The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 175

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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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Chloe was very flustered.

However, the cat sitting on the hem of her robe calmly licked its black fur.

As if this place was its rightful spot.

Around the neck of the cat with golden eyes hung a small collar.

『Tanya』

“You shouldn’t be here….”

“Meow.”

“Your owner will be worried….”

“Meooow.”

Chloe, who had been troubled, saw a glimpse of red on the leg of the cat that was licking its fur.

“Are, are you hurt? Are you injured?”

Whether it had been bitten by a wild animal or scratched somewhere, there was a long vertical wound on its hind leg.

Chloe hurriedly searched around and found medicinal herbs she had learned about at the Magic Tower.

After crushing the herbs and applying them, then tearing her clothes to wrap them as bandages, the cat that had been crying as if asking why it should wander around when it could quietly be her cushion became quiet.

And then.

With a soft thud, it leaned its head against her and curled up to sleep.

Chloe, who had reflexively tried to pull her body away, hesitated and raised her hand, carefully stroking the sleeping cat’s forehead.

‘It’s warm.’

The time she had given her side to the purring inner cry, the panting breath, the body heat that quietly spread….

Chloe somehow wanted to remember it.

“Would you like… to try eating this?”

She thought that once the cat’s wound healed, she should find its owner.

If she looked into its memories, she could quickly find out who the owner was, so it wouldn’t be difficult.

So until then, she would have to feed it well and take good care of it.

“…Do you like playing with strings like this?”

With what little money she had, she bought fish and milk for the cat.

After the money ran out, she did day labor in nearby villages.

If her identity as a mage was discovered, she might get stoned again like she had in the village where she was born.

With the money she earned that way, she bought toys, but for some reason the cat seemed to prefer the strings of Chloe’s robe over the new toys.

No, perhaps.

“Or… were you waiting for me?”

It seemed like the cat had been waiting for her, not the robe strings.

Chloe consistently called the cat “cat.”

Because she wasn’t the real owner. Because once the cat healed, she would have to return it to its real owner.

“The collar was too small for your body….”

But when she realized that the collar string was far too short for the cat’s body size,

“Haven’t seen that black cat around lately?”

“Ah, you mean the one Thomas’s family used to keep? That’s right. They abandoned it when they moved because it was old, so maybe it died of old age.”

The day she overheard the villagers gossiping.

“…Tanya.”

Chloe called the cat’s name for the first time.

“You were… abandoned too. Just like me.”

She thought about giving it a new name.

But Chloe shook her head.

“My name is Chloe. I’m still using the name given to me by the people who abandoned me too.”

It was close to stubbornness.

She was past the age of hoping her family would return with regret.

Even so, the reason she hadn’t changed her name was.

“…I thought there might be at least one person in this world who would call that name affectionately.”

Because she had been hoping and waiting for someone to call that name warmly someday.

“I haven’t met such a person yet, but I’ll become that person for you.”

Tanya, with gray hairs scattered among her black fur, meowed softly.

“…I will never abandon you. Tanya. No matter what happens, absolutely never.”

Did Tanya understand what she said?

She couldn’t tell.

‘Am I just being stubborn? Does Tanya want this too?’

Chloe, lacking confidence in herself, rubbed her face with dry hands.

‘…Maybe Tanya is missing her former owner….’

Chloe, who finished work during the day, conducted research at night.

Wasn’t there a way to extract only the bad memories about Tanya’s former owner?

However, her research was repeatedly blocked.

Going beyond seeing memories to editing them was impossible.

By normal methods.

“Tanya?”

It was the day she returned with treats that Tanya, who had seemed a bit listless for several days, liked.

Tanya, who would normally greet Chloe with meowing, was nowhere to be seen.

After searching the house like a half-mad person, she pushed open the door to the secluded attic that Tanya rarely visited.

“Tanya, Tanya!”

There was Tanya with her back turned in the corner of the attic.

Tanya’s eyes were dim as she breathed heavily with her body curled up tight.

Chloe wrapped Tanya in a blanket, picked her up, and ran frantically.

“…Unfortunately, this child had a chronic illness and is already quite old….”

