The Countess's Body Has Disappeared - Chapter 7

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 7
A day before Davion left the estate. The hour when Cecilia returned to her Inn room.
An old Inn room naturally had no First Aid Kit.
She pulled a Blouse from her Travel Bag and cut it into long strips with scissors. She found some strong liquor downstairs to use as a disinfectant.
The bullet wound on his thigh was deep, but fortunately it seemed to have missed the blood vessels.
The man lay with his mouth hanging open weakly, his consciousness flickering in and out. Using Silver Cutlery borrowed from the kitchen, she extracted the bullet, then poured the liquor over the wound.
While Cecilia bound the Blouse around it, Nagi sniffed the blood to check whether the bleeding had properly stopped.
Her curly, dark-brown hair spread softly across the blanket. Even the bluish bruises on his temples—apparently from the kidnapping—couldn’t hide the man’s striking beauty.
His face held a neutral, androgynous beauty rather than a conventionally masculine handsomeness. He appeared young, with no facial hair at all, and without thinking, Cecilia found herself brushing his jaw as she studied his complexion.
Because he was soiled with rain and dust, the Satin Dress he wore had to be removed.
The man was quite lean. His body lines were slender and graceful, like a dancer’s. So much so that once she dressed him in a Wig and Satin Dress, she felt certain anyone would mistake his gender.
“Oh my. Lucky for him, too. If the bullet had hit just a bit higher, he might not have been able to have children.”
Interest flickered in Nagi’s eyes as she surveyed the man.
While Cecilia draped a bed sheet around his lower body, Ruby waddled over and objected.
“He’s male, Nagi. And humans don’t lay eggs. Humans give birth to young.”
“Ah. Is that so?”
To avoid hibernation, Nagi deliberately sought out warm places. She coiled herself against the man’s warm, perspiring side and spoke.
“I think this human is better than Cecilia’s old male. She said the old one looked frightened whenever I came near.”
“This one might too. Most humans hate snakes, especially venomous ones like you.”
“Humans hate crows, too!”
“Hmph, but I’m sure they’d like me more than you.”
“Stop. Don’t quarrel over nothing.”
The moment Cecilia covered Ruby’s field of vision with her palm.
A faint groan drifted up from below.
“Oh. The new male is waking up.”
A question—Are you all right?—reached Cecilia’s throat, but it scattered in her mouth before becoming sound.
Before the man even opened his eyes, he seized her slender neck.
Thunk. Her head struck the bed’s headboard, and her vision spun. Still pinning Cecilia down, he felt his wounded thigh with his other hand and looked around.
“Where is this….”
“Ugh, cough…!”
“Where am I?”
Starved of oxygen, Cecilia kicked and struck his arm. Startled, Ruby screamed and fluttered about in a panic.
Only then did the man sigh, “Ah,” and released the crimson-faced Cecilia.
“I’m sorry. I thought I’d been kidnapped again.”
Cecilia drew in fresh air and coughed.
Her neck throbbed. When she pressed the spot where his hand had been, pain flared. Holding a pillow like a shield, she stammered an explanation.
“You were shot. I had to treat you urgently. I don’t have men’s clothes here, so I made do with that temporarily. I swear by God—I did nothing wrong.”
Then she spread both hands in the air to prove her innocence.
Only then did the man look down at himself and open his eyes wide. It was an inappropriate thought for the situation, but in that moment, Cecilia found that his clear amber eyes and neutral features formed a perfect harmony.
He pulled the sheet up to cover his lower half and sat at the edge of the bed. The sudden movement had apparently made him dizzy.
Nagi, who had been eyeing the back of his head, approached Cecilia with a hissing sound.
“Nearly bit him. Your new male doesn’t seem very polite.”
“Don’t call him my new male. When you two keep teasing about it like that, the whole situation feels stranger.”
“What else would we call him? A new male is a new male.”
The man’s gaze turned to the two of them. Whether because he’d already seen Nagi tear into a thug’s face, he didn’t seem particularly surprised to find a viper in the room.
“A crow and a snake… you have the Witch Bloodline?”
“Then are you a man in women’s clothing?”
Only then did a deep frown crease the man’s brow. He answered in a tone that conveyed displeasure.
