Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 142

Beth unconsciously broke out in a cold sweat under his gaze. Even though Damian hadn’t asked anything further, she felt pressured and added, “I-if you hurry and follow us, you might run into her along the way. So we’ll be going now…”

Damian could tell she was lying. Lilliana wouldn’t leave his side without a word.

It was natural for Lilliana to always have a bodyguard with her, and if she had to go somewhere alone, she would tell him the destination and how long it would take so he wouldn’t worry.

Damian quickly caught up to Beth, grabbed her shoulder, and turned her around.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

Beth brushed off Damian’s hand roughly, her voice filled with anger. She was slightly trembling. Monica looked back and forth between Damian and Beth in confusion.

“E-excuse me… Mr. Damian? Is there a problem?”

But Damian didn’t even glance at the innocent-looking Monica, too busy glaring at Beth.

“If you tell me where Lilliana went right now, I’ll let this go without making a fuss.”

Beth stubbornly shook her head at Damian’s cold voice.

“I’m telling you, she said she was going to the atelier first.”

“Are you sure that’s what you heard?”

“Yes!”

At Beth’s irritated reply, Damian frowned and let out a small sigh.

“Alright, I understand. Excuse me. I apologize for startling you, Miss Phetzmann.”

As Damian released them, Beth and Monica hurried away as if running away. Damian looked around, searching for any trace of Lilliana. But he found nothing.

He took out his pocket watch and opened the lid. He clicked the button protruding from the watch, and the minute hand started spinning. Then, it stopped at the number two.

Damian looked in the direction the minute hand was pointing. It was pointing towards the main street. He let out a deep sigh and muttered in an urgent voice, “Well, this is just great. I wasn’t hoping to use this.”

It was the location tracking magic he had requested from Soliel. The minute hand of the pocket watch pointed to where Lilliana, or rather, the jewel with the tracking magic, was located.

Since the magic was cast on the jewel, the signal didn’t reach very far. That’s why Damian was in a hurry. He had to find Lilliana before she moved out of the magic’s tracking range.

She wouldn’t have gone on foot. That would have made her too noticeable. And she couldn’t have gone far in the short time he was talking to Monica.

That meant she was kidnapped in a car…

Damian ruffled his hair in frustration. If only he had a car, it would have been easier to chase after her. Currently, all he had were his two legs. He hurriedly ran to the road and hailed a taxi.

“Please take me in the direction I tell you to go.”

The driver looked puzzled when Damian asked him to just follow the direction indicated, not a specific destination. However, when Damian urged him on in an anxious voice, he started driving without knowing why.

Even as the taxi moved, the minute hand of the watch kept spinning. It meant they were moving in real-time. Damian clicked his tongue.

“Can’t you go any faster?!”

He vented his frustration at the taxi driver, who replied in an aggrieved tone, “Are you going to take responsibility if I get caught speeding?!”

Damian was speechless. If the police actually chased after them, it would only waste time.

He had no choice but to guide the driver, telling him to turn here and there, when finally, the minute hand stopped abruptly. And it didn’t move for a while.

“Turn left and keep going! As fast as you can!”

“I told you, I can’t speed…” the driver grumbled, but he turned left as Damian instructed.

Even though the minute hand wasn’t moving while the taxi was running, Damian couldn’t hide his anxiety.

He could only hope that nothing would happen to Lilliana before he got there.

***

Lilliana wanted to scream as she was being dragged into the car, but with a gag in her mouth, all she could manage were muffled sounds.

As soon as she was in the car, her hands were also tied with rope, depriving her of any freedom of movement. She seethed with frustration and thought,

‘So this is what it’s like to be kidnapped…’

Having never experienced anything like this before, Lilliana couldn’t help but tremble. She suppressed her fear and continued to think calmly.

‘Beth, that damn Beth. What’s going on? Damian didn’t say anything about her…’

Damian already had a list of key figures in the ‘Lion’s Heart.’ He had categorized the people Lilliana should be wary of and those she could associate with without any problems.

Beth was supposed to be one of the harmless ones, so she had let her guard down. To think she would be betrayed like this.

Lilliana ground her teeth against the gag. But the gag, made of tough fibers, wouldn’t break easily. She decided not to waste her energy and focused on assessing the situation.

‘Damian will notice I’m gone soon. And he might be able to find me with the location tracking magic.’

So it wasn’t the worst-case scenario. But she couldn’t guarantee that nothing would happen to her before Damian arrived.

‘Think, Lilliana. You can’t just sit here and be a victim.’

Judging from the sounds and presence she felt, there seemed to be at least four people in the car besides herself.

Could Damian handle four people alone? Casey had said that Damian was a formidable fighter, but Lilliana was worried.

‘Fire! Come to think of it, I can use fire to some extent now! If I set off a fire here…’

Lilliana shook her head. It would be more troublesome if something happened after setting a fire inside a moving car.

More importantly, it would be problematic if she acted recklessly and attacked without grasping the situation, leading to further complications.

While she was pondering this, the car suddenly stopped. Lilliana, still blindfolded, turned her head, and then someone roughly grabbed her and threw her to the floor.

“Ugh!”

She was pushed and hit the floor, scraping her arm in the process. It hurt like hell.

‘These bastards. These guys are 100% bastards.’

She firmly resolved to set a fire if necessary. While she was still disoriented, she was pulled to her knees, and then the blindfold and gag were removed.

“Gasp!”

Lilliana took a deep breath and looked around.

She seemed to be inside a large abandoned warehouse. Dust covered everything, the ceiling was riddled with holes, and there were discarded oil drums scattered around.

As Lilliana tried to get her bearings, she was surrounded by people.

“Uh…”

Lilliana looked around at the people encircling her with a troubled expression. There weren’t many of them, only about four. But they didn’t look friendly. All four were muscular men.

“Um… who are you?”

Lilliana squeezed out every ounce of her human compassion and attempted to communicate. But they exchanged glances and smirked. Then they looked down at her with contempt.

Their intimidating demeanor made Lilliana instinctively cower and crawl backward. But there was another man standing right behind her. There was no escape.

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