No. It can’t be.

Just yesterday she was eating treats well.

She slept in my arms looking at me, and when I called her name, she would look at me with those round eyes and greet me back.

“…Cats usually don’t show when they’re sick, so you should prepare yourself….”

It can’t be.

No.

How can you leave me, how can even you….

She even knocked on the door of the Magic Tower she had left, pleading.

“Are you crazy? Asking me to cast healing magic on some cat? Get lost right now!”

The door closed with ridicule.

Chloe collapsed. She couldn’t tell if it was Tanya in her arms or herself that was trembling.

It was the moment she realized that her words about never abandoning her were actually a plea not to leave.

Crash. Rain poured down with thunder.

And at the same time….

“No…!”

Tanya’s last breath scattered away.

Tanya hated water. She would grimace if even a little water splashed on her.

Even knowing that Tanya not trying to escape from her arms to avoid the rain was proof of death, Chloe held Tanya tight with her whole body to keep the rain from touching her.

The time she had given her side to the purring inner cry, the panting breath, the body heat that quietly spread….

It was when those memories came flooding in like a torrent, completely blocking her lungs.

“…Memory.”

Chloe, who had been mulling over the word memory, stood up as if possessed.

“…Yes, if there are memories….”

Stealing books from the sealed archives of the Magic Tower where she once stayed was easy.

In the middle of a rainy night, Chloe stood on a magic circle holding Tanya, laughing as if crying.

By ‘normal’ methods, she couldn’t extract only the bad memories. That was certainly true.

But now that she had lost Tanya.

“If I extract all your memories… and transplant them somewhere else… then I can have you again…”

She could do anything.

As she bit her finger and drew a spell circle with blood, something black and thick bloomed forth, devouring flesh and consuming nerves as it slowly spread up her arm.

It was excruciating pain.

Yet Chloe’s eyes gleamed with an eerie light.

“Done. …This will do.”

She succeeded in extracting all the memories before Tanya’s warmth disappeared.

If Tanya had seen this sight, would she have been frightened?

Would she have puffed up her body and raised her fur while fleeing from her?

She couldn’t know.

“You’ll be eternal by my side…”

Digging the ground where Tanya would be buried with her bare hands, Chloe seemed to smile as she wept.

Several nights and days passed. Chloe, who had collapsed beside Tanya’s Grave, heard what sounded like someone whispering.

「Look over there.」

When she raised her head, what she saw was.

“…Tanya? Tanya!”

A black cat standing in the distance, staring at her.

As she crawled closer, Chloe realized it wasn’t Tanya. Its eyes were green and it was still not fully grown in size.

But to encounter a cat resembling Tanya in front of Tanya’s Grave.

‘Is this fate?’

Chloe was delighted.

Ah, Tanya sent you to me.

How lovely, this time you came in a young body so we could be together longer.

Pushing aside questions about whose voice had whispered and shown her this sight, Chloe raised her blackened hand.

“I missed you. I really missed you. This time I’ll truly treat you well, I won’t make you lonely…”

Chloe smiled brightly as she drew a spell toward the cat that was hesitantly backing away.

Now you’ll come into my arms. You’ll welcome me as you always did, you’ll come close to play by grabbing at my robe strings…

It was when ‘Tanya’s’ eyes were dyed golden.

“Tanya!”

But then.

“…Why, why are you like this.”

‘Tanya’ convulsed violently in place.

It was when the startled Chloe approached and touched ‘Tanya’s’ body.

「Kheuhp…」

Someone’s laughter could be heard.

What started as one laugh gradually became two, then three.

Growing in volume beyond counting, it rumbled through her head like thunder.

「You’re really stupid! Hahaha!」

Did you think your ‘Tanya’ would return?

Did you believe that having the same memories would make it the same being?

Look at this!

「Look at these eyes that have come to realize the fear and terror of death that it never knew, never could have imagined!」

It was exactly as the voice said.

What Chloe was looking at was not ‘Tanya.’

It was a pitiful, young being with nowhere to escape, forced to confront the memories of death in their entirety.

That was all it was.

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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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