The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 211

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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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I opened my eyes to Ailren’s distant voice.

“This place is….”

The place we arrived at was in front of a lake where snow was falling heavily.

It was a beautiful scenery that seemed perfectly isolated from the world, like something you’d only see in a painting.

I grabbed some of the rustling falling snow and looked back at Ailren.

“This isn’t snow.”

How like a knight. Ailren, who had reflexively been about to take off his jacket for me, paused.

The snow that touched my fingertips was neither cold nor melting. The white mass with substance crumbled and scattered. So then.

“It’s ash, Count Ailren.”

Like ash left behind by flames.

What had settled on the distant mountain was indeed snow. But what was falling in this space now were traces of fire.

It seemed that ‘it’ had finally obtained the third divine-grade holy relic, the Sacred Flame, and headed to the sanctuary.

I sighed and suddenly looked around. Tesagh was nowhere to be seen.

“Unlike you and I who possess holy power, His Grace the Duke, who lacks holy power, seems to have been transported to a different location rather than the exact coordinates.”

“Because it’s a magic circle based on holy power?”

“Yes. You can think of it as the same principle that prevents ordinary people from easily wielding a holy sword.”

“He must be furious, haha. Well, fortunately it seems like the place where Tesagh is isn’t too far away.”

Ailren, who had paused at the name Tesagh, asked.

“How do you know?”

“Right now, the holy power in this space appears faintly white to my eyes. But there’s one place where I can’t see it at all. As if the flow is blocked. It’s probably because of Tesagh, right?”

“I see. If you tell me the direction, I’ll head there.”

Instead of taking off his clothes for me, Ailren took my bag.

After swinging his sword at a tree a few times, he added.

“It appears that an illusion barrier is activated throughout this entire space. …If it’s alright with you, please hold onto my arm as we walk for safety.”

I grabbed the collar of Ailren, who extended his arm as if escorting me, and looked up at him.

Our eyes met. Ailren, who had been gazing at me for a moment, listlessly lowered his gaze.

“I apologize.”

“For escorting me in case I get lost?”

“No. That’s not it. I apologize for my rude words and behavior from before.”

I had meant to say there was no need to apologize for anything, but Ailren was serious.

Well, Ailren isn’t the type of person who would brush off an apology with mere banter.

“It’s fine. You know that what Count Ailren considers rude is really nothing at all from ordinary people’s perspective.”

“…But still.”

“It’s really okay.”

I spoke seriously too.

“I know. Those words were the best Count Ailren could do at that time.”

Thinking about it, Ailren had been wary of me becoming endangered to a degree that could be called overprotective.

Seeing his attitude at the Imperial Palace and at Etewyrn Manor, Ailren must have vaguely anticipated this situation. That’s why he pushed me away. Because he was afraid I’d get involved.

Half of it was probably his sense of responsibility as Captain of the Royal Knights that he shouldn’t put citizens in the front line, and his sense of debt toward his benefactor, and the other half was….

“…Lady Elisha.”

It was probably his heart, which I could see in the way he looked at me now.

A heart that was precious but could never be accepted.

“So don’t blame yourself. It’s not something to regret, and there’s even less need to apologize.”

I smiled slightly.

“I told you, didn’t I? That you would eventually end up holding my hand.”

I glanced at my arm and shrugged my shoulders playfully.

“You offered your arm instead of your hand, but I’m holding it anyway, right? So if a position like Imperial Palace fortune teller is created, you have to recommend me. I’ll accept that as repayment.”

Ailren looked at my hand touching his arm with a very surprised expression.

Now it doesn’t bounce away when we touch. My head probably won’t hurt anymore either.

Actually, I thought I had already received full repayment with that.

Because I realized through him that it’s possible to change a person’s fate.

“…I will do so.”

“But don’t actually petition to establish a real Imperial Palace fortune teller position. I’d seem like some kind of sinister behind-the-scenes power broker.”

“Understood.”

It was such a straightforward answer that I laughed.

Ailren, wearing a faint smile that was probably an expression he showed only to me, asked carefully.

