Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 144

“Now I understand why my brother said getting involved with you was horrible and hid in the countryside for two years. You’re not people who can be reasoned with. Your words already failed to persuade me and my brother two years ago. Do you think anything will change now?”

“We were hoping that with your memory loss, approaching you with a new perspective and persuasion might lead to a different outcome…”

Geoffrey chuckled and scanned Lilliana with a disgusting look.

“It’s a shame that my words don’t appeal to you.”

Lilliana was disgusted by his gaze but didn’t show it and glared back at him. Geoffrey shrugged nonchalantly and spoke again, “Then how about this? A way to resurrect the dead. If I tell you that method, will you join us?”

Lilliana frowned at his words, which were not only different but completely out of the blue compared to their previous conversation. She let out a short, hollow laugh and shook her head.

“Is there any reason for me to know such a method? A way to resurrect the dead? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Oh… but don’t you have anyone you want to bring back to life?”

“No.”

At Lilliana’s firm answer, Geoffrey stroked his beard with a leisurely expression.

“Didn’t your father pass away?”

This time, Lilliana couldn’t help but burst out laughing in disbelief.

“What are you talking about? I don’t want to bring my father back to life. Don’t insult my deceased father.”

“Really? Are you sure you don’t want to bring your father back?”

“Yes! The deceased are deceased. I don’t want to bring my father back!”

“Your filial piety wasn’t that strong…”

Geoffrey muttered, as if he knew something, and Lilliana turned her head away.

“I’m sorry my filial piety is lacking. But I truly don’t feel that way.”

If asked if she loved her father, of course, she did. But from Lilliana’s current perspective, she had lived apart from him for over ten years and had barely met him since he left home.

She was sad when she heard about his death, but since her attachment to him wasn’t that strong, she was able to recover quickly.

And thanks to that, Lilliana was able to think about her father quite rationally.

“Anyway, no matter what conditions you offer, I will never cooperate with you. So stop this pointless waste of time and let me go. And don’t ever come looking for me again.”

As Lilliana shook her head with a resolute expression, Geoffrey reached into his pocket and took something out. Seeing that, Lilliana let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Ha! You said you weren’t carrying any weapons!”

There was a gun in Geoffrey’s hand. Lilliana hadn’t trusted him from the start. Still, she had wanted to believe his claim of not carrying any weapons, so the betrayal stung.

But she wasn’t scared. She had something to rely on.

“You won’t be so smug for long. If you get shot in the leg, you won’t be thinking about running away.”

Lilliana quickly turned her body, but Geoffrey was faster on the trigger. Just as she registered the gunshot, the bullet, flying towards her, hit something and ricocheted.

One of the jewels on her bracelet shattered with a loud ‘Clang!’ and disappeared. One of the spells on the jewels had blocked the bullet.

“What?”

Geoffrey’s eyes twitched as he stared at the completely unharmed Lilliana in disbelief. But there was something else that would surprise him even more.

Bang!

With the sound of a gunshot, blood erupted from Geoffrey’s right shoulder.

“Argh!”

Geoffrey dropped his gun and clutched his shoulder. Blood gushed from the bullet wound.

Lilliana, startled by the blood splattering on her without warning, flinched and let out a small scream.

“Kyaa!”

“Lilliana!”

At the familiar voice calling her name, Lilliana quickly turned towards the source with a relieved expression.

“Damian!”

Damian, who had arrived unnoticed, was hiding behind the oil drums, aiming his gun at Geoffrey and the men.

“I’ll cover you, so come this way!”

Lilliana quickly got up and ran towards Damian. But one of the men grabbed her long hair.

“Eek!”

Lilliana fell backward, her feet tangled. Damian instinctively tried to rush out, but a bullet grazed his face, forcing him to take cover again.

“Damn it.”

Damian wanted to run to Lilliana, but he couldn’t recklessly leave his cover as the other men started shooting at him. He had already guessed that they were armed when Geoffrey pulled out his gun.

Damian didn’t particularly want to fight these men. It would be troublesome if any of them died. The police would get involved.

That was why he had aimed for Geoffrey’s shoulder, and when he shot the other man, he had also avoided vital points and aimed for the arm holding the gun.

Lilliana glared at the man holding her hair. Her hands, which had been tied with rope, were now free. She had set the rope on fire.

Lilliana grabbed the arm of the man holding her.

To be honest, she wasn’t scared because she had something to rely on, but she was afraid for a different reason. She had never harmed anyone in her life, nor had she ever fought for her life. So the thought of attacking someone was terrifying.

But if she just sat there and did nothing, whether it was Geoffrey or one of the other men, they would keep shooting at her. And then her protective magic would run out.

She could be protected once or twice, but with Damian held back, she had to do something.

Lilliana swung her hand and created a firestorm. She could see the man holding her flinch in surprise. He had heard that her power was weak and hadn’t expected her to wield such a large flame.

Lilliana enveloped herself in the firestorm and threw herself at the man who was still holding her hair. The men faltered and backed away, eventually releasing Lilliana’s hair to avoid the flames.

Freed from their grasp, Lilliana picked up the gun Geoffrey had dropped and found him staring at her.

She dodged his gunfire and ran, but she ended up moving in the opposite direction of where Damian was. She hid behind an old abandoned car parked in a corner.

“Ugh…”

Lilliana crouched down, covering her head with her hands.

“Lilliana! Are you alright?!” Damian’s urgent voice reached her from the other side of the gunfire.

“Yes! I’m fine! I’m not hurt! What about you, Damian?!”

“I’m still okay! Wait there! I’ll come to you!”

“No! It’s dangerous! Don’t come!”

Despite Lilliana’s pleas, Damian quickly ran towards her. He slid and rolled to where she was hiding, his back against the car, and replaced the magazine in his gun.

Damian looked Lilliana over, then frowned, his smooth forehead creased in anger.

“You say you’re not hurt! Your arm is all scraped!”

Lilliana then remembered that she had scraped her arm when she was thrown to the floor.

But compared to being shot, wasn’t it a trivial injury? However, Damian didn’t seem to think so.

“Those damn bastards…” Damian cursed under his breath.

Lilliana asked Damian sheepishly, “What do we do now? Kill them all and run away?”

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