Betrayed, I Met The Demon Lord

Chapter 51 - Threat

After Van scrambled around, eventually making Anne get up from her princess carry to fetch two towels from a nearby stand, the two lay on the grass nearby, letting their bodies dry out in the sun as they looked up at the sky.

"Hey," Anne called out.

"Hm?" Van responded, tilting his head slightly from looking up.

"Thanks," she said flatly.

"For what?" he asked.

"For what," she mimicked, rolling her eyes. "Can you just cut the crap and accept it? I'm tired of guys trying to act all cool with me."

Van's eyes widened before he laughed at her sudden aggression.

"Okay. If you keep laughing, I'm LEAVING," she said loudly.

"No, no," he waved dismissively. "It's just nostalgic. You're just like your mom,"

"Oh? She must've rubbed off on your own old man if you say it's nostalgic," Anne murmured, raising an eyebrow.

'Oh, right, I'm Van junior...' Van thought.

"A-ah, I suppose. No one here says that, huh?" Van asked.

She sighed deeply, turning to him. "Anyway, just accept my gratitude, dude. I might've been angry at the pool, but I'm not stupid. I saw what you did back there," she said, her voice trailing off as she looked away. "...Except my folks, no one ever went out of their way like that for me," she added quietly.

"Well, I was just having fun with my niec-...new friend," Van quickly corrected himself.

"...Pfft. Bastard," Anne said with a soft chuckle, her posture relaxing as she looked up at the sky.

A few seconds went by. Then Anne gave a deep yawn as she stretched her sore limbs.

Van glanced at her, noticing her eyes getting heavier.

"Well, I've pretty much dried up. Wanna go?" Van asked.

"Oh, uh... I-I don't know... isn't friends lying outside next to each other, looking up for no reason, something special?" Anne mumbled as she scratched her cheek.

"No idea," Van replied flatly.

"I just mean... we came here only like an hour ago... shouldn't we stay? Make use of the day?" Anne said.

"If you're tired, we can just call it a day. It's cool," Van said with a shrug.

"Look, dude, I don't really know what to do. I just know... if we made it all the way here, we gotta stay," Anne said, looking away, her eyes searching the grass for words.

"Why?"

"Because... it wouldn't be cool to leave just an hour after coming here. We barely did anything. Friends, or people who are..." She hid beneath her short hair, "C-close, do more with their time... I can just sleep at night, right?" Her voice wavered.

"Says who? Those jerks you hate?" Van glanced at the sneering group.

"Smug bastard," she said, punching his shoulder with a smirk.

'Woah... It's like hitting armor,' she thought, gasping softly.

"Either way, if you're tired, you should go. Unless you like sleeping on grass?" Van said, offering his hand.

Anne bit her lip. "Is it... really okay to end it so early?"

"Yeah. Take it easy," he assured, not thinkingtoo hard on what he was going to say.

"Sure..." Anne felt his calmness infecting her as she took his hand, and he pulled her up.

Feeling loose and at ease, she spoke "Before I go to sleep though, I want food, but I don't have the strength to go out," she said, brushing off grass. "Come to my place, I should also have something frozen for you."