The soldiers moved in unison following Killian’s orders. He then turned to the orphanage teachers and said:
“We need your testimony. I’d like you to testify in detail about the director’s actions over the past 10 years.”
“And.”
As Killian finished speaking, Veronia added:
“Please comfort the children who were advised to be hospitalized yesterday at the clinic and listen to their stories. It seems those children may have been sacrificed for the mad director’s research.”
At Veronia’s words, the teachers’ faces contorted, and tears soon welled up in their eyes.
“That’s impossible…!”
“How could they do such things to those young children…!”
[This is the timeline separator]“Stop dawdling and move quickly!”
The soldiers roughly dragged Lars out of the building. Even while being dragged, Lars continued to press the necklace, click, click, avoiding the soldiers’ eyes. But nothing happened.
‘Why isn’t this working? I’ve never activated it in 10 years, but it’s the device I installed most carefully as soon as I came here! What on earth is the problem!’
Like the teleportation scroll, even the secret button on the necklace, left as a last resort, didn’t respond. But he didn’t give up and kept clicking, clicking the button.
“Wh… Whoa!”
The soldier walking ahead carrying a box full of evidence stumbled on a stone and lost his balance, his body tipping precariously. At that moment, the soldier escorting Lars from behind quickly let go of him to support the falling soldier.
“Be careful.”
“Thanks. You saved me from a close call.”
Lars didn’t miss this opportunity. He started running with his hands still cuffed. He ran with all his might, aiming to hide somewhere in the dark forest.
But the aged man was no match for the young soldier. Lars, who was soon caught again, fell face-first onto the ground, overwhelmed by the strength of the rushing soldiers.
“Ugh…! Let go! I said let go!”
“Stop this useless act and go quietly! Keep this up and you might end up gagged!”
“I’m innocent! I said let me go!”
Lars struggled with all his might, but it was just a pitiful movement to the sturdy soldiers. The soldiers easily subdued Lars and eventually even gagged him.
“Shut up and just walk!”
“Mmph… mmph!”
Lars, now covered in dirt from rolling on the ground, was dragged away by the soldiers. But even then, he didn’t give up and continued to press the secret button on the necklace. It was the only thing he could do.
‘Huh? It worked!’
But then something unexpected happened. The necklace, which had shown no reaction until now, finally lit up red and started blinking. A manic joy filled Lars’s face.
He didn’t know it was because the magic circle paper attached to his back had fallen off while he was wrestling with the soldier just before, but it didn’t matter. It worked, that’s all that mattered now.
“Mmph… mmph! Mmmmph!”
Lars, being dragged by the soldiers, suddenly started laughing maniacally. He was frustrated that he couldn’t laugh louder because of the gag in his mouth.
And then, just a moment later, boom, kaboom! An explosion was heard from behind.
“Aack!”
“Wh-What’s that!”
Surprised by the tremendous explosion, the soldiers covered their heads and lay flat on the ground. Thanks to this, Lars, now free from the soldiers’ hands, started running towards the forest.
[This is the timeline separator]It was when Veronia and Killian, having thoroughly inspected the laboratory, were about to leave the basement with the teachers.
Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard from deep inside the basement. The violent tremor nearly knocked Veronia off balance, but thanks to Killian’s firm grip, she avoided falling.
“I’m not sure what method he used, but it seems he intends to destroy the evidence by blowing up the building!”
“The children! The children are in danger! We must evacuate them quickly!”
Veronia shouted towards the teachers. They ran up the stairs at full speed.
When they finally emerged from the secret passage and reached the director’s office, Killian stood still, no longer moving. Veronia asked with a puzzled expression:
“What’s wrong? We need to get out of here quickly.”
“You go ahead. There might be monsters that survived the explosion. I’ll stay here for a moment and deal with any rampaging monsters. You go and save the children.”
“Ah…”
Veronia hesitated. She didn’t want to leave Killian alone. But she also didn’t think she could be of much help to him by staying.
In urgent situations, it was better to focus on what each person could do. After looking up at him for a moment, Veronia nodded.
“Alright. Don’t get hurt, absolutely not.”
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. There are many children to save. We must hurry. Please be careful yourself.”
It wasn’t easy to let go of the tightly held hand, but there was no choice. Finally, Veronia released his hand and started running with all her might.
Boom! Crash!
The violent explosions continued.
[This is the timeline separator]“Waaah!”
