Chapter 51
Help Me
She had no memory of signing that ridiculous document — the one about the additional interest applied across the board.
So Anshi felt no guilt.
“I told you. I already paid back what I promised.”
Anshi forced the words out, slow and deliberate.
But even if her stance was firm, her voice shook in an ugly way.
She bit the inside of her lip.
She knew exactly what Geris would say in response.
If she didn’t like it, she should’ve borrowed money from somewhere else — that kind of shameless nonsense.
To Anshi, the fact that she had repaid everything was an unshakable truth.
But Geris treated it as fact that she hadn’t paid, wrapping it up in his own version of reality.
“Yeah, Rain.”
But instead, Geris’s reply was unexpected.
“Where on earth did you get the money from?”
He tilted his head as if he couldn’t believe it.
His sharp face twisted into something savage.
“…What?”
Confusion spread through Anshi’s mind.
That money — she’d paid it all back?
No, impossible.
She didn’t even need to search her memory; even in her dreams, that had never happened.
“Found some hidden stash? And what’s with those fancy clothes? Did you finally sell yourself?”
“You lunatic.”
If this lunatic wasn’t admitting that the illegal interest was wrong, then he must have mistaken her for someone else.
He spent every day collecting money from countless people, so it wasn’t strange if he mixed them up.
If there was another possibility…
Damion’s face suddenly flashed through her mind.
But surely, he wouldn’t even know she’d been in debt.
“Still, Rain, even if you did pay it back…”
At that moment, Geris let go of her hair.
Then, with a face that looked almost apologetic, he softly stroked her head once.
Goosebumps rippled across Anshi’s whole body.
“I told you I’d be back. I at least deserve a goodbye. Do you know how shocked I was when you suddenly disappeared?”
One of Anshi’s eyebrows shot up.
Goodbye? What kind of nonsense was that?
Geris was acting as though they were friends or something.
It was beyond absurd.
And why did she even have to run into Geris in this alley?
Right now, this bastard had no grounds to cling to her like this.
“You’ll have to make up for the time I spent looking for you.”
At his words, Anshi clenched her skirt tightly.
“…Get lost.”
“What?”
“I don’t feel like saying goodbye to you.”
Anshi spun around and walked away quickly.
At least right now, it wasn’t the time to wonder why Geris thought she’d repaid everything.
The important thing was to get away from here.
“Hey.”
Geris’s voice turned rough.
He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.
Anshi, clutching her skirt in both hands, kicked him in the groin.
“Aaagh!”
With a sharp cry of pain, Geris collapsed to his knees.
His face twisted into a complete mess.
The sight made Anshi flinch and step back.
He was sweating cold, rolling on the ground in agony.
She’d kicked him to bring him down, but for a second, she wondered if he might actually die.
But she knew.
A bastard like him wouldn’t die from this.
And now was her chance to run.
She immediately turned and bolted.
“Hey! Rain… stop right there!”
Geris staggered upright, dragging trembling legs as he stumbled after her.
Bloodshot veins spread across the whites of his eyes.
“I said stop!”
His cracked voice tore through the air.
The sound terrified her, and Anshi ran with everything she had.
Just a little farther and the narrow alley would end.
“Rain!”
Geris lunged and reached for her.
She was just out of his grasp.
In a hurry, he reached into his coat for his gun.
But at the same time he pulled it free, he tripped over a stone and fell.
With a heavy thud, his body slammed into the ground.
The gun flew from his hand and landed ahead of him — right at Anshi’s feet.
“…!”
Anshi snatched it up instantly.
She whirled around and leveled it at him.
“You…”
Geris froze.
She held the gun in both hands, aiming straight at his head.
Her stance was perfect.
So the little thing did know how to hold a gun — it wasn’t some half-baked act.
Her right index finger rested against the trigger.
Geris sucked in a breath.
Cold sweat slid down his spine.
“Rain.”
“Don’t ever come looking for me again.”
Still glaring at him, Anshi began stepping backward.
The gun stayed fixed on his head the whole time.
Even as she retreated farther and farther, Geris didn’t dare move toward her.
And then she disappeared at the end of the alley.
Only then did the strength drain out of his body.
