The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 170
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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 170
While I was stunned in shock, the man opened the bars and entered the prison. Rummaging around his waist, he pulled out a long leather whip and stroked it with gentle hands as if comforting a child.
“How dare you look at me with such insolent eyes. Haven’t you come to your senses yet?”
The man smiled bitterly and then swung the whip with unhesitating movements.
Crack!
“Watch carefully, Miss.”
Crack!
“Those who don’t know their place are dealt with like this…”
“Stop!”
I shouted so loudly that my throat stung.
I gritted my teeth as I looked at Lu’s reddened skin. If I could, I wanted to return exactly what that man had done to Lu. But…
‘Endure it, this isn’t my body.’
I couldn’t let Dian bear the consequences of what I did.
“Were you surprised? I’m worried because you’re particularly weak-hearted, Miss.”
I glared at the man who clicked his tongue briefly as if disappointed. He smiled sweetly with a face as if looking at a young sibling, then whispered to me.
“Remember my words well, Miss. In front of beasts, the moment you’re looked down upon, it’s over.”
The man didn’t wait for an answer and grabbed both my shoulders, pushing me toward Lu.
“Now, watch carefully. This is the item you’ll need to manage from now on, Miss.”
Cold golden eyes looked toward me through disheveled hair.
The moment I clenched both hands at the chilling hostility.
Clank! With a sound that rang ominously through the prison, Lu’s upper body that had been sprawled lunged toward me.
His pitch-black shadow stopped above my head. If it weren’t for his two arms hanging from the stone wall, I would surely have been seriously injured. Huff, huff. Rough breathing spread from close by. Lu, faced up close, was a completely different being from the Lu I knew.
That was truly…
“The moment you’re looked down upon by a beast, it’s over.”
That’s when it happened.
Strength left my legs, and my vision flashed pure white.
‘…Wait. Don’t tell me I’m about to faint right now?’
It’s not like I was hit on the head, and a restrained opponent just threatened me a little? I’m going to faint here?
Dian, you weak thing! Of all things…I thought as.
I really did faint.
* * *
“Lu!”
At my call, Lu’s head turned very slightly toward me.
In this dream too, he was sitting on the cliff. After being trapped in the stuffy winter castle and returning to Quin Island, I felt like I could breathe again.
The cliff I reached by running without rest carried the refreshing scent of waves. No, never mind the waves, there’s something more important right now.
“Did you see? The slave trapped in the spire! How did he end up trapped there? No, being trapped aside, that person is you, right…”
“It’s a past I don’t remember.”
…You don’t remember?
‘Then that slave isn’t Lu?’
That can’t be. The man behind the bars was definitely Lu. There’s no way I, of all people, would mistake someone else for Lu.
“Don’t tell me that world where Dian lived is an illusion, not reality?”
Lu, who had been quietly staring at my flustered expression, answered calmly.
“I said it’s a past I don’t remember, not that it’s fake.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t remember my life before I was twenty-two.”
This was the first time I’d heard this story.
Come to think of it, I’d never heard any stories about Lu’s past.
Where his hometown was, what his family was like, who he met and what he did while living… Lu was particularly tight-lipped about past stories.
“How did that happen?”
“I don’t know.”
What an indifferent answer.
But I don’t have the confidence to ask again. It’s because I thought that perhaps Lu’s lost past might be a trauma. Just like Andert was.
When I slowly moved and sat next to Lu, he continued while gazing at the clear horizon.
“I suspect it’s not an illusion. Dian Cecht isn’t the type to play such tricks. Besides, the ‘me’ called a slave looks about twenty, so it wouldn’t be strange if I don’t remember that time period.”
“Then… the Dian whose body I’ve taken over, no, am sharing, is also the real Dian from the past?”
“Probably.”
“That slave is also the real Lu?”
“Perhaps.”
My head became complicated.
To think that the being trapped in that freezing prison, treated as a slave and abused, is my mage.
