The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 95

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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 95

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It was decided to treat the doppelganger that appeared in Beacon Garden as something that “never happened.”

It hadn’t been long since the Kraken appeared, and if news of another incident like this in the capital spread, the resulting chaos and terror would be problematic, not to mention the Crown Prince’s position, which had already given Duke Adickl an opening.

Fortunately, everything had happened inside Beacon Garden, and most witnesses were either garden staff or Tritoma special operatives, so covering it up wasn’t difficult.

Isaiah was going to be busy for a while. He put up a temporary closure sign at Beacon Garden and focused on cleaning up the aftermath.

The problem was on Lillieta’s side. Lindsey was her amethyst and had survived, so she could explain things well and keep her quiet, but the coachman’s death was different.

‘At least I managed to find the body.’

After searching all night through the darkened greenhouse and the routes the doppelganger was presumed to have taken, she found the corpse that the creature had eaten and spat out. Only the upper body barely remained.

‘In many cases, everything gets digested and not even bones can be recovered, so finding even a part was fortunate, but…’

Even though she had seen victims’ corpses frequently enough to become numb to them during the ash era, such things weren’t common here.

Moreover, the dead person was the coachman who had driven her carriage. In a way, he might have died because of her.

That’s why she refused Gid’s offer to handle everything himself and let her go rest, instead personally cleaning the coachman’s slime-covered corpse.

Meanwhile, Lillieta honestly told Lindsey what had attacked her was a magical beast, what kind of creature it was, and why they needed to keep this fact hidden for the time being, getting their stories straight.

After staying up all night, she went to find the coachman’s family before dawn. He had a wife and young son.

She tried to explain directly, but stepped back on Lindsey’s advice that it would be burdensome for commoners to have a noble like her explain such things directly.

They said there had been an accident where the carriage broke down by the riverside on the way home. While she and Lindsey waited in the carriage, the coachman left to find a way to fix it, but when he didn’t return, they went looking and found his body.

It was a monster’s doing, and they had tracked and killed that monster throughout the night.

Except for saying it was a monster’s doing rather than a magical beast’s, it wasn’t far from the truth. They had indeed finished their revenge.

The coachman’s wife fainted upon seeing her husband’s corpse. The young son stood there bewildered, then burst into tears when his mother collapsed.

She had grown accustomed to seeing victims’ corpses, but no matter how many times she witnessed such scenes, she could never get used to them.

Lillieta left behind a letter she had personally written and signed with a heavy heart. It expressed condolences for the coachman’s death and promised maximum compensation.

Separate from the consolation money, she arranged to pay the coachman’s monthly salary to his wife until her death. For the young son, she would support his education expenses and guarantee employment as an exclusive coachman for the Raskail family if he wished after becoming an adult.

After leaving Lindsey to care for the coachman’s wife and son for the time being, Rita returned to Creme Dome.

After catching the doppelganger, she had asked Isaiah to send a letter home. She wrote that her conversation with friends she hadn’t seen in a long time had run late, so she would return home late, but she’d be back by morning, so they shouldn’t worry too much.

Her family, who had stayed awake all night worrying despite the letter, greeted her upon her return.

Her family already knew about the existence of magical beasts. She only needed to hide the parts about Pascal being behind it, the approaching disaster, and the need to change history.

Lillieta repeated the same explanation she had given Lindsey. Seeing her exhausted state, her family didn’t press for details. After confirming she was safe, they let her rest.

‘Good thing I came back after getting my hands treated.’

After the situation ended, Gid had personally treated her hands, pouring healing potions over them.

Rita thought it was excessive for mere scratches, but Gid’s expression looked so troubled that she accepted the treatment without complaint.

Thanks to that, she returned with hands that were completely healed without even scar marks, reducing her family’s worry.

Only after the morning sun rose did Rita lie down in her bedroom. And she couldn’t fall asleep.

When the disaster of rampaging magical beasts arrived, such incidents would happen to almost every household. Some homes wouldn’t even have family members left to faint or wail.

‘Our family too…’

After the disaster broke out, the entire Raskail family died trying to fend off the magical beasts’ great invasion.

When she first read that part in the history books, she thought it was just like their family, but the shock didn’t fade for a long time.

