200 Another Frank
Selma Payne’s POV:
I didn’t hesitate this time. “I love you too, Aldrich.”
After tactfully rejecting the host’s good intentions of having us stay for dinner, I held hands with Aldrich and strolled back to the safe house.
The house that had been empty for an entire afternoon was a little cold. In between my breaks, I carefully arranged the petals and leaves of the flower in my hand and solemnly placed them into a clean wooden box.
The fresh flowers would wither very soon. What could I do?
I used mind-link to ask Dorothy if there was a solution. She said, “You can try to draw a simple time-delay spell.”
“But I don’t have the talent for magic. I can’t use magic.”
“Although you don’t have magic power, you have a strong ‘power’. You can use the power drawn from demonic shards or other things as the structure’s foundation. It might produce unexpected effects.”
“Will this work?” I was still not sure. After they were absorbed and transformed by me, they became mine entirely. All the attributes that existed before were now invalid. They couldn’t form magic waves at all.
“Try it? It’s the only way now, and it won’t take much effort to try.”
And so, with Dorothy’s guidance, I set up a time-delay spell on the surface of the wooden box.
There was no reaction from the wooden box, so I wasn’t sure if it would work.
“Put a feather or a piece of paper in it,” Dorothy said. “Then shake the box. If the thing you put in doesn’t move, the time-delay spell has succeeded.”
I put a few pieces of paper and carefully shook the wooden box. After all, the petals were more fragile than the sheets. Then, I opened the lid. It was a success! The paper didn’t move as if it had been glued to the box.
“See, what did I say?” Dorothy was also pleased. “We won’t lose anything if we give it a try. Isn’t there a good result now?”
I gave Dorothy a huge mental kiss. Of course, she could only hear it across time and space. Before she could scream, I quickly cut off the mind link.
‘Sigh, Dorothy is getting more and more impolite to me. Where did that quiet little rabbit go?’
After arranging the firewood, Aldrich entered the room and saw me looking at a box with a smile. He curiously asked, “What’s up?”
I showed him the flowers in the box. “Look! Dorothy taught me the time-delay spell, so this bouquet will not wither until we return to the palace.”
“Amazing! Our Princess is now on her way to becoming a werewolf grandmaster.” Aldrich kissed me on the cheek. “What should I do? When you become very powerful, will you kick this useless boyfriend away? Oh, I’ll be very sad then!”
“Don’t say that.” I laughed and covered his mouth. “This is really... Really ‘low’. Promise me, don’t watch too many idol dramas on third-rate TV channels, okay?”
Aldrich muttered depressedly, “As expected, I shouldn’t have listened to those old bones in the army, hehe!”
Just as we were laughing and joking around, there was a sudden knock on the door.
We were immediately on guard.
It was already dark. Who would come back so late to disturb two foreigners who came to ‘visit’?
“Hello, may I know who this is?” Aldrich asked.
“It’s me, Aldrich. Frank!” A tired voice came from outside.
We were surprised. Why was Captain Frank here? He should be leading the team in the ruins of the witch clan!
There was a problem!
Out of caution, we didn’t open the door immediately. Aldrich exchanged secret signals with the person outside the door, and the other party answered them.
This time, even Aldrich was in a rare state of confusion. I used this secret code when I was still a rookie in the training camp. No one knew it except the real Frank!
Could that person outside be Frank?
If that was the case, who was the one in the ruins of the witch clan?
I immediately asked Dorothy about Captain Frank’s movements and received an answer that he was patrolling the camp.
This was strange! Two Franks!
Someone knocked on the door again, and Frank’s voice rang out. “I know you have questions, but I can guarantee that I’m the real Frank Manon, and the one on the mountain is a fake. I can explain everything that has happened to me. Now, let me into the house. I’m going to starve to death in five minutes.”
After much consideration, we decided to let Frank in first.
What if he was real? He sounded weak. We couldn’t watch him freeze to death outside the safe house.
A haggard old man in ragged clothes stood in the night. I would have thought he was a homeless man if it weren’t for the familiar scar above his eye.
“Thank god there’s someone here. I am so hungry that my stomach is starting to digest itself.” Frank unceremoniously collapsed on the large sofa as soon as he entered the place. He looked like he didn’t have much strength left to stand up.
“Is there anything to eat? Anything is fine.”
The instant duck porridge was still on the fireplace, but it was not hot yet because it had not been long.
However, Frank didn’t mind and gobbled down two large bowls.
I brought him a clean, thick, and warm blanket. When his face regained color, I asked, “Alright, now please tell us what all this is about.”