The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 73

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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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Pagnon County.

 

Carlos, kneeling on the ground, trembled as he looked up.

 

“So, you’re saying only you came back alone, Carlos?”

 

Even though only Rosaline’s back was visible, Carlos cowered and shook violently.

 

“I-I’m sorry. The duchy’s guards suddenly started inspections, and I was afraid the Viscount behind this might be exposed…”

 

“Behind this?”

 

Rosaline whirled around.

 

Lifting Carlos’s chin with the tip of her fan, Rosaline whispered menacingly.

 

“Behind this? What do you mean by that? Was there someone behind what you were doing?”

 

“N-no, no! I made a mistake…”

 

“I don’t understand why there are so many people who make mistakes and then insist they were just errors.”

 

Slap!

 

Rosaline struck Carlos’s cheek with her fan and sneered.

 

With a bruised cheek, Carlos hung his head low.

 

“I told the mage to come straight to Pagnon County if things went wrong. She’s wearing restraints, so she wouldn’t dare think of rebelling. She trembled just seeing my fake button…!”

 

The button Carlos had was naturally not real.

 

There was no way Rosaline would hand over a means of control to someone else.

 

But Carlos remembered the mage’s face, how she had been frightened even by the fake button.

 

However, Rosaline’s expression remained cold.

 

“Did I give you permission to make judgments?”

 

“N-no. That’s not it, but…”

 

“Making judgments and decisions are all my responsibility. Not yours or that bastard Hugo’s!”

 

She should have done this from the beginning.

 

Instead of leaving it to bastards like Hugo and Carlos, she should have taken direct action like now.

 

As Rosaline licked her lips with her tongue, she heard the sound of wet footsteps approaching.

 

“…It’s finished.”

 

It was the right-handed black mage, wearing a robe soaked with rainwater pulled over her head.

 

Carlos jumped to his feet.

 

“Didn’t I tell you! I said to come straight to the county if things went wrong! She did exactly as I firmly instructed!”

 

Carlos looked relieved to be alive and still managed to claim credit for himself.

 

Then he asked urgently.

 

“Are you sure you finished it properly?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“Where are Nicholas’s memories?”

 

“Here… they are. They still need stabilization.”

 

A glowing orb was held in the mage’s right hand.

 

So that’s the memory?

 

Carlos, who had been peering closer, frowned.

 

“Stabilization? What’s that?”

 

“Extracted memories must be refined before they can be used. Like filtering out impurities… Ugh!”

 

The mage’s body collapsed in an instant.

 

Startled, Carlos turned to see Rosaline pressing the button.

 

“Stabilization. I haven’t heard that such a procedure was necessary.”

 

“It’s… true. Human memories are all complexly tangled… to extract only what’s needed, refinement is absolutely necessary… Ugh…!”

 

“What happens if you don’t do this stabilization?”

 

“…If transplanted as is, gasp, Nicholas’s personality will bleed through. He might rebel or try to escape…”

 

“How long will it take?”

 

“If you give me a month, it’s possible… Argh!”

 

Click.

 

When Rosaline released the button, the mage gasped for breath.

 

Through the disheveled robe, the restraints were visible.

 

“Torture is indeed the most concise method of interrogation.”

 

Rosaline whispered to the mage lying sprawled on the ground.

 

“One week.”

 

“…Cough, what?”

 

“I’ll give you one week. Refine the memories just enough so he can’t rebel. Anyway, the ‘new Nicholas’ won’t be able to walk away and escape.”

 

Seeing the mage’s horrified expression, Rosaline’s lips curved upward.

 

“Of course, if you’ve lied to me, all the tools meant for the new Nicholas will be used on you after one week.”

 

Huu.

 

A sadistic smile appeared on Rosaline’s face as she let out a long sigh.

 

“Carlos. Put that mage in prison and prepare a carriage.”

 

“Wh-where should the carriage head to…?”

 

“Ashen Street.”

 

Stepping on the mage’s robe as she walked, Rosaline muttered.

 

“I’m curious to see the faces of Uncle and that girl when they encounter the new pawnshop.”

 

Rosaline’s footsteps faded away, and Carlos roughly hoisted up the mage and opened the underground prison door, practically throwing her inside.

 

Carlos cursed.

 

“Damn it… if you can’t do this properly, we’re both dead. Got it?! You have to manage it somehow within a week!”

 

Carlos’s heavy footsteps also faded away.

 

When his presence completely disappeared, Chloe slowly opened her eyes.

 

Taking a deep breath, she examined the restraints that Elisha had modified for her.

 

‘It really doesn’t hurt at all.’

 

Chloe’s groaning and collapsing in pain had all been an act.

 

Sadly, because she had experienced it once before, she could act it out even better.

 

Though the time had shortened from a month to a week, that too was expected.

 

‘Elisha said from the beginning that buying that much time was the goal.’

 

Thinking of Elisha, Chloe took out the orb she had passed off as Nicholas’s memories.

 

As if the orb were Elisha herself, Chloe whispered softly.

