Chapter 88 — Lute's Request
Chapter 88 — Lute's Request
Translation: Godtl
And later that afternoon.
Lute suddenly came to her quarters.
Lelia looked up at him in bewilderment as he stood before her door. Lute fidgeted restlessly before speaking.
"I'm sorry, but Lord Raymond. I have something to say. May I come in and talk?"
"Ah…."
Lelia thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but the inside is messy. Is it urgent?"
"…Then I'll say it here."
"……."
"I'm sorry, Lord Raymond, but could you return the sacred artifact I gave you then?"
"Pardon?"
Lelia frowned. So it had come.
She had suspected as much, but still….
"Actually, I originally intended to give it to Princess Julianna… When I told Her Highness about the sacred artifact, she said she really wanted to receive it. Would it be alright? I'll give you a different gift in return."
"…Please wait a moment."
Lelia closed the door and leaned her back against it, letting out a deep sigh.
'I knew this would happen.'
No backbone at all. Lelia inwardly criticized Lute as she headed to the storage cabinet inside the room.
Then she took out a replica she had made using the 'Alchemy Lottery' item just in case.
It looked exactly the same on the outside, but in reality, the genuine one was combined with the other half of the sacred artifact in Lelia's bag.
Lelia opened the door again with the fake sacred artifact.
The original owner was Lute, and though giving him a fake pricked her conscience, it couldn't be helped.
If she gathered 100 billion shillings and broke the Golden Word Magic, she planned to return it afterwards. She didn't know when that would be, but….
"Here you go."
"I'm truly sorry, Lord Raymond."
Lute couldn't even meet her eyes properly, looking ashamed. Lelia told him it was fine, that she was tired, and sent him away.
"Thank you."
Lute wore a secretly pleased expression and walked away quickly.
Lelia sighed deeply as she watched him disappear at the end of the corridor.
Just then, a low voice came from behind her.
"The thing you gave him, it's fake, isn't it?"
Lelia was startled and turned around. She definitely hadn't sensed any presence.
When she checked behind her, Oscar was standing with his arms crossed, leaning casually against the wall with a faint smile.
Lelia looked at him silently, then tried to slip inside and close the door.
But just before the door closed, his toe wedged into the gap.
"Ignoring me completely?"
"……."
"You're determined to hurt me, aren't you?"
Oscar laughed in disbelief, then pushed Lelia aside and instantly entered the room.
Click.
At the sound of the door locking, Lelia stepped back. What is wrong with him….
Just then, the events of last night suddenly came to mind.
Because she had been so focused on the thought that Oscar had figured out her identity, she hadn't thought deeply about it, but Oscar had kissed her then.
At the same time, the words Oscar had said earlier came to mind.
"I don't think I'd mind either way, whether it's a man or a woman."
Goosebumps rose on her forearms.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, Oscar didn't seem to have realized that she was a woman.
But he had definitely figured out that she was 'Leo.' She couldn't even guess how he had figured it out.
Oscar looked at her tensely, then laughed lightly and rubbed his brow bone.
"I'm so angry I want to twist your neck off, but at the same time I'm so happy I could kiss your feet."
"…Lord Oscar."
"…I don't know how long you plan to pretend not to know, but I don't care."
Lelia looked up at him with anxious eyes.
Fortunately, he didn't come any closer. But his gaze clung to her thickly, as if he were devouring every inch of her.
"I will… do everything I wanted to do if you were alive. I won't ask for your consent."
"……."
Oscar said this as he took another step forward.
Lelia unconsciously covered her mouth with both hands in surprise. At this action, Oscar scoffed.
Instead of coming closer, he looked her up and down. It was a sticky gaze.
"As I said earlier, I don't care even if you're a man."
"……."
Taking another step forward, he bent down and brought his face close to Lelia's ear.
Lelia shrunk her shoulders, still covering only her mouth.
A low voice seeped into her ear.
"Just as I endured in hell. You should experience hell once too."
"……."
"Don't worry too much. I'll be with you for the rest of my life."
The last words were whispered very softly, like sharing a secret. Her heart dropped heavily to the floor.
Oscar said those words, then turned and left.
Left alone, Lelia's legs lost strength and she collapsed to the floor.
Tears welled up.
It was painful. This situation where she couldn't speak honestly was so painful.
She felt like a sinner who had cast Oscar into hell.
When they stayed at the temple, Oscar had always been a friend who relied on and leaned on her. She had always protected small, fragile him steadfastly.
She had whispered affectionate promises as if she would protect him forever.
That was why she could understand Oscar.
If the situation had been reversed, Lelia too would have lived through hell.
