The Villain's Sister - Chapter 45
The possibility of catching the distributors through moderate means had long passed.
With blue gas addicts causing department store terror attacks, the police were desperately searching for the dealers.
Even though other organizations trying to absorb Lucky Ginger’s remnants were now keeping their heads down, that didn’t mean the heroes could run wild—at least, that’s what Liam thought.
“Should’ve called him Red Dog instead of Red Shadow.”
Ptui!
Liam spat blood onto the floor and twisted his lips.
The drug lab was full of corpses.
They were just about to leave after finishing off the remnants of Lucky Ginger absorbed by Two Star, when that damned Red Shadow showed up.
They had planned to deal with it quietly while everyone was lying low, but who knew where he had sniffed it out from.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets stopped mid-air and returned to where Liam had been.
Fortunately, he had ducked behind a pillar right after firing.
“Damn wizard bastard.”
He pulled out the anti-magic magazine he had brought just in case.
In the meantime, Red Shadow, who had been far away, appeared in front of Liam in a puff of smoke.
“Ugh!”
The knife Red Shadow swung grazed Liam’s neck.
Had he not twisted his body, his throat would have been slit.
Gritting his teeth, Liam shoved in the magazine. But before he could properly reload, the blade grazed his chest.
“You son of a bitch!”
Liam’s eyes flared.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The bullets he fired mercilessly pierced Red Shadow’s side.
The anti-magic magazine was designed to kill wizards.
Manufactured by the central government and only supplied to their soldiers, it was nearly impossible to obtain. But Death Adder, skilled in illegal arms trafficking, had managed to get it with minimal effort.
“So he’s not your run-of-the-mill wizard.”
Most wizards couldn’t block or deflect anti-magic bullets.
But Red Shadow blocked them.
Although one dug slightly beneath the skin, the other three were completely deflected.
How many wizards of his caliber belonged to the government?
None, Liam would bet.
And among wizards, those this skilled with weapons were even rarer.
He really was a special case.
Bang! Boom!
The moment he fired, the gun exploded.
Anti-magic magazines required dedicated barrels. Since it was an ordinary gun, it couldn’t withstand it and broke.
“Ugh!”
Blood streamed from his hand.
Torn, cut, embedded with shrapnel, and even burned.
Should he keep fighting like this? Or flee?
If we fought, would I have a chance of winning?
After a brief calculation, Liam decided it wasn’t time yet.
He set off a smoke grenade.
He thought Red Shadow would pursue him more persistently, but it seemed he had something he wanted to find at the scene and didn’t bother chasing.
So Liam successfully escaped, and Red Shadow rummaged through the corpses of the dead drug makers.
At this point, he planned to find Two Star’s office and tear it apart.
‘If I make it look like Big Bear provoked Death Adder, maybe they’ll destroy each other fighting.’
To provoke Death Adder effectively…
Red Shadow stopped thinking. He didn’t want to continue that train of thought.
At any other time, he would have killed Giselle without hesitation and framed it as Big Bear’s doing, but he didn’t realize he was different now.
He simply thought that since he hadn’t seen Anti-Venom while with her, the rumor that she was his mistress might be false.
“Ugh.”
He pulled out the anti-magic bullet lodged in his side.
It wasn’t a serious wound, so he patched it up roughly and decided to head home.
But when he came to, he was on the balcony of Tristan Lindbergh’s house.
Giselle lay curled up asleep on the sofa, and the cop was nowhere to be seen, probably still on duty.
‘Why the hell am I here…’
On a moonlit night, the anti-hero who had secretly crept onto the cold balcony was lost in confusion.
Beyond the transparent glass was that woman.
Hair disheveled, her pearlescent skin glowing—
He knew Giselle Moltke.
Maybe even better than the cop, Tristan Lindbergh.
At least, in front of him, she had shown her true face.
‘What should I do with you…’
Until recently, he thought he knew her quite well. Now, he didn’t know who Giselle Moltke was.
The doubt had started a few days ago, at Fog’s pub.
***
“The wind blows as it pleases.”
It was the code that Raphael had given him for Fog.
Upon hearing the code, Fog lifted his half-lidded eyes and burst into a chuckle.
A sharp gleam appeared in his drunken, dazed eyes.
The code had awakened his ability.
“What’s your question?”
Three questions.
You couldn’t retrieve another code or use the same code through someone else. It meant the questioner was thoroughly identified.
Also, you couldn’t get answers to questions that previous code users had already asked.
What he wanted to know was about White Hands.
But on this degenerate land, surely countless criminals must have already dug into White Hands’ past.
Not just criminals.
Among them were surely politicians, businesspeople, all sorts.
All likely questions had already been asked. To not waste the three chances, he had to choose his questions carefully.
“Was the person who healed me seven years ago Maya Cox?”
“No.”
Red Shadow’s eyelids twitched.
“Ha!”
A rough breath escaped.
Like the nerves returning to a numb foot, a shiver coursed through his whole body.
Every nerve in him burned with heat.
She was alive. That girl was alive…
“Was the one who saved me White Hands?”
“Yes.”
Red Shadow leaned his forehead against the wall beside him without realizing it.
Crack.
His gloved hand tightened.
Please, may you not have been swallowed by this city’s darkness. May a kind fairy godmother have found you…
“Is White Hands…”
Alive?
Just as he was about to ask, he was sure many before him had asked the same question.
Fog’s ability was to reveal all knowledge in the world.
That included past, present, and future.
Red Shadow finalized his last question.
“Is Giselle Moltke White Hands?”
His mouth went dry.
What the hell was he doing… He felt pathetic.
Fog bared his yellowed teeth and answered, “The wind is blowing. You—”
He jabbed one of his few remaining fingers against Red Shadow’s chest.
“Brace for the storm.”
Red Shadow realized he had asked the same questions as others who had held the code before.
The one who saw through past, present, and future didn’t give him the answer he wanted, but drew out the prophecy he needed.
It wasn’t the answer he sought, but there was no need to go back to Raphael.
He only had to continue what he had been doing.
Even so—
‘If she’s not White Hands, then the pumpkin carriage, the fairy, all of it was just coincidence.’
But then why did he come to see this woman?
He had hated the discomfort in his heart and returned to where he belonged, so why again…
What did he want to do by seeing her?
What meaning was there in looking at a sleeping face?
Like a lost lamb seeking an answer, he stared blankly at Giselle.
Faint breaths, gently rising and falling chest, closed eyes. And the hand hugging the cushion.
‘Yes. That hand.’
Hand.
Giselle Moltke’s damn hand.
The lukewarm warmth, the feel of slender fingers, the strange sensation that flowed through when their fingers intertwined, the tightening chest when their eyes met.
For a brief moment, his nerves burned up.
Countless thoughts, emotions, and sensations collided and swelled until they nearly engulfed him in fear.
Pathetic. Himself.
And that woman was damnably provocative.
The dim streetlight seeping into the dark room cast Red Shadow’s shadow.
He, who stood in the city’s shadows. And the woman born of the city’s shadow.
As long as he was the anti-hero, it was a twisted fate, nothing more, nothing less.
Even so, Red Shadow couldn’t leave.
No matter how he tried to bury his fleeting thoughts and feelings in the dark, as long as he didn’t know where he wanted to go, he would forever remain a lost lamb.
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Luylin
He’s on the verge of knowing the truth. I imagine it was Raphael who asked the first time, to prevent others from asking the same question in the future.
Thanks for the chapter ❤️