I Won’t Pick Up The T*ash I Threw Away Again - Chapter 71

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#71

The place the burly man led us to was a winding alley.

Identical-looking buildings were tangled together without order, like a maze.

The burly man walked for a while before stopping in front of a door that looked exactly like all the others we’d seen.

“Please give me that parasol.”

The burly man demanded of me.

Not knowing what to do, I looked at Kalian, and he nodded, telling me to do as instructed.

I handed the parasol to the burly man.

Knock knock.

When the burly man knocked, a small side door opened and a skeletal hand so thin you could see the bone joints suddenly popped out.

I gasped in surprise and clung tightly to Kalian.

Then Kalian gently patted my arm as if telling me not to worry about anything.

He took out a black invitation from his coat and handed it to the skeletal hand.

The skeletal hand gripped the invitation and disappeared inside.

Shortly after the side door closed, the main door opened.

“Let’s go in.”

I wanted to ask where we were going, but the burly man was staring at me intently, so I couldn’t ask and just went inside for now.

Inside the building was dark and narrow. The candles mounted on the walls were all there was.

Kalian put the hood he’d brought over my head.

“Don’t take it off no matter what happens.”

“Yes.”

I carefully held onto his hood that was pulled over my head.

Perhaps because he’d been wearing it all along, his scent wafted strongly from the hood.

Strangely, it was a scent that calmed my mind.

“This way.”

Before us stretched a narrow corridor barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

Kalian and I walked through it for a while before going down some stairs that appeared.

At the bottom of the stairs was a somewhat worn wooden door.

Kalian knocked on the wooden door with some kind of pattern.

Then we heard what sounded like a locking mechanism being released from inside, and the door opened with a loud creaking noise.

Beyond the wooden door was a completely different world.

“Come take a look!”

“You’ll never see items like these again!”

There were merchants selling all kinds of rare items displayed on their stalls.

“How much is this?”

“That’s too expensive. Can you lower the price a bit?”

The underground marketplace bustled with people who had come to buy things, or just onlookers.

On the surface it looked like a market, but it didn’t seem to be an ordinary market.

If it were an ordinary market, it wouldn’t be held in an underground marketplace and wouldn’t require an invitation.

The burly man’s men wouldn’t have been so on edge, guarding against Kalian either.

“Where is this place?”

When I asked out of curiosity, Kalian answered while surveying the underground marketplace.

“The black market.”

“What? The black market?”

My goodness. The black market.

Surprised by the unexpected answer, I asked again, and Kalian looked back at me.

“Why are you so surprised? Is this your first time at a black market… ah, it must be your first time.”

Kalian nodded as if he’d just realized.

“Someone as virtuous as you would have no reason to come to a black market.”

“Does that mean Your Majesty is not virtuous?”

I was just asking jokingly.

“Of course.”

When he answered that way, I was somewhat taken aback.

“I’m sorry. You had to come to a place like this because of me.”

“I’m fine.”

I was slightly surprised by the mention of a black market, but that was all.

I didn’t dislike coming here or have such thoughts.

Rather, I was curious. This was my first time visiting a black market in my life.

“That’s a relief then.”

Kalian surveyed the surroundings again and, as if he’d found what he was looking for, suddenly grabbed my hand.

“Let’s go.”

This wasn’t the first time I’d held hands with him, but strangely, my heart fluttered.

Was it because I’d heard him say “honey”?

The aftereffects of our earlier acting must still be lingering.

I gazed at our joined hands and followed him.

True to being a black market, they sold various rare items you couldn’t see in regular shops, like fairy wings and mermaid scales.

However, Kalian didn’t spare a single glance at such things and continued heading deeper inside.

Following behind him, I discovered children gathered together in a way that seemed out of place for a black market.

Why are children here?

Puzzled, I kept staring at the children, then stopped when I saw that the children’s hands and feet were shackled.

Could it be… are those children slaves?

“What’s wrong, Leilah?”

Kalian, who had also stopped, looked back at me.

I gave no answer and just stared at the children.

Kalian soon spotted the children too and nodded as if he understood my reaction.

“Those children seem to be weighing on your mind.”

“Doesn’t it bother you at all, Kal?”

I remembered how he’d once asked me to call him Kal and addressed him that way.

Kalian answered, “Well…”

He says “well” even after seeing that sight?

I looked back at him, bewildered in a different sense.

“They’re all young children. Children who don’t even look ten years old are going through such things…”

“Slavery is legal in the Empire.”

His somewhat cold response left me speechless.

I wasn’t unaware of it either. As he said, slavery was legal in the Empire.

Even if it was frown-worthy to look at, what they were doing wasn’t illegal.

I knew that, but still, still…

“I want to help them.”

“How?”

