The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 162

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

How much did the Duke see?

Chloe recalled the unconscious landscape she had witnessed.

Arms as thin as tree branches with skin and bones touching, short and rough pink hair, scattered across the snowfield…

“…It was blood.”

Red blood.

The Duke must have seen it with his characteristically excellent dynamic vision.

“Why is something like that in Elisha’s memories?”

But he seemed not to have seen the blood-stained necklace clutched tightly in the bloody hand, or the boot that trampled on that blood.

Chloe had also only glimpsed it briefly while being ejected from the unconscious.

Chloe swallowed hard and opened her mouth, biting her lips.

“It’s not a memory but unconscious… it seems.”

The Duke had only ‘seen’ it.

Unlike Chloe herself, he couldn’t ‘experience’ Elisha’s pain and emotions.

He didn’t know the fear of death that was vivid enough to make her body tremble, nor the sadness that filled her mind completely.

“Unconscious?”

“I was trying to see memories, hah, but accidentally touched the unconscious, and in the process of being ejected, I caught a glimpse…”

“That’s not what I’m asking. Why is such an image in Elisha’s unconscious?”

No, he shouldn’t know.

Chloe avoided the Duke’s eyes.

“It could be a nightmare Elisha had… or it could be an imagination she had while assuming the worst-case scenario.”

Chloe would rather believe her own lie.

If that was really Elisha’s memory.

‘That painful memory is engraved even in her unconscious to such an extent…’

It would mean Elisha had dwelled on that moment over and over again.

The very moment of death.

It was something she couldn’t bear to tell even the Duke, who cherished and worried about Elisha.

She had no right to carelessly speak of her secrets.

“Nightmare or imagination…”

The Duke’s voice trembled slightly as he repeated Chloe’s words.

Then, Elisha opened her eyes with a dry cough.

“Cough, cough.”

Before Chloe could even sit up, the Duke poured water and handed it to her, then asked with lip movements while Elisha was drinking.

‘Does Elisha also know that we glimpsed her unconscious?’

Chloe shook her head.

Strictly speaking, Elisha would be in a state similar to waking up from hypnosis.

Seeing her cough like someone who had been in a snowfield, she couldn’t say she was completely unaffected by having her unconscious exposed.

“Cough, ugh… Did you find the location?”

“…Yes. I figured out where it is, so don’t worry about that and catch your breath first.”

“I’m fine except for my throat feeling tight. By the way, Chloe’s magic is really amazing! To be able to find memories that were only glimpsed.”

Chloe tried to smile back at Elisha’s bright smile, but no smile came.

“Where was the location? I should quickly contact Count Airen…”

“I’ll do it, so don’t worry about it and rest.”

Elisha, whose words were cut off, asked the Duke who was pressing the communicator.

“You’re going straight to the place you saw in my memory, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go with you.”

To the Duke who turned around hesitantly, Elisha said firmly.

“There’s something I want to confirm. Please let me go with you.”

“I can’t take you to a place where dangerous things might happen.”

“Then it’s okay for Duke himself, not just anyone else, to go directly to a dangerous place?”

“…What?”

Taking advantage of the Duke’s speechlessness, Elisha added.

“If I’m right, there will be moments when I’m needed for what happens at that location. So let’s go together.”

The Duke looked very reluctant.

Especially after seeing the blood-stained memory that was covered up as Elisha’s nightmare or imagination.

But from Elisha, he could feel the spirit characteristic of someone with conviction.

Eventually, after a long while, the Duke nodded and instead set conditions.

“Promise that you won’t do anything dangerous. If a moment comes when you absolutely must, promise to do it together with me.”

“Yes, I will.”

After the two people who had been alternately tapping the telegraph and communicator left, Chloe bit her lips while locking up the pawnshop.

Why did Elisha say she would go together?

Because she’s the only one who could recognize the pink diamond that Countess Devin supposedly took at a glance?

‘Or did something newly come to mind when I touched her unconscious?’

She couldn’t tell.

Chloe shook her head and looked down.

