Surviving As A Cannon Fodder

CHAPTER 83

"I swiped it" said Angelica, placing her legs on top of the table and leaning back.

Gilbert should have known better than keeping the device right in front of her eyes when she specifically asked for it. In fact, a part of him already knew what was going to happen if he denied her request. Yet he ignored everything and ended up angry from being robbed.

"You took it from him without his approval?" asked Clive, looking at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"Yup" She stretched her arms in a relaxed manner.

"Once is a mistake. Twice is just stupid"

"And with this I don't have to fear being drugged again"

Clive flinched at her words. His shoulders drooped down and his face turned sour from guilt.

Words were not enough to explain how he felt when he saw the death certificate arrive from the capital. If not for Angelica returning home, he would have lost his mind for what he had done.

"Stop looking like that...." said Angelica, hitting him in the side.

"Looking like what?" He asked with a sad smile.

"Looking like you've been abandoned" Angelica sat straight and caught his cheeks.

"Owwww" Clive writhed in pain. He was already injured from being thrown across the room.

"You did what you had to do for the sake of the people. Although it wasn't the right way to go about it" She continued as she stretched his cheeks wider.

"Why didn't you just ask me? Why did you have to pull such a ridiculous stunt?"

"Woouldd yoww habbb aabsepteb" He said with tears in his eyes.

"What're you saying? Talk in human language so I can understand" Angelica frowned trying to understand his blur speech.

*woof*

Chirpy jumped on her and nudged her hand with his head.

"Hmm?" Angelica looked at Chirpy, confused by his behavior.

*woof* *woof*

He continued nudging her with his head and then looked at Clive. His tail was wagging excited from seeing his enemy being punished.

"Oh!" Angelica let go of Clive's cheeks after realizing his gestures.

"Ahem...now talk. What were you trying to say?"

"Owww" Clive's cheeks were bright red. He could feel his face sting from pain.

"Would you have accepted the proposal if I had asked you?" He asked again while holding his stinging cheeks.

"Yes. I would have" Angelica answered, her face beaming brilliantly like the sun.

"What? Really?" Clive asked wide-eyed. This was certainly not the response he had expected. Since he was bracing himself to get cursed at again.

"Of course not you idiot! I was being sarcastic" Angelica answered in a flat voice and knocked Clive lightly at the back of the head.

"But if you had discussed it with me. I would've come up with something like..."

"Like?"

"Like...... I don't know...turning solar power into electricity. Something." Angelica shrugged.

"Or even lunar power. We have three big-ass moons in the sky. Might as well put it to proper use"

"I was scared" said Clive, looking down, his face gloomy from remembering the turbulent times.

"I was scared of losing everyone and made a stupid decision in the spur of the moment" He covered his face with his hands.

" I wondered every night if I did the right thing, even though I knew it was wrong."

"And when I saw the death certificate I felt the world collapse around me."

"But..... in pursuit of saving everyone, I lost the one dearest to me"

"..." 

Angelica listened to him talk without interrupting. He must have been under tremendous pressure in the short span he had taken the duty as Lord. 

None of the natural disasters was his fault. He was doing his utmost as the lord of the county to help the people who had lost their livelihood.

The continuous disasters targeting only Ashford county were also mysterious. None of the other lands except for those within the territory of the Ashfords suffered any kind of damage. It might have been the forces of the world trying to follow the flow of the novel.

'Like I'd lay down and die, so that the handsome sociopath could have a happy ending' Angelica scoffed.

"It was not your fault" She patted on Clive's back trying to soothe him. She could feel the tension on his shoulders relaxing a bit by her patting.

Even if Clive had not done what he did. In one way or another, Angelica would have been married to the protagonist and had her life sacrificed for the sake of the story.

'So the world kept pushing him down, till he finally snapped' Angelica sighed feeling pity for the brother she raised.

"Also I thought he was a perfect match for you" said Clive, the sadness in his face completely replaced with playfulness.

"What?!" Angelica was startled by his words.

"You don't like to be bothered and he doesn't like to be bothered. So we thought you probably wouldn't bother each other" He continued with a smug face in an effort to make a vain joke.

"Duh...It's the perfect match"

"Clive" Angelica tilted her head, the corners of her mouth raised into a wicked smirk.

"Stop giving me more reasons to kill you. I'm barely holding myself back"

"Eeep!" Clive felt a chill run down her spine.

"Now. What's this about a death certificate?" asked Angelica, curious about the items on top of Clive's desk.

Clive walked over to the desk and picked up the papers that arrived from the capital. His face grimaced from reading the words. He kept staring at it with trembling hands imagining the worst that could have happened instead of handing it to Angelica.

"That was fast" said Angelica, snatching the papers from his hands.

'And why does it look premade? Where they dead set in having me killed off' She raised her eyebrows as she read through the papers at a fast pace.

"The funeral is held in three days in Volos. I was about to leave in the morning to attend it"

"Interesting" Angelica muttered, nodding to herself.

'They are convinced of my death to the point of burying an empty casket. That's a good thing'

"Why are you smiling?" Clive got goosebumps from seeing the twisted smile on her face.

"What? It's not every day you get to see your own death certificate" said Angelica with an exasperated expression.

"Although the funeral is tempting......" She pondered. 

It was indeed tempting to attend the funeral where all of the nobles in the capital were set to attend. It wasn't every day one gets a chance to attend their own funeral. Still, it won't be worth getting recognized by the people she knew. 

"Damn it. I can't risk being seen now" Angelica decided to forgo her curiosity for the sake of her peaceful life.

Suddenly, she felt two pairs of eyes looking at her with questions.

"What is going on An-An?" Clive's eyes wavered. He was struggling to say the words.

"You were only there for one month. What happened to the point of holding a funeral?" asked Clive, holding her shoulders.

*whimper*

Even Chirpy whimpered at the mention of the word 'funeral'.

"What happened to you?"