Joshua breathed a sigh of relief; finally, someone had come to his rescue.
"I'm finally back!"
The footsteps grew closer, accompanied by a familiar voice.
Could it be...?
Joshua's eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned to look at the entrance to the hall.
The next moment, two familiar figures appeared before Joshua.
"Brother Carl, Brother Lady!"
Joshua's tone was full of surprise; he hadn't expected the two of them to return so soon after he brought it up!
At this moment, Joshua completely forgot about the fact that he had secretly stirred up hatred between the two of them earlier.
He took three steps at a time and immediately walked up to Lady and Carl, looking up at them with an increasingly bright smile on his face.
Carl was rather reserved, nodding slightly while looking at Joshua with a faint smile, clearly happy to see him as well.
Lady's reaction was much more obvious; he gave Joshua a hearty smile.
Then Lady put her right arm around Joshua's shoulder and vigorously rubbed his head with her left hand.
"Hey, Joshua, long time no see!"
Joshua smiled and lowered his head, not refusing Lady's rubbing.
Both of them were so engrossed in their own world that they completely ignored Ilya, who was sitting in the main seat in front of them.
As soon as Karl entered the hall, he saw Ilya. Although she was smiling, he quickly caught the anger hidden in her eyes.
Yeah, it's going to be a disaster!
He made a silent decision in his heart, deciding to be a wooden man from this moment on and never utter a word.
Although he didn't know how effective it would be, Carl felt he had escaped unscathed from Lady's undisguised attitude.
At least, Lady's blatant disregard for the mission's failure had firmly held Ilya's attention.
Sure enough, Ilya's lips seemed to be drawn downwards by a strong gravitational pull.
"Hey, some people seem pretty happy. How did the mission go?"
The gentle female voice suddenly turned sharp, like a knife stabbing into Lady's heart.
Lady and Joshua, who were already embracing, both of them shuddered, and their smiles froze.
To avoid being targeted by Ilya, Joshua lowered his head, pried open Lady's embrace with both hands, and then slowly moved behind a pillar.
With the pillar blocking Ilya's view, Joshua immediately clutched his chest and gasped for breath. Although his chest heaved violently, he made no sound at all.
It's like a pantomime.
Without realizing it, Lady had taken in the whole scene.
I don't know which of Joshua's actions inexplicably tickled Lady's funny bone.
As he watched, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The quiet hall amplified even the slightest sound.
Naturally, Lady's laughter reached everyone's ears clearly.
The atmosphere suddenly became heavy.
Joshua was so breathless that he covered his mouth with both hands, afraid of letting out even the slightest sound.
He looked at Lady with admiration in his eyes, as if the man before him were a warrior.
No, Brother Lady, he truly is a warrior!
How dare they do this in front of Ilya!
And this was even before the task was completed!
Joshua mentally gave Lady a big thumbs up.
Carl was also in control of himself.
He controlled himself from showing shock or turning his head to look at Lady.
He pursed his lips, his face serious, as if facing some century-old problem.
But my mind was already wandering with all sorts of wild thoughts.
During this mission, he only spent a day and a night separated from Lady when he went to the Misty Forest alone.
So, what exactly happened to Lady during that day and night that made him so bold?!
Although Carl kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, he couldn't help but glance at Lady's expression out of the corner of his eye.
Perhaps realizing that her laughter had been abrupt, Lady had stopped laughing and her face turned serious.
However, even though she managed to keep a straight face, Lady's heart was already reeling.
We're doomed!
We're doomed!
He definitely won't see the sun rise tomorrow!
Lady's little heart skipped a beat.
Just as everyone was mentally prepared for Ilya's outburst, she instead softened her sharp words and gave them a gentle smile.
Ilya leaned back in her chair, gently placing a wine glass on the long table in front of her with her right hand, while her left hand unconsciously twirled her fiery red hair.
“Joshua,” Ilya said in a voice as gentle as a knife, “could you go and prepare lunch?”
"You know Carl and Lady are back, so we should celebrate, right?"
She even went so far as to offer an extra explanation to increase credibility.
Even though he knew Ilya couldn't see him hiding behind the pillar, Joshua still felt a strange sense of dread when the voice rang out, as if Ilya were staring directly at him.
He shuddered uncontrollably.
Listening to Ilya's words, I always had the illusion that she was saying, "Let's celebrate today and have Carl and Lady as snacks."
Joshua immediately nodded without hesitation, even though Ilya couldn't see his gesture.
"Okay, Ilya-neechan, yes, Ilya-neechan, no problem, Ilya-neechan!"
Before he could finish speaking, Joshua took off running towards the hall entrance.
"Wait a moment."
Just as Joshua was about to walk out of the hall, the gentle female voice spoke again.
Joshua's steps froze, and he stopped in his tracks.
"I-Ilya, sister, is there anything else? Is there anything else?"
Joshua swallowed hard. He didn't dare turn around and only dared to ask Ilya with his back to him.
Fortunately, Ilya didn't take it to heart and directly stated her purpose.
"Could you close the door for me when you leave?"
Joshua breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that this was the reason.
"No problem, Ilya-neechan!"
"Bang--"
It was the sound of Joshua closing the door before he left.
To Lady, it sounded like the devil's whisper.
Lady, you're doomed!
He felt a chill run down his spine.
The hall was completely silent.
All I could hear was the loud pounding of my own heart, the sound filling my ears.
After a long silence, Lady couldn't take it anymore.
It's like being cut with a knife; although there's no immediate danger to life, this prolonged torment is much more unbearable.
“I said,” Lady cleared her throat, breaking the silence, “how much longer are we going to stand here?”
At times like these, Carl admired Lady especially.
They can always say things like that without any shame.
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