Chosen By The Lover's Constellation-Chapter 28: The Highest Bidder, Part Three

{September 2, 239 2E}

On Saturday the 2nd, Lianna walked out of her dorm early into the morning, striding through the halls with purpose.

There was someone she wanted to see. The last time she’d spoken to her was owed to a quest, given to her by her celestial benefactor. This time, Lianna was seeking her out of her own accord.

She couldn’t just ignore the only other child of mana she’d ever met. So, she intended to come and bother her once again.

The library was just as empty today as it had been then. Lianna quickly strode to the part of the library where she’d found Mel last time, the History section.

Sure enough, the grey-skinned girl was still sitting there. The main difference, however, was that she was awake this time around. Knees huddled up to her chest, head low, her purple eyes found Lianna the instant she walked around the shelves. It almost looked like she’d been wondering whether Lianna would show or not.

"Hi," Lianna greeted her with an easy smile as she approached. "How are you doing?"

For a moment, Mel looked frozen. It took a couple of seconds before she finally answered:

"I’m... I’m okay."

Someone coughed in the distance, perhaps trying to signal them to keep it a little quieter. Lianna sat down next to Mel, leaning back against the wall, legs crossed.

"Do you read a lot?"

"Hm?" Mel looked rather confused by that question.

"This is the second time I’ve run into you in the library... And I don’t think I’ve seen you outside of this place too many times."

"Um..." Mel pulled her eyes away from Lianna, visibly stringing together a response in real-time. "I like it here..." As Lianna silently urged her to go on, Mel added, "it’s quiet."

"Your roommate’s that noisy?"

"N-No," she shook her head. "I don’t... have one."

"Ohhh..."

[Um, I don’t really get it, but whatever.]

"Hope I’m not making things too noisy for you, then."

"No," Mel was quick to respond this time, "you’re... you’re fine."

At that moment, Lianna couldn’t help but wonder about one, tiny, insignificant, completely minor detail.

[Seriously, does... Does she know that I’m a murder suspect?]

Given that, before being announced as such, Lianna had been just another ostracized child of mana, it was hard to tell which of the glares she received day in and day out were owed to the accusation.

Given the way that pretty much any fear Mel had shown toward Lianna had all but faded by now, Lianna guessed she hadn’t heard about that.

And, honestly, Lianna had no intention of bringing it up.

"You know, it does feel pretty cozy here... But, still, you must get hungry every now and then. Where do you go to eat?"

Mel’s answer was to simply reach into her hoodie’s pockets and pull out an unopened chocolate bar.

"Come on, that’s not food!" Lianna grinned, standing up and extending a hand toward the girl. "How about I show you someplace nice? Gotta get something warm in your stomach every now and then."

Mel considered the offer briefly, before nodding slowly.

"O-Okay..."

---

Lianna took Mel to a sandwich shop just a couple of streets away from the Watchful’s guild. The way she saw it, the farther she went from the guild hall the more danger she was thrusting herself into, so Lianna picked out a place that both happened to be close by and that she’d been to many times.

Usually, whenever Lianna stepped in through the cheap, glass doors at the entrance, she could expect a kind "hello", from the old lady who owned the place. She received no such greeting this time, which made her think:

[Well, she definitely knows... But, given that I’m a "suspected" murderer and not an actual one, she’s not denying service. At least there’s that, I guess.]

"What would you like?" Lianna asked the girl she brought.

"Uh, I-I’m not..." Mel began, but her stomach grumbled halfway through her sentence.

"Heh, don’t worry, it’s on me. What do you want?"

Somewhat guilty, she responded:

"Eggs and bacon..."

A few minutes later, she and Lianna were sitting down with sandwiches in hand, having a quiet, comfortable lunch.

Every now and then, Mel’s eyes would lift up from her sandwich and she’d sneak a peek at Lianna before promptly getting caught and embarrassedly lowering her gaze again.

[She’s kinda cute,] Lianna, thought, smiling a little as she finished the last of her sandwich.

"Have you gone on any missions yet?" Lianna asked.

Hesitating, Mel squeezed the edges of her sandwich a little before answering:

"No."

"Hm? Why not?" Lianna asked.

"No one wants to take me."

Unfortunately, that wasn’t a hard thing to believe.

Growing up, Lianna had always been treated like a source of awful luck by those around her. That attitude went away as she grew older, but even now, every now and then, she would see someone back off, knowing of her origin. Something that was made worse now that she was a suspected killer.

Knowing what Mel was going through, Lianna said:

"You could go with me." Mel’s eyes widened. Lianna kept going, adding, "my roommate and I wouldn’t mind."

[I’d have to ask Enverna, obviously, but I doubt she’d care.]

"But..."

"I’d have to charge ya, though."

Instantly, as though she was finally informed of the catch, Mel deflated.

"Oh..." Mel replied. "Um... How much?"

Lianna winked.

"Some more lunch dates will do."

Mel froze. Mouth open and wide-eyed, she stared at Lianna like her brain had just short-circuited.

"What do you think?" Lianna asked.

Mel took a moment to consider it.

"I... Sure," she finally answered. "I-I agree."

"Cool. I will have to check in with-"

Lianna’s phone vibrated in her pockets.

[Hm?]

She pulled it out, finding that the very individual she’d been about to mention was calling. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Hold on one moment," Lianna said before standing up and walking out of the sandwich shop. Answering the call, she said, "hey. Did anything come up?"

"... You could certainly say that," Enverna replied quietly.

"Oh? What’s up?"

"I will send you something in a couple of seconds. Please, take a look at it."

"Gotcha."

Lianna hung up then but didn’t come back into the shop just yet. About half a minute later, Lianna’s phone buzzed again. This time, it was a message, not a call.

Looking down at it, the reason for the call became obvious in an instant.

[Oh... Shit.]

It was an article that Enverna had just sent to her. And, that article’s title was:

"Bloody Lovers: The Deadly New Members Of The Watchful"

[... So,] Lianna sighed. [Guess that secret’s out.]