My Illusion Is Survival - Chapter 15

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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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Chapter 15

Three more days had passed since that day.

‘Time really flies.’

During this time that was short if you called it short, long if you called it long, many changes had occurred in my daily life.

First was the fact that I now had a proper name.

“Lady Elpis, you were here again.”

“Mary, you came?”

And second was the fact that I was adapting quite well to this ‘Mansion of the Dreadful Darkness.’

“Garden maintenance is Ron’s responsibility. It’s not something for Lady Elpis to do.”

“But it’s nice to do it together.”

I added with a deliberately sulky tone.

“Ron, am I perhaps getting in the way?”

“Not at all. I’m nothing but grateful that Miss Elpis is helping.”

“Ron, don’t push your work onto others.”

Ron the gardener and Mary the maid.

The sight of the old man chuckling good-naturedly at the young maid’s scolding would look quite peaceful to others.

However, I already knew the old man’s true nature.

Ron Friedrick, who had been the most famous information broker in the back alleys. That was the old man’s real identity.

“More importantly, you’ve been filling the head chef with nonsense again, haven’t you?”

“Me? I just said today’s lunch was delicious.”

“That’s the problem.”

“Why is that a problem?”

“He was running around saying he’d throw a grand party tonight for the young lady who appreciates his true worth.”

The head chef mentioned through Mary was the same.

Head chef Milrak had once been a tomb robber who shook the world.

Mary, the Empire’s traitor.

Ron, the information broker.

And Milrak, the tomb robber.

In this place where not a single person was ordinary, I was adapting well like this.

“A party? They’re having a party?!”

“Haha! Thanks to you, miss, tonight will be wonderful.”

“…Sigh.”

“Oh! Sorry, Mary. I was in the middle of getting scolded, wasn’t I?”

“…I wasn’t trying to scold you.”

But of course, there weren’t only good changes. Problems existed too.

What was the problem, you ask?

“Then, Mary. Can I ask you one thing?”

“Please go ahead.”

As always, Azel.

“Will Azel come to that party too?”

Azel was always the problem.

“…”

“…”

As could be seen from Ron and Mary immediately closing their mouths, the most important person, Azel, was avoiding me.

“…The master has a lot of backed-up work, so it seems he’ll have difficulty joining dinner.”

It was an outright lie.

This wasn’t even a real ordinary noble family, and it made no sense that Azel was too busy with work to even eat together.

Yet Azel was avoiding me while making such ridiculous excuses.

‘Then don’t stare at me!’

These days, I could feel his gaze wherever I went.

When the back of my head felt hot and I turned around, Azel was always there.

Yet when I approached him first, he would blatantly run away with those quick movements.

At first I was dumbfounded and just took it, but now even when I desperately chased after him, I couldn’t catch him.

‘Damn final boss.’

Having uselessly good physical abilities only to torment people like this.

‘This is ridiculous. Do I really have to run around sweating like this just to get that bastard’s attention…’

I even wandered around the garden following Ron, hoping he’d please talk to me, but it had no effect.

As I was swallowing my anger internally, Ron happened to speak to me.

Ron seemed to misunderstand that I was upset about Azel’s attitude.

“Please don’t be too upset. The master must be feeling very regretful too.”

Of course, it was nonsense.

However, I couldn’t express this anger as it was.

‘It’s not like I’m some poor mistress married to an indifferent noble husband, how can I complain…’

I wasn’t in a position to grumble just because the master of the house wouldn’t eat one meal with me.

“I see. Thank you, Ron, Mary.”

“…Hehe.”

“…Not at all.”

In the end, all I could do now was smile wistfully like someone trying to endure disappointment.

But I had no intention of waiting quietly like this.

“I’ll go inside now, Ron. See you at dinner later, Mary.”

“Where are you going?”

“Just going to rest a bit. I have some things to think about.”

If he won’t come out on his own, I’ll just drag him out from this side.

‘Right. Let’s see who wins this time.’

As I huffed and returned to my room, no one tried to stop me.

*

Mary watched the woman’s retreating figure with quite curious eyes.

The sad expression she had seen on the woman’s face moments ago was still vivid in her mind.

‘How can someone have such varied expressions?’

“…Mary?”

It had been like that from the first time she saw her.

Elpis, who had expressed surprise and joy toward her with her whole body, was a strange type of person Mary had never seen before.

She had no hesitation in expressing her emotions, as rich as her facial expressions.

Of course, that wasn’t the only strange thing.

‘Why is she happy to see me?’

She was definitely a woman she was seeing for the first time.

Mary, who had exceptional memory if not as much as Azel, never forgot someone she had seen once.

However, Mary had never seen anyone like Elpis before.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind, Mary.”

Meanwhile, Ron spoke to the thoughtful Mary like a kind old man.

The relationship between the two people who had once been enemies could not be called good by any stretch.

Therefore, even though unintended, a blunt voice naturally flowed out.

“Don’t pretend to know me, Ron Friedrick.”

“I’m similar in that regard. When I look at that young lady, I find myself thinking more and more as well.”

“…You do?”

However, what he had just said was difficult to ignore.

“That young lady sometimes looks at us with such longing.”

Mary’s fingertips, which had been feigning indifference all along, stiffened.

It was true.

So full of longing, and so tender.

Ron was also conscious of the woman’s existence, who showed an incomprehensible sense of intimacy.

“I don’t understand why she treats an old man who’s just waiting to die of old age that way.”

The meaning contained in his brief complaint was clear.

It meant that even Ron Friedrick couldn’t gauge the woman’s identity.

“To think I don’t even know who prayed for my daughter’s soul to rest in peace. The Friedrick name should be ashamed.”

“…What?”

But an even more surprising story flowed from Ron’s lips.

“The day that young lady first came out to the garden. She passed by my child’s grave.”

“Ah…”

“She kept looking back and hesitating before approaching, so I watched to see what she would do.”

A small grave without even a body.

The small tomb where only an old doll his daughter had cherished was buried was nothing more than a pile of dirt to others.

Yet Elpis had not only recognized it as a grave, but had also prayed for the deceased’s soul to rest in peace.

“It’s never pleasant to have someone I don’t know knowing about me.”

“…”

“But that young lady’s eyes always hold affection. That’s truly strange.”

Mary remained silent without answering in the end.

Because she too was already feeling the same thing.

“The master is considering the possibility of black magic.”

When she was suddenly ordered to disguise herself as a maid three days ago, Mary had scoffed at the words Simoer added.

‘No. That can’t be.’

The thought that it was ridiculous remained unchanged.

However, just like her master, a small doubt was already sprouting within Mary.

“I think I understand a little why the master can’t take his eyes off that young lady.”

Since they both already knew of their master’s presence pacing by the window,

they returned to their respective places as always, ending their conversation there.

*

“I think I need to go out for a while tomorrow, would that be alright?”

At the grand dinner table that the head chef had boasted about, I immediately dropped a bombshell.

Since it was impossible for everyone to gather and make a ruckus together, even if it was called a party, the number of people gathered before me was modest.

There was only Mary attending to me and Simoer, who I didn’t know why he was here – just these two people.

But it was enough to relay my words to someone.

“If you need anything, you just need to let us know?”

“No. It’s something I need to go do personally.”

“You need to go personally?”

I was planning to cast bait from now on.

A very simple and certain bait to draw Azel out.

“Yes. I have a promise to keep with Azel. So please tell him. That I absolutely need to go out tomorrow.”

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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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