Debra was, and she thought of possible reasons that would make the saint act this way. After a brief pause, she figured that Debra might’ve been worried about what the necromancer said about her, about her identity. She threw her a smile and told her reassuringly, “Don’t worry. The middle-aged man probably only said that to cause a rift between us. Who would even believe such a fabricated story? Don’t forget, all of us had to go through a thorough background check before being elected as Saints. You would’ve been removed right away if they found anything incriminating.”

Amelia said, and slung the witch’s arm on her shoulders as they made their way out of the city. “Come on, there’s still a lot of work to do.”

Her words were pretty convincing, but it didn’t soothe Debra one bit, not when Rita also went through the background check and yet she still managed to be a saint just like the rest of them.

‘I must not stab her on the back.’ Debra thought, thinking that killing Amelia while she’s unguarded was a little too shameless, too graceless for someone like her who grew up with such high education.

After pondering for a while, she decided to poison her instead when she gets the chance. And to thank Amelia for saving her life, Debra kept a mental note to use a much milder poison for her as to not inflict that much pain.

When the two reached the city gate, Amelia went to check on Rita and Debra checked the fallen knights if any of them managed to survive.

“She wants to kill you.” A small voice whispered. Amelia stopped in her tracks and turned to see if Debra was anywhere close and quickly pushed Alfonso back inside her pocket.

“I know.” She whispered, “It was so obvious that only a fool wouldn’t see it.”

Alfonso’s eyebrows knitted in a frown. “Why aren’t you killing her then? Did you somehow grow fond of her?”

He was back to his miniature form once again, and his adorably squished face was clearly displeased at Amelia. She was about to push him back in when the elf pushed her hand with his, and said. “So you like her.”

He said such words bitterly, that Amelia was caught off guard for a second.

“Not really.” Amelia said, thinking of the words that best describe her emotions, “I just want to give her a chance, that’s all. She wouldn’t be able to outdo me even if she tried anyway. When the time comes though… I’ll… I’ll deal with her then.” She stuttered weakly.

The word ‘kill’ was too big of a word for her, and just thinking about it was enough to make her skin crawl.

She was a modern soul after all. It was enough that she didn’t vomit when saw the bloody corpses lining up the pavement, but killing someone, especially when it’s someone she personally knew, would be extremely hard.

Alfonso, however, would rather direct his attention elsewhere as he paid no heed to Amelia’s words and blurted out suddenly, “You actually like two people at the same time. Is it human nature to be so playful in relationships?”

To say that Amelia was shocked by Alfonso’s words was an understatement. She looked at him with confusion etched on her now ashen face, “Liking two people at the same time? Where did this nonsense come from?”

“From you.” Alfonso said flatly, his face dark and brooding. “The lackey of the Light cult, so disgusting.”

The elf hid himself back into the bag and after a few seconds, his head popped out once more and stared at Amelia, sneering icily. “You don’t like me. Disgusting.”

Then he hid back inside, again.

Amelia blinked at the elf’s actions. She couldn’t believe that he told her that she’s disgusting, and twice too! If it weren’t for the power that he holds, she would have beaten him to death by now.