bookpower Chapter 1124: Abrupt Woman
Chapter 1124: Abrupt Woman
Quinlan’s steps echoed against the floorboards until he reached the center of the room. There, he reached out and grabbed onto two shoulders. One belonged to Iris, the other to Jasmine.The two women paused in their actions to turn and look up at him. Two delicate faces welcomed Quinlan’s eyes. Both women sported extreme amounts of blood on their skin, previously belonging to their personal trauma-relief tools. Now, it was only serving to adorn their expressions.
And how beautiful those expressions were. As both Iris and Jasmine looked up at him with innocent eyes, wordlessly asking what he wanted, he couldn’t help but think there was something truly wrong with him, for they were extremely gorgeous in this moment. ’... Maybe I shouldn’t call the Black Fang gang a bunch of crazies...’ he thought inwardly.
Then, Quinlan managed to collect himself and speak up. "Girls, you’ve been at this for a long, long time. How about you leave some of them for tomorrow? Especially you, Jasmine. You and your mother are low-level; you shouldn’t skip nights. Your Vitality stat isn’t high enough to brush it off." The rightful source is novel-fire.net
Jasmine blinked cutely, "Wait, what’s the time?"
"Early morning."
Her blinking intensified. "... Oh."
"Oh indeed," Quinlan chuckled.
Jasmine blushed and looked back at her mother, who was currently applying a pair of pliers to Aurelion’s balls with the most blissful expression ever.
"... I’ll speak to Mom," Jasmine nodded and scurried away.
"You’ll send this one back now, won’t you?" Iris asked, using the question to explain why she was at it for so long.
Quinlan observed the raven-haired girl for a moment longer before nodding. "Yeah. I don’t need her and the son anymore. I’ll let the count house these nervous wrecks. Then, soon, I’ll use them to help me rob the guy blind. Anyhow, did you get some good info from her?"
Iris’s expression darkened immediately. "Yes, but not the whole story... It seems to be a deep conspiracy. I was thinking it would be a smaller-scale criminal organization, as my impoverished family didn’t need a Consortium-size syndicate to be toppled, especially with my retard of a father at the helm, but it doesn’t seem to be the case."
"Oh?"
"..." Iris nodded. "Yes. I get the feeling that not only did the Covenant of Eternity have a hand in it, but that... Maybe... The Ravenshade duke himself might be involved in the brutal torture and murder of my poor brother."
Her expression instantly turned troubled at the memory of Damian. The poor boy truly suffered a horribly cruel fate, and he did so while sacrificing himself for his little sister.
Quinlan’s hands traveled up from her shoulder and gently stroked her lush, black hair. "We’ll get them, no matter who they are. The undead liches of the Covenant or the Duke himself, I don’t care. Nobody is positioned too high up to escape our vengeance."
Iris’s lips trembled hearing that, and, entirely uncharacteristically, allowed Quinlan to continue stroking her hair.
He didn’t want to push his luck, however, so he turned around. "Iris, please help the girls clean up. I’ll go ahead."
Quinlan didn’t manage to take more than a single step before someone stepped up and enveloped him from behind for a hug.
’What an abrupt woman... Whenever I feel like I start knowing what to expect from her, she keeps blindsiding me,’ Quinlan thought inwardly.
Iris did exactly that.
Iris nodded weakly against his bare back.
Quinlan’s earlier note of this girl being far too abrupt became even more apparent with her next words.
Quinlan turned around and enveloped the woman in a real hug.
He stroked her back calmly,
Iris bit into her lip out of frustration.
Iris then began blinking timidly, uncertain. Her voice, when it came, was weak.
She audibly gulped in his mind, then her shaky voice came.
Iris then laughed dryly.
<...> Quinlan was entirely taken aback. Iris had been showing signs of opening up to them, but if this was not a giant leap, then nothing was. She opened up to him so much, voicing her deepest thoughts when before she didn’t even want to talk to him about the most superficial things if it was avoidable.
Quinlan, instead of responding, shifted his attention to the countess, who was tortured until her mind unraveled and her body collapsed. She was a ruined woman. No amount of healing would help her.
He felt a sudden tightness around his waist as Iris strengthened her hold around him.
Iris instantly earned herself a hearty laugh from Quinlan.
<...>
Quinlan felt her spirit instantly light up.
She strategically chose to remain quiet.
<... Right?>