Robot Protection Zone Chapter 79

The charger on Eve’s designated spot was still there, but Eve herself was nowhere to be seen.

Could she have gotten angry and hidden because I was gone for so long? Or maybe she was broken again and undergoing repairs. If my master still hadn’t brought Eve back from the company… I didn’t want to imagine that.

“Didi, Eve…”

My master’s expression darkened. It wasn’t a question that required long deliberation, yet he couldn’t bring himself to speak for a long time. From his demeanor, I realized something was wrong.

Seeing my master hesitate to answer, anxiety suddenly reared its head.

“Nothing happened to Eve, did it…?”

I asked, blinking my eyes anxiously. Come to think of it, after I had asked for Eve to be checked, I hadn’t heard anything about the results.

I’ve returned after wandering the streets for a long time, so if Eve’s repairs still aren’t finished… could there have been a serious problem that was difficult to fix?

My master’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he opened his tightly shut mouth.

“Didi, don’t be alarmed and listen carefully.”

“…”

“There was a small accident. Eve’s body was broken, but her memory chip is fine. We just need to get a new main body…”

My breath caught in my throat. The moment I heard that Eve’s body was broken, nothing else registered.

Eve was broken?

I froze, my eyes wide. My master was still saying something, but his voice now sounded like a muffled drone.

“H-How…”

“She ran out of the company building on her own… Didi?”

Suddenly, my vision turned hazy. My master’s form blurred. Realizing that tears were streaming down my face, I quickly turned around and ran to my room.

“Didi!”

I heard my master calling from behind, but I climbed the stairs without looking back.

Once I reached my room, I immediately locked the door and slumped to the floor. I hugged my knees with both arms, curling my body up as small as possible.

Did this happen because I had unnecessarily said that something was wrong with Eve?

Every time I saw a robot that looked similar to Eve while wandering the streets, my heart would ache. But each time, I would comfort myself by thinking that Eve was doing well at my master’s house…

The thought that I had so casually believed that, without even knowing Eve had been in an accident, made me feel miserable.

Even if I had known Eve was broken, there would have been nothing I could do after leaving home. I probably would have just wandered around lost in sorrow, getting even more lost. But it felt like everything was my fault, and it was so agonizing.

I had come upstairs without a word to Sofia while helping with meal preparations… I couldn’t bring myself to go back down. I tried to leave the room, thinking Sofia might be waiting for me, but my tears wouldn’t stop.

I was afraid to go down to the living room. The moment I faced Eve’s empty spot, I felt like I would just crumble.

I weakly lay down on the bed.

Unbearable things snowballed and choked me. I just wanted to turn off my power. For a very long time, it would be fine if I didn’t wake up… I just wanted to escape from this painful reality.

I pulled the covers over my head and cried silently.

By the time my tears had subsided a little, the world outside the window was already shrouded in darkness.

I had been unable to do anything but lie in bed until the sun went down. The wounds I had gotten while wandering outside the house stung. Now, even my chest ached, to the point I couldn’t tell where or how I was hurting.

After a long while, I sensed a presence beyond the door. It wasn’t the sound of light footsteps, but the heavy sound of dress shoes, so it was my master.

My master knocked on the door from outside. When there was no answer for a long time, I heard the sound of the doorknob turning, but since I had locked it when I came into the room, it just rattled.

— Didi, open the door.

I wasn’t in the mood to see my master’s face right now. I wished he would just leave, but he called for me anyway.

When my master called my name once more, I forced myself to get out of bed. I stood in front of the door for a moment, wiped my tear-stained face, and opened the locked door.

I could feel my master flinch as he saw my messy, tear-streaked face.

“…Didi.”

My master looked down at me, who wouldn’t meet his eyes, and called my name in a low voice. I kept my lips firmly sealed and didn’t lift my head until the end.

Haaah… I heard a short sigh from above my head.

“Get dressed. We’re going out.”

“Right now…?”

“Yes. And wash your face.”

My master’s fingers brushed against my damp cheek. The gentle touch, after so long, felt only unfamiliar. A sense of repulsion made me step back slightly, and an awkward silence fell.

