I Opened an Illegal Animal Hospital in Another World - Chapter 70

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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70

 

Chapter 16. How Much Will It Cost? I’ll Buy It with Money Now (1)

 

Is it really Raven?

 

I was flustered and hesitated, unsure whether I should deliver a groin kick or greet him warmly…

 

Well, of course—it had been a whole 11 years!

 

Though we had contacted each other almost daily, half my life had passed without seeing his face at all.

 

“Ah, I was told not to call out names.”

 

“…That’s, well, true.”

 

How do you even know that?

 

Raven, or rather the man presumed to be Raven, wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked ahead. Thanks to the half-mask covering from his nose to his eyes, all I could see when looking up was his jaw and lips, and honestly…

 

‘How am I supposed to recognize him?!’

 

It was impressive that Raven recognized me. How on earth did he figure out it was me?

 

His sharp jawline looked like it could cut, as people often say, and his slightly full lower lip was well-shaped, but whether it resembled the Raven in my memory—honestly, I couldn’t tell.

 

The Raven in my memory was just a 12-year-old blonde, golden-eyed pretty boy.

 

Like childhood friends you’ve known since young, I objectively thought he was handsome but didn’t feel much excitement about it. Everyone around me was handsome and beautiful anyway.

 

Besides, he was 12. Fifth grade in elementary school. Even if I thought a child’s face was handsome, the cuteness factor was bigger after all.

 

But this man with only a familiar voice was completely unfamiliar in every other way. He seemed like a complete stranger.

 

Having deep intimacy with Raven despite never meeting, I was utterly bewildered.

 

Who is this man…

 

The face showing only the lower half seemed to sense my gaze and looked at me, startling me. I almost hiccupped. He stretched his well-shaped lips into a smile and said:

 

“Are you that happy to see me?”

 

“Wh-what are you saying.”

 

“Shall we go in first?”

 

Only then did I come to my senses. We should go in…

 

The woman who, despite being a Guard Knight, couldn’t even recognize her own master, seemed happy that she no longer had to worry about Leon’s Younger Sister…

 

‘Look at that expression. She could kill someone.’

 

Ian and Evelyn had murderous expressions as if they wanted to blow away all the Security Guards and everything else.

 

Anyway, though it was questionable whether he was really Raven, he clearly wasn’t a dangerous person. At least the Twins, who would know the recent Raven better than I would, were quiet, and Evelyn wasn’t causing a scene either. I placed my hand on Raven’s arm and looked ahead.

 

‘Go in.’

 

Seeing my eye signal, Evelyn ground her teeth and entered with huffing breaths, followed by Ian. I told Leon:

 

“Sit separately when we go in.”

 

“Oh my, Younger Sister doesn’t want to sit with her brother! Well, she does look that age. How adorable.”

 

Leon opened and closed his mouth as if that wasn’t it. However, thinking it was more important to get the stranger away from me first, he pulled away the woman who was trying to say a few more words to me.

 

The Security Guard watched Raven and me carefully after our brief scuffle—though it couldn’t really be called a commotion. He gave us a warning that wasn’t quite a warning that he’d kick us out immediately if we caused trouble, then checked our invitation and let us in.

 

The building with its lights off had a narrow entrance, and instead of going up, we had to go down. The basement would be stuffy.

 

Going down the stairs, I could see dark seats arranged like in a theater. There was a stage in the center, and it was quite large too. The scale was unimaginable from just seeing the entrance.

 

‘What’s so amazing about secretly auctioning while hiding your identity that they’d go this elaborate?’

 

I was busy looking around with my vision severely limited by glasses and a mask, but Raven led me very skillfully.

 

Thanks to him, I avoided the embarrassing fate of tripping over my long skirt hem, but something felt uncomfortable in one corner of my heart.

 

His manners were good even at 12, but…

 

His unfamiliar appearance was already awkward enough, and seeing only parts of his gestures and actions that I didn’t know made it worse. I might not mind if he were completely unfamiliar, but his voice I heard almost daily and his friendly tone were all too familiar.

 

“It’s been a while.”

 

“Have you been to a place like this?”

 

Since there was no need to show my awkwardness, I responded nonchalantly. Raven looked down at me and said:

 

“My uncle used to bring me sometimes.”

 

“That… person? He has a hobby of frequenting places like this…”

 

I had thought he was frugal and ordinary, though a bit excitable in personality.

 

“He was running errands for his sister.”

 

“Sister? Ah.”

 

The gorgeous Empress.

 

“She has no interest in slaves but loves rare treasures. But since it’s hard for her to move directly, she just works her poor younger brother to death.”

 

“When you put it that way, he really does seem pitiful…”

 

“I got to see the outside world while I was at it too.”

 

Instead of taking him to secret auctions and teaching him wrong financial sense, wouldn’t it have been better to give him more ordinary experiences? Like taking him to markets or festivals, or going on picnics, things like that.

 

Then again, Raven wasn’t the type to show much interest in ordinary things.

 

How desperate must he have been to take an interest in gathering talent from such a young age, sponsoring and nurturing this person and that person. Picking me up was part of that effort too.

 

A baby who could understand words and use healing power wouldn’t have been common. As he once said himself, he must have wondered how to utilize this.

 

That’s probably why he even arranged an engagement, but by now hasn’t he realized there’s no way to utilize me? That’s probably why he didn’t come to see me for 11 whole years…

 

“Honey, aren’t you happy to see me?”

