The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 74
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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 74
Someone gently lifted me up.
While I was gasping for breath like crazy, I had already arrived home.
To arrive at such a distance in one go like this? I must have briefly fainted on the way.
“You almost got roasted golden brown by lightning. Right?”
After forcibly saving someone’s life, that’s all he has to say.
The connection between this man and me must be thoroughly tangled. Otherwise, everything couldn’t have gone wrong from the first day I let him into my home until this very moment.
Only after drinking rainwater from a tomato stew can for a while could I manage to reply with difficulty.
“Sorry, but I can’t bring myself to say thank you.”
“Really?”
Finding something so amusing, the man sat beside me and just kept smiling.
“Then what do you want to say most right now?”
“Why did you save me?”
“Because you fell into the sea.”
At his tone, as light as if spitting out someone else’s story, anger surged up my throat.
“You should have left me alone. I had no intention of coming back up!”
“Ah, really? Is that so? I was being tactless. Sorry.”
Lies. If he’s sorry, why is he laughing so happily? I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.
“Why try to die? You’re so young and cute. Your cooking is a bit lacking, but you cut fish heads well. You’re good at roof repairs too. You can do so many things.”
Why was it?
My nose stung and no words came out. As I hung my head in silence, the man lifted my chin and asked.
“Why did you try to die?”
Only in that moment was his voice cold, as if he was angry.
“…My sibling is pitiful. So pitiful that I wanted to follow.”
“Follow where? You said they’re alive.”
“That was my foolish hope. I knew it wasn’t true… but I still couldn’t let go of hope…”
So I stayed on this island.
If only Andert would return, I could have lived my whole life in these ruins.
A slightly delayed answer came.
“Want to go to the mainland with me?”
The man looked momentarily dazed, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d said with his own mouth, then proposed to me with an even deeper smile.
“Let’s leave this island together and go up. That would be good. Leave this old island where rain pours down sickeningly.”
Should I?
Leave this island? If I leave this island.
“Then could I get revenge?”
“…Ah. Revenge. That’s important.”
The man’s gaze sank heavily, radiating a yellow gleam.
“Yes, miss, you’re thinking of revenge. It’s a path anyone can choose, but no one can easily choose. Because it’s painful.”
“…”
“Shall I help you?”
“Yes.”
The man smiled with satisfaction and patted my back.
“Alright. Get up, miss. You should leave a farewell to your sibling before departing. That’s proper.”
He’s accepting it?
‘Just like that?’
It’s not like he’s some swindler. Though this man seemed like a swindler from the beginning…
I hurriedly got up to follow him as he was about to leave the house and asked.
“Why are you helping me, mister?”
The man answered with an indifferent expression.
“Because I like you.”
Of course, it was an answer that made no sense at all.
“Me? Why? I don’t really like you, mister.”
“The part you added at the end is quite shocking, isn’t it? But it doesn’t matter. I like desperate people like you, miss. People who always do their best like they’re cornered on a cliff… who despair but get back up again. That’s why I’ve been watching all this time.”
“Then you knew I was doing futile things?”
“No. There’s no such thing as futile in this world.”
With firm denial, the man stepped into the rain. And walked ahead.
Though it wasn’t even a great answer, I followed behind him as if enchanted, as though I’d gotten the answer I’d been waiting for.
Arriving at the cliff edge, we built a stone grave for Andert.
Whether buried in earth or becoming fish food, returning to nature is all the same.
Actually, I can’t be certain the headless corpse I saw below the cliff was Andert’s body. Even if it wasn’t Andert, I hoped this stone grave’s existence would be a comfort to the victim.
“You’re calm.”
Am I?
Actually, I’m not calm. I’m just trying to be.
“I often imagined in my head, you know. How I should steel my heart if my sibling died. How I should get revenge.”
“You made a wonderful plan.”
“Wonderful? It’s pathetic.”
“Good, partner. Then what’s our first plan?”
I looked into the relaxed man’s eyes and answered.
“I become Andert.”
The man’s eyes widened slightly as if it was a method he’d never thought of.
“Become Andert and kill that child’s enemy. If I can do that, my sibling can rest peacefully in heaven too. This is the best revenge I could think of. For that, I’d need to find a mage on the mainland first, right?”
The man quietly listened to my story, then raised one corner of his mouth and laughed mockingly.
“Find who where? I’m your mage.”
“…You? You’re a mage?”
Could it be a lie? A man who wandered on an abandoned island and parasitized in my house being a mage doesn’t inspire much trust.
“Yeah. But our miss is requesting a very difficult spell. Living someone else’s life is high-level magic that ordinary mages can’t even attempt.”
