Bailonz Street 13

Chapter 180. Meeting Again (2)

“Huh?”

I saw Liam’s playful smile. He stroked my hair.

“Black hair, black eyes. Exactly as I remember.”

“What? No. That can’t be.”

“I wouldn’t have only met you in Jane’s form, my dear Jane. You look exactly like that girl I saw when I was eighteen.”

Had I faced Liam in my soul’s form back then?

But I was nearly absorbed into Jane’s memories then, and naturally assumed my soul’s appearance would have been hers too. However, it seemed that even if memories became blurred, my soul remembered my true essence. When was it? Someone said that… that the soul is essence itself. Too much time has passed now, and my memories easily fade. That’s why I never imagined Liam had seen my real face.

While I was lost in thought, Liam added.

Having seen me twice, Liam must have been certain. That I was a stranger borrowing Jane’s body. He’s rational, and very quick to judge.

I don’t know how Liam Moore survived from our farewell until now. How he remembered me throughout those long years.

Liam cleared his throat and immediately pulled me into his embrace. The Thames wind was fierce. London in midwinter was never a gentle city.

“Darling.”

“Yes, madam.”

His docile response made me burst out laughing.

Liam kept nuzzling his face against my cheek. Like a dog greeting a family returning from a long journey, his expression couldn’t contain his joy and affection.

I wrapped my arms inside his coat around his waist. The cold had seeped deep into the fabric. And I could still smell his cologne that remained vivid in my memory. I vigorously rubbed his cold cheeks with both hands.

“You must be cold. Let’s go inside. We should continue our talk indoors.”

With his bright red nose and ears, Liam said.

“I parked nearby. We should head to the car first.”

We walked down the street stuck together like a pair of cicadas.

London after midnight is quiet. Though occasionally raucous laughter from pub-goers echoed emptily through the night streets, it was mostly calm. Though much time had passed, 19th century London and 21st century London have one thing in common. London at dawn is like a sleeping beast. A beast sleeping hidden in darkness with its body lowered. Full of vitality but not noisy. 𝙍áＮộBΕ𝘴

The sound of two sets of footsteps tapped against the frozen pavement. When I stumbled on ice, Liam’s strong arms wrapped around my waist. Seeing our reflection in darkened shop windows looking exactly like lovers made me laugh a little. Seeing me laugh, Liam looked up and smiled with the same expression.

Liam’s car was parked in front of that shop. After opening the door for me to get in, Liam got in the driver’s seat. The car body shook once with the weight of an adult male getting in. When I hunched up from the cold, Liam poured me a cup of coffee from a thermos.@@novelbin@@

“Have some.”

“Thanks. I was about to freeze to death.”

While laughing, Liam Moore put both hands on the steering wheel and rested his forehead there. He turned his head in that position to face me. Meeting his playful eye-smile, I couldn’t believe how I’d lived forgetting this smile until now.

“How did this happen? You, I mean…”

Though I carefully opened my mouth, no good words came to mind. Liam picked up my words.

“A person from the past.”

“More precisely, someone who lived in a different world’s past.”

Liam Moore was one of the characters in that damned game <Misty London>. So how could he appear in ‘reality’ and exist with me?

Actually, at this point, I thought this: Maybe my original self is in a coma, and this is a dream I’m having while comatose? Even now meeting Liam Moore in reality, maybe this is just a fantasy I created? Like a delusion where the boundary between reality and unreality has collapsed from playing the game too long.

“…I have some explaining to do about that part.”

Liam Moore reached out and lightly tapped my nose bridge. He must have noticed I was having strange thoughts. His gray eyes filled with amusement.

“First… please don’t get angry about the reckless thing I did.”

What was he trying to say with such a preface? I suddenly became afraid. So carefully, I asked one of the worst assumptions I’d been thinking about.

“…Am I unable to return to the world I lived in?”

“Oh, no! Not at all!”

Thank goodness. Avoided the worst case.

Hastily denying my words, Liam must have worried I’d imagine all sorts of terrible scenarios, so he immediately got to the point.

“So, the Black King tore the world once to incorporate into this place.”

“Right.”

“We sealed it successfully, but… no, it’s not a big deal. Jane, you can relax your expression. Anyway, during that time, the existence of monsters from that side crossed over to this side. You could say the concept crossed over, so… um, the <Misty London> you experienced seeped into this London in your world.”

Not the worst, but still bad. I pressed my brow and quietly sighed.

I had barely returned to the place I remembered, and of all things, <Misty London> had been added. It seemed unbelievable. Hadn’t all those sacrifices we made to drive out the Black King become useless?

“In the end, things turned out just as ‘that one’ wanted.”

“…Somewhat. Quite a lot changed. Of course, our sacrifices weren’t entirely in vain. Including your hardships. The world’s gap wasn’t big enough for the King to cross. Probably won’t be in the future either. I’m certain they can never interfere with the ‘main body’ from outside. They won’t be able to perform sacrifices like before.”

I fell into thought while listening to Liam Moore’s explanation.

Anyway, since the Black King had tried to arrive in the world as a main body, we had fulfilled our role just by preventing that. Of course, everything seeped in drop by drop through the incompletely sealed gap until the two worlds became exactly the same…

“When did you notice?”

Liam raised his head, leaned back in his seat, and fell into thought with slightly lowered eyes. Looking at a distant point, he only opened his mouth after quite some time.

“It took a while. About two years after you left. ‘El’ approached first, and that’s how I found out.”

“After you discovered that… what did you do?”

“What could I do when it was already connected to your world? The amount that seeped in over two years was more than expected, Jane. Have you imagined that without us knowing, we were becoming another world’s ‘past’? All I could do was prevent the monsters hiding in shadows from turning the world upside down at will. So… I made one tiny deal.”

When he finished speaking, I couldn’t help but smack Liam’s back with a loud slap. Rubbing his back, Liam gave a mischievous smile. He seemed to be trying to minimize the seriousness by saying ‘tiny,’ but such wordplay doesn’t work on me. I shouted.

“You made a deal?!”

“I had no choice.”

“Why did it have to be you doing something like that? What did you stake?”

“…You’ll be angry.”

I gritted my teeth and muttered.

“Could anything make me angrier than this?”

Apparently there was.

Clearing his throat, Liam smiled and reached for my cheek. Fingertips roughened by time caressed my cheek. After repeatedly playing with his hands, he let out a long sigh and spoke.

“My magic.”

I lamented.

“You’re insane…”

That’s all I could say.

Magicians, especially those from Greenwich, frequently face life-threatening situations to the point of tedium. Owen, Herschel, even Liam! Even when I was there, he nearly died having his magic stolen after being injured by the Godfather, yet he staked his magic as collateral!

I exclaimed in shock and planted my forehead against the cold glove compartment. At the thud, Liam started checking my forehead’s well-being in alarm. But I muttered like a crazy person, without even the strength to show any particular reaction to that.

“Staking your magic.”

Does this mean Liam Moore’s body is no different from an ordinary person’s now?

That he’s no longer a magician?