“I heard you had a conversation with your grandfather, former Duke Michele Fiochedade Rionet.”

“Ah, to be precise, it wasn’t a conversation but an exchange of telegrams.”

It was this morning.

Tesagh had told me the news that Grandfather had awakened.

Along with the fact that Grandfather didn’t remember me, and that it was presumed I wasn’t his biological granddaughter.

Tesagh, who said this, had an expression that looked more pained than mine.

“If anything comes to mind, I told him to contact me.”

Then, while traveling to the capital by train, Tesagh joyfully informed me of news from Grandfather.

He said a telegram had come.

Had he said there must be a reason I had to lose my memory?

Though it was a sudden telegram, there was no need to verify it. Seeing how it contained only the main point without unnecessary greetings, it was definitely Grandfather.

Then there was only one reason. The symptom of ‘losing memory’ itself must be a clue.

He asked me to think back on whether there were others around me with similar memory problems, and what their characteristics were.

“So when I thought about it, I remembered those people we interrogated before. They all had memory problems.”

Just then, I received contact from William, who had been assigned the investigation.

I had remembered and noted down those connected to Eivor from the wanted posters in my past life and handed over the list, and he said he had finished investigating their common characteristics.

Like the green eyes, they had one characteristic.

“And they had magical power, even if only slightly. Though not as much as our grandfather.”

Eivor’s main body possesses holy power.

All those he used had magical power, and their memories of when they were controlled by Eivor were hazy.

So then?

“We concluded that when magical power and holy power clash, he infiltrated their consciousness at the moment they lost memory… He found a way to strengthen his own ability to implant suggestions and induce behavior. And there would be no witnesses as a bonus.”

Luca’s testimony was particularly decisive.

Fortunately, he had no abnormalities, and after hearing the story from William, he was so shocked that he actually volunteered for the experiment himself.

Luca, who drank highly concentrated holy water, completely lost several hours of memory.

“But among the people Eivor wanted to control, there would be cases without magical power too, right? Like Lina.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“For such people, he artificially injected magical power. Using magic stones or extract from the Root of Blindness.”

There was a reason why the Root of Blindness documents that Hanna had restored disappeared, even though they were just cultivation methods.

Eivor’s main body intended to grow and use large quantities of Root of Blindness.

When I thought about it as Grandfather had said, the answer became clear.

‘But I wondered why he didn’t tell me directly….’

Of course, there would be room for doubt.

Why did he have to use such an inefficient method? Couldn’t he have warned me in advance through writing or speech?

It was like a ghost.

The reason for that would also be one thing. ‘Because it couldn’t be possible.’

It’s presumed that I had constraints. Whether a curse or contract, constraints that prevented me from speaking it aloud.

There’s no other way to explain it.

That means.

“Grandfather found a way to circumvent those constraints, and tried to give me hints even while losing his own memories.”

“…”

“At the same time, he completely blocked any possibility of being used by Eivor in advance. By exhausting all his magical power beforehand. That’s why he didn’t take the Root of Blindness.”

Grandfather isn’t someone who bothers with greetings.

Even so, there were words added at the end of the message.

…I pray for your good fortune.

It was a prayer for me.

As I caught my breath for a moment while recalling the message, I looked up at familiar footsteps.

“Elisha!”

“Oh, Tesagh?”

“Stay there. I’ll come to you.”

Tesagh was approaching with a face like the incarnation of a battlefield, as someone would say. He was much closer than where I had sensed his location.

While I knew where he was through the flow of divine power, how did Tesagh know to come here?

‘The voice would have echoed making it difficult to locate.’

“How did you find me?”

“There’s no way I wouldn’t be able to find where you are.”

Tesagh answered as if it were obvious, glanced at Ailren who was holding my handbag, then took off his jacket and wrapped it around me.

“If you’re going to display chivalry, do it properly to the end. You’re covered in ash.”

“But I’m still pretty, right?”

“That’s…”

Tesagh’s grumbling was cut off quite simply.

His ears turned bright red. I smiled inwardly.

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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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