BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 143

Jose stared picture after picture at Nolan's drawing paper, nodded slowly, then handed the sheet he had seen to Rolan.

All Rolan could see were the lines that were overwritten on the strange circle. He looked at Jose in disbelief. "Can you read this?"

"No. The picture is unclear. I'm confused too" Jose admitted. "But I might be able to catch a little bit" he continued hastily as soon as Nolan stopped drawing and looked at him with his lips curled downwards.

"I just saw a box, a box, a round, a line. This one looks like a man. It's I don't know what," Rolan judged honestly, not realizing Nolan was looking at him in annoyance. The girl snatched her image from Rolan's hands, added a few dots and scribbles, then handed it to Jose.

Jose knew he was trusted by the girl to understand, but he was actually confused. If only Nolan could write.

He observed sheet by sheet, no longer looking at Nolan's drawings as paintings but as patterns. He looks for the same pattern of each paper and compares it. It turned out that although the picture was not clear, Nolan was quite consistent. Jose knows a lot of the same things. He thought for a moment when he saw the only human-like shape there. "This is Uncle Marco?"

Nolan peeked, then nodded happily. He pointed at other graffiti and made movements with his hands, sometimes even trying to make a sound, which made him cough with pain.

Jose looks patient despite being confused, but Rolan is not that patient. He pulled the black bag he always carried, pulled out the scissors from it, folded Nolan's drawing paper and cut it into a simple human. In an instant, six paper humans had already appeared.

"It's Marco. I made his head black as a marker!" Rolan took out an expensive pen that already had an ink bag from his pocket, making an arc on his paper man.

Nolan pulled up Jose's sleeves, the young man turned his head and nodded in understanding. "I knew. Let it go, it doesn't matter now."

"What?" asked Rolan suspiciously. Hand stopped. "What did he say?"

"not important. Just go on, Uncle."

"I'll decide if it's important or not for me. She why?"

Jose pointed at the black-headed human paper that Rolan had made. "Uncle Marco has white hair."

Nolan nodded twice.

Rolan looked at the two people in front of him with a frown of disbelief. "Hmmm, it's not important. Is that all that trouble? How do you know what he said? He's not talking!"

"From his face is readable" said Jose in astonishment. Beside him, Nolan nodded again with full agreement.

Rolan did not understand that explanation, but he was also lazy to try to understand. "There is no need to protest. Marco's head is all black. But all right, just like you guys. The one with the black head is Jose. It's Marco. It's you, Nolan. It's Robert. This ... this is a black ghost."

There is still one more paper man left. Rolan left it nameless. While Rolan was coding his paper dolls, Jose finished creating a Bjork map by combining two sheets of drawing paper. He also gave a clear illustration picture using charcoal.

***

Charles eventually left home to attend a meeting with Baron Spencer. They will discuss the next steps to bring down Edgar Argent. Marco is gone, meaning the back is weakened. If Edgar's efforts are damaged, the front of Bjork controlled by Argent will also weaken. In the end, the family will be removed far away or at least made to have no influence. That was Charles' dream. Xavier had agreed and supported only because he thought this was just a matter of trade competition. But it turns out that what his cousin did was more like an obsession. And after investigating for himself who the person his cousin wanted to drop, Xavier was horrified.

Once he finished making sure that his cousin's horse carriage was gone, Xavier immediately got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. He shook his head quickly like a dog draining water from its fur, trying to make its head clear again. He could not expect Jose to call him first. He'll go there directly.

Xavier knew that often the merchants and nobles used cunning means and vile tactics to take down his opponent. He can accept all of that. But a magical creature created from a corpse? He doesn't like it. He was simply unwilling to let his cousin deal with a creature like this.

The deal with the devil must be rewarded. Xavier was worried that the rewards they would receive would not be able to bear.

He walked out casually, rejecting Wales' offer to join him. It's still morning. It is now eleven o'clock, the time when the sun is shining warm enough in Bjork. The atmosphere of the city is crowded. There was a big can that was running very slow and called a car, there were horses, the sound of small feet of children running around, the smell of a cake that had just been burned. Xavier breathed in the air greedily, but still could not feel alive. She looked back because she felt followed. At first he thought it was just his feelings of anxiety that had recurred. He usually becomes easily suspicious and anxious after every drink. But after a long walk around the market, Xavier believes he is indeed followed. Those people kept a steady distance with him. If he stops, the man stops. As he walked, his feet also walked. There may be two or three.

Since trying to free Marco, Xavier has always been attacked by anxiety about whether he will be found out. If it's discovered, will he be killed will his cousin help again?

Xavier stepped on his shoelaces intentionally, making them unravel. He lowered his head naturally to tie her up, taking a peek back through the legs. There were two pairs of shoes that were about to turn around, but then it was quiet when I saw them just fixing the laces.

It could be swirling in markets and crowded places to avoid, but the market will be closed during the day. He'll come back alone.

He intended to seek help at the bar, but then canceling it because getting into a closed place while being chased was clearly a bad idea. Xavier still tried to walk quietly despite his heart pounding.

If he died, would Charles use his body to make a golem? Inevitably the thought flashed, making Xavier almost cry. He wants a drink.

He doesn't want to die.

Even if he had to die, he wanted to drink first.

Xavier veered off the main road leading to his subscription bar, ordering a pints of beer.

He sat down at the bar table feeling uneasy. His face was flushed and his eyes were sloppy. The bartender gave him a word of comfort that Xavier could not absorb. His eyes watched the bar door, waiting. Many times he imagined someone would enter with a knife and slit his throat. Or maybe that person would stab him while pretending to order, making Xavier always jump in shock whenever anyone accidentally touched him or sat next to him. He waited for his killer, not knowing what he would die for. To him, he deserved to die, so Xavier had no intention of asking if his death god was coming.

After almost two hours of waiting and still no one came to kill him—even the one who asked him to fight was not there, Xavier paid and walked dazedly out of the bar, back around the market and the streets, and then there was no fight, then back to the front of the bar in amazement. It was no longer followed.

After thinking for a long time, Xavier became convinced that he must be under suspicion. If he had walked toward Argent's house, his body would have been lying on the street by now. Without life.

Xavier looked up at the signboard of the bar, then laughed out loud at the beer picture there and kissed the friendly pole of the board without caring about the gaze of others. He turned inside the bar, ordering one more pints to celebrate safety.