Before going to work, Elena had given Viora some clothes to change into, saying, "You can’t go out in those clothes."

Then she left, and Viora went to her room to change into those clothes while I was, just like yesterday, standing outside her room.

Soon, half an hour had passed. Now I was trying to comb Viora’s wet hair because she had taken a shower.

But no matter what I did, I couldn’t do it. Even though her hair was short, it was so tangled that whenever I ran the comb through it, her head got pulled along with it.

"Ouch."

Her hand moved toward her head and she grabbed the comb.

"Sorry," I apologized and let go of the comb, which she pulled out of her hair afterward.

"I don’t understand why you are trying to do this," she said.

By the tone of her voice, she seemed a bit irritated by the fact that I had spent more than ten minutes just trying to untangle her hair and yet was unsuccessful.

’She has the right to be irritated. Because I have unintentionally pulled out some of her hair too.’

I moved my gaze toward my hand where a few strands of her hair were stuck. She didn’t mind at first, but as I kept combing her hair, I ended up with more of those strands in my hand while she groaned in pain.

"You are just going to cover my head with the same old and lame towel before we go out."

Hearing her voice again, I moved my eyes back to her and found that she was scratching her head relentlessly at the spot where her hair had been pulled out.

"I just thought it would be great to tidy your hair, but I guess it was a bad idea."

With that, I helped her scratch her head. Then, I covered her head with the same lame towel she had talked about before and went out of the villa for our second outing.

"So, where do you want to go first?" I asked. I was so eager to finish this walk as quickly as possible and go to the spot where I was supposed to meet Black’s party.

"Hmmm..." Viora stopped walking for a moment and thought about where she wanted to go, which made my eyes twitch.

’Don’t tell me she hasn’t thought about a place?’

However, after what felt like a long time to me, which in reality was just a few seconds, she answered, "Wherever you want." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

’That is the worst possible answer.’

Because I couldn’t take her anywhere important today.

I wanted going to let out a sigh, but then Viora’s words from before rang in my ears again. She might ask why I was sighing so much, so I should hold it in for now.

"Then, let’s just walk around nearby," I said, and she replied without hesitation, "Okay."

...

The streets outside the villa were calmer than I had expected. They weren’t completely empty, but they were quiet enough to make me a bit anxious.

Viora walked beside me while holding the edge of my sleeve again. I had told her to grab my hand, but she just didn’t want to.

Still... I could notice her fingers tightening every time someone walked past her. She must be sensing the sound of footsteps and the soft breeze hitting her.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned about her.

"Yes," she replied, and then after a pause, she added, "There are just more sounds than expected."

I looked at her with slightly widened eyes. She wasn’t scared. She was just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of sounds she was hearing.

...

We walked past a few small stalls selling bread, fruit, and cheap accessories. But there was nothing special because I wasn’t even paying full attention to my surroundings. My mind was constantly shifting between two things.

’Gate... Black... Timing...’

"Woo Jin." Viora’s voice brought me back, and I subconsciously let out a, "What?"

"What is that smell?"

"Smell?" I looked around us, and my eyes fell on a small food stall nearby which mainly sold roasted meat and spices.

"It is the smell of food."

At my words, Viora’s brows furrowed together and she turned her head away.

’Now what?’

Instinctively, I leaned in closer to look at her expression and saw her pouting.

But there was one thing I couldn’t understand. I had told her what the smell was, so why was she acting like this?

Then, it hit me. She... she wanted to eat meat. That was why. Though we had just eaten, I should at least ask her.

"Do you want to try it?"

I asked, and she turned her head toward me and nodded quickly without saying anything.

Getting my answer, I led her closer and asked the stall owner to give us two skewers.

"Here." I guided her hand to it, and after grabbing the skewer she sniffed it slightly. Then she tilted her head and muttered some words.

"Spice and Flame."

Spice and Flame? What is that supposed to even mean? Is she talking about how the meat is hot and spicy?

But she certainly didn’t mean that because when I looked at the wall behind the owner, I saw something which made me raise my eyebrows.

<Spice and Flame>

I immediately looked at Viora, who was now eating the meat. How can she tell that by smelling the meat alone?

She might have been a regular here before.

"It is unfamiliar."

After taking a few bites, she said that, and curiously, I asked, "What is?"

"This taste. The smell is the same, but it tastes different."

I was a bit confused by her words because it seemed completely delicious to me.

"Woo Jin, can you tell me if the stall owner is an old man or a middle aged man?"

I looked at the owner, and it was neither of them. Not an old man nor a middle aged man, but a young guy who was wearing his high school uniform.

"It is just a high school student. But why do you ask?"

Hearing me, Viora slowly lowered her head and closed her eyes for a bit as her cheerful expression instantly changed into sadness.

"I guess they weren’t able to make it out alive."

She whispered and by grabbing my hand, walked away from the stall.