Chapter 62

Chapter 62. Why People Change (12)

(3rd person pov cont.)

Rayburn glanced at Lanella as he was writing the letter.

“But will it be okay? Oscar…”

“It’s fine. I’m sick of Rainfield now.”

Lanella answered bluntly.

“I don’t like Oscar anymore. It’s all a thing of the past.”

“Hah.”

Rayburn giggled as if it was funny.

“Did you change the route to Nick after all?”

“Shut up. You haven’t been successful since then.”

Nick, the twin brother of Oscar, bought the title a few years ago and became Lord of Caronda by the name of ‘Nick Averson’.

The black magic that Rayburn could handle was to brainwash people and force them to have sex. 

Lanella kept asking Rayburn all the time for her to marry Nick, the Lord of Caronda.

Lanella, who failed in her crush on Oscar, wanted to have Nick who looked like him.

“Now you have to get rid of Nick too.”

Lanella said, grinding her teeth.

Originally, Rayburn also wanted to put Nick with Lanella in order to turn the lord into a puppet.

That was why Lanella and Rayburn settled in Caronda in collaboration.

But Nick was so slick that he didn’t fall for black magic.

“That man is not normal. He has a dirty personality and is very suspicious…”

Rayburn shook his head as if to say something.

Totally celibate, he tended to never have a woman or a dog with him.

“It was really weird at the nursery too. Nick just wanted to stay with his younger brother. But that’s not what’s important right now.”

Lanella continued speaking seriously.

“No matter how much Nick and Oscar don’t talk to each other, if we ever get in touch, I’ll be in trouble too. It’s only a matter of time before Nick starts doubting me.”

Rayburn gave her a serious expression.

In the meantime, he had easily concealed his identity by taking advantage of the relationship between Lanella and Nick, who both attended the same orphanage.

He was now running a good trafficking corp by tricking Nick, but it would be a different story if Nick started tracking Lanella.

Nick tried to catch this crime that had been rampant in Caronda until now, but failed every time.

His faith in Lanella, who had grown up with him at the orphanage, was blinding him.

But if he started to suspect her, everything might  be revealed.

“Then I can’t help it.”

Rayburn’s eyes twinkled and he murmured softly.

“We have to deal with Nick Averson too.”

~*~

Nick became the Lord of Caronda for a very simple reason.

It was just because he had money and power.

Nick and Oscar, who were identical twins that grew up together in a nursery, were both handsome with a cool impression, but their personalities were the opposite.

Oscar, who was soft-hearted and liked to make things with his hands, married Marilyn whilesaying weakly that even if they live poor and simple, they were happy when they were together.

Of course, Nick made the opposite choice to Oscar.

He had been single so far and earned money persistently.

And with that money, it was incorporated into the genealogy of the childless Lord Caronda and he became Nick Averson.

It had been a long time since he contacted Oscar because the southern part and the capital were so far away and they were not interested in each other.

“Again… That’s what’s happening again.”

Eventually, Nick, who became the Lord of Caronda a few years ago, had been troubled by something strange that had been going on in Caronda for years.

“It’s obviously trafficking… There’s no way it’s not.”

Unmarried young men and women kept going missing.

But strangely, they all had already formed a family and lived in a place in Caronda.

When asked when and why they went missing or why they lived there, they only answered with a blank look.

Even if their family cried and hung on, they repeatedly said, “I married this person,” as if they had no conscience themselves.

However, it was not good for young men and women of Caronda to disappear bewitched in this way.

It was also uncomfortable in many ways.

It had already been years since he followed an unknown criminal organization, but there were no results and the number of victims was only increasing. As a lord, he couldn’t help but be very concerned.

“There’s nothing we can do.”

So in the end, Nick came up with a very simple, yet very powerful solution.

“In the future, Caronda will have conditions when receiving outsiders.”

The “condition” Nick declared was a little ridiculous, but it was also an inevitable choice.

“Only let them in if they are married or come with a lover who they promised to marry.”

At Nick’s command, people were placed on all the roads leading to Caronda.

The system to follow that command also began to be created in an instant under Nick’s leadership.

And it was reported to the southern provinces where exchanges were frequent.

Of course, Ian and Annabelle, who suddenly entered the border of Caronda from a distant capital, found out only when they arrived.

~*~

(Annabelle’s pov)

I lied to my family that I found Lanella’s whereabouts and that I would follow her.

“I’m not sure, so I’ll just go there for a while. It will take at most five days.”

Naturally, my parents quickly held out Aaron.

“It is dangerous to go alone. Take him with you.”

“According to the information I obtained, it is said that it is in a woman’s bathhouse. Aaron will be of no help anyway.”

“…”

So I easily kicked Aaron out.

“The swordsmanship competition is soon. I’m not going to overdo it, I’ll just do a quick investigation.”

The family wanted to hire someone else on their quest to catch Lanella, but I managed to persuade them to let me go alone.

“Sister, what’s the plan?”

“It’s a kind of thing you can’t do with an incompetent kid.”

“Then what if something difficult happens? Even in a bathhouse.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

So I was able to defeat my family and reach the clock tower safely.

At the clock tower, Ian was already waiting.

Unlike usual, Ian was dressed similar to the commoners, but nevertheless, he still looked good.

He was even wearing round glasses.

“Wow, huh. Are you dressed like this because it’s some kind of undercover investigation?”

“Right. After all, in the South, no one will recognize me.”

It was only an event in the capital, no matter how he always took first place in the swordsmanship competition, even if someone from the south came to watch, they could only see it from a distance from the spectators.

Well, I was second in the rank, so I wouldn’t have a presence in the South at all.

“Even Lanella wouldn’t expect us to warp there anyways, so let’s finish it quickly.”

I once again emphasized finishing the operation ‘quickly’.

“The warp is more comfortable. I don’t even have to ride the carriage.”

Ian looked at me quietly and asked slowly.

“Why, the carriage wasn’t great?”

“Certainly, the carriage yesterday was a bit…”

I muttered with a sigh.

“When we were together, I kept having strange thoughts.”

“Strange thoughts?”

When Ian’s red eyes stared straight at me, I scratched my ears with embarrassment.

Ian slowly reached out his hand as I kept closing my mouth.

“Let’s go.”

Robert said that the warp would only work if hand contact was made

So I put my hand on his.

“Now that we’re going together from the beginning, there’s no reason to wander around like a fool.”

“There were many unexpected things in the black market in many ways.”

However, Ian’s relaxed words turned out not to be true as soon as we warped.

This was because we were in trouble at the front of the road to Caronda.

“Only men and women who are married or engaged can come in.”

The content a middle-aged land knight spoke while guarding the road was shocking.

“This is our policy.”

I was dumbfounded and smiled in vain and refuted.

“Is there really a weird rule like that?”

“This was ordered by the lord himself. If you don’t like it, go away.”

The Lord of Caronda was Nick Averson, whom Robert referred to as “a commoner who bought the title a few years ago”.

I think he was a very strange person, but I even doubted if he was related to human trafficking.

Black magic was basically controlling a person’s conscience.

If the lord was not directly involved in the black magic, the human traffickers would have somehow turned the lord into a puppet.

“Anyways, are you married?””

“Oh, no!”

Ian and I were surprised and shook our heads reflexively.

But I quickly judged with tremendous agility.

The 2nd question would ask if we were engaged. If we shook our heads, we would never be able to enter Caronda.

“However…!”

Before Ian, who was not good at lying, denied the second question equally, I was forced to link his arms tightly.

“We’re a couple who promised to get married.”