Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Family Secrets Unveiled
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12.
Evelyn and the priests disembarked near Harpa Castle.
“Father, don’t cause too much trouble since you’re busy. But don’t go wandering alone either. Make sure to eat properly.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn’s nagging continued, but Rachel didn’t mind the gentle scolding one bit.
In her previous life, she had heard plenty of nagging, but it was more often just yelling to vent frustration than actual advice for her sake. Even when she did the same things as others, she got chewed out just for being an orphan, and any mistakes she made were blown out of proportion. Compared to that, Evelyn’s words were kind.
“Sister, we need to get moving now.”
“Yes. Dear, take good care of Rachel.”
“I will.”
“Rachel, don’t get sick, and stay healthy.”
“Yes, you too, Mother.”
“Alright.”
Evelyn smiled. A soft smack of lips touched her cheek and pulled away. Then Evelyn’s face moved to Henri’s, and another smooch followed.
“Then we’ll be off. Take care, Rachel too.”
Evelyn waved her arms widely as she backed away from the carriage. As Rachel and Henri shifted inside, the carriage door closed. Soon, the carriage set off.
Rachel stuck her head out the window, waving until Evelyn was out of sight.
Once Evelyn’s figure shrank to a dot and vanished behind the trees, Rachel pulled back from the window.
“I won’t see Mother for a while now.”
“You’ll see her again soon.”
Henri responded calmly to Rachel’s words.
He leaned against the carriage wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed, looking like he didn’t want to be bothered, but Rachel ignored it and kept talking to him.
“You never used to come to the mansion much. Was it because you suspected I wasn’t your real daughter?”
His shoulders twitched at Rachel’s question. She had hit the nail on the head—a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.
Up until the 15th round, Rachel’s feelings toward Henri had been close to anger. So she hadn’t even considered mending their relationship.
But in the 15th round, seeing him leave her his last words to live on had diluted that anger.
He was the frustrating type who never listened to his daughter, jumped to misunderstandings without communication, and sulked alone without even trying to clear them up. But at least Henri was someone who could reflect on his own mistakes.
That was why Rachel planned to talk with him little by little from now on.
“Yeah.”
It took a long while for his reply to come. He uncrossed his arms and rubbed his dry face.
“It was always a question in my mind.”
He hadn’t not wanted to see his daughter. But as far as he knew, no girls had ever been born in the Emporus family, so he naturally assumed a son would be born.
But when the baby’s cries rang out, the infant in the midwife’s arms was a girl.
“At first, I tried to accept that a daughter had been born in my generation. But you took after Evelyn completely.”
If there had been any resemblance to him, he might have felt reassured that she was his daughter, but he saw none.
“Three years later, Deyner was born. And comparisons followed.”
A daughter who didn’t resemble him at all, and a son who did. The stark difference made his suspicions grow.
“I loved Evelyn. But being with her always made me want to ask. Whose daughter is Rachel?”
But the moment he asked that question, their relationship could never be the same.
Henri swallowed the question. Unintentionally, he distanced himself from his wife and threw himself into work.
“I knew the temple could verify paternity, but I avoided it on purpose. I didn’t know what I’d do if it turned out you weren’t my daughter.”
Then the priest visited. He could no longer hold back his doubts and cautiously asked the priest.
“The priest came to the mansion, and I thought if not now, I’d never resolve my doubts. After that, it’s as you know.”
He pressed his fingertips into his forehead and around his eyebrows as he poured out his feelings.
Rachel thought it was nonsense but didn’t say so honestly. Listening to Henri brought something to mind.
-It’s all for the family’s revival.
-That’s right. Rachel was born to be offered as a sacrifice.
-Originally, that child should have died unnamed.
‘No way! The reason no daughters in the Emporus family…!’
What if they weren’t unborn, but sacrificed so quickly no one even announced their birth?
What if not just the baron, but generations of Emporus men had offered their daughters as sacrifices?
“Father, I have a question. What about the wives of the Emporus family? Were they on good terms with their husbands or lived long lives or something like that?”
Rachel asked urgently.
Who would agree to offering their daughter as a sacrifice?
She couldn’t be certain there were none, but she could confidently say there weren’t many.
At his daughter’s question, the man closed his eyes briefly and recalled the short genealogy of the Emporus family. He had questioned this himself, so the answer came quickly.
“Many passed early from accidents or illness. That’s why I became a doctor—I wanted to save my own wife with my hands if such a thing happened.”
That’s why you dabbled in black magic.
Rachel swallowed the words that nearly slipped out. This conversation confirmed it.
‘Mother’s death in the previous rounds wasn’t an accident!’
Not just the current Paris Emporus—previous generations of the Emporus family had sacrificed the girls born in their line and killed the mothers who bore them.
“Where was I born? The mansion?”
