Chapter 348: Fake Couple Stuff [Bonus - ]
To him, it was an incredibly expensive hobby that did nothing but destroy the lungs and stamina of regular people.
And more importantly, it smelled terrible.
The thought of walking around smelling like a damp ashtray, like Evelyn constantly did, was a massive no-go.
They finally walked away from the wooden stall, wishing the old man well, and merged back into the dense flowing crowds of the neon-lit street.
The exact second they were safely out of the old man’s sight, Evelyn pulled the premium cigar from her pocket.
She placed the thick roll of dark leaves between her lips and ignited the tip with a quick flick of her plasma lighter.
She took a long deep drag, holding the rich smoke in her lungs before exhaling a thick fragrant cloud toward the glowing neon signs above.
"Oh my god," Evelyn groaned aloud in unfiltered bliss with her tense shoulders completely dropping as the premium tobacco worked its magic. "This is so much better. My last pair of expensive cartons finished yesterday, so I have been stuck smoking those cheap Silver-Leaf ones from the corner store."
Silas waved his large hand violently in front of his face, coughing as the thick pungent smoke hit his Oni mask.
"They smell even worse than the cheap ones," Silas roasted her bluntly, glaring at her through the narrow eye slits. "You smell like a burning tire factory mixed with burnt dirt."
Evelyn didn’t even flinch at the insult.
She just took another slow drag, looking up at him with a smug unbothered smirk beneath her Kitsune mask.
"Well, even a random old man running a street cart has better taste than you, Silas," Evelyn struck back flawlessly, puffing the dark smoke in his general direction. "You wouldn’t know real undercity culture if it punched you in your perfect sculpted jaw..."
Silas just shrugged off the insult.
Arguing with a severe addict currently holding a premium stash was a completely losing battle.
"Whatever," Silas dismissed the topic, checking the glowing street signs hanging from the buildings. "We better start looking for your contact now. Have you contacted him on the secure network yet?"
Evelyn reached into her cargo pocket for her phone, fully intending to pull up the coordinates for the cyber-rig.
But as she turned her head, her dark eyes locked onto a brightly lit stall situated just down the street.
It was a massive decorated ice cream stand, featuring glowing magical frost runes that kept the glass display cases perfectly chilled despite the body heat of the crowd.
Evelyn paused mid-step.
She remembered the genuine uncharacteristic excitement that had briefly lit up Silas’s face earlier when he had looked at the festival pamphlet.
She remembered the story of his poverty, and how brutally and unfairly she had shot him down, projecting her own deep-seated family trauma onto his simple innocent request.
The heavy, crushing guilt flared up in her chest again, hotter this time.
She was a Lord. She was supposed to be a leader, better than petty outbursts.
Evelyn suddenly reached out, grabbing the sleeve of Silas’s trench coat in a vice-like grip.
"Come on," Evelyn ordered firmly, pulling him forcefully down the sidewalk toward the glowing stall.
"What are you doing now?" Silas asked, stumbling slightly as she dragged his massive frame through a group of complaining tourists. "I thought we were in a rush to meet him."
"We are," Evelyn stated stubbornly, not looking back at him. "But we will enjoy a little bit of Shogitown before we go find him... Just for a few minutes."
Silas blinked his golden-ringed eyes behind his Oni mask, thoroughly bewildered by the sudden pivot.
He was experiencing severe emotional whiplash from her rapid unpredictable mood swings.
Minutes ago she was screaming at him about wasting valuable time on a festival, and now she was actively dragging him toward a dessert stall?
’So confusing...’
But, leaning into it, he simply let himself be dragged along without further complaint.
If the angry woman wanted ice cream, he wasn’t going to stop her.
They arrived at the glowing frost-warded stall. The display was filled with dozens of exotic and brightly colored flavors, ranging from glowing green matcha to deep purple void-berry.
The stall owner, a cheerful middle-aged woman wearing a pristine white apron over her clothes, looked at the terrifying broad-shouldered teenager in the dark Oni mask and the grumpy girl in the Kitsune mask dragging him by the sleeve.
"Hello there!" the woman greeted them happily, wiping down the counter. "Are you two looking for a sweet treat for the festival? We have a special discount running for couples tonight!"
Evelyn didn’t even hesitate to ruthlessly exploit the system twice in one single evening.
"We will take the couple’s special," Evelyn ordered smoothly, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a crumbled twenty-credit cash bill. She slapped the physical currency onto the metal counter.
The woman smiled brightly, taking the cash.
She grabbed her enchanted scoop and quickly formed an absurdly massive heart-shaped mound of ice cream onto a wide, reinforced waffle cone.
Half of the massive heart was a vibrant, glowing red strawberry flavor, and the other half was a pristine magically chilled white vanilla.
She handed the massive slightly ridiculous dessert directly over the counter to Evelyn.
"Here~ I hope you two enjoy it~"
Evelyn took the heavy cone and walked over to a quiet neon-lit concrete curb located a few feet away from the main flow of heavy foot traffic.
She sat down heavily on the damp curb, patting the empty space next to her.
Silas walked over with his dark trench coat billowing slightly in the evening wind, and sat down on the hard concrete beside her.
He looked at the massive heart-shaped ice cream cone resting in her hands.
Evelyn wordlessly held it out between them.
"Eat," Evelyn commanded bluntly.
Silas didn’t argue.
He leaned forward and took a bite from the white vanilla side.
The magical cold instantly soothed his dry throat, and the rich complex sweetness was genuinely incredible, far better than the mass-produced one sold in the city limits.
"This tastes really good," Silas admitted, nodding in genuine approval.
Evelyn took a bite from the red strawberry side, humming in quiet agreement.
