Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 129

Chapter 129

As soon as Beili stepped into the carriage, she saw the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Doctor Cassius sitting in his seat, holding a copy of the Imperial City Post.

The sunlight filtered through the hollowed-out window frame, falling upon his neatly slicked-back blonde hair and smooth forehead, tracing a soft, graceful halo of light around him.

Oh… she had almost forgotten about this bodyguard.

“Good afternoon, Doctor Cassius.”

The young girl curled her lips into a faint smile, one as warm as the winter sun.

Seeing her enter the carriage, the light reflected off his monocle-its fine gold chain extending behind his neck-like ripples on clear water.

Doctor Cassius smiled and gave a slight nod, greeting her back in a gentle voice.

And then.

He turned his head away, no longer looking at the newspaper in his hand. He gazed out the window with a faint, indifferent expression, remaining silent.

-It felt like… he wasn’t in a very good mood and didn’t really want to talk to her?

Sensing this subtle vibe, the girl felt a surge of confusion.

She blinked her deep red eyes and took the initiative to speak, asking, “Doctor Cassius, are there any cases reported in the newspaper today?”

After all, an entire Flea Nest in the dark alley had been wiped out.

Even though the Flea Nest wasn’t a respectable place and the people there were of low status, it had happened within the Imperial City, so it should have made it into the Imperial City Post.

“Cases?”

Hearing this, Doctor Cassius looked back.

His lake-green eyes met hers, and a look of confusion appeared on his handsome face, as if he didn’t quite understand what she meant.

Handing her the newspaper, Doctor Cassius said in a neutral tone, “There are no cases, Miss Bartholomew. The Royal Family’s newspaper only features banquets hosted by various families or events occurring within Noble circles.”

Beili took the newspaper and lowered her red eyes, quickly scanning the contents.

Sure enough, it was filled with illustrated reports-fashionable outfits favored by Nobles, which territory was hosting another banquet, which young lady or master had celebrated their coming-of-age ceremony…

Exquisite dresses, magnificent jewelry, lavish decorations, and sumptuous feasts… These images occupied the vast majority of the pages.

In short, there wasn’t a single word mentioning the bloodbath that had occurred the previous night in the Flea Nest of the Imperial City’s dark alleys.

After thinking for a couple of seconds, Beili closed the newspaper and spoke to Doctor Cassius in a roundabout way. “Doctor Cassius, for some reason, the Flea Nest we visited yesterday was cleared out. Everyone there is gone…”

She paused for a moment, then added more bluntly, “I mean, everyone there is dead.”

“Is that so…”

Doctor Cassius nodded slightly, his expression remaining calm. His green eyes were as still as a placid lake.

He seemed accustomed to such bloody and cruel occurrences.

“…”

Beili hesitated, the words catching in her throat.

She recalled the corpses she had seen in the house at the Flea Nest yesterday-the severed limbs, the gory scenes, and the heavy stench of blood.

“Doctor Cassius, could this be related to that information broker?”

Her brow furrowed slightly, and she continued after a hesitant pause, “After all, we were just there yesterday, and then this happened at night.”

“And that night, the broker promised me she would deliver the news within two days. I was wondering-could she have discovered some shocking secret during her investigation and been silenced because of it?”

Doctor Cassius raised a hand, propping his cheek against his knuckles. He asked with a faint smile, “A piece of information could make an entire Flea Nest disappear? What exactly did Miss Bartholomew ask?”

‘Children just love their flights of fancy’-Beili could almost read that sentence in his eyes.

Stumped by his counter-question, she gave a sheepish tug at the corner of her mouth and said, “I just wanted to ask about my non-biological sister… the affairs of the Susanna Family.”

“That place was always a den of mixed characters; all sorts of people were there…”

Doctor Cassius said dismissively, “Perhaps one of them offended someone they shouldn’t have.”

Then, in a tone one might use to coax a child, he added, “It’s not impossible, either-perhaps the information Miss Bartholomew sought to dig up brought a cataclysm upon the Flea Nest. So, do you still intend to keep investigating?”

As he spoke, his lake-green eyes fixed on her, and a trace of a gentle smile finally surfaced in the gaze that had been cold all morning.

Sighing inwardly, Beili played along with his words, intentionally adopting the stubbornness of a naive child. “Of course, I must find out the truth.”

Doctor Cassius let out a soft laugh.

