Chapter 124 : This is So Unlike Her

After speaking those words to Stacy, Milly left the alley without looking back.

The knights who had been chasing her had likely been dealt with by Stacy. As for whether there would be more, she didn’t know. The streets were empty in the pouring rain. She quickened her pace toward the city gate.

She only knew one route. From her current location, it would take a long time to get there.

When her stamina ran out, she found a corner with a slight overhang and curled up, panting. At this rate, with no travel during the day and having to hide at night, it would take her several days to leave the city.

The progress was slower than she expected. And her wings were injured; she couldn’t fly. She hadn’t realized how big Starlight City was until she had to walk across it. And even after leaving the city, it was a long way to the forest.

There was a village on the way. If she could retract her wings and tail, she might be able to find a place to live there in anonymity, provided the village was isolated and the news of her hadn’t reached it. And provided she hadn’t seen that crimson countdown.

From the moment she had seen the extinguished sphere in the underground chamber, the crimson countdown had appeared in her vision. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t make it disappear.

The numbers were still changing. The last three represented hours, minutes, and seconds. The first must be days.

“85 days left.”

She didn’t know what would happen when it reached zero, but she had a bad feeling.

The reason Stacy was so insistent on her leaving this world was probably related to what would happen when the countdown ended. Stacy probably knew what would happen.

She should have stopped and listened to what Stacy had to say. About her motives, about the truth of her departure, and about what would happen in the end.

A bitter smile. After coming to this world, she should have become more rational.

She knew that if she had stayed with Stacy, she would have been much safer. At least she wouldn’t be wandering in the cold rain, looking for a place to hide, worrying about being caught by the knights and thrown back into that cold cage.

Staying with Stacy was the rational choice. But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t live with the person who had hurt her. She couldn’t believe that the one who had been so cruel to her would remain so gentle.

Stacy… why was she thinking of her again?

Milly shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She looked up at the dark sky. The cold rain was still falling.

If only it would be sunny tomorrow. Even if it meant she had to hide during the day, at least she wouldn’t be soaked to the bone.

If she stayed in the rain, she would end up like that day. She had to find a place to shelter.

A pity about the hiding place she had found earlier. She had planned to wait for the rain to stop.

She closed her eyes and activated her God’s perspective. The knights had been chasing her so relentlessly, she hadn’t had time to use it to scout the terrain.

Now, with her God’s perspective and appraisal skill, she found a place to shelter.

The environment was a little… poor. But she couldn’t just leave.

It was a homeless person’s shelter, a dirty underpass with a tattered mat and some personal belongings.

So, they had found another place to hide?

Or maybe they had gone to watch the judgment in the central square and hadn’t come back.

After all, with the chaos, it was not surprising that a few unlucky people had been trampled to death.

Whatever the truth, since the owner wasn’t here, she would borrow it for a while.

She took off her soaked cloak, wrung it out, and hung it on a protrusion on the wall.

As for her clothes, even though no one was around, she was a girl now. Even though Stacy would strip her at the drop of a hat, it didn’t mean she was okay with being naked in the street. Even if she was still wearing her underwear.

She could only wring out her skirt and the front of her dress.

The back was a little awkward, but her body was more flexible than she thought. She managed to wring out most of the water.

Phew… at least it wasn’t so uncomfortable anymore. She would wait for the rain to stop and then head for the city gate.

The rain didn’t let up until evening. She put on her damp cloak and continued on her way.

For the next few days, the days were sunny, so she had to hide during the day and travel at night. When dawn approached, she would have to find a place to hide and wait for nightfall.

During the day, she would occasionally overhear snippets of conversation.

“Did you hear? That demon girl is hiding in the west of the city.”

“The Church’s knights went there and almost caught her.”

“Tch, she’s fast.”

A few short sentences, but they sent a storm through Milly’s mind. The knights had been chasing her in the pouring rain. Even if someone had seen them, it would have been the knights who were almost wiped out, not her who was almost caught.

And more importantly, the west of the city. She was sure she had never been there.

There was only one possibility. Someone was pretending to be her, drawing the knights’ attention.

The only one who had the ability and the motive to do so was…

“Stacy.”

“Why?”

Milly bit her lip, a complex emotion in her heart.

“Why? I made it clear. I told her I would never forgive her. I practically wrote ‘I hate you’ on my face.”

“Why would she…”

She knew now why she hadn’t seen any knights chasing her for the past two nights. Stacy’s plan had drawn them all to the west of the city, along with the adventurers who had taken the commission, and the citizens who wanted to turn her in for a reward.

Behind all this was that person’s shadow.

“Why…”

“Why would she do this for her?”

Milly’s eyes were filled with confusion. This was so unlike Stacy.

This was so unlike the terrifying, eternal nightmare she remembered.