Kalian asked back indifferently.

Once again unable to find a proper answer, I closed my mouth.

The mood that had been cheerful from seeing interesting and fun items instantly sank and became gloomy.

Kalian let out a deep sigh and added,

“I understand your compassion for those children, but this is unavoidable. It would be better for you not to concern yourself with it.”

Every word was right.

My head understood his words, but my heart did not.

“Let’s go now.”

My heart couldn’t understand Kalian, who could coldly turn away even after seeing such pitiful children.

Come to think of it, he was the cruel Emperor without blood or tears who would cut down even a crying child without hesitation.

I had momentarily forgotten that fact because he had been treating me so well all this time.

I stared blankly at Kalian’s back as he strode forward, holding my hand.

Just moments ago, I had been excited about holding hands and walking with him, but now… somehow it felt awkward.

* * *

After passing several stalls, he stopped at a stall located in the farthest corner.

Glass bottles containing someone’s eyeballs. Lizard skin. Powders and medicine bottles of unknown identity.

The stall was filled with nothing but bizarre items.

The person selling them also gave off an eerie atmosphere.

I glanced at the old woman sitting in front of the stall.

A wrinkled face and gaunt body. Eyes that couldn’t focus properly.

Her left eye… was it a glass eye?

The old woman wearing a black hood looked as frightening as a witch from fairy tales who supposedly ate children.

Though it wasn’t right to judge people based on their appearance alone, I still felt a bit scared and turned my head away.

The old woman who saw Kalian stretched her lips wide and smiled eerily.

“Well, well, a distinguished guest has arrived.”

At the old woman’s meaningful words, Kalian’s eyebrow slightly raised.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Well. If I know, then I know, and if I don’t, then I don’t.”

The old woman spouted riddle-like words while laughing ominously.

“So. What business do you have with this shabby old woman?”

“I heard that if I come here, I might be able to find the poison I want.”

Poison…

Come to think of it, he had said there was a plant he absolutely wanted to find.

Was that plant one used as an ingredient for poison?

From the moment we came to the black market, I thought what Kalian was looking for wouldn’t be ordinary, but I never imagined it would be poison.

Though I had previously answered that I believed he wouldn’t do anything bad.

Actually seeing him search for poison made me feel uneasy.

He’s not… trying to kill someone, is he?

“Poison, you say. That is my specialty.”

The old woman pointed to some unidentifiable powder with her bony hand.

“That pure white powder is made from a flower called white moss. It has little effect on ordinary people, but if someone with diabetes consumes it, it can kill them instantly.”

At the chilling mention of death, I flinched and gripped my hood tightly.

Meanwhile, the old woman’s explanation of poisons continued.

“And this one-“

“What I’m looking for is a colorless, odorless poison.”

Kalian cut off the old woman’s words and asked.

“Hey. An adult is speaking and you cut me off. Young people these days don’t know how to respect their elders. They just talk back rudely.”

The old woman clicked her tongue and stroked her chin.

“A colorless, odorless poison. Just thinking about it now, there are over a hundred types. I need more detailed information to know what you want.”

Kalian immediately added further explanation.

“After consuming it, the mouth gives off a sweet smell and the fingertips turn pitch black. And it’s a poison that doesn’t react to silver either.”

“Hmm, a poison that causes a sweet smell and turns fingertips pitch black.”

The old woman thought for a moment, then pulled out two medicine bottles from her bundle.

“Among what I can think of, these are the poisons I have with me right now.”

“What about the other poisons? I’d like to know their names at least.”

“I’ll tell you if you pay.”

“How much? I’ll buy all these poisons too.”

Having obtained the information and poisons he wanted, Kalian put the poisons in his inner pocket.

“Come again next time.”

The old woman said as she packed the money she received from Kalian into her bundle.

“I’ll bring the poisons I couldn’t bring today. If I think of any others, I’ll bring those too.”

“I’d be grateful if you did.”

It was when Kalian, having finished his conversation with the old woman, turned around.

“There’s supposed to be an Emperor’s lackey here?”

“No way. This is a black market with tight security…”

People began to murmur.

Kalian clicked his tongue as if annoyed.

“It seems they’ve discovered that I’m here.”

“What? Then what do we do?”

“What do you mean what do we do. We have to run.”

Run away?

How could we possibly escape through all those people?

Moreover, I could see rough-looking men holding swords like the ones I’d seen on the street earlier scattered here and there.

They were looking around fiercely. If Kalian was right that they’d discovered he was here, they were probably looking for us.

I grabbed Kalian’s arm and whispered quietly.

“It seems impossible to escape while avoiding those people.”

“It’s possible.”

Possible? How?

“This way.”

Kalian took my hand and went even deeper inside.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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