Rebirth: She Cuts Ties and Takes Revenge (Noelle Kain) novel Chapter 568

The man pulled back his gaze, his expression unchanged, as if that brief moment of distraction had only been Lucas's imagination.

Without saying a word, he turned around and strode away.

"Freaking pervert!"

Lucas made a face at the man's retreating back and shut the door while grumbling under his breath, "He should take a good look in the mirror first. Looking like that and still thinking he has a shot with Noey? Delusional much?"

After ranting, he turned around, ready to comfort his traumatized "Noey," only to find Noelle staring blankly at the doorway.

Her eyes looked distant, almost lost in thought.

"Hey, Noey, you okay? Did he scare you stupid?" Lucas leaned closer and waved a hand in front of her face. "Don't be scared. That ugly bastard might be fierce, but with me here, he won't dare do anything to you."

Noelle ignored his nonsense and slowly turned toward him, her brows slightly furrowed with confusion in her eyes. "Lucas... don't you think he's kind of strange?"

"Strange? How?" Lucas looked completely baffled. "Other than being ugly, bad-tempered, and ridiculously good at fighting, what's strange about him?"

"Not that." Noelle bit her lower lip like she was trying to organize her thoughts. "I mean... don't you think he's kind of like Sebastian?"

"Pff!!"

Lucas instantly sprayed out the mouthful of water he'd just swallowed.

His eyes widened like he'd heard the funniest joke on earth, and he burst into exaggerated laughter. "Hahahaha! Noey, did seawater get into your brain? Or did that ugly freak scare you dumb?"

He laughed so hard he nearly doubled over while pointing toward the door. "You're saying that crater-faced guy who's ugly in such a uniquely horrifying way looks like Sebastian?

"Hahahaha! That joke seriously sucks!"

Even Noelle looked slightly dazed from how hard he laughed.

Yeah. Someone like Sebastian, brilliant and breathtakingly handsome, could never possibly be that ugly guy with a face full of scars and bumps.

I must've lost my mind because of that damned kiss to come up with such an absurd thought.

"True." Noelle laughed self-mockingly and shook her head. "I'm probably overthinking it."

Quietly, she walked to the window and stared into the pitch-black night outside.

The sea wind howled through the darkness, the night sky covered like it was wrapped beneath an endless layer of black cloth that could never be pulled away.

She touched her still slightly swollen lips. It felt like that man's presence still lingered there.

It was cold and overbearing, yet somehow carrying a familiarity that made her heart tremble.

Sebastian...

She silently repeated his name in her heart.

Where exactly are you?

Noelle and Lucas waited inside the wooden house the entire night.

He said he was going to find Jasper, and he's been gone all night.

Where is Jasper?

Has he found him?

Or did something happen?

"Let's go."

The two of them left the wooden house and followed the mountain path downward.

The sky still hadn't fully brightened, and the fog was thick enough that people became blurry shadows just a few feet away.

Dewdrops clung to the bamboo leaves lining both sides of the trail. Every time the wind blew, they rattled down onto their faces in icy droplets.

Lucas shivered and pulled up the collar of his floral shirt.

When they reached halfway down the mountain, the fog gradually thinned, revealing a fork in the road ahead.

Just as Noelle was about to head left, voices suddenly drifted over from the path on the right. The voices weren't loud, but in the silent mountain forest at dawn, they sounded especially clear.

"Did you hear? Something huge happened to the Covingtons!"

"Yeah, I heard! The Four Great Families gave the order personally. Someone from the Nightfall Circle got arrested, and I heard they're being publicly executed in the square today!"

"The Covingtons? The one on the south side of the island? What did they do?"

"They hid outsiders! I heard Noelle, the girl who just entered the Medicine Department, was smuggled in by the Covingtons! She's got no island registration and illegally snuck onto the island, and the Four Great Families found out!"

"Oh, my God! An outsider? That's serious! Anyone sneaking into the Nightfall Circle definitely isn't up to anything good!"

"Exactly! I heard they're making an example out of them with a public execution in the square today!"