Chapter 549 - 549: The Catgirl

The round tables were covered with lavish dishes as the Catgirl approached with a smile.

"Young man, Ryuu's been acting a little strange ever since she came back from the expedition. Could you come with me and check on her, nya?"

Chloe made the request with a perfectly natural expression.

She was exceptionally skilled at concealing the truth.

Something must have happened between the Elf girl and Bell. Ever since returning, Ryuu had been avoiding Syr and had not even come back to work at the tavern right away.

Because of that, there was no lie in Chloe's words.

"...?"

Artemis quietly studied the tavern waitress.

Chloe wore the same pale green uniform as the other employees, but beneath that beautiful face seemed to lie a secret no one else knew.

As a Goddess accustomed to battle, Artemis sensed a trace of danger completely unlike Chloe's usual demeanor.

"Orion..."

Artemis had been holding Bell's right arm. She tightened her grip slightly in warning.

"It's fine."

Bell gently stroked the Goddess's left hand before looking up.

"Chloe-san, should we leave now?"

"Mm. Sorry to trouble you, nya~"

Chloe swished her tail.

Her smile lacked its usual mischievous edge, instead carrying an inscrutable air of mystery.

"Bell, should I come with you?"

In an instant, Airmid abandoned her drunken act and returned to the dignified demeanor of the Dea Saint.

Bell glanced at Chloe and noticed her eyes instinctively shift away.

Unlike Lefiya and the others, the Catgirl knew about Ryuu's relationship with Bell. If Ryuu had fallen into some kind of emotional confusion, then even if Chloe could not handle it herself, she should have gone to Syr for help rather than asking Bell directly.

There was definitely something else behind this.

"No need. I'll be back soon."

Bell made his decision immediately and chose to place his full trust in Chloe.

When he had first arrived in Orario, the Catgirl had offered him help without asking for anything in return.

Bell felt he owed it to her to repay that simple kindness.

Under the watchful eyes of several women, Bell stood up alone and accompanied Chloe out of the tavern.

The stars glittered overhead.

The beautiful night sky was like the Catgirl's thoughts, deep beyond measure and yet impossible to look away from.

"Bell, nya?"

For the first time, Chloe called the boy directly by his name.

It was only a simple word, yet there was something thoughtful and profound in the way she said it.

The two of them were rarely alone together, so even such an ordinary form of address felt strangely new.

"Sorry, Chloe-san. You're so beautiful that I got distracted for a moment. I think if you wore a black evening dress, you'd be even more beautiful than this starry sky."

Bell offered the compliment without hesitation.

The moment the two of them were truly alone, he had already noticed that something was wrong.

It was not only Bell's own sharp instincts. Chloe's movements were far too different from usual, enough to betray that she had another purpose.

Her request had only been an excuse.

Whatever the Catgirl truly wanted to do had absolutely nothing to do with Ryuu.

Bell realized that, but pretended not to notice and continued praising Chloe's beauty.

"Hearing you say that really makes me happy, nya~"

Chloe accepted the compliment openly, her adorable cat ears twitching slightly.

The boy found her body attractive.

For Chloe, that alone was a final form of salvation.

What she was about to do was not some pure or noble expression of love.

It was desire, filthy and twisted, just like the way she viewed her own existence.

With what little time she had left, even if it meant hurting Bell, Syr, and the others, Chloe still intended to seize this opportunity.

She knew her thoughts were distorted.

She knew they were unhealthy.

But Chloe had no other choice.

Her values had been different from those of ordinary people since the day she was born. Truly changing herself now was impossible.

"Bell... I'm sorry, nya..."

When the two passed through a deserted alley, Chloe made her move.

A dagger coated in a powerful sleeping poison flashed forward and cut across Bell's arm with lightning speed.

Only moments later, as droplets of blood fell to the ground, Bell collapsed into Chloe's arms.

"Did that hurt, nya? I'm really sorry..."

Chloe apologized again and again.

She had deliberately held back to avoid seriously injuring Bell, but even landing a surprise attack on him was no easy feat.

Chloe took out the potion she had prepared beforehand and poured it over the wound on his arm.

Then she lifted the unconscious Bell onto her back and disappeared into the night without looking back.

...

Inside the tavern, the girls' laughter had grown somewhat quieter.

A trace of unease crossed Artemis's beautiful face.

Wasn't this taking too long?

Could something have happened to Orion?!

Artemis frowned as an ominous feeling rose within her.

She did not announce her suspicions, nor did she tell Hestia.

Voicing such concerns without proof would only make everyone worry.

Since Bell had trusted the Catgirl enough to go with her, Artemis also wanted to trust his judgment.

Even so, the Moon Goddess had other ways to uncover the truth.

"I'm going to get some milk to sober up. You don't need to come with me. It's nothing important, I can handle it myself."

Artemis declined the girls' offers to accompany her, made up an excuse, and headed alone toward the tavern's kitchen.

In the corridor farther inside, the gray-haired girl was waiting for her as though she had known Artemis would come.

"Syr, what did you do to Orion?!"

Artemis did not bother with subtlety and confronted her directly.

Syr was both Bell's lover and one of Chloe's closest coworkers.

She had to know what was going on.

"I only asked that girl to deliver Bell to my bed."

Syr answered with an innocent expression.

"That's a lie. If that were true, why are you still here?"

Artemis immediately exposed the contradiction.

"That is the truth. Gods can tell when people from Gekai are lying. Goddess-sama should know that better than anyone, shouldn't you?"

Syr did not change her answer.

"..."

Artemis's blue hair swayed with her anger.

She stared deeply into Syr's gray eyes for a long time.

Only when one of the girls called out from the tavern hall did Artemis finally suppress her anger.

"I'll tell the others that Orion was taken away by one of his lovers from the tavern and won't be coming back tonight."

Artemis sighed softly before continuing,

"Syr, at least tell me this. What is Orion going to face?"

She understood that the gray-haired girl's love for Bell was genuine and unshakable.

Syr would never knowingly allow him to remain in a truly dangerous situation.

She was deliberately twisting the truth to cover for Chloe, which meant she had some special reason for doing so.

Artemis simply could not understand what could possibly justify going this far.

"Mm... Honestly, even I don't know exactly what's going to happen."

Syr looked at the Moon Goddess and gave her a mischievous smile.

"The only thing I know is that Chloe doesn't have much time left. Even if she has to force things, she's going to take that final step..."

"So this time, she really is a cat stealing a forbidden taste."