The Sinners Who Eat Her Heart ✔️

CHAPTER 3 ⋆.ೃ࿔

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

 'I missed her, I wonder if she is okay. I know she easily gets lonely when we're not together.'

Buried in countless books, papers, and articles, a frown sculpted deeply on Riddle's face; he leaned back on his cushioned seat to close his eyes and rest them from staring at the laptop screen for too long. As he tried relaxing, he tried remembering the last time he saw Mary, their last time together was when she spent a night in his place and they chilled on the rooftop to watch the stars afterward things had gotten turbulent for him at the detective agency.

It was already past 9 in the evening but Riddle didn't feel like going to bed just yet—the agency was connected to the home he bought for himself. The cases brought to them by their clients eerily shared patterns.

"Killers on the loose and all of the clients say they're men in strange yet noble-like clothing" Riddle got off his seat, stretching his arms, and walked around the room. His office was on the second floor while the first floor was where Trey and Cater first talked with their clients about expectation settings, etc.

Meanwhile, Ace and Deuce were assigned out in the field.

Because of the sudden surge in death sightings at random places at Lewis Capital, people grew alarmed and started going home earlier than usual, they would be barely outside in the wee hours.

"Riddle-chan, I think we should call it a day or night" Cater came inside, carrying some coffee mugs with a small smile on. "You look exhausted, have you taken some time off since our agency opened?"

Riddle shook his head, exhaling. "I can't, this case we got is vital and I don't want to blow off our first ever serious case"

"Yes but if you end up getting sick for not taking care of yourself, we won't be able to close the case and catch these noble-looking killers" Cater explained, worry obvious in his tone. "Oh by the way did you buy a new phone already?"

Shoot, he added this to his mental note but got pushed further back due to concentration at work. Riddle lost his phone days ago when he was outside, he made certain that he would acquire a new one but he had already forgotten.

Noticing his reaction and the way the red-haired male palmed his forehead, Cater chuckled. "Oh boy, you forgot to buy one. Alice might think you are upset with her, you know how she thinks—one trivial inconvenience equals doom"

"That is what I'm trying to avoid too" Riddle started to feel dizzy by this, he needed to keep it together and balance his time for work and personal life. "Do we have any update about Deuce on the case?"

Cater sipped from his coffee mug while browsing his phone, "Yes, thanks for asking, that's the reason I came here, see these unknown killers target magic wielders specifically but not limited to mages—they also harmed creatures...with signs of overblot"

--

Amusing. Did she think she would not be noticed by hunching and wearing a cloak over her head?

Elbert Greetia was trying to hold back his laughter and smile, if the other gents would see this they would think he hit his head against the pavement because of acting out of character but since the morning he began trailing behind this young woman, he had been wholly entertained—she never failed in amusing him.

'Twisted Wonderland but with oblivious people...' This world differed none from where he came from, these individuals residing at the Capital remained unaware that he was walking among them. It reached their hearing that the people became alert due to the deaths left behind at random places—he blamed William Rex for those rumors, the bastard didn't mind spreading such things and mongering fears.

But at their recent hunt, they were found—their actions witnessed by someone, and that someone thought she could get away with it.

'She will look great in my shelf, or treasure room perhaps? I should decorate glass shards around her...' Elbert thought to himself as he wondered what he would do once this young woman became part of his collection. Since their arrival at Twisted Wonderland, she was the first one to pique his curiosity. Was it her hair the shade of blood or the look of fear in her gem-green eyes? Probably both.

The redhead he was following went into a bookshop and was greeted by a cheerful blonde man inside—observing their gestures and happening within the humble store, Elbert quickly concluded this was where she worked.

Inside the shop, Rio had been talking nonstop about an incident relating to his homeland and also he was acting like a worrywart checking on Mary.

"Are you sure you're not sick?! You look like you lost a lot of blood!" He noticed upon her arrival that she was paler than normal and those bags under her eyes. "Oh no! Am I overworking you?!" Rio was horrified at the thought, maybe she wasn't voicing out her distress and enduring the workload.

Mary shook her head, being in the bookstore provided some solace from the loneliness of not seeing Riddle yet. "I'm fine, Rio and you're not overworking me, I'm just..." Then there was the nightmare-came-to-life that she couldn't forget. "...I didn't sleep well last night, Grim and I did a movie marathon" She lied.

But how could she sleep really? When those pair of red eyes continued haunting her, she sprinted off wordlessly with the flower fairy after their gaze met, sending a shiver of fear down Mary's spine. The flower fairy had been staying with her since that incident.

Rio didn't look convinced, "Why don't you take an early break? It's not queuing yet and I have some tea freshly brewed earlier, I can get some scones too"

"That's too much--"

"I insist! Let's both take a quick break and I'll tell you more about Rhodolite!" Rio smiled cheerily.

Mary couldn't help but smile back, his exuberance was contagious. "I'd love to, your home sounds like a rather unique land with fairytale-like aspects. And you said as of now, the royal members of the family hadn't found their 'Belle' yet? Whatever that means..."

--

William Rex was smiling from ear to ear, in his hand was a phone which they managed to open easily and as he casually sat on the couch near the unlit fireplace, just relaxing that morning, he couldn't help the surge of delight and thrill as he browsed through the phone's pictures.

"Can you believe my luck...?" The photos were consistently showing a couple—both redheads but the boy was centimeters shorter and his hair was slightly a different shade, darker. The man's eyes were a stormy gray but William didn't miss the tiny details like how those gray eyes became soft in the picture when directed towards the red-haired female.

The enchanting green eyes William saw days ago, those orbs became filled with fear. In these photos, her gaze was glistening with joy and happiness. There was no doubt they were together.

"Rex, Victor called for us, he said he has something important to share regarding a few people living here that might be...a possible hindrance in our plans" Ellis Twilight declared upon entering the den and calling the white-haired male.

William Rex stood up, he kept the phone in his pocket with a smile still plastered on his face. It was those emerald green eyes he continued seeing in his sleep when he closed his eyes, the look of fear and being intimidated coloring it brought a spike of ecstasy. 'We will meet again.' 

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