“…Rain.”
He stood there blankly for a moment before suddenly springing up.
Almost tripping, he ran out of the alley.
The plaza was crowded.
People and carriages bustled in every direction.
Noise spilled freely into the open air.
But Rain was nowhere in sight.
He tore through the crowd like a madman, searching the streets, the shops around the plaza, and even other alleys — but she was gone.
It was as if she had evaporated.
“Ha…”
A bitter laugh slipped out with his sigh.
It was emptiness. Utter emptiness.
To lose her right before his eyes like this.
He’d already torn apart all the shabby neighborhoods in the capital — the places she might have stayed.
And still, he hadn’t found her.
Her trail was nowhere.
Today he realized why.
Judging from the clothes she wore and the shine of her face, he’d been searching the wrong parts of town from the start.
Geris returned to the narrow alley from earlier.
He searched the ground with burning eyes, hoping she’d dropped something.
But there wasn’t a trace of her.
Even the hat he’d taken from her was gone — she must have snatched it back in the scuffle.
“Damn it…”
He stared blankly at the gray ground, chewing his lips hard.
The hollowness gave way to a rage so fierce it made him shake.
This couldn’t be happening.
He’d finally found her — a woman like that doesn’t just cross your path twice.
Where should he start now?
What if she was using another name?
What if she decided to hide away and never step outside again?
“Agh! Aaagh!”
He kicked at the weeds by the road and screamed.
He was furious at himself, furious at her.
How could she not welcome him after they’d met again like this?
How could she point a gun at him?
“Rain…”
His low mutter filled the alley.
Geris dragged his hands down his face.
Through the gaps in his fingers, his eyes glinted with a chilling light.
Meanwhile—
A man stood on the terrace of a building in that alley, watching the scene unfold.
“My, my…”
He let out a quiet sigh, though he didn’t bother to hide the smirk tugging at his lips.
A smile of keen interest played across his face.
A short while earlier—
Once Anshi reached the plaza, she frantically searched for somewhere to hide.
She hadn’t completely shaken Geris yet.
He’d be coming out of that alley any moment now, and if he caught her this time, she didn’t know what he might do.
Should she duck into a shop? Or another alley?
No — Geris was relentless.
He would search every possible hiding place nearby.
And if she tried to run on foot, he’d surely spot her quickly.
Her carriage was still a long way off.
She’d left it far from here so no one would guess she was sending mail.
Anshi pulled her hat low over her face.
She’d snatched it back when Geris had been rolling on the ground, afraid he might use it to track her.
“Where… where should I…”
Her breath came out shaky.
No matter how wide the plaza was, there was nowhere to hide.
Her heart pounded frantically, her blood draining until she felt pale and cold.
“Oh my, Anshi!”
Just then, a carriage stopped in front of her.
When the door opened, Madam Roma peeked her head out.
“Madam…”
Anshi’s eyes trembled.
It felt like she had just met a god.
“P-please help me.”
The words tumbled out before she could even think.
Roma’s brows lifted for a moment, then her gaze dropped — and her face grew serious.
She had seen the gun in Anshi’s hand.
Anshi tried to shove the weapon into the folds of her skirt.
Pointless, and she knew it.
“Get in, quickly.”
Roma held out her hand.
There was no time to think.
Anshi climbed into the carriage in a rush.
The door shut immediately, and the carriage rolled away.
Roma glanced out the window.
A man with ashen hair had just emerged from the alley, prowling the plaza like a mad dog.
Narrowing her eyes, Roma snapped the window shut.
“Don’t worry. He doesn’t know you got in. He just went into a shop.”
“…That’s a relief.”
Only then did the tension drain from Anshi’s body.
She swallowed hard, trying to steady herself.
Her ragged breathing slowly eased.
Roma, still watching her with a grave expression, sighed heavily and plucked the hat from her head.
“Good heavens, what happened to you?”
She brushed the dust off the hat.
It must have gotten dirty when it hit the ground earlier.
Anshi lowered her head, feeling a twinge of shame, and tried to smooth her tangled hair.
“It’s nothing serious.”
Even though her heart had calmed, her face didn’t look anything like normal.
Still, Anshi tried her best to appear composed.