“I’m scared, teacher!”
The entire building shook with the series of explosions. Children, startled awake, sniffled as they searched for their supervising teacher. A teacher who had run at full speed to the 3rd floor living quarters shouted to the children:
“Children, calm down! The teacher is here, so there’s no need to worry!”
The children, who had been crying and running around in confusion, flocked to the teacher.
The teacher spoke with a smiling face even while catching her breath. She was a veteran teacher who knew that in urgent situations, it was more important to calm the children first rather than rushing blindly.
“There are many knight uncles outside the orphanage to protect our friends. So there’s nothing to be scared of.”
Perhaps it was thanks to the teacher’s gentle voice. The children soon wiped their tears and looked up at the teacher with sparkling eyes.
“If you just listen to the teacher from now on, we’ll be able to get out safely soon. Now, shall we all line up in order? If the friend next to your number is missing, let me know.”
Thanks to their previous training, the children quickly moved and lined up in a single file at the teacher’s command. Then, one child raised their hand and shouted:
“Teacher! Amy and Julie are missing! I think they went to the bathroom together. Those two always go to the bathroom together.”
At those words, Veronia stepped forward.
“Teacher, I’ll go to the bathroom and bring the two children. You should leave first with the other children.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you. When you leave this room, turn right and go straight, and you’ll see the central staircase. The bathroom is right next to that staircase.”
“Okay, I understand.”
“We need to escape through the back door. The back door should be safer than the central entrance, which is close to the basement. The children who went to the bathroom will know where the back door is. Just come with the children.”
“Yes!”
There was no time to waste. As soon as the teacher finished explaining, Veronia started running immediately.
As she ran down the corridor, all the walls around her shook. Explosions continued in the distance, and stone dust fell from the ceiling. But Veronia didn’t stop, she ran and ran.
“Grooowl!”
“Roooar!”
The cries of monsters mixed in with the sound of explosions could be heard. Thinking of Killian facing the monsters alone made her heart sink.
‘Killian, don’t get hurt! Please! I believe in you! So please don’t betray my trust!’
Tears threatened to spill out due to the sudden fear that overcame her, but she forcefully held them back. Pushing away her worries, Veronia finally arrived at the bathroom after running.
The bathroom was very large, given the number of children living in the orphanage. But finding the girls wasn’t difficult.
The children were crouching in a corner, trembling with terrified faces. The girls, who looked about eight or nine years old, burst into tears as soon as they saw Veronia, wailing “Huuuuuh!”
“Girls, it’s okay now!”
Veronia hugged the girls tightly and stroked their small, trembling shoulders. Then she added a brief explanation of the situation.
“There was an explosion in the basement, but there’s no need to worry. If we run out quickly now, we’ll all be safe. Come on, hold my hand. Let’s go!”
The children, with tears still glistening in their eyes, firmly grasped Veronia’s hands.
Just as Veronia was about to stride forward, holding tightly onto the small hands damp with cold sweat, one of the girls hesitated and tugged on Veronia’s hand, saying:
“But Ted also went to the bathroom.”
“Ted?”
It was a name Veronia knew, the boy she had met at the clinic the day before yesterday. The one on whom she had first discovered the suspicious needle marks.
“Ted must be in the boys’ bathroom, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then wait here for a moment.”
Veronia immediately ran to the boys’ bathroom. In the spacious bathroom, there was no sign of Ted or anyone else.
“Ted! Where are you? Ted! Come out!”
She searched the bathroom thoroughly, but the child was nowhere to be seen. Even calling out loudly brought no response.
“Ted! The building is collapsing! We need to run outside the building quickly!”
The child was clearly not in the bathroom. Perhaps he had already returned to his room. Veronia returned to the girls and explained the situation.
“It seems Ted isn’t here. Maybe he already went back to his room?”
“… Yes, I think so.”
The girls nodded at Veronia’s question. There was no more time to waste now. The building was shaking so much it was hard to even stand properly. Veronia grabbed the girls’ hands again and started running.
“We need to go through the back door, not the central entrance. Do you know which direction that is?”
“Yes! That way! We need to go that way!”
Veronia ran down the shaking corridor and descended the stairs full of stone dust, towards where the girl’s small finger was pointing.
“Ah… There it is!”
Finally, they could see the wide-open back door at the end of the corridor. Veronia and the two girls ran with all their might towards the small door.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