 

“I’ll do well. This time, I’ll really do well. So… see you again.”

 

For the first time, Chloe smiled a little.

 

*

 

Returning to the pawnshop at dawn, I rubbed my tired eyes and turned the seal over in my hands.

 

‘I’m glad the seal worked though. I was worried it might not work with just the seal, so it’s even better that I brought plenty of tools. Thanks to that, I could modify it.’

 

I adjusted the restraint’s signal to minimize its intensity.

 

Since Chloe had to act according to timing, it was set to only give a slightly tingling sensation.

 

Since I had personally worn the restraints and adjusted the intensity, it would be reliable.

 

‘To think they tried to use such a thing on Chloe, and on Grandfather…’

 

Chloe had explained all of Rosaline’s plans to me.

 

When people realized that all my assumptions had been correct, they looked at me with admiring eyes, but I wasn’t happy at all.

 

‘If I hadn’t made it in time, Chloe would have really suffered.’

 

“By any chance… have we met before?”

 

Chloe and I had met before.

 

Of course, in my previous life.

 

The first time I became aware of her existence was through a newspaper article.

 

[…Empire’s Rionet Ducal House, Advisory Mage Contract Signed…]

 

When I looked closely, wondering if this kind of thing really made it into newspaper articles.

 

I realized that the article wasn’t just simple propaganda.

 

‘An advisory mage, they say. But why are restraints put on her?’

 

Because in the photo, the robed mage’s hands had restraints on them.

 

They looked like ordinary bracelets, but I could glimpse an adjuster, so with my appraisal abilities, I recognized them immediately.

 

‘It’s not a normal contractual relationship. They’re holding her by force.’

 

It was several months later when I saw news of Chloe in the newspaper again.

 

[…Escaped Rionet Ducal House mage revealed to have tried to devour the ducal house with black magic… “We will do everything in our power to apprehend her” Wanted order declared…]

 

What was published prominently alongside the wanted order was testimony about Chloe’s spells and how half her body had turned black.

 

A wanted order that revealed a mage’s spells was tantamount to a death sentence.

 

Even using the slightest bit of magic would allow trackers to pursue her to the very end.

 

Above all, I couldn’t believe the article claiming Chloe had tried to take over the ducal house with black magic.

 

‘If they were truly afraid of Chloe’s black magic, they wouldn’t have published such an article so prominently! It’s obvious they’d face retaliation!’

 

If she had fled from Rionet, from Rosaline, where would she have gone?

 

I had an intuition.

 

That Chloe, like me, would have headed to the Moro Duchy.

 

The moment I realized this, I spent all the money I had to start making inquiries.

 

‘I thought that if it was Chloe who had been part of the Rionet Ducal House, she would know news about Grandfather.’

 

The Information Guild wouldn’t accept requests about Grandfather, but they did accept a request to find a mage with half her body blackened.

 

Much later, when I found Chloe crouched in the sewers.

 

“…It hurts so much….”

 

She was already dying.

 

Chloe’s body was so broken that she couldn’t even recognize my eye color.

 

Perhaps she wanted to confess to someone before dying.

 

Tormented by guilt, Chloe confessed everything she had done under Rosaline.

 

‘Chloe refused Rosaline’s orders to the very end in the previous life too. Instead of following the command to extract Nicholas’s memories, she chose to take her own life. But… even death wasn’t permitted.’

 

What controlled Chloe’s dying body was black magic.

 

When Chloe barely regained consciousness.

 

She said she had already tampered with the memories of not only Nicholas, but also the nobles who were Rosaline’s political enemies, and even Grandfather.

 

‘Grandfather never opened his mouth to the very end. …That’s why they needed Chloe. To dig into the assets in Grandfather’s memories.’

 

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, she said she regained consciousness just as she was about to extract Grandfather’s memories.

 

Horrified by what had happened, Chloe said she used her last strength to escape when the restraints loosened.

 

After finishing her story, Chloe closed her eyes.

 

Her closed eyes looked more peaceful, so I cried a lot.

 

That’s why I searched for Chloe as soon as I regressed. I wanted to help her.

 

‘I’m glad I could save her this time.’

 

Though I was worried about Chloe taking on the infiltration mission, it was the first time I’d seen her eyes light up like that.

 

I decided to believe she could do well.

 

Calming my mind and drinking tea, I looked out the window.

 

I could see quite a few customers at the new pawnshop across the street.

 

‘That fake pawnshop has been doing aggressive promotion. Quite a lot of transient customers are coming and going.’

 

But well, that’s only for a few days.

 

‘Since I’m not reacting at all, they’ll think they’ve won and become complacent. I just need to target that opening.’

 

I was thinking about the festival that would open soon when someone suddenly spoke to me.

 

“This place only has flies buzzing around. Your insides must be quite noisy?”

 

An elegant yet blade-like tone.

 

Could it be?

 

‘Rosaline?’

 

I quickly turned my head and was momentarily flustered.

 

‘…No, it’s not…?’

 

A woman with vivid red eyes was looking down at me from under a long hat brim.

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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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