Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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It’s a café run by the heir to the Dark Guild.
Chapter 45
I flipped through the documents in front of me, examining them carefully, when shock seized me. Without thinking, I covered my mouth.
“This can’t be real.”
The contents written inside those papers were too unbelievable to accept.
The mother and father I knew were not nobility. Of course, they shouldn’t have had a family name at all.
And yet the name in the documents bore a surname.
[Lilly Mel Strophane]
“Strophane…. This is…….”
It wasn’t just the shock of seeing a surname attached to my mother’s name.
House Strophane—the most powerful of the Five Great Houses.
The very same House Strophane was the family of the current Empress, Clione.
In a daze, I sank beneath the bed, and the cat padded over to me.
The cat nipped at my hand as if to snap me back to attention, the one holding the documents.
“Ow.”
The papers slipped from my grasp. The cat settled onto the scattered sheets and fixed me with wide, round eyes.
Staring into those blue irises, my mother’s face suddenly rose in my mind.
I extended my hand to the cat. It flicked its tiny tongue against my pinky before nuzzling its face against my palm.
The unfamiliar affection, felt for the first time, eased a little of the suffocating weight that had filled my chest.
“Thank you. I feel better now.”
I pushed aside the shock as much as I could and read through the documents objectively.
According to the records, my mother was adopted into House Strophane at age ten and then disadopted at eighteen, upon reaching coming of age.
“It’s not a forgery, is it?”
I held the paper up to the window, letting sunlight shine through it, but I couldn’t tell from that alone.
Fortunately, I had just the thing for situations like this—an Authentication Kit used by professionals.
The artifact had been enchanted for exactly three uses. I’d spent one on the Map of Great Sword before, leaving two remaining.
I pulled the kit from my artifact and tested it. No signs of forgery appeared. The seals stamped on the documents were all genuine.
My heart growing heavier, I turned my attention to the “Kimbelhack Orphanage” where my mother had apparently lived until she was ten.
“Kimbelhack.”
The documents contained only that name and the director’s signature—nothing about where the orphanage was located.
“How did she even get adopted into House Strophane?”
A family of Strophane’s standing wouldn’t adopt just anyone. If my mother had grown up in an orphanage, it would have been an impossible stroke of luck.
And the fact that she’d been adopted not as a young child but at age ten didn’t seem ordinary at all.
“An illegitimate child?”
A possibility occurred to me.
If Seniel and I could both use Special Abilities, then it would actually make sense for Strophane blood—one of the Five Great Houses—to run through our veins.
“But she was disadopted.”
Why would they bother adopting her only to disadopt her the moment she came of age? Nothing fit together.
In this confusion, the only thing I could do now was find the orphanage mentioned in the documents and verify the records.
I would’ve liked to check House Strophane’s records too, but that place was virtually inaccessible under normal circumstances.
I sighed and searched the documents thoroughly again, in case I’d missed something.
As I picked them up to put them back in the envelope, a single letter fluttered out.
[Miss…….
I’m sorry—so very sorry—that I failed to protect you.
What I’ve done will never be forgiven, not in a lifetime. No, I won’t ask for forgiveness.
That I can no longer see your bright, lovely face—the face of a young lady who always followed me so faithfully—it tears at my heart.
You must be happy, wherever you are…….
Henscia.]
The handwriting was unfamiliar, pressed heavily as if with determination, yet the characters were crooked and difficult to read.
“I need to find this person.”
Grateful for even this small clue, I carefully placed the envelope back in my artifact.
I searched the room thoroughly just in case, but nothing else came to light.
Except for the envelope hidden under the bed, I found no trace of my parents’ handwriting anywhere.
As if they’d deliberately left no trace behind.
As I turned to leave the room, I stopped short when I spotted a picture frame on the nightstand.
It held a photograph of my parents in their youth, beaming with brightness.
“Mother, what kind of life have you lived? Did Father know?”
As I stared quietly at the frame, the cat leaped onto the dresser and sat there, gazing at it too.
“Meow.”
“They’re our parents. Don’t they look good together?”
I proudly showed the cat the photo of my parents, then closed the window I’d left open for ventilation and stepped outside.
“I can’t leave right away though.”
My heart wanted to rush to the Capital at once to investigate, but the injury to my shoulder from the demonic beast was still in poor condition.
The wound was growing steadily hotter. Like a burn.
“……I should rest first.”
Recovery came before everything else.
As I made my way to the bed, my head spun sickeningly, and I stumbled.
