I am dead. Elena is already at home. I don’t want my ear to be pulled again. It hurts like hell.

Whatever happens, I need to avoid her. The only question is how. She must be sitting in the living room right next to the door.

If I just walk in like this, I am sure she will notice me no matter how hard I try to be discreet.

’Hmmm...’

Thinking of a plausible excuse was the only thing that could save me now. However, even coming up with one is a difficult job. Moreover, I can’t go in with this in my hand.

I looked at the mana stone. Placing it outside the house would be the best thing to do. After looking around, I found some bushes and placed the green stone inside them.

’One thing has been taken care of, now onto the other, which is my clothes.’

They were completely drenched with sweat and filled with dust. Since, I don’t have anything else to replace them with, I should just leave it alone.

After taking a deep breath, I went inside.

As soon as I stepped inside, I kept my head straight but my gaze instinctively turned toward Elena and Sophie.

Elena was sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed and her assistant was standing beside her. Both of their eyes were fixed on me, who had just walked in.

"Welcome back," Elena’s voice was too calm, which made it feel dangerous, and a wave of chill ran through my whole body.

Abruptly, I stopped walking and slowly turned toward them. While forcing an awkward smile on my face, I began, "Hi, how are you? Sorry, I didn’t see you there," I said, scratching the back of my neck.

"Where did you go?" Elena asked in her cold tone.

"I... I went for a walk... Yeah." I tried to lie. If possible, I wanted to dodge this whole interrogation thing, but my appearance sold me out.

"Covered in dust, sweating, and smelling like concrete?" She noticed every small thing about me and gave me a glare.

Sophie too. She was standing while holding paperwork in her hand, and added, "That is a very aggressive walk."

She was just trying to put oil on the fire, so I just gave her a side-eye and frowned.

"Oops." She covered her mouth with her hand. "Sorry," she apologized, which made me even more irritated. I wanted her to shut up, but she had to say sorry out loud?

Amidst all this, Elena stood up and walked toward me. Then, she looked at me from head to toe. She did that for at least three times before placing her hand on my shoulder.

"I believe this walk you took didn’t involve a Gate, did it?"

She asked, but her expression wasn’t sharp or harsh. Instead, she seemed genuinely worried and was hoping that what she said was true.

Her gaze lingered on the bruises near my eye and her brows furrowed slightly.

"You know," she said more quietly, "I’ve already lost enough people. I’m not interested in adding you to that list."

The hopeful expression soon turned into sadness as her eyes began to fill with unshed tears.

In that situation, I also didn’t want to break her heart by saying that I really went to a Gate. So, I should make something up which won’t raise her suspicion nor make her worried.

"No, I didn’t go to any Gate. I just tripped over something while walking. That is all."

This isn’t believable enough, but I can’t come up with something grand in just a few seconds.

"Alright, go up and take a rest."

To my surprise, it had worked. Elena had believed my unbelievable lie and was letting me go. Great. Then I shouldn’t waste any more time.

I quickly moved my legs and went upstairs to where my room was.

Phew~

As soon as I entered my room, I ran to my bed and fell on it.

Today was really intense. My whole body was bursting with pain and I felt so tired. I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up early tomorrow.

As my eyes closed and my mind drifted into deep slumber, a single word escaped my mouth.

"Viora."

However, something was happening after I left Elena and Sophie. They were still suspicious of me.

Elena was just looking at the stairs where I had gone.

"Do you believe him?" Sophie asked her.

"Not even a bit," Elena answered and went out of the house with Sophie.

As soon as they were out, Sophie’s eyes caught a glimpse of green light coming from the bushes.

"Director... what is this?"