Living as the Villainess Stepmother

Chapter 63 - Traces (2)

The barely-lit room made it seem like it was white, but the color of this one was actually gray. Lila was a bit frustrated, specs of dust floating around her.

'Is that a magic stone?' She narrowed her eyes, and she wondered what it was doing here in the middle of an abandoned warehouse.

Lila brushed the dust with her fingertips, and a chill suddenly erupted throughout her body. An eerie feeling enveloped her senses, making her yank her hand back as if she had been burned.

It was a hole, and touching it felt like prodding disgusting-looking blobs that were stuck together, remembering the time when she came in contact with Enrique's. Even though she pried her fingers off the hole, it was still stuck onto her hand as it continuously sucked on Lila's ring.

Why is there a hole in the Wipere's training field? Lacias and Roxana had already gone searching for the holes' traces, but it seemed like they missed this one since it was hidden in an inconspicuous place.

Her mind was filled with thoughts, thinking that it might have been a spy's doing.

Lila was told that the spy had disappeared from the manor after she laid the information out in the open, and a spy was pretty much useless after his identity was revealed.

Only a spy would have purposely hidden a hole in an unused warehouse, away from prying eyes.

'But in the original novel, the spy wasn't a shadow..'

If that was the case, the spy must have intentionally hid the hole here because his master was a shadow. Lila should tell Lacias about this as soon as possible, and the hole she was seeing now was quite a big one. Looking at it closer, Lila guessed that it was most likely mixed with something else, and it was surprisingly cube in shape. Lila seared the image in her head and took the hole off that was stuck on her finger. The hole trembled for a few seconds before flying towards the cracks of the closed door.

It must've picked up on a new ring.

A hole would only move in such a way when it sensed a new ring to suck on, and that could only mean Lugar's. Lila followed the hole out of the warehouse, seeing the ashen form wander up in the air before storming towards a specific direction. It spun haphazardly around a big cherry tree, and Lila assumed that Lugar's ring was probably hiding there.

She immediately jogged towards the tree. Lugar obviously hid his butterfly ring there because the colors were similar to that of the cherries , making it so hard to notice at a first glance. Looking around, the hole was nowhere to be seen hence she focused on her mission and spotted Lugar's ring.

This ring of Lugar appeared to be the weakest one and Lila took advantage of it. She aimed and shot it. The branches surrounding it shaking as she did so. She was satisfied with how perfect her aim was but her smile quickly fell at the sight.

*

This was not what she expected at all. Lila flicked her hair back behind her as she looked up at where her ring was, which the hole had stuck onto the moment it shot out of her pistol, preventing it from shooting the butterfly. Sensing that one of his rings had been found, Lugar immediately moved his ring to a safe distance and stirred it away from Lila.

Lila huffed and made her ring come back. She pried the hole off her ring and aimed her pistol once again. Lugar's butterfly zigzagged in the air as to fend off any direct attacks, Lila eyeing the ring closely with her pistol clutched tightly on her hands. Even when the ring started to fly even further away, Lila remained absolutely still. Her eyes were laser-focus, like a predator waiting for the right moment before pouncing its prey.

What felt like a few minutes were only a few seconds and when she finally found the chance to shoot, she quickly shot as golden sparks sprung out of her gun and bulls-eyed the ring, jerking as it crashed to the ground. Lugar's butterfly broke down in pieces and Lila scooped the remains on her palm. It was fidgeting like it wanted to go back to its owner.

She got one out of three, wondering how many Hizette managed to get. Lila was deep in her thoughts, about to turn around when a pair of arms stopped her and hugged her from behind, taking her by surprise. Lacias pressed his lips to her shoulder.

"Lacias? How did you—"

"I just got back and I felt your aura. It's mixed with something disgusting, though."

Lacias must have felt it when Lila touched the hole. "A hole was hiding in an abandoned warehouse." She said, clenching the hole tighter.

"A hole? In a warehouse?" Lacias raised his eyebrows.

"Look at this." Lila opened her palm and showed it to Lacias. "The spy probably hid it there."

Lacias' eyes narrowed for a brief second, agreeing with Lila's assumption.

"But I destroyed it so it's fine now." The hole disintegrated into powder, and she shook it off her hands like it was nothing but dirt.

Lacias only looked on, seeming uninterested as he changed the subject altogether. "What were you doing here?"

"I was practicing how to use rings, and we made a bet out of it too." Lila said.

"Is shooting Lugar's rings part of the deal?" Lacias asked in curiosity.

Lila nodded.

"Let's wrap this up quickly then, shall we? So you could finally spend the rest of the day with me." Lacias threw her a smile and pointed to a spot several meters ahead of them. "There's another one over there."

Please read this TL's note:

Rings are form of energies. It comes in different forms for each character, others may take creative forms such as butterfly. It's called a Ring as it comes from the hand literally. Inexperienced ring users uses pistol to summon their rings. The more experienced they are, the more rings they are able to produce.

Shadows are people who uses distorted rings which are called "Holes." Rings such as these are colorless. They attach to other people's rings and sap its energy to gain power.