CH 30

Dorothea Angellus was one of the most famous young socialites, so her absence caught people’s attention.

Unlike me, who usually didn’t come out of the annex, she socialized almost every day, so it was quite suspicious for her to confine herself in her mansion for several days.

From the contents of the gossip article, I was able to guess what poison Duchess Angellus and her daughter drank.

Not leaving through the door, only a bunch of maidservants coming in and out, and lastly, not holding any parties.

Hmm, this….

‘It’s probably a skin disease, right?’

It could be said that it was an appropriate poison prescription, considering the concerned person’s characteristics and personality.

There would be nothing more terrifying than being unable to go to a party for Dorothea, who was called the flower of society.

Moreover, there would be no more revenge like this, because the mother cared even more about her appearance.

Nevertheless, the fact that she did not visit duchess Perdia was remarkable.

I tilted my head.

“Do you have some miracle cure to believe in?”

Angellus power was “Regeneration”.

However, unlike healing, it was a power that was only externally exerted when doing something like attaching a severed arm on the battlefield, so it would not be able to solve the skin disease problem.

Sipping tea, I turned over to the next page of gossip.

It was then.

“…. Carl.”

I sighed and turned my head with my chin resting on my hand.

Carlot, standing on the branch of a tall tree next to the balcony, entered my field of vision.

“Hi, sister.”

After not showing up for a while, he slowly started to wander around me again.

I couldn’t believe he climbed a tree next to the balcony because I told him to stay out of the annex.

“You’ll get hurt.”

“This height is nothing,” he replied boastfully.

Of course, climbing a tree would be nothing to Carlot, who was talented in swordsmanship, but that was not the problem.

With a deep sigh I turned my gaze back to the gossip paper, and Carlot stomped his foot and called me.

“Sister.”

“…….”

“Sister Lili.”

Why are you doing this to me?

“I told you not to come, Carlot.”

In the end, I had to say something if I didn’t want to hear him again today. As if he had been training in the meantime, this time Carlot didn’t show a hurt expression.

“You told me not to come to the annex, but you didn’t tell me not to come to the garden……”

“Then don’t come to the garden.”

“I won’t disturb you, Sister. I’ll just stay by your side. Can’t I do that?”

Huh?

This time again, Carlot looked at me with pitiful eyes like a cat in the rain.

‘Doesn’t he know that he is already disturbing me?’

I didn’t say anything, so Carlot added a word, probably getting nervous.

“But I’m ……. I’m Sister’s escort!” 

It reminded me of what I said to Carlot, that he was an escort within the mansion.

It was an excuse to not show hostility to Raeyan, who became my new escort, but he couldn’t still be believing that, could he?

Was he naive or stupid?

“I think he’s just a fool.’

But I couldn’t help it.

I wouldn’t be able to make an antidote comfortably with Carlot around like this.

However, I couldn’t even tell the guy to go away who looked at me with that miserable rain-soaked-cat face.

Just when I thought about what to do.

Growl–

“No, it’s….I’ve been out the whole time, so I’ve missed a meal…..”

Carlot, the main character of the growling sound, blushed in embarrassment and scratched his head for no reason.

Did you just wait for me to come out without eating?

It’s not good to starve, though. Don’t you have to eat on time?

If it was an operation to stimulate sympathy, it could be said to be a successful method.

Eventually, I opened the balcony door and called Carlot in.

“Alright, you’re just going to eat and then go, all right?”

“All right, Sister!”

His answer was calm, but I wasn’t sure if he would actually put it into action.

Carlot dared to jump onto the balcony from the tree, leaving the front door intact and unopened.

It was ridiculous to worry about him getting hurt with his light footwork.

When I called Martha and asked for a quick and simple meal, food was soon served on a table in the corner of the bedroom.

I didn’t really have an appetite, so it was of course only for one person.

Carlot, who sat on the sofa and examined the table, tilted his head, and looked up at me.

“Isn’t Sister going to eat?”

