The Sinners Who Eat Her Heart ✔️

CHAPTER 2 𓇢𓆸

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To make up for the lack of employment, Mary decided to be more active inside the house by doing all household chores and cooking meals—it has gotten to the point of being over that she almost came down with a fever and got herself mildly scolded by her father.

"I appreciate keeping things clean and orderly, child but I didn't say you should exhaust yourself to the core" Divus was not pleased, his concern for the young woman was up the roof. "You are not a servant"

Mary, who had taken an entire day off after feeling a headache and vertigo wasn't able to form any proper response to explain herself. "I just don't want to be a burden to you, Dad...at least in here I could be of use..." She subtly glanced at the half-finished food she meant for their lunch, there was an instruction book nearby which she had been following.

A frown had sculpted on Divus' face, "Not even once did I think about you being a burden, this mindset you kept in your pretty head needs to be flushed out, Mary. You can't live your entire life with that idea otherwise people will continue stepping on you"

She fully understood, even Grim was silent in the corner observing the father and daughter duo but afterward, Divus became soft and showered Mary with affection. He would be going out on a business trip hence he wanted to give a firm reassurance that he would constantly be in touch.

"I will look after her, sir Crewel, take care on your trip" Grim followed the fashionable male out to the porch, he never failed to prove to the stylish professor that he would be there as a guardian to Mary.

Weeks after Divus went to his trip, the days became lighter and kinder to Mary. Finally, her efforts bore fruit and she landed a job.

"Really? I'm h-hired? Y-you're not joking?!" Mary blinked many times, she wanted to be certain this was no prank.

The job was at a humble antique-styled bookshop that opened last year, its owner was elusive and never showed himself to anyone, the only person regularly there was Rio Ortiz.

Rio nodded, brimming with enthusiasm. "I will never play a bad joke, Mary! Even my boss gave his approval, you can start your shift tomorrow!" He was a tall friendly man with blonde hair and blue eyes, he also had an ear cuff. "We are fortunate to have customers dropping by and interested in our books but there are times it goes out of control and some people would ask for me instead, hehehe" He grinned sheepishly.

"That is because you look adorable and handsome, Rio" Mary complimented him, her tone earnest and transparent.

The tall blonde visibly became excited, holding her hand with his. "Aww you're so honest, Mary! You are adorable too! Anyway, as I was saying, the boss said it would be good for the business to have a babysitter so that is where you come into the picture!"

There were many books inside the shop, diverse and offering assorted genres for all types of readers, not only fiction but non-fiction pieces, magazines, and instruction books were available! Mary looked around, some already caught her interest. "Your boss must have really liked books, Rio"

"He does, he has a large room with thousands of books! If you see him you wouldn't peg him for a book lover though because he is super strict and standoffish" Rio then began to orient Mary about the owner and the importance of ensuring the books would not be damaged, he also gave her a general overview of each sections in the shelves.

By late afternoon, Mary was already on her way home—she felt happy after the orientation with Rio, the pay was not too small either and he even added that if she would perform well, there would be other perks which added to the redhead's elation.

"I can't wait to tell Grim! I'll prepare my best clothes for tomorrow's shift and I will note all the reminders Rio told me today!" Mary skipped while humming a random tune to herself in the streets; she took her phone out and checked her messages—for a second, the delight faded and was replaced by a slight gloom.

Riddle hadn't replied back to the chain of chats she sent, their chat box was already flooded with her chat bubbles and some pictures.

"I thought we'd be chilling on the first day but heck, it was like a tidal wave, Mary! First few days in the agency Deuce and I are already neck deep with work!" The redhead recalled that specific complaint from Ace when he briefly checked on her and Grim; he was tired and already thinking of switching jobs, and he didn't expect that they would quickly have clients to deal with.

Mary deeply exhaled, "I should not feel this way, Riddle is busy with work and I can't take that against him just because I'm missing him." She pepped talk herself, "I will give him space and patiently wait for his reply" It didn't really make her feel better but she needed to be understanding with the situation.

Suddenly, a tiny flower fairy with Dragonfly wings appeared in the young woman's line of vision, this took Mary by surprise because as far as she knew fairies this size wouldn't show themselves in a place with many people.

The flower fairy was in distress, pointing at an alley far and not noticeable by anyone passerby.

"Something bad is happening" Mary couldn't speak their language but her gut felt lit up and sent signals that she needed to follow the creature, so she did and she was led in a cramp dim alley. It was already too far from where the people would be.

Her face scrunched up in disgust, she covered her nose and tried breathing through her mouth. "That smell is familiar..." The awful scent was what she got forced to adjust her senses to back in her freshman days at NRC.

An overblot, that was the scent.

The flower fairy gestured for Mary to stop and hide behind the bricked wall, making a shushing action. Mary squinted her eyes and sneakily peeked past the wall—green eyes bulged as she saw a troubling scene up close.

Three men tower over a group of fallen fairies on the cold ground—their wings were torn off their backs and barely breathing, and the ground they laid on was stained with black. The men were dressed formally, like a couple of nobles but whatever they did was not humane or acceptable.

"Nasty creatures, I thought fairies are fictitious" The white-haired man with an intense hunter-like red gaze smiled devilishly, he was the one enjoying the creatures' misery the most. "This world is proving to be highly entertaining"

"Stop playing with them, they're dead" The other man with disheveled dark blue hair and steely blue eyes nonchalantly rolled his eyes, he sounded bored.

Mary was frozen on the spot, she didn't realize tears were already streaming down her face at the gruesome sight—she also heard the tiny sobbing from the flower fairy whose appearance was similar to the dead ones. 'What is wrong with these men?! They are sick and horrible!' She was deeply affected because those types of fairies were common in Moors, no other part of Twisted Wonderland did it live in.

The pair of sinister red eyes found Mary's green ones.

--

Grim was wearing an apron, and in his paws was a tray of cooked food which he put on the table. He was already preparing for dinner.

"Why did I suddenly have a goosebump?" He raised a brow, wary. "Is Mary alright? She should be home by now, or maybe I'm being paranoid for no reason? She is such a klutz after all"