Academic gathering with a lich

The two who had bought their gifts, upon arriving at the Bloody Rose Bar, happened to see Anna at work.

With one hand, she was dragging a drunken human brute who had been stripped down to his underwear. She came to the door with a dissatisfied face and complained in front of the onlookers.

"What a nuisance, grown so big and yet I have to deal with the trash myself."

The Succubus Anna pinched the brute’s neck with her hand and threw him at the feet of a Demon Race security guard standing at the entrance.

"Find the nearest trash can and stuff him in, and remember to sort him into waste."

After bossing around and completing a series of barbaric behaviors, Anna smiled at the onlookers, made a cute face, and re-entered customer service mode.

Under the extensive charm of the Succubus, those passersby with hearts in their eyes forgot everything that had just happened.

"What a gentle sister, right, Candy?" William hadn’t been charmed, and teased Candy.

To seduce and cover one’s barbaric actions with charm could hardly be considered gentle.

The discordant voice came from that despicable person, as the Succubus’s pretty face bore a hint of malevolence, and the passersby who had been charmed sobered up in this chilly atmosphere.

Anna’s voice was like a cold wind carrying knives, her face displaying an indifference that disregarded everything.

"Yes, I am truly gentle. I should never have returned your ’His Majesty Nero’ for just two Oliou. If I hadn’t, you would not dare to stand before me now."

Anna didn’t hesitate to reveal William’s dirty history—no, she was William’s dirty history.

William’s expression cooled as well, with the spiritual fluctuations of the Mage affecting the surrounding elements and frosting over the ground.

Just like the Obsidian scales that crawled over the throat of the Succubus Anna.

"Sister! We’re working right now!" Candy grabbed Anna’s arm, now covered with scale armor, and the scales melted like snowflakes upon Candy’s fair skin. Anna poked Candy’s cheek with her finger, and the tense atmosphere dissipated with her teasing of Candy.

"You shouldn’t interrupt me, Candy~" Anna held Candy’s cheek in her hand and molded it playfully, returning to her usual demeanor, and after giving Candy’s somewhat reddened cheek a light pat, she turned and walked back inside the bar.

"Please wait, Sister." Candy’s voice still stuttered a bit, "Mister William has a gift for you!"

Click.

Anna’s heel clicked crisply on the floor. She stiffened for a second, slowly turning around like a sculpture on display, her beautiful eyes filled with surprise and skepticism.

"For me? Not for that Female Elf? This guy’s the one giving it?" The Succubus folded her arms, and the disdain in her eyes combined with pride in certain areas formed an image of a stunning and arrogant woman. "Has this idiot finally gone mad?"

"Miss Fanira has a gift, but Sister has one, too. It’s a gift from Mister William to thank Sister for taking him in," Candy said, clenching her fists in front of her, her eyes wide open, trying to convince Anna with her serious big eyes.

Anna ruffled Candy’s hair, and her chestnut-brown hair hung down, covering his lashes.

"It was your idea, wasn’t it? Don’t be nosy, stupid brother."

"Hmm."

"Candy is right," William said, watching Anna’s helpless face turn back to him. "Although our meeting wasn’t pleasant, and the time spent together wasn’t either. Miss Anna, I’m very grateful that you brought me to the Bloody Rose. Although it was Candy’s idea for the gift, I did contribute... a little bit of thought."

It doesn’t matter anymore, as long as one is true to oneself. That’s the way, William! Be brave and face your dark history. Let the storm rage even more fiercely!

The prepared William looked up at Anna, and the expected harsh and snobbish words didn’t fall from those cherry-colored lips. Instead, he saw something he had never imagined.

Anna shifted her gaze away as if afraid, her eyes lingering on William’s face for a few seconds before swiftly moving elsewhere, a finger twirling a strand of her hair playfully, her body stepping back slightly, hinting at the tendency to hide behind Candy.

"Since it’s Candy’s choice, it’s like my little brother giving a gift to his sister. Come on, give it to me," Anna said with feigned composure, extending her right hand with an air of arrogance. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

However, her eyes were closed, and William could clearly see her trembling eyelashes as she faced Anna.

"It was Mr. William’s own selection, actually. I only offered some advice," Candy interjected.

"Ah... he chose it himself... Hmph, his taste must not be very good. I’m not looking forward to it anymore," Anna said with her eyes half-open, stealing a glance at William with her peripheral vision, "Come on, bring it out. It belongs to me."

Anna’s demeanor left William feeling weird inside. Had the leopardess turned vegetarian? With different thoughts in mind, William, instead of retorting, honestly took out the gift he had chosen.

A pendant, diamond-shaped with four black scales protruding from the edges, outlining red patterns, and in the center, a portrait of a woman with eyes closed, a demoness of beauty bearing a thorny crown, her eyebrows and facial contours like a blend of flowers and arms—radiant beauty with an air of valor. Strangely, the enchantment of the Demon Race woman on the pendant somewhat resembled the sulking Anna. That was why William chose it, originally to mock the ever-irritable demoness. But now, he was a bit worried that she would realize his intentions.

The thing William was worried about didn’t happen; Anna looked at the pendant without joy or dissatisfaction. Calm like storm clouds gathering on her face.

"Miss Anna? Are you... okay?"

"Thank you, I really like it," the Succubus said, clutching the pendant in her hand, and William, whose gift was snatched away, looked at his empty hands, unable to feel happy about Anna’s expressionless gratitude.

The stiff atmosphere secluded the noise from the bar into another world, as Candy took hold of the Succubus’s arm.

"Sister, do you recognize this pendant?"

"I don’t, but I know the person on the pendant."

"Who is she?"

"Angelina the War Messenger, a deceased queen of a Demon Race tribe. A very powerful demoness, my idol," Anna replied.

Candy tilted his head, "But I’ve never heard Sister talk about her."

"Because Candy doesn’t need to know, her tribe has no foothold in the City of Wandering, so Candy won’t come into contact with it."

Anna’s face broke into a smile again, she lightly patted Candy’s head.

"Stop thinking about it, it’s time to work now. Off you go, waiter," she urged.

Before Anna disappeared in the neon lights of the bar’s sign, she paused briefly.

"There’s still a lot of work waiting for you. How much longer do you plan to stand there like a dazed goose in the doorway?"

"William," she called.

"Yes, yes," he said with a bewildered look on his face as he entered the Bloody Rose Bar.

The lights of the bar were always a dazzling pale pink.