𝟐𝟔
(WHEW THIS TOOK A WHILE)
Something wasn't quite right.
A feeling of anxiousness awoke Kilian and he rubbed his eyes fitfully while blinking blearily. He turned his head to the nightstand and caught sight of a little cart where multiple dishes sat.
There was a note beside it, from Elena.
It seemed as though she had something she needed to do, and Alessandro was taking longer than expected, so Kilian would be under Zain's care.
He didn't mind.
That gave him time to formulate a plan on how to *somehow* prevent his Aunt from having Yor killed.
Since Yor was an assassin and all, Kilian imagined that it could get quite messy, so it would be best to avoid having the two of them cross paths at all.
He glanced over to Zain who was out cold on the couch before taking a look at the available dishes.
Kilian scowled.
'...no thanks.'
The little boy slid off the bed and hurried over to Zain, tapping the young man on the knee, "Hey, wake up!"
The young man kept snoozing away.
Kilian scowled before smacking Zain in the stomach, giving him a rather rude awakening, "OWW!!!"
"I'm hungry." Kilian stated.
Zain gave the little boy a blank look, rubbed his eyes, then looked again, "But... Miss Elena brought back food..."
"Not to my tastes." Kilian replied curtly, "They're still serving dinner, right? Could you take me there?"
"Hah... rich kids..." Zain mumbled before standing up, ushering Kilian towards the door, "Alright, let's go."
Kilian gave his bag one last look before him and Zain left the room, setting off towards the buffet for some dinner.
As they walked together, Kilian felt an odd sense of dread. Had something already happened? Possibly, he knew how his aunt worked when she really wanted someone dead.
The shortest amount of time it took for the public to notice something was amiss was a rather concerning two months.
'Is Miss Yor already dead?' Kilian wondered fearfully as he paused by one of the stores in the Shopping Promenade, his eyes falling on a bunch of skeleton keychains, 'Are Auntie and Yuri going to...'
He shook his head fiercely, ruffling his h/c hair frantically, 'No! No, no, no! Don't think negatively!'
"Ian?"
Kilian glanced over his shoulder and found Anya, a little excited look on her face. Kilian tensed.
'💩.'
"Oh— Ian said a bad word."
"Shut it!"
"Mm? Kilian?" Zain mumbled, hurrying back over after realizing Kilian was no longer beside him, "What're you doing? I thought you wanted food."
Anya looked up at Zain.
Zain scowled down at her.
'Great. Another brat.' he thought irritably before raising a brow, 'Wait a minute... isn't this the kid the boss told me about! Her husband's sister's husband's kid or whatever? If she's here, then... ah this might get complicated.'
Anya tilted her head, 'Hm?'
Kilian immediately went into panic mode and grabbed Anya, beginning to drag her away, "Err— go get the food without me! I wanna talk to Anya!"
"What? But I'm not supposed to leave you by yourself!" Zain protested but Kilian was already running off with Anya, "Hey! Come back!"
Zain took off, while the real Kilian and Anya remained by the skeleton keychains. Kilian felt bad, but this was very important. The last thing he wanted was to traumatize poor Anya too, so he'd need her help.
"Listen, Anya, there's something important you need to know." Kilian said in an urgent tone, "It's a matter of life or death!"
Anya's eyes lit up, "A secret mission?"
"Mhm, a top secret mission of the highest importance!" Kilian confirmed, "But we—!"
Kilian stopped himself, and turned to look at Loid who he damn well knew was listening in on them.
He immediately put on his best innocent kid face.
"Hello, Mister Lottie!"
Loid visibly looked tired, 'Here we go again.' the spy skills immediately kicked in and he smiled, "Hello again, Kilian. I wasn't expecting to see you here, are you on vacation with Y/n and Yuri?"
"Mm, just Auntie and Grandpa. That man is busy with work." Kilian replied with a little grin, "Are you here with Miss Yor?" 'How dare you refer to my Aunt so casually, AT LEAST CALL HER MISS! 🚚 wad!'
Anya couldn't even hide her shock, 'Ian!'
She quickly grabbed onto her friend's arm with a, "P-Papa! Since Ian is here, can you buy a keychain for the both of us? To remember this trip!"
"You want this as a memento? It's just junk."
"But I want it!" Anya protested, "I want it, I want it, I want it! Come onnnn!"
Loid ignored her complaints, glancing at Kilian with a, "Where is your Aunt? We should get you back to her before she starts worrying."
Anya gave Kilian a panicked side eye, 'Come on, Ian, we've gotta finish that top secret mission you told me about!'
Kilian groaned quietly, 'Goodbye, my pride. This is all for Auntie. I can't do this without Anya's help.'
"Ah, but Mister Loid, cruises like this are all about memories and enjoyment. Wouldn't it make sense to get a keychain as a memory? What if I never see Anya again? What if the ship sinks and we all die. There will be no happy memories, just boring memories because you're not having fun and we're not having fun either."
Anya gave Kilian a mildly disturbed look, "..."
"Do you not want your daughter to have a memento to remember her time on this ship with you? What kind of dad does that? You fake dad."