“It hasn’t been long since I ate, so I’m fine. Carl, eat a lot.”

Carlot, who had been hesitant, grabbed the cutlery tightly and began to slice and eat the steak.

He must have been very hungry.

Carlot, whose stomach was a little full now because he finished two steaks in an instant, looked at me sitting across from him.

“Sister, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Why are there so few people in the annex?”

Five….

I answered Carlot’s insensitive question equally gravely.

“Well, that’s the thing. There are servants, but they all avoid me to avoid being noticed. They probably don’t want to be involved with a dirty illegitimate child.”

Flinch.

While cutting the meat, Carlot put down the tableware.

In an instant, the atmosphere became sober.

“I-I’m sorry……” Carlot mumbled. 

I shook my head dismissively. “Eat, eat.”

I put the tableware back into Carlot’s hand.

What a surprise. Eat your meal.

Then Carlot began chewing the food with an upset face.

Meanwhile, I noticed that the asparagus on the steak plate and the vegetables on the salad plate were intact.

“Why do you only eat meat? Eat some vegetables, too.”

Carlot answered somewhat sullenly. “I’ll eat them later.”

“Are you picky about food?”

Although we had family meals, we didn’t even know if the other hated vegetables or not because we weren’t interested in each other.

“No, I left it for later.”

Making a ridiculous excuse, Carlot nibbled at the vegetables on the plate.

Then, suddenly, he put down the tableware and asked me, pretending to be serious.

“Sister, you know what?”

There was a lot of intention to change the subject on purpose because he didn’t want to eat vegetables, but I allowed him to fool me on purpose.

“What?”

“The guys who attacked us last time, who they are.”

At those words my face hardened without realizing it. 

I don’t know if it was Carlot’s goal or not, but the problem of whether or not he ate his vegetables had become nothing.

“Who is it?”

“I’m investigating with Jansi on Father’s order. We’re trying to find out who’s behind them.”

“Hmmm.”

“Ah, but we found something on one of their bodies.”

Carlot, who had been talking calmly, hesitated and stopped talking. I pressed the back of my tongue.

“Keep talking, Carl.”

“They had a mana-addiction reaction in their bodies. All but two.”

“Magic addiction?”

Magic addiction.

It was a different kind of being addicted than being poisoned.

Wizards who use magic basically have magic affinity, so it doesn’t matter, but people exposed to them for a long time also showed mana-addiction reactions.

Most of them just complained of fatigue, so it wasn’t not obvious on the outside, and it usually improved within a few days if you kept a distance from the wizard.

To say such a reaction appeared……

“Are you saying it’s somehow related to a Mage Tower?”

“Correct answer.”

“If it’s a tower, which one?”

“I don’t know that.”

The attack took place on the way to the South Tower.

But to say that the attack was related to the magic tower, was this really a coincidence?

The memory of that time came to mind.

There were two people, Carlot and me, and it was mainly Carlot who was attacked, but that was because he came forward.

Clearly their target was set.

Aimed at me to be exact.

‘Why me?’

In the original, I diligently worked hard without any harm until Estelle appeared.

Nevertheless, far from being attacked, I ate well and lived well. Although I was a little weak.

But now, the fact that I was attacked meant that something was definitely changing as I changed my attitude.

There must be someone who would benefit from removing me.

Who would that be?

***

I pondered over the flow of the original work.

There were three years left until the original work would begin.

I intended to save money and become independent, but if there were forces who wanted to kill me, the story would be different.

If I became independent, I would not be able to ask for the protection of Perdia, so it was like confronting the world with bare hands.

Murdered as soon as I’m independent?

‘….I can’t do that!’

For my safe independence, it was necessary to find out who was trying to take my life.

The problem was that the magic towers of the east, west, south, and north were independent organizations.

Even though it was called a Magic Tower, they were organizations that couldn’t be lumped together.

First of all, I was thinking of going to the West Tower because I had something to do.