“How difficult is it?”
“Even your country’s royal court mage can’t do it.”
That difficult? The man changed his words preemptively just before I fell into despair.
“Don’t worry. I’m a genius, you see. There’s nothing I can’t do. Miss, you really chose your mage well. Should I say your luck was insanely good?”
I see.
“How amazing of you.”
“Let me ask one thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can you sacrifice anything for your revenge?”
At first, I wanted to ask back, ‘Do I have to sacrifice anything?’
But soon I realized that whether the answer was yes or no, the conclusion I would reach was one.
“Yes.”
The man asked again while showing eyes that expected this answer.
“Even if the end is death?”
“I’m already dead. If you hadn’t saved me and brought me here, I’d be sunk at the bottom of that open sea by now, body swollen and just waiting to float up.”
“…Yes, then I suppose I’ll be killing you twice.”
After being silent for a moment, he looked at the stone grave with heavy eyes, then soon approached me with a shallow smile.
“Now I’m going to change your appearance to Andert’s.”
“Really? It’s actually possible, right?”
“Ordinary transformation magic is high-difficulty magic, so it’s hard to maintain for long. Just going down to the basement of the ground you’re standing on would make you return to your original form quickly.”
“That’s…”
“Of course, I can make you live your whole life as Andert without being hindered by such trivial factors. Because I’m a genius.”
I see.
“How amazing of you.”
“However, as is always the case with powerful forces, my magic also requires a price.”
“What is it?”
“Your lifespan.”
“….”
“And the memory of this moment.”
Lifespan? I thought mages used magic through mana. Isn’t this an unexpected price?
“…You’re not a swindler, are you?”
“A swindler?”
As if mocking my suspicion, he grinned and stepped back from me.
At that moment.
Whoooosh.
The needle-like pouring rain stopped.
The raindrops that had been falling while shaking heaven and earth transformed into pure white flower petals.
The wet ground began to turn white. The entire world that came into view was a field of flowers.
At that impossible sight, I could only stand there with my mouth agape.
My goodness.
Among the swaying flower petals, the man whispered in my ear.
“How about it? Do I still seem like a swindler?”
I clutched my pounding, thudding heart and shook my head vigorously.
“No, of course not! Why would such an amazing mage like you be on this burnt island?”
“I told you. I’m searching for a heart.”
“Then you’re saying that you and I meeting was really just a coincidence?”
“Why. Doesn’t it seem like a coincidence?”
“It doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
It really doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
“You appearing before me is like fate itself. At least for me it is.”
The man said nothing.
He silently looked at me while being hit by the falling flower petals. Only occasionally would he reach out to brush away the petals that had landed on the tip of my nose.
I took a deep breath and made my final decision.
“Fine. I was going to die anyway, so there’s no reason I can’t wager something like my lifespan. I’ll wager it. If I can achieve what I desire, I don’t mind betting my entire life.”
“Miss, perhaps because you’re young, you have no hesitation in your choices.”
“But why do I have to wager my memory?”
“This magic must not be remembered by anyone.”
I thought I could understand the man’s words a little. I had never heard of magic that used lifespan as a price.
So I was a little concerned about him.
“You’ll be okay, right? It’s my lifespan that’s being shortened.”
“Are you worrying about me right now? Usually people worry about themselves, don’t they? Miss, you really are a bit unusual.”
‘That’s what makes you look even more adorable.’ He muttered quietly and carefully reached out to stroke my hair.
“Actually, I was a little surprised. I had similar thoughts to you, Miss. In my prime, I could have risked my life to achieve what I desired… if only I could achieve it.”
Did that mean he ultimately failed?
If so, this magic would be nothing less than the greatest kindness the man could show me. I grasped his hand that touched my head and made one last request.
“I will succeed in my revenge. So when everything is over, let’s meet again. And please bury me next to my sibling’s grave.”
As if giving a final farewell, the man who pulled my hand to kiss it deeply answered me.
“I pray such a day will come.”
The dark clouds that had been devouring the island cleared away.
Sunlight that split through the cracks in the dark sky touched the cliff.
That brilliant light, like divine arrangement, strongly illuminated the man’s face, and I stared blankly at his face like a mirage.
Only then did I recall the man’s name.
I know him.
Lu.
The man was Lu.
My goodness, yes! You were Lu!
This is impossible. I had forgotten this memory? For a whole 14 years?
Ah. As if by agreement, the nightmare that had dominated my entire body drained away and my reason returned to reality.
The maid Daisy had opened her eyes.
I bolted upright in bed and shouted loud enough to shake heaven and earth.
“Lu! You swindler!”
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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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