Chapter 77
“Even if you try, you won’t get far! It’s all pointless!”
From behind, a woman’s voice shouted. Fear gnawed at her that it might actually happen, but she couldn’t stop her legs.
Where… where should I go…?
Her mind went completely blank, unable to think of anything, while her legs instinctively carried Cynthia toward a familiar place. Cynthia darted recklessly from one alley to another.
As she ran, she bumped shoulders with innocent bystanders and nearly crashed into market stalls, but she didn’t have the luxury to care.
“Huff… huff…”
Finally, a familiar glass door appeared before Cynthia’s eyes. She lifted her head, read the sign, and without hesitation stepped inside.
“Welcome…”
Enoch, who was checking the potion stock at the shelves, froze when he saw Cynthia. Raising one eyebrow in a mischievous tilt, he spoke.
“What? Am I seeing things?”
“Enoch! Wait, can you help me…!”
How could she think of Enoch in this situation? Perhaps, because she had been visiting here frequently lately, she had come here without realizing it. Cynthia tried to catch her breath and approached Enoch with desperate eyes.
Enoch looked her over from head to toe and spoke.
“Partner, what’s going on? What do you need help with?”
“Can you hide me for a moment?”
Even she thought it sounded strange.
A client suddenly popping up out of nowhere asking to be hidden? And their previous dealings hadn’t ended so smoothly either.
Enoch, who had been quietly observing her, turned his head toward the shelves and said bluntly,
“That’s strange. When I needed help reproducing a magic potion recipe and asked you to meet me just once, you didn’t even show up. And now you suddenly appear asking me for help?”
“I-I’m sorry about that. But for now…”
Cynthia’s anxiety made her keep glancing outside the glass door as she stepped further inside.
“I’ll help with everything! I’ll help after I finish the urgent matter right now, so just… hide me for now…”
Enoch glanced at her serious expression and asked,
“What’s going on?”
“Someone’s chasing me! Please hide me just once…!”
“Who’s chasing you?”
That wasn’t the point…!
Cynthia shook her head, almost in tears.
“I can’t explain now! It’s urgent…”
“I can’t hide you without knowing who’s after you. What if you’re being chased by the police for committing a crime? I don’t want to get involved in anything that dangerous.”
“It’s not the police!”
“Then who is it?”
“…The Baileys.”
Cynthia hesitated briefly, then finally spoke. When Enoch heard that the people chasing her were from the Bailey family, he finally turned to face her.
“Why the Baileys? The partner panting in front of me is the Bailey family’s only foster daughter, isn’t she?”
“Th-That’s true, but…”
“If a precious young lady had a cute little runaway from her patriarchal father, it’d probably be better to just return to those chasing you now and avoid unnecessary trouble. Don’t make life harder than it has to be.”
“……”
Enoch clearly treated her like a spoiled noble girl.
After all, she had used a mysterious magic recipe to make potions and even forced her fiancé to open his eyes—so thinking of her as a mischievous noble girl wasn’t unreasonable.
“This isn’t that kind of problem, Enoch!”
“Then what? Are these people going to kill you?”
“Yes.”
Cynthia nodded.
“…What?”
“Exactly as I said. They could actually kill me.”
Enoch, momentarily speechless as he looked down at Cynthia, began to show a growing look of alarm. He seemed surprised that she immediately accepted the story he had just thrown out.
“W-What… really?”
“So please… there’s no time. I don’t know when they’ll chase me here…!”
“…Hah.”
Following Cynthia’s anxious gaze, Enoch looked outside the glass door, sighed, and walked toward the back. He reached the preparation room, which had been shielded so customers couldn’t see inside, and pulled the curtain aside.
“Go inside for now.”
“Thanks, Enoch!”
“They won’t kill an innocent magic pharmacist too, right?”
“…Probably?”
Cynthia approached the preparation room, cluttered with various items. Strange ingredients rolled across the floor, and colorful potion bottles precariously lined the upper shelves.
So this is where the potions were made, in such a messy place?
Still, she had no room to complain. Carefully, she squeezed herself into the preparation room.
“Hey partner, I’ll make sure to repay you later.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“You know, I couldn’t even properly sell that potion last time because of that partner of mine ignoring me.”
She felt guilty for that… She remembered that Enoch had completely forgotten in the meantime because he had been so absorbed with Teshion. Cynthia, feeling a pang of remorse toward Enoch, moved to a corner of the preparation room and tried to curl up as small as possible.
No sooner had she settled down than the pharmacy door opened and people rushed in. From outside, the voice of a Bailey maid could be heard, followed by someone answering quietly.
“…We haven’t seen anyone like that.”
“They said they came this way, though?”
Cynthia pressed herself closer to Enoch, who was sitting right beside her, and whispered,
“Who’s that outside instead of you?”
“A part-timer.”
“You even have part-timers?”
“I succeeded, so yes.”
I-I see…
Cynthia nodded reluctantly.
“But why are you hiding with me…?”
“Just in case.”
“Just in case… what?”
She looked at Enoch, demanding more explanation, when the voices outside grew louder.
“Can we search inside the store briefly?”
“You do realize this is obstructing business, right?”
Good job, part-timer…! Cynthia mentally cheered the surprisingly smart and firm part-timer, but anxiety gnawed at her. If they searched the pharmacy, Cynthia would be discovered without a doubt.
“What’s inside the preparation room?”
“Potions. Don’t you know that?”
“….”
Yes, just go… just go…
But despite Cynthia’s desperate wishes, the people from the Bailey mansion began rummaging through the pharmacy freely.
“Why are you doing this?”
“I said it would only take a moment.”
“Please be quiet.”
The maid they had met earlier must have brought other men as well, because multiple footsteps and voices could be heard.
Oh no…
The sound of the Bailey family members’ footsteps grew closer. If they lifted the flimsy curtain covering the preparation room, Cynthia would have no choice but to reveal herself.
“What… what should I do…?”
“So it seems they really are here to kill you. Their search looks serious.”
Enoch’s calm voice left Cynthia stunned. Can he really be that relaxed in this situation?
“This is the preparation room! You absolutely cannot enter. There are confidential ingredients here, only our pharmacist can…”
“Move aside, can’t you?”
The people hired by the Bailey family roughly pushed the part-timer blocking the preparation room. With a clatter, the part-timer fell to the floor, letting out a small groan.
Cynthia instinctively looked around for something to protect herself. She grabbed a dirty cloth lying on the floor and threw it over her head. Then she clutched the bag she had brought tightly.
If necessary, she could even swing the beads like last time…!
At that tense moment, the curtain shielding them was lifted, and bright light spilled into the dark interior.
“…!”
Before she could face them, Enoch, sitting beside her, turned first. He leaned over Cynthia, covering her.
What… are you doing…!
Startled, Cynthia toppled backward and instinctively grabbed the back of Enoch’s head. The ingredients on the floor rolled noisily. Stray hair poked through the fingers clenched tightly over her head.
“Uh…?”
The men who had entered the preparation room stopped in confusion.
