Life of Magic With a Talkative Heart-Chapter 139: Escaped From There

Tigris yawned, stretching on Cyril's shoulder. It's been a long day of fending off children. He was quite tired.
With Luce gone upstairs, silence reigned for a while in the basement.
Anna sat with her hands on her knees, staring somewhere at the ceiling. She didn't move at all.
Cyril continued playing with Atheris for a while, thoughtful.
"Anna," he finally uttered, making the girl twitch, "how long have you known Luce?"
As he finished saying this sentence, all tension left Anna's body, on her face flashing a paradoxical mix of disappointment and relief.
"From when I was about six. One day she just came on a visit from the church, found me sulking alone in the corner, and... we just hit it off."
Involuntarily a warm smile appeared on her face, the most genuine he had ever seen on her face.
"...Luce looks younger than she is then," Cyril said.
"Huh, yeah. Luce is way older than me, even if she doesn't look that way. I never really thought about it." Anna shrugged.
"I guess she is either a powerful mage, or the church's miracles also allow for a longer lifespan. It doesn't matter to me. Luce is Luce."
"Interesting thinking."
Perhaps because she found the topic comfortable, Anna continued talking about her childhood and about Luce, but not anything beyond that.
Cyril briefly contemplated asking about her current family but reconsidered, as he didn't care too much.
Instead, he simply listened until the doors to the basement opened with a bang.
"I am coming in!" Luce yelled a warning for some reason.
She went down the stairs, stopping on the very last step.
"Don't worry, I am blind. I won't see anything," she said something frustrating.
Anna's face darkened and reddened at the same time.
"Where are our drinks?" she asked.
Luce helplessly spread her hands to the side, disappointment in her voice. "The kids destroyed all. Come help upstairs. The party is over."
"Well, it's a pity, but our short break has ended. Time to get to work."
Anna and Cyril looked at each other and followed after Luce.
Back on the first floor of the orphanage, they were greeted by what could only be described as chaos.
It seems at some point the kids decided to enact a food fight. The walls of the orphanage were covered in the expensive cake.
Jessica stood in front of the crowd of kids, her face the very picture of an angry demon.
While Catherine, Alvin, and Pete cleaned in the background with magic.
"Oh my Goddess," Anna whispered with a shocked face.
"That's how it is. I'm lucky nothing got on me," Luce said with relief.
"Ahaha! Miss Luce, how humble you are!" a booming voice said with laughter.
Pete, the bearded priest, walked up to them, smiling from ear to ear.
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"Please, leave the cleanup to us. With magic we'll be quick to do it! It sure is convenient!"
Cyril looked around the sorry scene of what used to be the orphanage, noticing filled bags of trash lying near the exit.
"I'll help take out the trash," he suddenly said.
The other people looked at him, surprised for some reason. Then Pete gave a thumbs-up and heartily laughed.
"I'll help," Anna said.
Then Luce scratched her head with an awkward smile. "Then I'll go with you."
Good.
...
The nearest dump was some distance away. Thankfully, they've had enough 'hands.'
Morpho helped too, carrying a bag many times bigger than her through the air, attracting a few astonished gazes on the way.
As Cyril threw away the bag inside of a container in some alley, he quickly retreated, finding the smell unbearable.
He was only glad they weren't throwing things away in an abandoned apartment complex.
He looked at the sky and sighed. The sun was already almost gone, the night swiftly approaching.
"At least we are finally out of that orphanage... You really could've done that sooner. Why care about those kids?"
No need to cause a scene when we can simply wait for an opportunity like this.
...As for the sun. I think we'll do just fine without it.
"That I can agree on! We are much stronger than some leech!"
Cyril dusted off his hands, glancing at Luce taking out the trash after him.
"Whew! We are finally done," Luce leisurely stretched, her head aimed at the sky.
"It wasn't too hard," Anna said with a warm smile.
Luce turned in her direction, hesitation briefly showing on her face.
"Anna, could you go back first? I want to talk to Cyril about something."
Oh?
"Perfect."
Anna froze, hesitantly looking at Cyril first.
He nodded, a bit too eagerly maybe.
Anna hesitantly glanced between them when Luce stealthily tried to show an okay sign, as if saying, 'Leave it to me.'
"...I'll see you at the orphanage, then," Anna said, walking away while giving them one last glance.
On her face was a subtle expectation.
Luce waved to Anna until she could no longer be seen, then turned around to face Cyril.
"Shall we go talk somewhere?"
Leaving such words, Luce calmly walked away towards a nearby alley, to a particular door at the end of it.
Cyril followed after her, the two looking like friends on a common stroll.
Before long, they entered the door, reaching a sizeable but completely empty building. There were no walls to create more rooms and not a single piece of furniture.
Without any problems Luce walked to the middle of the room, turned around, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Here should be private enough."
Scanning the room for the signs of anything hidden, Cyril walked up to her. Atheris reluctantly slithered from his neck to Tigris's.
Then Tigris jumped to the floor. He ran in the corner, staying there while peeking at Cyril.
Morpho flew up, calmly fluttering near Cyril.
"So, I wanted to talk about Anna and you," Luce said in a somewhat suggestive tone.
"You see, Anna is like a little sister to me, and I want her the best in life, but..."
She frowned, as if remembering something unpleasant.
"...Gods knew better than to grace her adoptive parents with real children. Unfortunately, they didn't take the hint and took in Anna, making her suffer instead."
Standing in front of her, Cyril stared at her face without any apparent emotion.
"Don't worry. I am not going to get into details. I just want you to know that she has enough overbearing humans on her plate, and I-"
"You can stop pretending," Cyril suddenly said.
"...?" Luce's suggestive smile immediately disappeared.
With an eerie emptiness, she glanced at his face. Despite her wearing a blindfold, he still got a strong impression she just looked at his face.
"...You think I don't actually care for Anna?" Soon emotion returned to her face. This time a bit of playful anger.
"I'll have you know-"
"Tsk."
Enough of this.
Cyril suddenly threw his hand forward, grabbing the priestess by the throat.
He effortlessly raised Luce in the air. She desperately flailed her hands and kicked, struggling to breathe.
Cyril's face, however, remained emotionless, only his cold blue eyes narrowing.
"My senses are more acute than you realize," he began talking, staring at the struggling woman in the blindfold.
"And, Luce, last time we met, I thoroughly researched your body."
He threw the woman forward.
Luce rolled on the ground, her hood falling in the process. It revealed her long black hair, with a subtle presence of magic on it.
She took deep, desperate gulps of air, trying to recover.
"A vampire's heart beats differently from a human's. Once you know where to look, it's quite obvious," Cyril said, slowly stepping closer.
Luce twitched, any sign of struggle ceasing on her face. She slowly stood up, her face becoming expressionless.
"I would've never expected that a vampire princess would be a priestess in the slums. Fitting for an escaped zoo animal, I suppose."
Luce's lips twitched, widening in an angry smirk.
"What are you using this orphanage for? Is it a blood bank for vampires?" he asked, now standing in front of her, looking down.
Instead of answering, Luce snapped her fingers. In the blink of an eye, her black hair turned pure white.
She quickly grasped her blindfold and tore it off, as if getting rid of a stuffy mask.
Behind it, bright red eyes piercingly glared at Cyril, slowly being filled with hatred.
"Hmph! I wear them better."
"..."