“Then what about Lu? Is it okay for me to save him?”
That place is the real past, and both Dian and Lu are real beings… is it okay for me to act as I please?
“Are you asking me for advice right now?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand your question. Why do you care about him?”
“Why? That slave is you.”
“Your goal should be to fix Dian Cecht’s soul and return to your original world, right? Then you just need to focus on that. There’s no need to unnecessarily concern yourself with slaves or whatever.”
Don’t concern myself. Lu’s indifferent advice sounded a bit absurd to my ears.
“But… as I said before, that slave is you?”
“Don’t include that guy in the boundaries of the ‘me’ you care about.”
“I don’t understand. If you put it that way, the slave is the real Lu, and you’re just Lu’s power. Shouldn’t I be concerned about the real Lu?”
“…”
Lu closed his mouth.
I felt a subtle displeasure I’d never seen before on his still expressionless face. Did I hurt his feelings? I only thought I needed the most rational question for him, who is quite rational.
“Hmm. I roughly understood what you said. …Ah, just in case, you know that today’s meeting shouldn’t be included in the three opportunities, right?”
If I wasn’t mistaken, a reply that felt a bit colder than before came back.
“Don’t be unreasonable.”
“Unreasonable? Do you remember what I said to you in the desert? It’s the same logic. What if I can’t save Dian here? The three opportunities to be with you will be consumed meaninglessly, and if I die as a stranger trapped in Dian’s body in this northern land where snow keeps falling? Will you be able to leave satisfied as a god?”
“Don’t you know that’s not a proposal but a threat?”
“It’s not a threat, I’m…”
“No. I have no intention of continuing to accept your unreasonableness.”
He slowly stood up from the cliff edge and looked down at me with eyes that said there would be no further negotiation.
“Now there are two meetings left. Don’t forget.”
The moment I was about to grab Lu’s leg and cling to him in frustration.
I woke up from the dream.
* * *
Cold air rushed into my lungs.
Realizing I had returned to reality, I threw my pillow toward the ceiling and vented my resentment.
“Petty bastard!”
“Ah, Miss? What’s wrong? Did you have a strange dream?”
“…No. It’s nothing.”
I swallowed my anger while drinking the warm tea the maid had prepared.
Fine, did I wake up at 5 PM again this time? As soon as I confirmed the time, I sat down at the desk. This time it was my turn to read Dian’s memo.
‘But I fainted yesterday. What if she thinks I’m fake because there was no reply.’
Contrary to my worry, one more memo had been added to the notebook. I read through the two memos Dian had left in order.
The first was the memo I hadn’t been able to check yesterday.
『After long consideration, I’m leaving a reply, Ash.
I was very surprised to see your letter. I’ve been having doubts about my physical condition lately too.
I don’t know how you’ll take this, but I was worried that I might have developed multiple personalities after collapsing. But to think that another person’s soul had entered…』
The second memo that followed seemed to have been added this morning.
“Are you alright? I heard you fainted in the spire. I’m worried whether you’ll be able to check this memo.”
Dian is a kind person. Even after checking just two memos, I could clearly sense what kind of disposition this boy had.
I still don’t know whether Dian truly trusts my existence or not.
However, just being able to have this conversation was a great comfort to me. I examined the postscript written at the end of the second memo.
“Be careful, Ash. That slave is not an ordinary slave. He’s a monster that Rogue and Serenity are cooperating to raise with utmost care. Seeing that he was sent to me to build resistance to poison… it seems they want to create a human weapon.
I don’t know any other information, but please don’t get too close to him if possible.”
Human weapon. I recalled the words the man had left in the spire.
“You must remember the Lord’s orders. Train him to develop resistance to Astrosia’s three great poisons.”
‘Right, he definitely said something similar.’
To build resistance to poison. Those words were tantamount to saying keep feeding him poison continuously.
To torture Lu with my own hands? It was an outrageous demand.
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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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