Chapter 72 — The Tracking Spell
Chapter 72 — The Tracking Spell
Translation: Godtl
She had been thinking of proposing that the two of them accompany her to the ball as well.
Lelia knocked and then entered Romeo's room. He happened to be in the middle of a conversation with Kalix.
"How did the playboy role go? Did you do well?"
Kalix noticed her and asked with a jerk of his chin.
Lelia nodded confidently with a smile. And she told them about what happened today.
At the end, she also added a request for them to accompany her to the ball.
"What kind of banquet are they holding again?"
Kalix grumbled in annoyance.
"It's an era of peace."
"Did they create this peace? Acting all high and mighty when they've done jack shit."
Lelia thought while listening to their conversation.
'Kalix is a lost cause.'
He seemed to have absolutely no intention of going. Lelia looked at Romeo with hope.
Honestly, attending the ball alone was a bit frightening. So she thought it would be better if at least her friends were by her side.
"Well, alright."
Romeo readily nodded. While Kalix reacted with surprise, Romeo was nonchalant.
Lelia breathed a sigh of relief.
Romeo smiled casually and glanced at the area around Lelia's wrist.
After that, Lelia explained in detail how she had pretended to be a playboy at today's tea party.
At those words, Kalix and Romeo held their stomachs and laughed.
In the midst of this, Romeo asked.
"By the way, your voice seems to have changed a bit?"
"Ah, this. This is... um... the person who raised me similarly obtained an alchemical medicine for me."
"Aha."
Romeo replied as if it was of no consequence. Kalix didn't pay it any mind at all and sprawled out on the sofa.
Lelia breathed a sigh of relief that Romeo accepted it without suspicion.
It was certainly fortunate. That those two were simple-minded.
However, when Lelia turned her head away, Romeo wore an expression so cold that anyone who saw it would have been startled.
That night.
Lelia lay in bed and brought up the game screen she had been working on during the day.
[System: Optimization 100% complete!]
Along with the message, small UIs in the corner of her vision flickered.
Then, a long rectangular speech bubble floated up in the air.
[Hello! I'm Yeongum! ✧٩(•́⌄•́๑)و ✧ From now on, Yeongum will be your guide!]
"...."
It was that thief-like, very familiar tone that always made her charge crystals.
She thought there would be something amazing.... Lelia gazed at the speech bubble listlessly, then furrowed her brows just in case.
Surely the guide wouldn't....
'The speech bubble isn't going to follow me around everywhere, is it?'
[That's right! Yeongum will always help you for your' ALL Recipe Clear'!!(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑]
'I'll just cancel.'
[Aah! =͟͟͞͞(๑•̀д•́๑) But 'Help Mode' is very helpful for quests and recipe clears, as well as in daily life!]
At those words, Lelia hesitated.
Would it really be helpful?
If it were true, she might be able to finish Lute's annoying quest as quickly as possible.
'Alright, just in case.'
She decided to consider it being scammed for now and use it only until Lute's quest was finished.
Just as she made up her mind—
[Oh! Σ( °o°) An unidentified 'Tracking Magic' has been cast on you. Would you like to dispel it immediately?]
...What?
As expected, a few days later, Kalix did not attend the ball.
Lelia dressed up well and headed to the banquet hall with Romeo.
Normally, one should escort a noblewoman, but it didn't matter if they didn't.
The banquet hall was located in a large tower's hall in the northern part of the imperial capital, which was somewhat far from where they were currently staying.
Because of that, Lelia boarded a carriage with Romeo.
Looking out the carriage window, she could see several carriages heading toward the same destination.
Lelia looked at Romeo sitting across from her with tension.
He was looking out the window with an unconcerned expression.
However, Lelia, who was watching him, had sweaty palms.
A few days ago.
With the help of 'the alchemist,' Lelia discovered that a tracking spell had been cast on the cufflinks she wore.
The person who cast the tracking spell on her?
It could only be Romeo.
After all, Romeo was the very person who had bought her the cufflinks she wore on her wrists.
Lelia only then realized anew that Romeo becomes a mage of tremendous skill even in the original work.
As soon as she learned that fact, sweat had poured down like rain.
She hadn't known at all until now, but it turned out Romeo was still suspecting her.
He had placed a tracking spell in case she might run away somewhere.
'He might still be misunderstanding that I killed Leo.'
Lelia wiped the sweat from her palms without letting it show.
'Then Kalix is….'
Kalix wouldn't be that way. Seeing that the second affection quest had opened….
After realizing about the tracking spell, Lelia's behavior and tone became awkward whenever she saw Romeo.
Because of that, Romeo might already know.
That she had discovered the tracking spell.
Yet the way he acted as if nothing had happened gave her chills.
'To grow up so fox-like. He's truly an old fox.'
Just then, Romeo, sitting across in the carriage, looked at Lelia and smiled brightly.
"Actually, I'm not really the ball type. I'll just watch from the corner."
"Yes, please do so."
"You said you have to play the role of a flirt today? You'll be dancing a lot then."
"…Yes."
Lelia swallowed hard.
Actually, from the day she realized the truth about the tracking spell, Lelia started having nightmares.
Just like the first day she reunited with her friends, it was a dream where they were trying to kill Lelia.
Especially Romeo in the dream pointed a sword at her with a beautifully smiling face like now.
And without a shred of hesitation, he stabbed deeply….
As the dream came to mind, Lelia squeezed her eyes shut.
Romeo in the dream smiled continuously while watching her die. Brightly, like a gorgeous rose hiding poison.
"Why are you like that?"
Just then, Romeo asked with a smile like in the dream.
"It's nothing."
Lelia answered calmly and looked out the window.
'Now that it's come to this, I need to obtain the sacred object, heal Kalix, and get the Philosopher's Stone as soon as possible.'
Everything before her eyes was bleak and uncertain.
After avoiding the original work's fate when she was young, she hadn't been this afraid of death.
The fear of dying at her friends' hands, that was what scared her the most.
But if she were to really die at her friends' hands, Lelia intended not to reveal the truth even at the moment of death.
Even if she revealed the truth just then, she would die anyway because of the oath spell.
'Because if they knew that fact, those guys would surely blame themselves and grieve….'
Just like Emperor Perseus in the original work who sorrowfully learned too late that Lelia was his own daughter.
So Lelia thought she would rather truly die as 'Leo's enemy.'
So that her friends could think they had completed Leo's revenge and live the rest of their days in peace.
Of course, to prevent such a thing from happening, she would definitely stop it no matter what.
This martial arts gathering was an event exclusively for the young nobles of social circles.