“Rita, your brother has good instincts. His talent is remarkable. He’s worthy of being summoned by Pascal, but was there some reason he couldn’t become a hero…”

Gid’s words about Richard came to mind. Now she thought she knew the reason.

Because he died too quickly. Because he left no descendants and everyone bearing the Raskail name died. That’s why he wasn’t a candidate for Pascal’s resurrection. It was an unwelcome truth.

She couldn’t fall asleep thinking about the dead coachman, magical beasts, the disaster, Pascal, and her family who had died in history.

And the image of Gid suddenly coughing up blood also added to her insomnia.

He had seemed very strange in that moment. He didn’t look like the Gid Pascal she knew inside and out, but like some unfamiliar entity.

‘Gid is hiding something. Something happened during the return process. The other kids seem to be oddly evasive about that issue too…’

After much tossing and turning, she organized her thoughts. For now, she would focus on what she could do.

‘First, let me charm the Duke’s son well and get invited to the ducal castle. That’s the best mission I can accomplish right now.’

And she needed to set a date to corner Olivia and properly hear how they had returned.

Lillieta made that resolution and finally fell asleep. Not long after, she woke up from nightmares and auditory hallucinations of exploding bombs.

Not wanting to be in a confined space, she hugged her music box and quietly slipped out of her room. Sitting in a corner of the garden, she looked down at the spinning golden flowers and jeweled butterflies while thinking of the faded angel doll.

She wished there was someone to listen with her. Someone who already knew everything without needing explanations, someone to lean shoulder to shoulder with, matching breathing, receiving wordless comfort.

‘…I shouldn’t keep trying to depend on others. We’re not comrades-in-arms who are always together like before.’

Don’t become weak. There’s so much more to protect than before.

‘And Gid too… looked like he was having a hard time.’

Was there something difficult for him to tell even her? Or was her death simply that hard on him? If it was the latter, just how difficult had it been?

‘Honestly, I don’t really understand that I died. I just woke up and found myself returned. If it was that hard, I’d rather he told me everything, one by one…’

But wouldn’t it also be difficult if she kept prying into things he didn’t want to talk about?

It was difficult.

The method of fighting magical beasts was so clear, but things like this were endlessly difficult.

She stayed curled up quietly, listening to the music box until the explosions in her ears stopped.

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From that day on, Lillieta was bedridden for several days.

It was body aches. It was an inevitable result of engaging in intense combat with a frail body that hadn’t even undergone proper physical training yet.

At least she hadn’t moved as violently as during the Kraken incident, and thanks to Grace’s help reducing the burden, she didn’t faint for two days straight like before.

Which meant she remained conscious.

While bedridden with fever, Rita listened to reports from Lindsey who had returned from contamination testing, received get-well gifts from Blen Viscount’s daughter, Winterfield Margrave’s second son, and the owner of Beacon Garden, and received boxes of concentrated Od that Ethan secretly brought in the middle of the night, saying they were from Gid.

During those days of lying in bed, Beacon Garden resumed operations, and news came that Duke Adickl had finally entered the capital.

May 9th, 1770.

Several days after she had risen from her sickbed, with about a week left until the Frontier Festival.

Lillieta was focusing on physical training with Richard when she received an unexpected visitor.

“Teacher Rita, I’ve made up my mind!”

It was Lavinia del Aiser Duirebourg, extremely excited.

She brought a large dahlia bouquet, new novels, and famous cakes from the capital as gifts, then declared with a flushed face:

“I’m going to participate in the shooting competition!”

“…The shooting competition? The one held during the Frontier Festival?”

“Yes! That’s right! That’s the one!”

Lavinia nodded frantically. Lillieta stared blankly at the wildly fluttering pink twin tails, trying to recall what the shooting competition was.

The Frontier Festival held in the forests outside Lamcard took the form of a monster hunting competition.

As a traditional event attached to it, there was a competition that tested accuracy in various situations using any means—whether archery, firearms, or magic.

The Imperial shooting competition was divided into a general division for nobles and a combat division for knights and mages.

It seemed Lavinia, who had been diligently practicing shooting lately, wanted to participate in that competition.

“Isn’t Teacher Rita participating? If you did, the Black Dragon’s Eye would definitely be yours!”

“I’m not participating.”

Rita shook her head firmly.

It would be inappropriate for a professional to join in on civilians’ recreational activities.

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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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