 

“Wh-what?!”

 

“You can’t call my name, here.”

 

“That gives me chills?!”

 

“Even though we’re engaged?”

 

Raven led me by the hand to a suitable seat without even looking at me. Then he sat down next to me. Ian and Evelyn were sitting in the front row, and Leon was nowhere to be seen. I told him to sit far away, but I didn’t tell him to hide.

 

Raven turned to look at me.

 

“Then what should I call you?”

 

“There’s no need to call me anything, right? Just tell me what you want.”

 

“How cold…”

 

Look who’s talking.

 

“Who’s the one who didn’t come back for 11 years, calling me cold?”

 

“Did you miss me?”

 

Even though half his face was covered by a mask, why could I see all his excitement? It was strange. Do handsome faces have better delivery and expression than others even with just half showing?

 

“I missed you about as much as you’d miss an ordinary friend.”

 

“Ah, friend…”

 

Raven smiled, drawing out his words strangely.

 

“Anyway, aren’t you happy to see me?”

 

“Well…”

 

I was about to say of course I was happy, but I hesitated and couldn’t answer readily.

 

If he asked if I was happy to see him, of course I was. When a friend goes away to study and doesn’t come back, I wasn’t so cold-hearted as to not miss them.

 

During the past 11 years, I had lived quite busily, and since being reborn, my surroundings were always filled with people who cherished me… But I had felt Raven’s absence.

 

However, this man didn’t feel like Raven to me. So it was a bit awkward to say I was very happy to see him. It felt like pretending to be close to someone I didn’t know well.

 

When I kept my mouth shut, Raven lowered his head and came closer to me.

 

“Shana?”

 

“…Move away a bit… And don’t call my name.”

 

“Only you can hear at this distance.”

 

“I said move away.”

 

He was too close.

 

“I’m so happy I could die.”

 

“If you’re happy, you’re happy, but what’s this about dying…”

 

“It means I’m that pleased. If you didn’t dislike it, I wouldn’t have let you go after hugging you.”

 

“Oh my, where are your manners between men and women.”

 

I had become a teacher. Don’t you know that boys and girls should be kept apart from age seven?

 

I was being serious, but Raven burst into laughter as if he’d heard something amusing. “Men and women,” he said quietly.

 

“Couldn’t you have at least contacted me before coming?”

 

“I did.”

 

“When?!”

 

“Earlier. But since you didn’t answer, I contacted your parents and asked them.”

 

Ah… I was too busy from evening onwards to check my ring.

 

“You should have let me know at least a day in advance, shouldn’t you?”

 

“Thanks to coming suddenly, I got to see a different side of you, and I like it?”

 

“You might not know, but many people hate surprises. I was incredibly startled.”

 

“Were you startled?”

 

“I thought my heart would stop… I was so surprised that I almost reflexively threw a castration kick…”

 

“…”

 

“I almost cut off the Empire’s lineage…”

 

I felt relieved belatedly. No matter how much the beautiful Empress doted on me, if I had made her son… like a daughter, she would have been incredibly angry… The beautiful Empress looks like an icon of great mercy, but she’s really scary when angry.

 

“Besides, we’re meeting after 11 years and I look like this. Mask and glasses. You’re all covered up too, so you don’t seem like someone I know…”

 

I became talkative from feeling awkward for no reason.

 

“I can be honest, right? You’re awkward too. We haven’t met for 11 years, so how on earth did you recognize me? I’ve grown incredibly tall too.”

 

“…Ah, you have. You have grown.”

 

Did you really have to leave out ‘incredibly’ there? Lucky you, growing tall.

 

“The last time you saw me was when I was 7, so how on earth did you recognize me?”

 

“You can tell by looking.”

 

“I’m asking ‘how’ you recognized me.”

 

“I could tell when I saw you.”

 

Cocky Raven was still cocky even as an adult. How annoying.

 

“People, you know, if they’ve changed after becoming adults, there should be some fun in not recognizing them. Am I the same as when I was 7?”

 

My height is different, my face is different, my hair length is different! As I grumbled for no reason, the awkwardness eased a little. I felt a bit sorry that he recognized me at a glance while I was still doubting.

 

But still, you know… The Raven I knew was a 12-year-old beautiful boy… What’s in front of me is a handsome man whose lower face alone is gorgeous…

 

Raven stared at me intently, then grabbed my mask. Hey, hey hey, why are you doing this? I quickly grabbed the mask, but Raven didn’t stop.

 

He leaned forward as if to block others from seeing, standing in front of me and gently pulled off my mask.

 

I held my breath for no reason and just blinked my eyes in confusion. His broad shoulders lightly blocking my view, the unfamiliar scent that suddenly wafted over…

 

Who the hell is this guy? I don’t know anyone like this.

 

“It’s the same.”

 

“…”

 

“I was surprised because you’re prettier than I imagined, but not to the point where I wouldn’t recognize you.”

 

This, this fox.

 

My childhood friend who had been cold and prim for 11 years had become a magnificent fox. No, where has he been living and what has he been doing to learn such audacious techniques…!

 

“Is your face red?”

 

“Just watch where you’re going…”

 

“Sure thing.”

 

Raven grinned. His lips visible beneath the mask looked refreshingly cool, almost appearing vibrant.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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