When Valentine woke up from her slumber, she was greeted by the familiar ceiling of her room, and her mother was sitting beside her bed, looking at her worriedly.
Seeing her daughter looking around confusedly, Ivy, with a sigh, explained that Valentine had fainted after hearing about Jonny from the magic knight Fin near the carriage.
Hearing her mom's words, Valentine's eyes widened in realization, and the fuzzy memory became clear.
Remembering everything very clearly, her mood suddenly became depressed.
Her best friend was killed by her boyfriend, whom she trusted very much and loved. He had betrayed her.
While these thoughts were going through her mind, her mother noticed and placed her hand on Valentine's shoulder to comfort her.
Seeing her mother, Valentine's eyes started to fill with tears, and she couldn't control her grief.
She hugged her mother tightly, crying and pouring out all her sorrow.
After a few minutes, all the family members gathered one after another, having heard the news that she had woken up, and arrived to check on her condition.
They consoled her for what had happened.
The atmosphere became gloomy and heavy until Rex, Valentine's father, broke the silence.
He asked her to be strong and wanted her to participate in the musical festival as planned, consoling her by saying this is what Lilly would have wanted.
After hearing her father's words, Valentine, who wanted to cancel the trip to Glazba, halted and remembered how much Lilly had wanted to participate in the competition there.
Thinking deeply for some time, Valentine agreed to go to Glazba to participate in the competition.
Everyone left in two carriages for Glazba. Valentine, Rex, and Ivy were in one carriage, and Ed, Merlla, Jinny, and Wil were in the other.
After traveling for a day and a half, they arrived at Glazba.
After registering her name on the participant list for the singing competition, they arrived at one of the luxurious hotels and booked rooms for themselves.
When Valentine arrived at her room, she went to the balcony and viewed the bustling city, which looked very busy.
With a sad look and a sigh, thinking of how much her friend loved this city, a few tears dropped.
She went to the bathroom to freshen up. When she opened the door to enter the bathtub, Valentine was greeted by a scene that made her scream in fear.
Hearing the scream from Valentine's room, the guards who were outside hurriedly entered.
When they entered the room, they saw Valentine running out of the bathroom in a panic.
Seeing this, the two guards didn't hesitate and hurriedly entered the bathroom, flipping their grimoires, indicating they were ready for battle.
They were greeted by the sight of magic knight Fin lying dead in the bathtub filled with water and blood, his throat sliced open.
One of his hands was holding a dagger outside the bathtub, and his eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling with a dead gaze.
On the wall beside the bathtub was a sentence:
"WELCOME TO GLAZBA, MY DEAR VALENTINE! HOW IS IT? MY PRESENT? THIS IS MY WELCOME GIFT FOR YOU. DON'T WORRY, I WILL PREPARE A SURPRISE GIFT FOR YOU AFTER YOUR PERFORMANCE IN THE COMPETITION."
The message was written creepily with blood.
Soon, other family members also reached her room and were shocked to see the sight before them.
Ivy hugged her daughter and consoled her.
It seemed like someone was targeting her daughter.
The magic knights were immediately informed and they arrived at the spot.
For Glazba, magic knights from Blue Rose were responsible for security at the festival.
Upon investigation, they found that Fin had committed suicide, but the message on the wall indicated otherwise.
Soon, the magic knights concluded that the killer was a user of magic that could control others.
Hearing this, Ivy immediately wanted Valentine to withdraw from the competition.
Even though the magic knight who came to investigate assured them that they would arrange tight security for Valentine,
Ivy didn't want to stay in this place even for a second because of the clear threat from the murderer, who seemed confident in bypassing security.
Despite Rex's attempts to console Ivy, she is adamant about taking her daughter home from this dangerous place.
So, they left Glazba without participating in the competition.
After the festival was over, the murderer didn't try to contact them or kill anyone around her.
Five years passed...
Once again, the music festival approached. This time, Valentine wanted to participate and win.
Everything was going well until three days before the festival.
When Valentine was spoiling her pet cat, suddenly the cat escaped from her embrace and started running hurriedly in one direction.
Seeing this, Valentine followed it, calling its name.
But it didn't stop and entered her room.
When she followed it inside, she saw her cat jumping from her balcony.
When she hurriedly went to look down, she saw her cat nibbling towards the fountain while blood was coming from its wound.
She called the guards and asked them to save the cat while she followed them.
When she arrived at the spot where her cat fell, she saw a scene that made her shudder.
The cat didn't go to the fountain; it was writing with its blood.
"DEAR VALENTINE, THIS TIME I WILL BE WAITING FOR YOUR PERFORMANCE AT GLAZBA. LAST TIME YOU DISAPPOINTED ME BY NOT PARTICIPATING, BUT THIS TIME DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THE SAME, DEAR. I AM LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT GIFT FOR YOU. HOPE I FIND IT SOON..."
After writing this, the cat fell and died.
Valentine's flashback ends...
While Valentine was telling her story, Ben, Anny, and Mary listened with wide eyes.
"Damn! It looks like we are facing a psycho killer."
Ben looked at Valentine with pity, having seen several movies about what psycho killers are capable of and how they torment their victims.
"Did the magic knights find any leads on this? Who previously investigated it?"
Anny asked with narrowed eyes.
This was the first time she had heard of a killer killing like this.
Sigh...
"No... it seems like he never existed. And that's why you guys are here?"
With a defeated sigh, Valentine shook her head.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Sigh...
"Miss Valentine, it seems like we are dealing with a psycho killer,"
Ben said with a heavy tone, breaking the silence and looking at Valentine seriously.
"____"
"What is a psycho killer?"
Hearing Ben, everyone in the room turned to look at him confusedly, including Anny and Mary and asked him.
"____"
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(Author's POV)
I hope you guys enjoying the story.
Thanks for reading the chapter.
please give a review and power stone!!!