Chapter 185 – Draft.

After handing the first Overlord volume to Bella, I said, “Please don’t stain or tear it. This is the draft. I don’t have another copy.” I should have asked Elma to make a copy, but I forgot.

“What!? This is the draft? I think I’d better not keep it!” Bella said and tried to return it to me, but I didn’t accept it.

“Don’t worry, I trust you. You just need to be careful.” I chuckled and took a sip of the juice in front of me.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Alright! I’ll protect this with my life! As soon as I finish reading it, I’ll return it to you. Tomorrow! By tomorrow, I’ll have finished and returned it.”

“Hey, I want to read it too!” Meteria complained. “Luan, let me have it for a day after Bella finishes, please.” Her eyes filled with tears, and I sighed.

“Alright, but you have to promise to be very careful.”

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine!” she said enthusiastically. “You heard that, didn’t you? As soon as you finish, you have to hand it to me.”

“Luan, you should rethink this decision.”

“Bella!”

“My mom isn’t careful at all! I’m sure she’ll stain or tear a page. You’d better change your mind!”

“Bella! Stop making up lies!”

“It’s not a lie!”

The two glared at each other.

Meteria was staring at Bella as if she wanted to kill her, but Bella didn’t seem to care. She was determined to make me change my mind, even if it meant arguing with her mother.

“Don’t worry. Even if something happens, I can rewrite it. I have everything memorized—it won’t be a problem.”

“But…” Bella still seemed worried.

“You heard him, didn’t you? He’s already decided! Stop saying unnecessary things.”

“Tsk!”

“Did you just click your tongue at your mother? You should respect me.”

“I’m just annoyed that you want the draft only to stain or tear it!”

“I won’t do that! Stop saying these things!”

“Alright, that’s enough, stop arguing.” I lost my patience. “Bella, you should treat your mother with more respect. And you, Meteria, you’re acting very childish—you’re her mother. I trust you, and that’s all that matters.”

“Fine…” Bella finally gave up.

“Sorry,” Meteria said, pouting.

She acts like a teenager. If I didn’t know she is Bella’s mother, I’d think she is a teenager based on her behavior and appearance.

“Alright. Read the first volume while I work on the sketchs for you. I’ll return in two days to deliver the drawings and get the draft back.” I stood up.

“Wait, are you leaving already? Why don’t you stay a bit longer?” Meteria got up and held my hands. “You can even stay the night if you want.”

“Mom!”

“That’s impossible. I promised the Goddess I’d return early. I need to leave now.”

“Aww… Okay.” Meteria said, disappointed.

“I’ll walk you out, Luan.”

“Thank you.”

Bella left the first volume of Overlord on the table, and we left the dining room. Shortly after, we exited the house.

Once outside, I said goodbye to Bella again and finally left.

“They’re both entertaining…”

####

*Bella’s POV*

When Luan left, I returned and headed to the dining room. But when I got there and looked at the table, the draft was gone!

My mother is gone too.

“Mom!” I shouted and ran upstairs to her bedroom. But when I tried to open the door, it was locked. “Mom! You took the draft, didn’t you!? Luan lent it to me first. Give it back now!”

“…”

There was no response.

“I need to read it quickly so I can prepare for the illustrations!”

“…”

Still, no response.

I kept banging the door and calling for my mom, but she didn’t open it. Frustrated, I was about to try breaking the door down. But to my surprise, before I could, the door slowly opened.

“Sniff… Sniff… Bella…”

It was my mom, tears streaming down her face.

“What do I do now?… Sniff… Sniff…” she asked as tears continued to fall. She held Luan’s draft in her hands, completely soaked and orange.

Juice!

The ink on some of the pages had started to come off and stain the paper. It was becoming illegible.

I froze, not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, my mom kept crying desperately.

“Give me that!” I snatched the juice-soaked papers from her hands and saved a few pages. But the first pages were so wet that the ink had already come off, ruining the paper entirely.

I fell to my knees, staring at the ruined pages.

My mom approached me slowly, sniffling.

“Sniff… Sniff… Is everything okay?”

“Of course not, you idiot!” I yelled.

“Waaaaaa!!!” Then my mom started crying again.

‘Damn it… What do I do now?’

I was on the verge of tears myself.

####

*Luan’s POV*

I woke up the following day with Lili by my bedside, waking me up.

As soon as I opened my eyes and saw her, I grabbed and pulled her onto the bed, hugging her tightly. But she began squirming to escape, saying, “Wait a second! Someone downstairs wants to talk to you. Something serious happened!”

I let her go and got up.

“Who is it?”

“It’s a girl named Bella. I’ve never seen her before.”

“Bella is here? She’s the artist who makes the covers for my books. But what happened?”

“Well… You’d better come down and see for yourself.”

“…”

I started thinking about what might have happened.

Then, the first volume of Overlord came to mind.

‘They did something, didn’t they?’

I let out a long sigh and headed downstairs.

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