“Meow!”
The cat leaped up and crashed into my arm with its solid weight.
Thanks to it, I didn’t fall and managed to regain my balance, my mind clearing.
“Thank you.”
I collapsed onto the bed, and the cat shamelessly took its place beside me.
With its soft fur there beside me, I fell asleep almost instantly.
***
I snapped my eyes open at the sensation of sunlight streaming across my face.
I remembered falling asleep in the early evening, yet there was sunlight. Had I really slept through the entire night?
I pushed myself up in bed and brushed my disheveled hair back.
Looking toward the nightstand to get water, I saw a medicine bottle I’d never seen before and a note.
[I gathered the materials and made a fresh remedy. You were suffering through the night, so I had you take one without permission.
Take it twice a day, without fail.
Oh, and I’ve left a meal in the kitchen.]
So I’d lost consciousness due to the Demonic Energy, not simply from sleep.
I felt grateful toward Kayden for having busied himself gathering the ingredients and preparing the medicine.
“Do all priests have such beautiful handwriting?”
I marveled at the neat cursive, then rose and headed for the kitchen.
There was tomato stew, fruit cut into pretty shapes, and a salad piled high with cheese.
I sat at the table and began eating at once, murmuring to myself.
“It’s the first time someone other than Reiley or Sophia has looked after me when I’m sick.”
When I was at the Guild, training or sparring sometimes left me unable to move. On those occasions, Reiley and Sophia would bring their own portions to the dining hall for me.
When we’d been injured during missions outside, we’d sometimes stay at an inn for days, nursing each other back to health.
All the other Guild members feared me, so Reiley and Sophia had always been by my side.
The fact that someone else was caring for me felt both strange and oddly ticklish.
I shook my head vigorously and finished eating quickly. Then I unwrapped the bandages to apply fresh medicine.
The wound had healed considerably, thanks to the medicinal herbs, but the area around it throbbed like a burn.
“Is it from the Demonic Energy?”
Either way, the wound seemed more healed than yesterday, so I packed light supplies. Then I headed for the Temple to borrow a horse.
Though few customers came to the shop, I remembered to flip the sign in the yard.
Kayden was nowhere to be seen outside the Temple—he must have already finished the morning cleaning.
I pushed open the heavy Temple door with both hands and stepped inside.
I immediately spotted Kayden, feet planted on the windowsill, cleaning the Temple’s glass panes.
‘A self-employed business owner,’ I thought.
The image of me sweeping and wiping down my own shop every day overlapped with this, and my heart ached.
Whether here or at my place, no amount of hard work made customers appear.
“Rosia! How are you feeling?”
Upon noticing me, Kayden dropped down from the sill—and his face stiffened instantly. He must have seen the baggage in my hands.
“What’s that? Where are you going?”
“I’m heading to the Capital for a bit. I came to borrow a horse.”
“Your arm is injured. You’re not going anywhere in that condition.”
Deep furrows creased Kayden’s brow now that he was on the ground.
It looked like he was about to scold me, so I jumped in before he could say more.
“I slept for a whole day, so I’m fine. Your medicinal herbs must be really effective.”
I deliberately lavished him with praise and rotated my shoulder gently to show him it was alright.
Kayden eyed me even more suspiciously and stepped closer.
“I’m good at blending medicinal herbs, but even so, it doesn’t make sense for it to heal this quickly. A wound from Demonic Energy requires days of rest.”
“Holy Power didn’t work on it, so maybe Demonic Energy doesn’t either? I’m fine.”
“……Is it something urgent?”
“Yes.”
Kayden sighed deeply, knowing I wouldn’t listen regardless of what he said, and pressed his hand to his forehead.
“I’ll take you to the village by carriage. You can ride in a cart instead of on horseback. Riding will put too much strain on your shoulder.”
Kayden was just as stubborn as I was. Tired of the back-and-forth, and conceding that he had a point, I agreed.
Kayden brought a horse from the stables. Then, insisting that I not use my arm, he lifted me up and set me on the horse.
“You’re surprisingly strong for someone so—”
“Don’t underestimate a priest.”
He mounted the horse in front of me. Grasping the reins, he spoke softly near my ear.
“You’re not headed somewhere dangerous, are you?”
“What danger could a simple shop owner possibly face?”
“……Just don’t get hurt.”
I nodded firmly, and Kayden pulled the reins.
We galloped forward, and soon arrived at the entrance of a nearby village. There, sitting by the roadside, was a familiar cat.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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