“Miss Bartholomew, the truth is often cruel, and it comes with unexpected dangers,” he said slowly.
Beili looked at the handsome, gentle, and elegant Male Lead No. 2 from the Original Book standing before her.

As a vampire who had lived for many long years, he might know something about the Swan Family.

So, Beili changed the subject and asked tactfully, “Doctor Cassius, you read the Royal Post often. Have you ever seen anything about the Swan Family?”

The thin gold chain hanging from his monocle swayed slightly as he shook his head.

He smiled and said, “I don’t read the Royal Post often. I only bought it today because I wanted something to distract myself with. Therefore, I don’t know much about the Swan Family.”

He explained, “As for your sister Susanna’s family… after all, every year several families are demoted to commoners due to bloodline issues or various other reasons. A family’s disappearance isn’t particularly unusual.”

His slender fingers gently stroked his chin. After a few seconds of thought, he said, “If Miss Bartholomew is truly curious, you could try looking through the old archives of the Royal Post. You might find some clues there.”

The old archives?

The old archives of the Royal Post were no different from the Royal Library; they were both full of trivial information left over after careful editing and censorship.

However, it would be enough to keep Bartholomew busy searching for a while.

But for Beili, it wasn’t very appealing.

…

After some time, the carriage slowly came to a halt.

“Eldest daughter, we have arrived,”

the coachman called out from outside.

…

Doctor Cassius stepped out of the carriage first. Standing by the door, he gallantly extended his hand to help the young girl down.

Only then did he look at the desolate, eerie cemetery behind them, his handsome brows furrowing slightly.

“Miss Bartholomew, why did you want to come to a place like this today?”

Beili tugged at the corners of her mouth awkwardly and said, “The… scenery here is quite unique.”

The cemetery was also located within the Imperial City.

But while the rest of the Imperial City was bright and sunny with clear skies, the sky over this area was heavy with leaden-gray clouds, making it exceptionally gloomy and oppressive.

A biting wind blew from the tombstones, carrying the decaying scent of death.

His emerald eyes remained calm as Doctor Cassius looked over the sinister graveyard.

Then he turned his head to look at the gray-haired, red-eyed girl.

With a gentle and somewhat helpless smile, he said, “Miss Bartholomew’s taste is certainly… unique.”

“The cemetery is actually very quiet.”

Hearing his words, Beili pursed her lips and forced herself to add, “It’s a good place for thinking.”

Doctor Cassius blinked his emerald eyes but said nothing.

Perhaps he was thinking about how to respond.

“I want to take a walk here alone.”

Her deep red eyes swept across the surroundings. A light smile played on her lips, which were as vibrant as rose petals. The girl said in a cheerful tone, “Doctor Cassius, you don’t need to accompany me.”

As she spoke, she politely lifted her skirt toward the blonde, blue-eyed man. The black-blue fabric, with its neatly arranged pleats, formed a beautiful curve.

Then she turned and walked into the cemetery alone.

“Then please be careful, Miss Bartholomew.”

“Of course.”

With a helpless sigh, Doctor Cassius watched the girl’s retreating figure and called out behind her, “Call me if anything happens.”

“There’s no need to worry. I’m not that fragile.”

…

The raspy caw of a crow echoed through the misty graveyard.

Cassius stood where he was, watching Bartholomew walk away. He shook his head with a wry smile, found a place to sit, and waited quietly.

After a while.

A thick aura of darkness appeared in the direction where the girl’s figure had vanished.

His expression changed slightly. He immediately stood up and walked quickly toward the source of the aura.

…

The mist was thick, and the tombstones were ancient.

The eerie atmosphere sent a faint shiver down one’s spine.

Those buried here were all people of a certain status within the Imperial City.

And people of status in the Imperial City usually knew at least some magic.

Therefore, the cemetery where these people were buried would leak out Death Mana that she could absorb.

Beili walked further and further, heading deep into the cemetery.

She didn’t stop until the trees became dense and she could no longer see the Constance Family carriage or Doctor Cassius’s figure.

Aside from the raspy caws of crows, strange sounds occasionally echoed around her.

Some sounded like the wind, while others sounded like someone sobbing and wailing.

She stopped and reached down to take the scythe-shaped pendant from her necklace.

After the small pendant emitted a burst of black mist in her hand, it transformed in the blink of an eye into the massive Black Bone Scythe.

The blade glinted with a dark, cold light, and wisps of black mist as thick as ink swirled around the scythe.

