"Achoo!"
Annie couldn't help but sneeze.
Lock, sitting opposite her, thoughtfully handed her a tissue.
Looking a bit listless, Annie said thank you.
"No wonder you seemed out of it during training today. How did you suddenly catch a cold?"
Lock reached out and touched Annie's forehead. "Hmm, you have a slight fever too."
Annie batted Lock's hand away, though she didn't actually dislike his gesture.
Last night, she had followed that mysterious person from the Wall Cult and spent most of the night in the cold wind; she had started feeling off since she woke up this morning.
Lock said with concern, "You should probably ask Shadis for a day off tomorrow. Don't let it get worse."
"No need... I'll be fine after some sleep."
Annie was planning to drink more "juice" today to go to bed early tonight... but she saw Lock take her cup away. "Don't touch this stuff if you have a cold. I'll bring you some ginger soup tonight."
Annie lowered her eyes and looked at him expressionlessly.
Lock wasn't intimidated by Annie's look. He pointed at her eyes and said, "Look at how heavy your dark circles are. You're so tired from training during the day, yet you don't sleep at night. I've told you so many times, but you never listen."
"This is what happens when you're disobedient."
Annie turned her head and huffed, "So naggy."
Lock smiled instead. "Thank you for the compliment."
...In the evening, Lock arrived alone at the door of the girls' dormitory. After knocking politely, he waited there.
Soon, the door was quietly opened a crack. Mina poked her head out, looked around, and then said with a smile, "Lock, coming to check on Annie so late?"
Mina said this specifically toward the inside of the room.
Lock lifted the clay pot in his hand and returned the smile. "Yeah, she didn't eat much tonight, so I specially made some soup for her."
Mina looked back and suddenly winked at Lock. "Tell her yourself!"
With that, Mina stepped aside, and Lock saw Annie walking out, wrapped in a quilt.
"You're really not afraid of Shadis's headbutt," Annie said faintly, her voice thick with congestion.
Lock laughed. "It's fine. My head is hard too."
He handed her the item in his hand. "Here, try my cooking."
Annie took it and gave him a suspicious look. "Did you really make this yourself?"
Lock raised an eyebrow. "How could it be fake? Remember to drink it while it's hot."
Seeing Annie sniff it, Lock added, "Don't worry, I specially added brown sugar. It's not that bad."
Annie tightened the quilt around her and said indifferently, "If there's nothing else, you should head back."
"I'm closing the door."
"Wait, Annie!" Lock called out to her.
"What else?" Annie was getting a bit impatient.
Lock took off the white scarf from his neck and wrapped it around Annie's neck a few times.
He smiled and said, "My stepmother knitted this herself,f too. It's yours now."
Feeling the lingering warmth from him on the scarf, Annie didn't react for a moment.
"Don't lose it."
After giving his instructions, Lock turned and left... but Annie ended up losing it later anyway.
It must have been before participating in the Snowy Mountain Training... When Lock asked about it, Annie couldn't say where it was lost.
His stepmother didn't knit a second one for Lock. Looking at the scarf Mikasa had worn since she was a child, Lock couldn't help but feel a bit of regret.
Later, after Lock consumed Annie, he learned from her memories that the heat scarf was lost.
When Annie was tracking Kenny in the Royal Capital, she was discovered by him and accidentally dropped it while escaping.
Did she have to wear it even at a time like that?
Lock felt much more comforted... "Hey, Annie, look what I found?"
Lock sat in front of the Crystal, stroking the white scarf in his hand.
"I found this in the place where Kenny lived. That guy was quite obsessed with the fact that you managed to escape from him."
"Fortunately, he couldn't find anything from this scarf and could only keep it in his home."
"And the Corps didn't think much of this thing when they raided the house, so it finally returned to my hands."
Lock sighed. "I didn't use to believe in fate..."
He thought of Lin Youde and mocked himself, "But here, it seems everything was arranged for me long ago."
Lock stood up and put on the scarf.
He looked up at "Annie" inside the Crystal, a flash of disgust appearing in his eyes.
Lock suddenly had an impulse to shatter it.
He slowly clenched his fist.
[Host's adrenaline levels detected to be rising. System evaluation in progress.]
But that was all. How could he actually do such a foolish thing?
[Levels did not meet the standard. System self-activation failed.]
"That gentleman over there, you're leaning a bit too close!"
A familiar voice pulled Lock back from his thoughts.
Lock turned and smiled. "Yo, Hitch! Long time no see!"
Hitch, wearing the Military Police Corps uniform, walked up to Lock's side.
She looked at Lock and said crossly, "It hasn't been that long since the last time you came, has it?"
Lock said, "I was just worried you'd be bored guarding this place all the time."
"I think you're worried Annie will be bored," Hitch said, narrowing her beautiful fox-like eyes.
"I suppose so."
Lock suddenly added, "Hitch, Marlo will also be participating in the Battle for the Recovery of Wall Maria soon."
"Yeah, I know." Thinking of that blockhead, Hitch was full of frustration. "I tried to talk him out of it long ago. Guess what he said?"
[I didn't expect you to be this kind of person, Hitch. I was wrong about you.]
"Tell me, isn't this idiot infuriating?"
Lock chimed in at the right moment, "That guy definitely lacks a few brain cells."
"What about you?" Hitch suddenly asked back. "With your status, couldn't you also transfer to the Military Police Corps? Why are you going too?"
"Because with great power comes great responsibility."
Lock straightened his military uniform and said to Hitch, "Don't worry, Hitch. I'll bring that guy back safely."
"Just stay here with Annie and wait for the good news from The Corps."
"I have to get back to Trost, so I'll be going now."
Lock took one last look at "Annie" and turned to leave.
Hitch looked at Annie in the Crystal and said with a complex expression, "You know, you're actually no different from Marlo."
"You don't know how to cherish things at all."
...Lock didn't go directly back to Trost; he went to his own home first.
It was a rare occasion for the father and son to have dinner together.
But the atmosphere at the dinner table didn't seem as harmonious as one might imagine.
"Old man, what are you doing? How do you have the nerve to bully that young girl?"
"When did I bully her? Is asking her if she's willing to be a daughter-in-law of the Leon Family bullying her? Do you know how many people are lining up outside to introduce their daughters and granddaughters to me!"
"If you want to hold a baby that badly, why don't you have one yourself with that woman?"
"What I want to hold is a grandson! I don't want to have another thing that only knows how to make me angry."
"I'm just saying. Do you really think you can still produce one?"
"I haven't beaten you since you were thirteen, brat. It looks like I'll have to make an exception today!"
Buffon, standing to the side, watched this scene of deep father-son affection with a constant smile.
---
A/N: 40+ Advance Chapter Has Been Uploaded.
Support: patreon.com/Narrator_San