After calling Raeyan, my limited escort for outings, we climbed into the carriage together.

“Where is our destination?”

“West Magic Tower.”

“All right.”

As an example, for an escort, Raeyan didn’t ask useless questions. I liked his seriousness and reticence.

I looked at Raeyan, who was sitting across from me.

A man who sometimes looked at me as if he was looking at someone else.

A mercenary king called a hero.

My benefactor who saved my life.

And the only one who knew my secret.

‘I can trust him.’

Strange. It would be normal to be anxious about someone knowing my secret, but I was relieved.

The fact that there was someone who knew the real me in this world that was so different from me.

So, it was as it should be. Raeyan made me feel comfortable.

“Raeyan, I have a question.”

Raeyan, who was staring out of the running carriage window, turned to me.

“Yes?”

Elodie: “Do you get requests for the Earth Hawk Mercenary Corps to find people?”

“Sometimes.”

Usually, the information guild handled requests to find people, but at least I couldn’t use them.

Most of the information guilds belonged to the shadowy realm, ruled by none other than the king of the underworld, Sylvester Perdia. 

If I submitted a request, it would be like going straight to Duke Perdia’s ears.

It would be better for me if the mercenary corps could find someone for me, even if that wasn’t their main job.

“Have you ever heard of the name Estelle?”

After spitting out the question, I looked for changes in Raeyan’s expression.

Before commissioning, it was my intention to test Raeyan’s reaction.

If Raeyan was reincarnated in the book like me, there was no way he didn’t know Estelle, the original heroine. 

“I’ve never heard that name.”

But Raeyan’s expression did not change at all.

He looked as if he had never really heard of it.

Having failed to weigh it, I had no choice but to tell the contents of the request.

“Then please find someone named Estelle for me. I will match the request as much as possible.”

“I need more information about the person.”

“She has dark brown hair. I’m sure she’s a year or two younger than me.”

“Is that all you can tell me?”

“Yeah, I guess….”

The original work began at an orphanage a year before Estelle was adopted by Perdia.

The story began when Estelle was miraculously adopted by Perdia when she had no choice but to sit on the street without money if she was not adopted, due to her coming of age.

‘Come to think of it, it doesn’t say where Estelle was before that.’

It would have been a lot easier to find her if that information was in the original.

The fact that there was already someone who was aiming for my life meant this was no longer the world in the book.

I decided that knowing the location of Estelle, which could be another variable, would help preserve my life.

“I’ll look for them.” 

“Please, Raeyan.”

By the time I had finished my request, the carriage had stopped. Before I knew it, we had arrived at the western branch of mages, the West Tower.

Escorted by Raeyan, I got off the carriage and went straight into the magic tower.

“Raeyan, wait for me here.”

After setting up Raeyan near the entrance, the place I headed to was the reception.

Since I came all the way here, I planned to start investigating after investing the additional profits I’d made from selling antidotes so far.

When I arrived at the reception desk, a different person in charge greeted me.

“Welcome to the West Tower branch. How can I help you?”

“I want to invest.”

“Oh, you want to invest. Do you need a product description?”

“No, I’ll invest more in my previous investment.”

As it was a revisit, there was no need for a process such as explaining the investment destination or confirming the name.

The person in charge took the money I gave and wrote a contract without saying anything.

“It’s been completed.”

“Thank you.”

“Have a safe journey, Lili Ar………? Wait –”

I didn’t want to keep Raeyan waiting for a long time, so I hurried to the entrance without hearing the rest of their words.

There seemed to be a commotion coming from behind me; I thought there must have been an accident and hurried my steps even more.

By the time I had barely found Raeyan in the crowd and stood in front of him, the commotion from earlier had spread throughout the tower.

“Raeyan, what’s going on?”

“They say they’re looking for someone.”

“A person?”

“Yes, Lili Arcelle.”

“I see….wait, who?”

“Lili Arcelle.”

A name that sounded unfamiliar and familiar, a name that felt like mine.

‘…….Me?’