She attempted to command the scythe to absorb the Mana from the surroundings.
The Black Bone Scythe slowly floated into the air.

Soon, just as she had anticipated, the Death Mana on the tombstones-resembling flickering black flames-began to flow toward the scythe.

It was like a vortex suddenly appearing in a lake, pulling all the surrounding water toward its center. The Black Bone Scythe was that center.

…

Meanwhile, following the trail of dark aura, Cassius moved through the rows of tombstones and arrived at the source.

Within the vision of his emerald-green eyes, he saw the gray-haired, red-eyed Bartholomew leaning against a headstone in a daze, and the massive scythe wreathed in black mist floating before her.

A hint of surprise flashed through his green eyes as he spoke.

“Miss Bartholomew…”

Beside the tombstone, Beili, who had been watching the Black Bone Scythe, heard the familiar voice. Her red eyes froze for a moment before she looked back.

The moment she saw Doctor Cassius, her first instinct was to put the Black Bone Scythe away. However, since he had already seen it, she didn’t move to hide it. She simply signaled the Black Bone Scythe to stop absorbing the Death Mana.

Then, her thick, curled eyelashes fluttered as her red eyes widened in surprise. “Doctor Cassius, why are you here?”

“I felt an abnormality in this area and was worried, so I came to check.”

Doctor Cassius still wore his gentle smile. He stepped closer and looked at the scythe suspended in the air, a strange light flashing in his eyes.

“Miss Bartholomew, is this your weapon?”

“Yes…”

Noticing that Doctor Cassius’s reaction was quite calm, Beili stopped hiding it. She nodded and said, “I just received it.”

Her red eyes scanned the surrounding tombstones. The black aura covering them, which had been drawn in by the Black Bone Scythe, began to thin and fade under her focused absorption, like dying black flames.

“It’s very useful.”

Beili quietly observed Cassius’s expression and saw that he remained unfazed.

She thought about it-Doctor Cassius hadn’t even reacted when an entire Flea Nest was bathed in blood. Her coming to a graveyard to collect some decaying mana was hardly a major issue by comparison.

With that thought, she mentally issued a command, letting the scythe resume its absorption of the Death Mana.

…

Looking up at the Black Bone Scythe in her hand and feeling the dense dark power radiating from it, Cassius frowned slightly.

A scene from the previous night surfaced in his mind-

The night was deep. The moon had already reached its zenith in the night sky.

No matter how playful a child was, it was time to go home.

A bat flew to the end of a dark alley, arriving before a house full of windows. Its thin wings folded, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a man with blond hair and blue eyes, dressed in white.

He stepped toward the open door.

His emerald eyes swept calmly through the darkness. Ignoring the corpses inside the house, he walked straight toward a certain corner.

He stopped.

“Second Highness.”

Cassius spoke, his tone indifferent. “It is very late. Miss Bartholomew should go back and rest.”

…

The lightless house was as silent as if no living soul were present.

But in the impenetrable darkness of the corner his emerald eyes were fixed upon, there were two figures.

One leaned against the wall, standing as motionless as a puppet. The other held her tightly, head buried deep in the crook of her neck. The sound of faint, soft kisses stopped.

Cassius waited quietly for a few seconds, already mentally preparing a suitable spell, when a low sigh suddenly echoed from the corner.

It was a sigh of satisfaction.

The figure in the corner picked up a mask and placed it on his face. Simultaneously, the person who had been standing like a puppet stepped forward, slowly walking toward Cassius.

“Please… take… care of her,”

the youth said.

“Of course. That is my duty.”

Cassius picked the girl up, his low, gentle voice betraying no emotion.

The youth gave a low chuckle and added, “Also… tell her… tomorrow ni… night, I… I will come… find her again…”

“…”

…

“Doctor Cassius?”

The girl called out, her tone hesitant.

Cassius snapped out of his memories. Meeting Bartholomew’s jewel-like, deep red eyes, his slight frown smoothed out.

“Regarding weapons… do you know anything about them?”

The girl asked in a light tone, though a hint of scrutiny and unease lingered in the depths of her eyes.

“Weapons… I haven’t studied weapons much.”

His pressed lips relaxed slightly as the elegant smile returned to Cassius’s face.

“However, if Miss Bartholomew’s weapon needs to draw power from a graveyard, I happen to know of a place that would be perfect for you…”