Loid looked visibly shell shocked, 'Fake dad?!'
Kilian sighed sadly, "Come on, Anya. Let's go find a security person and report this boring activity."
"Uh, huh?" Anya looked back and forth between her friend and her father owlishly as Kilian dragged her away with a little smirk, knowing damn well he was the cause of the internal crisis Loid was currently having.
"Now, Anya, Miss Yor is in danger. My Auntie too." Kilian explained quietly before pausing, "Well, they're more like dangers to each other, but—"
Anya didn't seem to be listening, a little look of shock on her face. Kilian gave her a puzzled look when she hurried to the entrance of the store and peeked out with wide eyes.
"Anya...?"
The girl gave Kilian a look before pointing at a tall, scary looking man walking down the hall, "Ian? Is that the danger?"
Kilian looked as well, "Huh? Is what the danger?"
"Sickle and Chain Barnaby!"
"Who even is that???"
As Anya was frantically trying to explain the situation to the puzzled little boy, something about this Barnaby dude intending to "frog" Yor to death, another danger was approaching.
Elena looked giddy as she walked down the hall with y/n by her side, a pleased little look on her face.
Elena was a good nanny, a diligent bodyguard, and an even better friend to Kilian, but first and foremost, she was an assassin. More of an attack dog in a way, as she couldn't quite kill without permission during the duration of her deal with her employer, but now...
'Finally, I get to have some blood on my hands.' she thought, practically shivering with anticipation, 'When was the last time, hm? Two... three years ago? No, that was the last interesting one. The most recent wasn't nearly as fun, the wench couldn't even fight back.But this...'
A fight with another assassin!
Elena couldn't kill Thorn Princess, that honor was left to y/n, but a little birdie told her that there were some other assassins out for someone y/n happened to be very close with.
'I wonder if my skills have dulled...' Elena wondered as her and y/n breezed past a man who did a double take, his eyes widening at the sight of y/n.
'Isn't that...?'
Bro didn't even get to finish his thought, something pricking him in the neck and causing him to collapse in a chair.
"Elena." y/n began in a warning tone.
Elena merely grinned, "That wasn't an innocent, my dear boss, I promise. Just another assassin, he appeared to have recognized you, so I silenced him before he could become a problem."
"Still, couldn't you have killed him elsewhere?" y-n mumbled with a frown, "People will get suspicious."
"Don't you worry your sweet little head. I used a special little poison that will put him out for quite some time, long enough for me to come back and finish him off in a more... secluded location."
Y/n gave Elena a long, careful stare before looking ahead again with a soft, "As long as you don't get distracted."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Elena chimed, "After all, how could I run off for different prey when this one killed our dear Achille?"
Y/n didn't reply, and Elena looked ahead instead, scowling at the sight of Sickle and Chain Barnaby approaching Yor, Olka, her little son Gram, and some random dude.
They were all masked, but y/n knew it was them.
"Looks like another pest got here before us."
"It's fine, let's leave them be. I'd rather not get Olka involved, she's dealt with enough stress." y/n said simply, "But... please do something about Yor. I don't want there to be a ruckus."
"As you wish." Elena hummed.
As the two young women breezed past the little group, Yor very briefly caught sight of y/n. She frowned a bit, watching the younger woman's expression carefully.
'Huh? Y/n is here? Are her and Yuri here on vacation?' Yor wondered, taking in the rather strange look on his sister-in-law's face, 'No... Yuri said he was busy. Is that why she looks so sad?'
Yor quickly focused ahead again, 'Not now, Yor, you have a job to do! You can worry about cheering y/n up later, maybe she'd like to spend time with us, if she's not busy of course!'
The ebony haired woman felt a new burst of determination, ignoring the slight itch in her neck, 'I'll complete this mission successfully so I can spend time with y/n later! We'll definitely have sister bonding time!'
"Did you do it?" y/n inquired.
"Didn't notice a thing~!" Elena hummed as the two of them walked away together, "You're looking pretty tense, how about we grab a drink?"
Y/n's breath hitched at Elena's words and the assassin gave her a curious look when she stopped, "Boss?"
"Whew... it's been a long day." Achille murmured before glancing at his little sister who was sitting across from him, her face buried in a pile of homework.
He rested his head on his hand with a little smile, "You doing alright, n/n? Do you need help?"
Y/n shook her head slowly, dragging the papers and books across the table a bit, "No... I'm fine."
"You sure?" the young man tilted his head, "You're looking pretty tense, how about we go grab a drink?"
Y/n looked up miserably, "I'm too young, Achille."
"Who said it had to be alcohol?" Achille snickered, "Come on, let's head to the kitchen and grab something sweet to drink. Just to take a little break."
"But I still have work to do!"
"Give yourself a break, okay? I'll help you with it later." Achille assured her, "How about it?"
Y/n's hands balled up into fists, her nails digging into her palms as that horrible burning pain began to well up within her again. She took a deep, trembling breath.
"I'd rather not. It's not quite time for a break." she murmured, "Not until my work is finished."
Elena regarded y/n for a brief moment, an odd little smile settling on her features as she looked ahead again.
"Yes ma'am. Maybe later, then."
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