I did my best to avoid my master’s gaze and opened my mouth.

“Where are we going?”

“On a date.”

What does that…

I lifted my head in that instant. And the moment my eyes met the blue irises of my master, who had spoken such nonsense so calmly, I was at a loss for words again.

“I don’t want to go.”

I spun around and was about to go back to bed, but my master grabbed my arm and stopped me. Then, he lightly lifted me up and slung me over his shoulder.

“Master!”

“Can’t be helped. Guess we’ll have to go on a date with you in your pajamas.”

“Put me down!”

I struggled and resisted. I thrashed my legs in the air with enough force to roll off my master’s shoulder, shook my body, and even hit his solid back, but my master wouldn’t put me down.

“William, are you going out?”

“Yes.”

We ran into Sofia on the way, but she only saw my master off and didn’t even offer a word of help to my struggling self.

We went straight through the entrance and outside. The hot, humid air and the hard shoulder pressing into my stomach as I struggled made it hard to breathe.

My master strode over to the already started car, opened the passenger door, and set me down. I tried to get out of the car immediately, but my slippers had come off while I was struggling, and I was barefoot. As I hesitated, seeing the damp ground—it must have rained in the meantime—the passenger door closed.

My master got back into the driver’s seat. Then, as if to give me no time to escape, the car started moving right away.

“…”

I couldn’t just jump out of a moving car. I had no choice but to hug my knees and gaze out the dark window.

‘A date…’

In the past, my heart would have fluttered uncontrollably at my master’s single phrase about going on a date, but now, I wasn’t happy.

I had clearly told my master that I no longer loved him. But did he just brush off my words lightly? Otherwise, there’s no way he would be acting in such a baffling manner.

This isn’t the time for me to be doing this.

I had run away without being able to swallow the tears that poured out as soon as I heard Eve was broken, so I hadn’t even heard how serious her condition was. I needed to check how badly Eve was damaged and go help her quickly…

I didn’t have the luxury of being dragged around one-sidedly by my master, who was making the ridiculous demand of going on a date.

“I contacted Thomas and told him to repair Eve.”

“…”

“He said he can get a replacement body within three days, so just wait a little.”

Three days.

Hearing a specific timeframe set, the anxiety that had been surging in my chest subsided a little. I wanted to go see her right now, but my master also said he wouldn’t be going to the company for a while. Three days was an amount of time I could wait.

As we drove through the dark roads, the inside of the car became quiet once again.

It was a time when some people would already be asleep. Since he had bothered to bring me out in my pajamas, we probably wouldn’t be walking around outside.

Are we just going for a drive and then back…

But the car headed more and more towards the city center, and soon stopped in front of a large hotel. My master got out of the car, and then the passenger door opened.

“Get out.”

With those words, a hand was extended in front of me. It was a straight palm, as if telling me to take it and stand up. I stared blankly at the splendid hotel entrance beyond my master and muttered.

“This is a hotel…?”

“That’s right.”

“…”

My master nodded nonchalantly.

A date. I mulled over the words my master had said before we left the house. The word I had passed over lightly was now starting to bother me.

I stared at my master’s extended hand for a long time before opening my mouth.

“Um… I don’t have any shoes.”

My master’s gaze shifted to my bare feet, which were fidgeting on the seat. For some reason, that gaze slowly scanning my toes made me feel embarrassed, and I curled my toes tightly.

A moment later, my master leaned towards me.

“Hold onto my neck.”

Following his words, I carefully wrapped my arms around my master’s neck, and he lifted me up in one swift motion.

“Ah!”

Startled by the sudden movement, my body swayed greatly, and I clung to my master’s neck with all my strength. It must have been straining for him, but my master was actually smiling.

My master handed the car keys to a hotel employee and headed into the hotel with me in his arms.

“William?”

The moment we entered the lobby, a familiar voice called my master’s name.

Turning my head in the direction of the sound, I saw a familiar face a few steps away. An impression that resembled my master’s. It was his father, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time.