Juliet stood quietly at the stall with her eyes now fixated on Aron, waiting for his response. He took a moment to answer as thinking of how he should respond, after letting out a short sigh he gave Juliet a small nod.
"Your deduction is more or less correct." Aron gave her this response, choosing not to give her the exact details. After all she was still unsure on how exactly he did it, telling her the correct details would be the same as giving her an idea of how his mind works, making it slightly easier for her to see through his plans in future should they ever be at odds with one another.
"I see, thank you for your honesty." After getting a response, Juliet nodded and seemed satisfied enough with the answer and turned back to face the owner of the stall.
Sebastian however who stood on the side was absolutely flabbergasted and looked at Aron not with the fear from before but with curiosity. 'It's possible then that those runes were his! No, such fine unique work... it can't be, can it?' Sebastian questioned himself as he didn't have the courage to confront Aron on this matter.
Meanwhile not too far away from the stall, two sets of eyes were fixated on the three of them.
"Reginald... can you hear what they're saying?" Aela who was trying her best to act like a patron enjoying the festivities held a snack in her hand and a large celebratory hat as she asked Reginald if he could hear what Aron was discussing with Reginald. "I'm only human, how do you expect me to hear what they're saying?" Reginald who didn't like being there in the least asked Aela this but she just shrugged it off and continued to observe.
"To think he'd be secretly meeting with the lady of house Lamarck, she even stood up for him. Are they working together? Perhaps they're even lovers, Lady Belle will be pleased with this information." Aela showed a grin and nodded in satisfaction while coming to her own conclusions. "Please don't fabricate stories about people who could make our lives troublesome... " Aron was one thing but making enemies out of Juliet as well was just plain suicide, in the end if they end up in trouble he highly doubted Lady Belle would vouch for them.
Back at the stall, the muscle bound man had finished preparing his customer's meal and presented them proudly. "Here you go! Nice and hot!" He declared as he handed each of them a kabob.
"It's good." Juliet took a small bite and gave her feedback indifferently. "True." Aron was the next to take a bite before agreeing with Juliet's remark, however he too said so in a lackluster manner.
"This is amazing! How can meat be so good!?" Sebastian on the other hand was amazed by the taste and could not contain his emotions, as if the muscle bound man had been waiting for this he showed a proud grin and puffed out his chest. "Good stuff I told you, mhm mhm."
Aron soon paid for his meal and turned to leave the stall. "Enjoy the festivities" he said to Juliet and Sebastian as he started walking away. "En. You too" Juliet gave a small nod before turning herself and walking away in the opposite direction.
Further ahead in the very direction Juliet was heading in, Henry and Emilia were still looking for Esmeralda who seemed to have vanished without a trace.
"Maybe she's returned to the manor?" Henry sighed and suggested but Emilia shook her head at the possibility. "No, the way she is now there's not a chance she's returned. She must be somewhere where she can be alone." Emilia suggested before both her and Henry had the same realization.
"The alleys!" They said in unison before feeling motivated to continue with their search.
Meanwhile to the north western side of the lower business district in a dark alley, a lone woman sat on the cold ground hugging her legs. Muffled sniffles could be heard coming from her as well as buried her head forward.
'Tch, why won't it stop... why here of all places...' She thought to herself while keeping her head lowered, however she soon grew alert when male voice reached her ear.
"Are you okay?" The voice inquired sincerely causing her to quickly raise her head and face the source. "You... you're the one who came tenth." Esmeralda muttered as she remembered the young man from the entrance ceremony.
"I'm Lucas, more importantly are you okay?" Lucas inquired but Esmeralda only frowned. "Why do you care? It's none of your concern, commoner." Esmeralda dismissed him quickly feeling angered that she'd been seen like this by a commoner.
"I know it isn't but... when I saw you cry back there I just ended up going after you. It's like my body moved on its own." Lucas replied while awkwardly scratching the back of his head, Esmeralda however was still angered by his presence, she felt the need to stand and leave but her legs which were still trembling would not allow her so.
"Just leave!" She yelled at him but rather than leave, Lucas walked closer and sat on the ground as well. "Galos is a free city and I can sit anywhere I want. So I'll just sit here, It wouldn't be right to leave you here all alone." Lucas said with a smile but Esmeralda ignored him still.
Unbeknownst to both of them, a set of eyes had been watching the both of them deep within the darkness of the alley, if one's hearing was sharp enough they could even hear the sound of heavy breathing and light growls.
Back at the center of the festivities, Henry and Emilia who were searching alleyway after alleyway ran into Juliet and Sebastian. "There you are, where's Esmeralda?" Sebastian asked while looking and Emilia and Henry slightly confused as he had thought they'd have found her by now.
"We think she may be hiding in the alleyways, but so far no luck." Henry replied to Sebastian's question and released a helpless sigh. But at least now they could look for her together and cover more ground.
However, just before he could voice this idea, Juliet's eyes sharpened and her face turned serious. "I smell blood, a lot of blood." She muttered before her eyes flickered slightly and she rushed away from the group, leaving behind a violent shockwave and loud boom as she broke the sound barrier in two steps.
"!!" Panic could be seen in the eyes of Henry and Emilia after hearing her words and seeing her reaction, without hesitation the two of them rushed after her as well leaving Sebastian who couldn't keep up with their movements with his eyes stunned.
It wasn't long before they found Juliet standing in front of an alleyway staring at brutally disfigured bodies, from the parts she could identify it was clearly a man and a woman.
Scattered organs which had now drawn flies to settle and hover around them, dismembered limbs laying distant from their original bodies, a large pool of blood that extended close to the main road of that street and blood splattered all over the walls of the scene.
Henry and Emilia stopped a little further away from Juliet as the violent stench of blood reached their noses, some bystanders had gathered but none dared to go as close as Juliet had. Currently only she could see the bodies whilst the others could only smell the stench of blood and see the pool beneath her.
'No...no please no...' Emilia's heart began to beat faster, her stomach felt empty and her bones stiff as she slowly approached Juliet with worry filled in her eyes. Henry followed behind her just as cautiously until they both reached Juliet and stood in the pool of blood.
"!!" Both Henry and Emilia were taken aback by the sight before them. Henry immediately looked away while Emilia felt she was about to throw up.
Despite how talented they were, they have never experienced a gruesome battle thus the sight of bodies that couldn't even be recognized as the faces were disfigured took them off guard. Hollow bloody eye sockets, a separated jaw, hair violently ripped from the now bloody scalp and slash marks on the surface of the face.
Emilia couldn't bring herself to look for barely a moment. 'Is it her?' She thought and was about to speak when another voice arrived on the scene.
"What happened..." the familiar voice asked in a concerned tone causing Emilia to look back with relief and teary eyes. "Ez!" She called out and rushed to hug Esmeralda who had appeared with Lucas behind her, they had been in an alleyway just a few meters away from the one Juliet was looking at.
'What are you...' Juliet thought as she was unable to guess just what could have done this.
Meanwhile, away from all the drama, Aron was standing in his study near the fireplace with a journal and pen in his blood soaked hands and began writing.
[ It happened again, on the eighth day of the fourth month, I once again succumbed to the urges... ]
