Chapter 684

[Editor's note: This chapter has been edited to remove content that breaks our content rules.]

She sat on the narrow wooden bed and patted the boards, inviting Shirou to join her.

After a moment’s hesitation, Shirou settled down as well and spread the blanket over them.

The flame flickered faintly inside the cracked lantern.

For a while, neither of them spoke. Shirou eventually turned onto his side, his back toward her.

Reines, however, remained restless.

At last, Shirou turned back to face her.

“Reines.”

“Y-yes? What is it?”

“If you want me to keep you company, just say so. You don’t have to find roundabout ways to get my attention.”

“Urk...!”

Reines’s eyes widened.

She had thought she was an excellent actress, that no one could see through her disguise. And yet—

Shirou had seen straight through her.

The truth was, she was a little frightened at having to spend the night in this ancient, unsettling village without warning.

However precocious she might be, however strong she tried to act, she was still only a sheltered fourteen-year-old.

She was scared.

She was uneasy.

But she had no one she could tell.

What Reines feared most was being looked down on.

In a place as ruthless as the Clock Tower, the moment anyone thought less of you, you were finished.

Show even the slightest opening, and people who had once been your allies would crush and destroy you.

That was the one lesson Reines had learned from its brutal factional struggles.

That was why she had unconsciously tried to draw Shirou’s attention with her antics.

Pay attention to me. Please don’t ignore me...

It was, in a way, a defensive cry for help.

Shirou had easily recognized the vulnerability she had let slip.

In front of him, any attempt to put