The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 111

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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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Chapter 111

The door closed, and this time I was left alone with Raphael.

Raphael strode purposefully to the round table and destroyed the recording magical device without hesitation.

“I don’t ask for much, so please answer just one question.”

Not ‘please answer’ but ‘answer.’ A command.

As I had felt at the Nobility Council, Raphael seemed to have changed greatly over the past four years. And perhaps I bore some responsibility for that change.

“Andert, after you left like that, His Grace suffered from terrible insomnia. For the past three years, he searched frantically for any trace of you.”

So I said nothing and waited for Raphael’s next words.

“Is Andert Pager alive?”

I wasn’t sure whether to call this fortunate or inevitable.

Currently, Raphael had heard through Deshero that my identity was ‘Andert’s sister.’ So there was no need to panic alone. I responded calmly without being flustered.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Because there’s no one else to ask but you.”

“Is that so? It seems Your Grace has chosen the wrong person to interrogate. I’ll be returning to Midwintry now.”

I returned the teaspoon embedded in the wall to its original place and was walking toward the door when—

“Sir Liwein acquired special powers later in life, making him exceptionally sensitive to distinguishing magical singularities.”

…Suddenly?

I turned around with my hand on the doorknob. Raphael sat with his legs crossed, lightly spinning my teaspoon with his fingertips as he spoke.

“They say those who possess powerful souls emit impressive scents. But since he still lacks experience, he can only trust his own senses, and occasionally loses his judgment. Very rarely.”

“An interesting story. Though I don’t see what it has to do with me.”

“Weatherwax Baroness.”

The teaspoon that had been toyed with by his short fingernails stopped abruptly. Raphael warned me with cold, hard eyes as if looking at a complete stranger.

“I’m saying that you and I currently have souls of equal standing. You, who appeared without a sound to devour the Weatherwax family, and I—both appearing to be around twenty at most. Do you want me to dig deeper here? I don’t think you’d want that.”

“…”

“Is Andert Pager alive?”

It was a silence that felt endlessly long, like wandering through a dream.

I steadied my breathing while looking at Raphael’s fingertips, then opened my mouth very quietly.

“He’s dead.”

I tried to deliver it as plainly as possible.

“…I see. So that’s how it is.”

This was a truth that had to be told someday. I hoped Raphael wouldn’t be too shaken. So I didn’t add anything more.

“Is he really dead?”

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes.

Raphael closed his eyes for a long moment, then threw the small tin box he’d been holding to the floor.

I knew that object.

A magical device used when interrogating Mephistopheles’ army during the Mage War.

‘A lie detector.’

The fact that it blinked green instead of red meant my answer was true.

Yes, it was the truth. For me, the Andert Pager that Raphael spoke of was truly dead.

The Andert you knew no longer exists.

Even knowing this fact better than anyone, watching Raphael before me was unbearable.

I felt guilty about the lie I’d delivered so readily.

Moreover, this was Raphael. Once my partner and brother, someone I’d shared life and death with. Even at our last parting moment, he had cried out my name…

Suddenly, I had this thought.

‘Should I just tell him outright that I’m Andert?’

Wasn’t that the truth, after all?

There was no reason I couldn’t tell Raphael the truth I’d revealed to Deshero. If anything, if there was someone who should know the truth first, it was Raphael.

Yes, let’s do that. Let’s reveal everything right here.

That I am Andert.

That I didn’t die but returned here alive.

“…”

…Ah.

My lips absolutely wouldn’t move.

The words that had come out so easily in front of Deshero wouldn’t rise up my throat at all. I lacked the courage.

But I had to say it. Deceiving him to the end would be an insult to Raphael. So.

‘Let me just have a grace period.’

I couldn’t deceive Raphael forever. But it wasn’t easy to suddenly make up my mind and reveal it like this either.

It seemed I’d need to gather my resolve and choose an appropriate time and place to tell him. The weight of Raphael’s existence to me was never light.

Once I organized my thoughts, I felt a bit more at ease.

“…Andert is.”

“Andert is.”

Coincidentally, our opening words overlapped at the same time.

I hastily yielded the floor.

“Please speak first.”

“Please speak first.”

But when even that overlapped, an unprecedented awkward atmosphere began to settle.

Damn. If we overlapped a third time, I’d get goosebumps all over, so I coughed briefly to signal before speaking first.

“Andert would surely be proud of his sacrifice. Of course, I didn’t see his end with my own eyes, but… he wouldn’t want to remain as a specter in your hearts.”

After a moment of silence, Raphael gazed at me with a look of subtle emotion, then brought up a slightly different topic.

“What was your reason for staying on Quin Island for the past four years? Were you looking for Andert’s body?”

It wasn’t a topic I particularly favored.

“If such a thing existed, you would have found it long ago.”

“We couldn’t find it, that’s why I’m asking. Whether you found his body.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, there was an unfamiliar quality in Raphael’s manner of discussing corpses that I’d never seen before.

Could he not accept my death?

‘…No, Raphael is more rational than even the Swordmaster in some ways.’

So he must have accepted Andert’s death. But then why was he obsessing over a corpse?

“Does that matter? To be honest, I don’t think Andert Pager’s body could remain. Since he perished together with Mephistopheles, it likely turned to dust and scattered.”

He asked in a much softer tone compared to our first meeting.

“If you could revive him, would you?”

“I couldn’t.”

“I clearly asked ‘if you could.'”

I wanted to answer, “Duke Jenail’s son! The very assumption is meaningless! Setting aside that it’s impossible magic, he’s already here alive and well!” But.

I’m Daisy now, not Andert.

“No. Andert himself would absolutely not want that.”

I couldn’t detect even the slightest change in Raphael’s expression. But having spent nearly ten years with him, I could vaguely sense it.

The fact that he was relieved.

‘What is he relieved about?’

Raphael took out a small pendant from inside his shirt and said to me.

“The story I’m about to tell you is classified information that no one should know.”

Classified? Wow, what an unwelcome word.

Thanks to that, I could immediately identify what that pendant was. I was certain it was a magical device for binding oaths.

To think a duke would openly commit such unethical acts. Raphael, I didn’t raise you to be a man like Lu!

“Is that so? My goodness. How curious. But if possible, I’d like to live my whole life without knowing. I’m not the least bit curious about classified information.”

Raphael smiled for the first time. It was exactly the same smile from fourteen years ago that I remembered, making my heart flutter just slightly.

“You’ll regret it.”

“Regret, well. I’ve always been doing that anyway.”

“Aren’t you curious about a method to revive the dead?”

“Sorry, but I’m not ignorant in that field. I know better than anyone that it’s impossible.”

“No, it is possible. If you bind the soul.”

My mind suddenly flashed.

Soul.

Binding.

And resurrection.

‘…That’s exactly my current state, isn’t it?’

Raphael, noticing my confusion, asked again with a subtle sneer.

“Are you ready to listen now?”

Ready? Sorry, but what I’ve gained is new suspicion.

Don’t tell me you were the one who fed me Dian Ket’s heart, Raphael?

‘No, no. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.’

There’s no guarantee that the ‘method to revive the dead’ he mentioned is Loqwe’s heart crystal.

‘But the probability of them being connected is quite high. The House of Jenail is also searching for Dian Ket’s heirlooms.’

I absolutely cannot let this slip. I had to find out what method Raphael was talking about.

“…Are you saying you’ll tell me that great secret if I promise to keep it confidential? Who am I to you? This is highly suspicious.”

Raphael, who raised only the corners of his mouth with an expressionless face, skillfully countered.

“What’s there to be suspicious about? You are Andert’s sister. To such a precious person, I would never dare set a trap.”

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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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