TPCF 44

CHAPTER 44………

The statue had always been something she only glanced up at when many people passed by, but seeing Edmund sitting on top of it now stirred up a strange rush of exhilaration inside her.

She even refused the hand Edmund held out to her and stepped forward on her own. The distance between the spot she stood on and the statue’s pedestal was actually quite wide, yet for some reason it looked closer from Anita’s perspective.

“Careful with your footing, it’s a slope, you’ll slip—”

Anita, who had boldly tried to hook one leg over the stirrup, faltered. Her foot snagged, and as she toppled backward, Anita instinctively flung out her arms.

“Grab me!”

Was she about to smash her head into the fountain and die? Surely there couldn’t be a more disgraceful death. In that split second, a thousand thoughts flashed through Anita’s mind.

Luckily, even if her head didn’t work fast, at least her arms did.

Edmund caught her arm by a hair’s breadth and, as though fishing something out of the water, hauled Anita up.

“You almost died just now.”

“I know.”

Anita replied, still in a daze.

She settled down behind him, and glanced down. From up here, it was much higher than she had vaguely imagined when looking from below.

The dizzying height sobered her up instantly, whatever alcohol had been left in her system gone, and before she knew it, she was clutching at the hem of Edmund’s shirt.

“Look over there.”

At his words, Anita lifted her head and let out a gasp. The square was beautiful from up high—the gentle glow of the streetlights, the quiet sound of the fountain’s water, the endless rows of houses.

“Wow…”

That was when a sharp whistle split the air.

“Hey, you up there!”

Startled by the sudden noise, Anita nearly toppled off.

“Get down from there immediately!”

She turned toward the voice. Two figures were running out from a distant alley. Narrowing her eyes to make out their features, Anita quickly tapped Edmund’s shoulder.

“Cops!”

Panicked, she blurted out only that one word. Perhaps it took him a while to process, for Edmund was silent for a long moment before suddenly asking:

“What?”

“Don’t you see the badges and batons?”

“Oh.”

After that halfhearted exclamation, he whipped his head around.

“That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“……”

“We’d better run. If the old man hears I got dragged off by the police, he’ll try to cut my head off.”

He landed on the ground with a grace unbefitting a drunkard.

“Come on, grab my hand. We’ve got to run.”

Anita knew this wasn’t the time to act reckless. She grabbed Edmund’s outstretched hand and lifted one leg into the stirrup.

“There they are!”

She should have stepped with her right foot first, but startled, she thrust out her left. Her leg slipped while caught in the stirrup. This time she was sure she was dead. At the very least a broken leg, and her head smashed into the fountain.

Fortunately, before Anita’s life ended in such a pitiful way, Edmund caught her.

“You okay? Should we just let ourselves get caught? If it’s too hard to run…”

“You said if you got caught you’d be dead. Just run!”

“Ah.”

A sharp pain shot up Anita’s right ankle, and she winced. Though Edmund had managed to catch her, she must have twisted it while slipping with her foot trapped. Forcing herself to ignore the throbbing ankle, Anita started running.

It couldn’t be anything serious anyway.

“Take my hand!”

Noticing her falling behind, Edmund reached out.

“Just you wait till I catch you!”

They bolted down the dark alley. Half-dragged along by him, Anita still kept glancing back to gauge the distance. One officer was so close that if he reached out, he could almost grab her by the collar.

But the gap between them never fully closed. Each time it seemed she’d be caught, the distance widened again, only to shrink once more.

The officers had probably worn themselves out sprinting all the way from the square after spotting the two of them on the monument.

“Don’t look back—just keep your eyes forward.”

She wanted to do as he said, but the sound of footsteps closing in made her anxious. Without thinking, she looked back—and froze. The officer’s thick arm was reaching out fast toward her. While she stood paralyzed, Edmund yanked her hard.

Suddenly pulled deeper into the alley, Anita slipped out of reach, and the officer who had tried to grab her stumbled, tripped over his own feet, and fell.

“I’m sorry!”

Edmund tugged her along, urging her to use the moment to escape. Even as she was half-dragged forward, Anita apologized. After all, the man had only been a diligent officer trying to rein in two reckless youths messing around with a monument in the square in the middle of the night.

The fallen officer slammed the ground in frustration and shouted threats after them—warnings that he’d make them pay once he caught them.

The alleys further from the square twisted like a maze. The deeper they went, the darker and emptier it became.

But Edmund navigated the labyrinth with ease.

As Anita ran, gasping for breath, the scenery beside her whipped past in a blur.

They ran for a long time like that, until no more whistles or shouting followed them. At last, under a flickering streetlamp, they stopped and caught their breath.

“You’re quite skilled at running away,” Anita remarked between ragged breaths.

“Obvious, isn’t it? Running from tutors was basically my daily routine.”