NOVEL NEXT Chapter 368: Calling Marionette?
Leaning her phone against a pillow, Lillian stared down at it intently, her eyes shaky as she began the call. The phone vibrated for a bit and for a minute.
And then...
It went to voicemail.
Lillian slammed her face into her mattress with a look of both despair and guilt. She rolled around and let out multiple groans that were unheard by no one but herself. Viesta seemed to have gone to meet up with the blacksmith she had hired on her blueprint.
"Aw, man..." Lillian internally cried, staring at her blank screen. She couldn't believe that her call didn't go through...
Was Marionette now ignoring her...?
Lillian's thoughts turned dark as she felt tears bottled up in her eyes. And without any trace of maturity given her mental age, she threw a tantrum like a toddler.
However, just a moment after, she felt a faint vibration course through her mattress. Her ears twitched as she listened to the tune of a call ringing from her phone.
Immediately sitting back up, she looked towards her phone, finding the caller to belong to the one she had been wanting to talk to since getting back to the hotel.
It was Marionette.
Once she caught sight of the green button to accept the call, she tapped it instantly and held the phone to her ear.
At the beginning, there was just silence.
A drop of sweat poured out from Lillian's forehead, running down the side of her face, which tensed firmly as she tried to think of how to articulate her words without stuttering.
"M-... Mari?" She failed horribly.
"..."
After another moment of silence, Marionette spoke from the other side of the phone:
"... The town of Blackridge, hm?" Her voice sent shivers down Lillian's spine. And not in a good way, if she were to be perverse.
The woman's voice was filled with both coldness and indifference. Although Marionette's words seemed like a harmless rhetorical question, it felt more like a... Threat for some reason...
Lillian fidgeted a little, unsettled by the coldness of the woman's voice. She wiped the sliding sweat oozing out of her forehead and muttered in a small voice:
"W-well... I was going to tell you, later—"
"When?" Marionette asked, interrupting Lillian, who couldn't help wrinkle her face wryly at this.
"Ehm... Later today?"
"..."
Marionette became silent again, as though she had begun to think more about what Lillian had just told her. Then, she said:
"You have completely broken every request I had clearly written in that letter. Why is that, Lillian?"
"A-alright! I got an excuse for that!" Lillian raised her hands, waving them erratically for no one to see.
"The Student Council had requested us to do something together! But... Since you weren't here, I had to join someone else, who didn't have their partner either. I can't refuse and risk losing this role when I just got it, right?"
"... Tch..." Lillian listened as a conspicuous click of the Assassin's tongue rang out from the phone's speakers. She could identify the displeasure in Marionette's voice, but surely the woman would understand, right?
"And how long is this task of yours going to take?"
"I... Well, currently there's a monster at this town that I'm planning on taking down later tomorrow—" Trying to divert the conversation, Lillian spoke of the Alpha she had encountered today.
Fortunately, this had caught the Assassin's attention for a bit, even possibly causing the woman to forget the question she had just asked. However, as soon as Lillian finished talking about it—
"I see... Now answer my question: how long is this expenditure of yours and my substitute going to take?"
"E-eh... A while is all I can really say— wait, did you just like Viesta your substitute?" Lillian was taken aback by what Marionette had just said.
Did Marionette just call Viesta her... Substitute?
"Viesta, hm? That's her name?" Marionette muttered in a slow but low voice. Then, she said, "To answer your question, if I were not to have been called back to the estate, I would have most certainly been in her place with you."
Marionette paused for a split second before adding:
"However, since that isn't possible, this Viesta is nothing more than my substitute for a role that should've been mine. Is this logic understandable? Or do you perhaps need it to be spelt out? Because I feel like you find it hard to do that."
Lillian's face twitched rapidly at Marionette's oddly rude statement. She drew in a sharp breath as she answered, "H-hey! I just told you why I'm doing this. You didn't have to be rude about it..."
After Lillian said that, she became anxious as Marionette didn't say anything back. But then, she was startled as her screen suddenly reflected the image of her face back at her.
Lillian widened her eyes for a split second, instantly sitting up straight, 'Did she just hang up on me?'
However, as anxiety levels shot up, they also shot back down. With closer inspection, she realised that there were two buttons displayed at the bottom of her screen.
Marionette was looking to FaceTime with her.
Realising this, Lillian used the screen of her phone as a mirror and brushed her hair, intending to make herself look more presentable. But then, she decided to just lie down on her side.
Lillian accepted the call and was immediately met with the sight of a beautiful red-eyed woman with black hair dressed in a dark nightgown.
Lillian beamed at the sight of her, then she noticed the top of a white furred object in the woman's arms, which also had long ears resembling those of rabbits.
Marionette was hugging the plushy that Lillian gave her.
Lillian smiled broadly at this. She felt warm at the sight of this and even more so as she watched Marionette hide the lower half of her face behind its head.
Marionette noticed her intense stare and couldn't help but glance away. She thought back to her earlier words and sighed, "I'm... Sorry for what I said... I'm just a bit upset you didn't tell me beforehand."
Lillian giggled slightly, seeing how genuine Marionette was about her apology. She also couldn't blame the Assassin for being upset with her; it was reasonable.
Lillian opened her mouth and answered with:
"I'm..."