What she encountered in Elisha’s unconscious was a memory of death. A ‘real’ death that couldn’t be fabricated.

But now she is alive.

‘It’s a second life, isn’t it…’

It was shocking, but Chloe had no desire to ask how it was possible.

After all, wasn’t the magic she used also an incomprehensible power to ordinary people?

‘Death…’

Death was very close to Chloe.

Because she thought about it often.

When she recalled the end of mages who used black magic, and ‘Tanya’ who was the reason for using black magic, the word death always followed.

It was frightening and scary. For Elisha, who had already experienced it once, it would be even more frightening and scary.

Because it’s something you can never get used to.

‘But Elisha still risked danger to help other people, and me, despite all that…’

Her heart stirred anew.

Chloe nodded, thinking of the many people, including herself, who had gained new lives because of Elisha.

‘I must repay her. I want to repay her.’

Besides working as a pawnshop employee, there must be ways to help Elisha.

For example…

‘Finding out the identity of the black petals. That’s something I can do.’

Chloe had already investigated and experimented with the black petals from various angles.

But strangely, no results came out. Nothing was visible at all.

So Chloe thought there must be concealment magic cast on them and had been focused on finding the spell.

But couldn’t she think about it a little differently?

‘What if it’s not invisible, but repelling magic power? Like how Elisha’s unconscious repelled me…’

Chloe paused in her thoughts.

If it’s a force that conflicts with magic power and has repulsive force, wouldn’t that be holy power?

‘…If Elisha has holy power, it would make sense.’

Wouldn’t Elisha’s holy power have erased all the magic power remaining in the black petals?

But if Elisha had holy power, like the restraints did, and like the holy relics did, she should have felt pressure or pain when in contact with her.

But?

‘It didn’t hurt at all, rather I felt good when holding hands with Elisha or being near her… wait.’

Chloe suddenly sat up and rolled up her right sleeve.

As she confirmed the clearly reduced black area, Emma’s voice echoed in her ears.

“It’s been since you met her!”

After returning from the temple, Elisha’s voice explaining the treatment method also flashed through her mind.

“…There was another treatment method besides the premium magic stone. Something called a ‘divine relic’….”

‘Then, could it be that Elisha is…!’

Having finished her thoughts, Chloe began to run.

She failed to notice that a single crow was gliding overhead, looking down at her.

*

Tesagh and I, having arrived in front of the boutique, were looking down from atop the empty building across the street.

“You said the knights patrolled the area before we arrived, right? Were there no other entrances?”

“Yes, none were visible from the outside. According to the blueprints, there were no separate entrances either. However.”

It was Ailren who answered.

He said that as soon as he received our contact, he had been waiting with the knights according to the plan we had discussed in advance.

“There’s a high possibility they’re operating in a speakeasy style, a business method that was once rampant in foreign countries during prohibition.”

“Speakeasy?”

“It’s a business method where signs and doors are hidden, and members are distinguished and allowed entry through passwords or secret signals.”

“So only people in the know can go, disguised to look like an ordinary establishment from the outside.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Our prediction had hit the mark.

“The problem is we don’t know the password and entry method….”

We could immediately storm in leading the knights.

But since the entrance is hidden, breaking through would inevitably take time, and those involved would surely flee in the meantime.

To catch them all in one sweep?

“It would be best to have an insider relay the situation while coordinating with the knights outside.”

Muttering as I examined the area through opera glasses, I noticed there were customers dressed particularly lavishly.

Come to think of it, people dressed rather plainly came out right away, but customers dressed up like peacocks somehow weren’t coming out.

Then, Tesagh, who had been silent the whole time, spoke in a low voice.

“Send someone in to ask if they have any ’emerald colored’ clothes.”

Ailren, who had been staring at Tesagh intently, gave an order to one of the knights.

However.

“They politely apologized saying they don’t have clothes in that color and saw me out.”

The knight returned quickly with a troubled expression.

Checking the clothes he was wearing, I answered before Ailren could speak.

“Excuse me, could you try going again while wearing some expensive-looking accessories?”

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