“There were circumstances. Those people only abduct women and children, so there was no way to infiltrate without this disguise. Though I didn’t expect the idiots to actually believe me. Anyway, thanks to you, my entire plan is ruined.”
“What?”
Cecilia jerked upright, exhaling hot breath through her nose.
The ruined faces of the women flashed through her mind one after another. At the memory of them huddled in a corner, trembling, an unstoppable fury rose within her.
But not wanting to argue with the man who’d saved her life, Cecilia clamped her mouth shut with force.
Besides, a shootout? As the man said, perhaps I did unnecessarily escalate the situation. The thought deflated her anger further.
“I was under the impression that plainclothes police work had become illegal.”
Drawing her knees to her chest, Cecilia muttered darkly, and the man let out a derisive laugh.
“Your imagination is running wild. I’m just an unemployed nobody chasing after Underworld Organization members. In that sense, did you happen to report any victims?”
There was desperation in his eyes.
Cecilia hesitated, then shook her head.
“No. I’m a Runaway, so drawing attention would be difficult for me. It’s nothing serious—my husband and I simply couldn’t live under the same roof anymore.”
His identity was unknown, let alone his name—she hadn’t even properly introduced herself to this man. Yet here she was, pouring out her troubles to a stranger for the first time, and despite a warning flutter in her chest that this might be dangerous, once she’d opened her mouth she found she couldn’t stop.
“I haven’t been gone long. My husband holds a fairly high position, so if I file a report and go through an investigation, he’ll certainly discover where I am. I’d rather be kidnapped and sold off again than have him find me here.”
“I see…”
Compassion flickered across the man’s face. In his mind, Davion had become a brutal domestic abuser who beat his wife.
Cecilia rose from the bed and pulled two banknotes from the Money Pouch she’d hidden beneath the floorboards, pressing them into his hands.
“In any case, thank you for saving me. Please get to a hospital as soon as you can. I’ve done first aid, but the wound is deep—if you leave it untreated, it could become infected.”
“And what about you?”
He asked the question in alarm, watching as Cecilia began hastily stuffing items into her Travel Bag.
“I’ll move to a new place, then look for a way to get a Train Ticket heading south and a Forged Identity Document. I’m planning to leave the city soon.”
That was all the information she could safely share. As Cecilia glanced at the man, Nagi slithered silently over and coiled herself inside the bag. Cecilia wrapped her in thick cloth and closed the bag.
The man, turning her words over in his mind, suddenly frowned and pushed back.
“Wait—do you know how many con artists are in this city? It won’t be easy for a young woman alone to obtain a Forged Identity Document. And if you can’t report anything because of your husband, you’ll be even more vulnerable.”
“I don’t have another choice. I’ve already left home, and I have to leave the city.”
“Hmm…”
The man stared into the distance, thinking, until his eyes brightened with an idea.
“What if we did this instead?”
Cecilia turned slowly to face him. He was smiling with quiet confidence.
“I’m penniless and need someone to care for my wounds for a while, and you need to move through back alleys. So we pretend to be a married couple according to our mutual interests. That way, you’ll certainly face fewer Random Inspections on the street. It’s not easy for authorities to stop and demand identification from a couple having a conversation.”
When he finished speaking, he raised both hands before him, palms open—the same gesture Cecilia had made earlier. A pledge that he would never behave dishonorably while they were together.
“I have a younger sister myself, and it’s hard for me to just overlook this. She suffered greatly because of her husband too.”
Cecilia fell into a moment of conflict. The man’s idea was better than she’d expected, now that she heard it out loud.
As he’d said, it would be difficult to obtain a Forged Identity Document alone. Traveling together would help her avoid Random Inspections. Besides, this man bore a mortal wound—even if he harbored some ulterior motive, she could easily overpower him if needed.
Cecilia opened the bag again and withdrew Nagi.
His satisfied smile bloomed as her action confirmed her answer. But mere seconds later, he wrinkled his nose and pointed at her face with a question.
“By the way, can witches change their appearance?”
Cecilia blinked in confusion, not grasping what he meant.
Only after she touched her own face did she let out a quiet “Oh,” and sigh.
Right.
She’d forgotten to reapply the salve.

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