NOVEL NEXT Chapter 272: Drawings
Azel walked down the hallway with a stretch… his shoulders rolling as he yawned softly.
He was feeling tired after having sex with Naelia but it wasn't his fault… he had been standing on the wall since yesterday.
He was downstairs now and upstairs, Naelia was still fast asleep curled up on his bed, wearing one of his shirts which looked very oversized on her.
He smiled a bit.
She looked peaceful, though it was safe to say she was almost as perverted as her mother.
'At least she's resting,' he thought, glancing back briefly before continuing down the hall.
Still, a restless itch ran through him.
He rubbed the back of his neck.
'Isn't there something I can do throughout these two days?'
Staying with the girls and lazing around sounded nice in theory, but doing nothing for two days…? That sounded like hell not a vacation.
'Come on… there has to be a side mission or something,' he muttered inwardly.
He flicked his wrist and opened his mission tab.
The transparent blue screen hovered in front of him as he scrolled line by line.
Nothing.
He sighed.
"Great."
He shoved his hands into his pockets and continued walking.
Downstairs, the mansion was much livelier than hours before.
There were maids moving gracefully through the corridors.
They were cleaning, dusting, arranging flowers, and polishing furniture that already sparkled.
'Crono's definitely rich,' Azel thought.
The man didn't just have servants… he had an army of maids.
When he reached the ground floor, he waved at one who was carrying a tray of folded napkins.
"Excuse me," he said politely. "Do you know where Ira is?"
The maid stopped, bowed respectfully, and pointed toward the dining room.
"Thank you."
He walked there, and as soon as he entered, he whistled softly.
The dining room was a massive, elegant hall with a golden chandelier hanging above the polished table that looked like it could seat thirty people.
The table looked like it was trying to be as long as the one in the Starbloom Castle.
It wasn't dinner yet, so there were no plates on the table.
However, at the far end of the table sat Ira.
Her wavy black hair fell to her shoulders, catching the light in dark curls as she scribbled furiously on a notebook.
After a moment, she sighed, tore the page out, and tossed it into a trash can across the room… landing a perfect shot.
Azel smiled. "You seem to be enjoying yourself."
Ira looked up, a smile forming as she shut the notebook.
"Thanks," she said. "You seem to be enjoying yourself too. You look a lot fatter than I remember."
Azel froze, blinking.
"I think you meant more muscle," he said, flexing his arm for emphasis. "What kind of fat are you talking about?"
Ira tilted her head, tapping a finger on her chin.
"Erm… it might sound weird, but you gained a bit of fat around your cheeks. And… a lot on your crotch."
She scratched her head nervously while Azel sighed in defeat.
'Of course,' he thought.
One of Ira's unique heroine buffs… the one that made her such a deadly assassin in the game, it was her ability to notice minute, almost imperceptible changes…
Whether it was body movement, breathing rhythm, or even slight physical shifts, she could pick it out instantly.
In other words… She had sharp eyes.
This ability made her a perfect killer… and a little bit of a perfectionist.
"I see," he said finally, with a resigned nod. "Guess I'll just have to gain more muscle then."
Ira bit her lip, her face slightly red.
She wanted to tell him that gaining fat in that particular area wasn't necessarily a bad thing but her tongue froze before the words could leave her mouth.
She wasn't as shameless as Naelia.
She cleared her throat. "So, what are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you that," he said, leaning back on the chair beside her. "What are you drawing? And how's life here in Karan Town? It's been a while since we last saw each other."
Her eyes softened a little. "Honestly? Living here isn't bad."
She looked at the window beside them, sunlight cutting through the curtains.
"If you ignore the constant fights between soldiers on the wall and the gang members, it's actually… peaceful."
"The mages don't interfere?" Azel asked.
She sighed. "The mages aren't meant to intervene in fights between mundanes."
Then, almost shyly, she looked at her notebook again.
"Um… about the book. If I show you, will you call me weird?"
Azel tilted his head. "No. I won't."
He leaned forward with genuine curiosity. "Come on, what is it?"
Ira hesitated for a moment, then sighed.
She opened the notebook and slid it toward him.
Azel took it carefully, flipping the cover open and froze.
The first page was a colored sketch of his face.
Only, his hair was black instead of silver.
He blinked, confused. "Huh?"
He flipped to the next page.
Another drawing.
His face again, with different hair color.
It was brown this time.
Then blond.
Then red.
Every page was him… from different angles, with different expressions, and even different lighting.
And then, he noticed something.
Every version that had his silver hair… had little hearts drawn on the top corners of the page.
He stared blankly at the notebook, then looked at her. "You're… drawing me?"
Ira's cheeks turned pink instantly.
She scratched the back of her head. "Y-yeah… I've been doing it for the past few months. I was just… testing out how your face would look with different shades of hair. You know, for art practice."
Azel raised an eyebrow. "Art practice?"
"Yes! It's not like I'm obsessed or anything!" she said quickly, waving her hands, though her voice cracked a bit.
He closed the notebook slowly. "…Right."
'If I didn't know any better,' he thought, 'I'd say she has a weird obsession with my face.'
His gaze slid to the drawings again.
The attention to detail was insane… she was drawing it perfectly as if she was a camera.
The only thing that threw him off were the lips.
They were always fuller.
He flipped one last page and sighed inwardly. 'Why are the lips so full in the drawings? Does she… want to kiss them?'