They sat there in silence for a long moment.
They were two powerful Lords in Valoria City, wearing terrifying metal masks and awkwardly sharing a giant romantic ice cream cone on a dirty curb in the slums.
"It’s almost like a date...’ Evelyn thought, it was better than any one she had been on.
Evelyn leaned in to take another bite with her tongue swiping across the middle dividing line of the heart.
"Hey," Silas complained immediately, pulling his head back to avoid the cross-contamination. "Stay on your designated side... Do not touch my vanilla side, or lick my side with your terrible, toxic tobacco tongue."
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed dangerously behind the slits of her Kitsune mask.
"I will literally cover the entire thing in cigar ash if you don’t shut up," Evelyn threatened fiercely, driving her sharp elbow violently into his ribs.
Silas grunted, chuckling softly at her aggression.
It was a strange unorthodox dynamic, but it was surprisingly comfortable.
They didn’t have to pretend to be perfect, untouchable nobles or ruthless stoic commanders around each other.
They could just be regular people from Earth.
They stood up from the curb, continuing to share the massive ice cream as they walked slowly down the crowded street with the neon lights reflecting beautifully off the polished metal of their masks.
But suddenly, the easy rhythm of their walk shattered.
SPLAT!
The massive half-eaten heart-shaped ice cream slipped completely from Evelyn’s grasp.
It fell heavily onto the wet cobblestone pavement, splattering in a messy puddle of red and white directly across Silas’s dark combat boots.
Silas stopped, looking down at his ruined sticky boots in annoyance.
"What the fuck, Evelyn?" Silas complained, reaching down to wipe a streak of melting vanilla off the hem of his leather trench coat. "You were the one holding it."
Evelyn didn’t reply and she didn’t even blink either.
She was standing completely frozen in the middle of the crowded sidewalk, her entire body rigid as a petrified board.
Her dark eyes, visible through the narrow slits of her Kitsune mask, were wide with a terrifying shattered emotion that Silas had never seen before.
Silas instantly noticed her unnatural paralysis as his instincts flared violently, assuming an ambush, a hidden sniper targeting them from the rooftops, or a strike team closing in.
’For what reason though...?’
He quickly followed her direct line of sight, his golden-ringed eyes scanning across the bustling street.
Standing near a brightly lit skewer stall, completely oblivious to the two masked Lords watching them from the shadows, was a young man.
He was tall, with messy black hair and wire-rimmed glasses.
He was wearing the crisp and incredibly expensive uniform of Valoria College, indicating he was a wealthy scholar, not a combatant.
He was currently smiling warmly, buying a massive plate of grilled kraken skewers and handing them affectionately to a beautiful petite girl with bright pink hair standing next to him.
They looked incredibly happy.
’Huh? Is there anything weird about them?’
They looked untouched by the blood, the crushing trauma, and the brutal reality of the Sovereign Realm.
Silas looked back at Evelyn.
Even with the metal mask covering her face, he could see the undeniable genetic similarities in their sharp jawlines and the exact shade of their dark hair.
Evelyn’s hands trembled violently at her sides with her knuckles turning white.
Her voice cracked, barely a whisper over the deafening noise of the Shogitown crowds.
"Matt..." Evelyn muttered, her heart visibly shattering into a thousand pieces as she watched the scene.
Silas let out a slow empathetic sigh with the tension leaving his shoulders.
He understood it all now.
It seemed that this college scholar, this boy happily buying street food for his girlfriend while his sister bled in the mud, was Evelyn’s younger brother.
’Or a relative or something...?’
Evelyn watched them hold hands through the narrow angled eye slits of her painted Kitsune mask.
She stood completely frozen on the damp cobblestone with the ruined melted ice cream on Silas’s boots completely forgotten.
The bustling crowds of festival-goers flowed around her in a chaotic, neon-lit river, but Evelyn didn’t see any of them.
Her dark eyes were locked onto the tall black-haired boy in the pristine Valoria College uniform and the petite pink-haired girl standing cheerfully at his side.
They were sharing a massive plate of grilled kraken skewers, laughing under the warm, flickering glow of the red paper lanterns strung between the wooden eaves.
Their lips were moving.
Evelyn leaned forward slightly with her chest tightening as she desperately tried to read their expressions.
She could see the casual easy smile on her brother’s face... a genuine, carefree smile that she hadn’t seen directed at her in so many years.
But she couldn’t hear them.
The deafening noise of the Shogitown street vendors, the sizzling grills, and the distant thumping of traditional festival drums made it impossible to pick up a single syllable of their conversation.
Matt threw his head back, laughing at something the pink-haired girl said.
He tossed his empty wooden skewer into a nearby disposal bin, gently taking the girl’s hand in his own.
They turned away from the food stall, starting to weave their way deeper into the vibrant heart of the festival plaza.
Evelyn didn’t even hesitate.
She reached out with trembling frantic fingers, grabbing the thick fabric of Silas’s dark runic trench coat as she aggressively dragged him forward into the dense crowd with her boots stomping against the wet pavement.
"Woah, woah, woah," Silas protested, stumbling slightly as the petite Lord practically hauled his muscled frame down the sidewalk.
He planted his boots, forcing her to a halt near a brightly lit lantern post.
"Aren’t we supposed to be heading to his place? According to you, we need to get that done."
Evelyn whipped her head around to face him.
The neon streetlights reflected sharply off the glossy white and crimson paint of her Kitsune mask.
Her eyes, shining with a desperate intensity through the narrow slits, burned into him.
"It will be an hour," Evelyn promised. "One hour, Silas. Nothing more. We are following them..."
’Isn’t that what I said earlier?’