She would have lived her whole life longing for the dead Oscar.
But what if she learned that his death was all a lie, and that he was alive?
He would have felt tremendous betrayal.
He should have at least told me, at least me… Such resentful thoughts would have surged in.
He would have thought that the precious memories and friendship they shared were all his own delusion, and would have been filled with the shock of being betrayed.
A fresh sense of guilt for inflicting such deep wounds on her friends washed over her.
This deception, continuing even now, felt like something she shouldn't be doing.
For a long while, Lelia couldn't escape the swirling vortex of emotions that engulfed her.
That day, late in the afternoon.
Lelia quickly composed herself.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury to grieve for long.
'I need to return to the territory quickly.'
If Julianna the Imperial Princess and Lute hurriedly donated the sacred artifact to the temple, it would be dangerous.
'The temple will quickly realize it's a fake.'
At that thought, anxiety suddenly gripped her heart.
She was rushing to pack her belongings when it happened.
'But do I really have to take all my friends with me...?'
Lelia hesitated at the sudden thought.
What would she tell her grandfather, grandmother, uncles, and aunt?
And how would she explain things to her friends?
Her friends knew her as 'Leo's' younger male cousin. A boy who, due to unfortunate circumstances, had been raised as a girl.
It was truly a suffocating situation.
Wait.
'If Kalix goes to the territory and rolls up his sleeve while saying those things...'
Her grandfather might suffer a great shock.
It would be better to reveal the truth to her friends as soon as possible, but...
It would take quite a while to gather 100 billion Shillings, so revealing that she was a woman first wasn't a bad idea. That had nothing to do with Golden Tongue magic.
'But honestly saying I'm a woman is also a problem.'
If she said that, Kalix would demand an explanation about what he saw back then.
'Then I'd have to explain about alchemy...'
If that happened, she couldn't avoid suspicion. Romeo was already suspecting her anyway.
'...Right. I'll just leave everything behind and go alone.'
Lelia made up her mind.
Taking all her friends to the territory was too much after all.
She felt sorry, but it couldn't be helped.
Once she finished handling the territory's matters, she could go find her friends again.
Lelia collected herself and began packing the clothes from the wardrobe.
'Why is there so much?'
However, there was simply too much to pack.
It was all because of the clothes Romeo had given her as gifts.
They were precious clothes she couldn't just throw away... so she began packing them one by one into the bag the boutique had provided.
She wouldn't be able to take them when she left, but she planned to pack them carefully and leave them behind with a message of thanks to Romeo.
Then her hand stopped in front of the cufflinks.
This was a gift Romeo had given her, but it was also embedded with a tracking spell.
A thought crossed Lelia's mind.
'Surely there aren't tracking spells on other items too?'
Lelia called out to Alchemy just in case.
"Alchemy."
[??]
"......"
Lelia frowned at the speech bubble floating in the air. Just question marks, nothing else.
This thing... just eats crystals and gets less and less sincere.
[( •̅_•̅ )a...]
"I have something to ask. Besides these cufflinks, are there any other items with tracking spells on me?"
[Alchemy will check right away!(๑•̀∀•́ฅ ✧)]
After a brief moment passed.
[Found <1> item capable of special tracking magic! But don't worry! Alchemy has blocked them all!(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧₊˚]
Something glimmered inside the packed bundle. When she opened it, she found a fountain pen. This could be used for tracking too?
'So that's how he found me after the war ended.'
Lelia felt cold sweat running down her spine for some reason.
"Well, I'm glad you blocked it at least."
Still....
Lelia narrowed her eyes.
Now that she thought about it, Kalix had completed the final quest, but Romeo had made no progress.
Griffith and Oscar hadn't even started yet, so that wasn't strange, but...
Was it perhaps because Romeo suspected her?
Lelia entered the affinity window and checked the list of 'Special Affinity Targets.'
She decided to click on ' Romeo' to check his affinity.
[If you check the affinity at your current location, you can only view the affinity from the last time you met face-to-face. Would you like to check the affinity of Special Affinity Target?(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧]
"I'll check."
She said that and waited for the answer.
[Access to information has been blocked by magical power.∑(;°Д°)]
What?
Lelia's brow furrowed.
[system: Hacking the magic formula. Please wait a moment.]
She bit her lip in inexplicable anxiety and paced around the spot.
The packing seemed mostly done. Actually, there were only a few important items.
'I'll leave the imperial palace tomorrow night and borrow a horse to depart.'
She was planning her secret escape when it happened.
A system window shimmered and rose up.
However, the speech bubbles that appeared in succession weren't Alchemy's messages, but different content.
[Wait, what is this?]