Early in the morning—before the entire bakery had even woken up—Lio sat on the edge of his bed and quietly took out his watch.
He looked at the faint golden glow.
It hadn’t changed much in the past two nights.
Nino’s message arrived on Marinette’s phone in the middle of the morning—she had to read it aloud to Lio because he still didn’t have a phone of his own.
“Nino says—” Marinette read, then laughed.
“He says he wants to take all of us on a picnic by the river.
He says, ‘Lio needs to see Paris properly, not through school emergencies.'”
“That—” Leo said with mock seriousness, “is actually a very accurate diagnosis of my situation.”
“So, are we going?”
“Of course we’re going.
I haven’t seen this city except while lost, or looking for something, or running away from something.
It’s time I saw it normally.”
They gathered by the river in the afternoon—Nino and Alya arrived first, spreading out on the grass and setting up the speaker and phone.
Then Adrien arrived.
Marinette froze for a moment, the bag she was carrying almost slipping from her hand.
“A-Adrien!
I didn’t— I mean—I knew he was coming, but I didn’t expect—” She stopped, took a breath, and tried again, louder than she intended.
“Hello!”
“Hello, Marinette.” Adrien said with his usual smile.
“Hello.” She repeated, then realized she’d said exactly the same thing, making her face turn even redder.
“I mean—hi.
Again.
The same greeting.
I—”
She tried to sit on the grass gracefully at that exact moment, misjudged the distance, and nearly sat on Nino’s bag instead of the ground.
She quickly adjusted her position, pretending nothing had happened.
Lio looked at her from where he was sitting, one eyebrow raised with nothing but playful curiosity.
He leaned slightly toward her and whispered in a voice only she could hear:
“Do you need a translator?
It seems half of what you’re saying came out in random order, and the other half is trying to sit on people’s bags.”
“Shut up.” Marinette whispered sharply, elbowing him without looking at him, her eyes still secretly fixed on Adrien.
“I didn’t say anything wrong.”
“Your existence is enough.”
“That’s blatantly unfair.”
Leo chuckled quietly and stepped away, leaving her to recover from her embarrassment on her own.
But his smile never left his face—his curiosity was beginning to settle into a small corner of his mind alongside the rest of his observations.
They all eventually sat down on the grass, with Nino playing some calm music while Alya opened her phone to take pictures for “the blog,” as usual.
Time passed peacefully—Nino tried to teach Leo some French song lyrics, only for Lio to fail spectacularly and hilariously at pronouncing them.
Alya convinced everyone to appear in a short video for “the blog,” and Adrien surprised everyone by bringing a ball and starting a simple game near the water.
Leo ran after the ball with far more enthusiasm than necessary, tripped, fell onto the grass, and laughed loudly at himself before anyone else could laugh.
“I’m fine!” he announced while still lying on the ground.
“That was completely intentional.”
“Of course it was.” Marinette said, extending her hand to help him up, unable to stop laughing.
Lio grabbed her hand and got to his feet, and for a second, they stood unusually close to each other, laughter still on their faces, before they both took a step back with sudden awareness.
“Thanks.” Leo said, his voice slightly quieter than before.
“You’re welcome.” Marinette replied, her cheeks flushed with a color that wasn’t caused by running alone.
From a distance, Adrien noticed the small exchange.
He didn’t comment.
He simply smiled to himself and went back to throwing the ball to Nino.
As evening approached, everyone began gathering their things, preparing to head back.
Leo sat for one last moment at the edge of the river, watching the water reflect the changing colors of the sky.
Marinette approached and quietly sat beside him.
“Good day?” she asked.
Leo looked at her, then at the river, then at his new friends laughing behind them.
“A very good day.” He said with complete sincerity, without a joke this time.
“The kind of day I never expected to have here.”
Marinette smiled softly.
“Paris surprises everyone sometimes.”
“Seems like it.” Leo said, his hand touching the pocket where his watch pulsed with its faint light, while his heart—for the first time since arriving—felt much lighter than the weight it had grown accustomed to carrying.
Somewhere, far from everyone’s eyes…
A man stood before a long table, a collection of strange components carefully arranged across it, along with a folded letter placed in the center of the table as though it were the most important thing there.
He stared at the components and the letter for several seconds before reaching out and picking up the letter between his fingers.
Then he said in a tone carrying clear admiration:
“Azirax von Valenterra…
truly worthy of the title, King of Darkness.”
His smile paused for a moment before returning to his face, calmer than before.
He placed the letter back where it had been and looked at the components before him.
“But do you really think your actions will escape that person’s notice?”
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly stopped.
He had sensed the presence of someone behind him who hadn’t been there moments ago.
He sighed lightly in annoyance, then said without turning around:
“Vernier…
what brings you here?
Don’t tell me you came to bother me again.”
Vernier’s voice came calmly from behind him.
“I think we both know why I’m here.”
The man chuckled lightly, then slowly turned toward him, shaking his head with a mocking smile.
You do love meddling in troublesome matters, don’t you?”
He then turned his gaze back toward the table and continued in a more serious tone:
“Even Azirax knows that what he’s doing won’t go unnoticed by that person.”
His smile faded again, but this time there wasn’t a trace of mockery in his eyes.
When he spoke of Azirax, his tone changed noticeably.
“Azirax knows exactly what he’s doing.
That’s precisely why I don’t like being in his way.”
Vernier said calmly:
“And yet, it’s an opportunity.”
The man raised an eyebrow and looked at him as though he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
“An opportunity?”
Vernier answered without hesitation:
“Even if nothing changes in the end, even if everything remains exactly as it is, it’s still an opportunity.
And I see no reason for us to ignore it.”
Silence filled the room for a few moments before the man laughed quietly, looking at Vernier with a familiar expression.
“You haven’t changed, Vernier.
You’re still willing to gamble with something you can’t afford to lose.”
He stepped closer, then gestured toward the components on the table, continuing in a mocking tone:
“But this time, don’t let your confidence deceive you.
You know very well that some mistakes cannot be undone once they’re made.”
He paused for a moment before calling his name again, his tone completely different this time.
“Vernier…”
He looked directly at him and spoke with unmistakable seriousness.
“Be careful.”
A small mocking smile appeared on his face as he added:
“And don’t think that being the developer of the Kwamis will make that person overlook your mistakes or give you any advantage against him.
In the end, failure before that person doesn’t just mean death…
it may make you wish death were the worst thing that could happen to you.”
Vernier remained silent, simply staring at the folded letter on the table.
After a moment, the man spoke again.
“And don’t forget, Vernier…”
His smile disappeared completely.
“We are all merely pawns on that person’s chessboard, including Azirax himself.”
Vernier remained silent for several moments before answering calmly:
“I know.”
The man smiled faintly and turned his gaze back toward the components before him.
“I hope so.”
Silence returned to the room once again.
The folded letter remained on the table, concealing something far greater than anyone at this point should know.
End of Chapter Twenty