“You were born at the temple. The midwife and Priestess Peace received you.”
Rachel had survived thanks to being born at the temple. Since Evelyn was a key figure there, the baron couldn’t touch her recklessly and had tried to kill her with a curse instead.
The puzzle pieces fitting together gave Rachel chills.
“Father, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
“What is it?”
“Can you believe me? No matter how unbelievable it sounds?”
Their eyes met. Henri nodded, seeing the serious look on Rachel’s face.
“I’ll believe you. Even if it’s hard to believe.”
His different attitude made Rachel force the words out.
“Father, the Emporus family might have contracted with a demon.”
The carriage raced on. Inside, father and daughter had a serious conversation.
Henri was shocked by the unbelievable truth, while Rachel tried to convince him. Their exchange went back and forth.
“I can’t believe it.”
“You have to. It’s Uncle’s doing. How else do you explain the curse medium hidden in the mansion?”
He couldn’t hide his agitation. His daughter kept poking at the parts he wanted to ignore.
Don’t look away, don’t deny it, face the truth.
He sighed and slowly nodded.
The carriage stopped. They had arrived at a nearby inn. The coachman took the horses and carriage to the stables, and father and daughter entered the inn.
“Welcome!”
“A room for two and a simple meal, please. Bring the food to the room.”
“Yes. That’ll be 2 silvers. Go up to the second floor and take the room at the far left end.”
After paying and getting the key, they headed upstairs.
Henri entered first and lit the lamp. The room had two beds with a small table between them and a wooden chest.
Henri stowed their luggage and outer clothes in the chest, then sat silently on the bed.
The darkness retreated from the room, but silence settled in its place.
Rachel jumped onto the bed first. Musty-smelling blankets and a creaky old frame. Not cozy at all, she stood back up and shook out the bedding.
“It’s dirty for an inn.”
She had smelled dust, and now she saw it floating in the lamplight. Rachel furrowed her brow and opened the window.
“You only get clean linens in the capital.”
“I see.”
Thinking it wasn’t so bad she couldn’t sleep, Rachel shook the blankets toward the window. Because of an early death from something trivial like that, she didn’t stick her arms out.
‘My luck’s like a guppy’s—I might fall out the window shaking blankets.’
After roughly dusting them off, she lay back down.
“Eat first, then sleep.”
“I’m not sleeping yet.”
Regression had reset her physical fatigue to just one day’s worth, but the mental exhaustion had piled up. Rachel closed her eyes for a moment to shake it off.
“What will we do in the capital?”
“Like I said before, look for Abyss. With that in mind, could you give me some pocket money when we get there?”
Rachel raised her hand, touching her thumb and index finger to form a circle.
Finding Abyss, whom she’d never met, would require money.
All she knew about him was what the baron had mentioned during his visits in the 10th and 11th rounds.
‘He said he was a constant nuisance.’
To annoy the baron that much, he had to be incredibly capable.
Rachel needed to find that Abyss and make him her ally.
“How much do you need?”
“I don’t really know.”
Silence fell. He realized his daughter had no plan.
“No plan?”
“I have to meet him first to make one. I don’t even know what kind of person he is. All I know is he’s Uncle’s pesky rival.”
Realizing Rachel truly had no plan, Henri sighed and said,
“When we get to the capital, I’ll ask around my contacts.”
“Really? Thank you!”
Rachel turned her head to see Henri chuckling at her thanks. She hadn’t known he could relax his face like that—he’d never smiled at her before.
“Father, smile like that more. You look so much younger!”
Just then, a knock sounded, and the server brought the meal. Rachel bolted upright.
It was a simple spread: steaming soup, hard bread, and roasted vegetables with cheese.
Dipping the crusty bread in the soup made it pretty tasty.
“Eat a lot.”
“You too, Father.”
They finished eating, and time passed. Henri fell asleep.
Rachel was tired from half a day bouncing in the carriage, but her swirling thoughts kept sleep away.
No change in the danger level, no regression.
She wondered what was happening back at the inner castle.
‘No regression means Mother’s safe, at least.’
She had no idea what happened to Paris Emporus. She thought exposing him would lower the danger level, but no message appeared.
‘Is he unrelated to the danger level? Or did he weasel out?’
Rachel hadn’t said he was a Pseudo-Contractor.
Enoch had figured it out just from the magic circle in the secret room, so she thought any priest would assume the same of the baron.
‘But Enoch knew then that the baron was targeting me. This time, I didn’t give that info…’
He might have pinned it on another black sorcerer and escaped.
‘The baron’s got a silver tongue, so he could.’
Knock knock.
The knock from behind snapped Rachel out of her thoughts. Behind her was the window.
Rachel started to glance at it casually, then froze.
‘We’re on the second floor?’
Something was knocking on the second-floor window.