Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Ryan headed to the first floor to call the carriage.

Something caught his gaze after he planned to go back to Elysia after asking the employee. It was Lumiere, showing off her neat appearance in a pure white dress.

“You have to wait a bit for the cufflinks.”

“Would it be long?”

“Someone is looking at them upstairs right now. Please wait just a moment.”

It seemed that she was also shopping here.

Ryan’s eyes were cold. She was the person who might have endangered Elysia. Lumiere turned her head as she could feel a gaze staring toward her. The two looked at each other for a few seconds, and Lumiere first smiled and approached him.

“We... Have we met somewhere?”

“This is my first time seeing you.”

She tried hard to recall where she met him, but failed to remember it. Curious, Lumiere wanted to know.

Ryan could feel Elysia coming down from the upper floor. ‘I can’t shake her off... How annoying.’ He hated that Elysia would run into Lumiere and be offended.

Ryan smiled, revealing his dimples towards Elysia.

‘Lumiere?’ Elysia looked at Ryan. She was surprised to see Lumiere behind him.

Not with the feeling that she stole Lumiere’s knight, but because the two looked so good together. The appearance of Lumiere and Ryan in the original was spontaneously imagined in her mind. The combination of the two fairies seemed to be harmful to the viewers’ hearts in many ways.

“Lady Lowell...! I think we’re really fated to meet here like this.”

“I didn’t know I would bump into the Lady here.”

As Ryan naturally moved to Elysia’s side, Lumiere opened her eyes wide and looked at the two alternately.

The long golden eyelashes fluttered quickly.

“Lady... Are you very busy?”

She then grabbed Elysia’s hands. “I was wondering if we could choose something together!”

“Something?”

“Yes, I’m trying to buy cufflinks, but I’m not very good at it.”

Lumiere had an embarrassed face and gave strength to her hand that held Elysia’s hand.

Elysia’s atmosphere, for a moment, became fierce, but it slowly subsided. ‘I don’t think she’s going to choose something to give to Cassian.’ Especially, not after the announcement of the engagement.

“Cufflinks... Are you giving it to your family?”

“Oh, no. That’s... I want to give it to someone who has my heart.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to choose by yourself? I have a schedule next, so it may be difficult to do together.”

‘No. Maybe this is good, I could use this opportunity to check things out as well.’ Elysia pulled out her hand that Lumiere was holding.

What did Lumiere say to Cassian?

She struggled to sharpen her mind and told herself that nothing was certain yet.

“That’s too bad. It can’t help. It was nice to meet you, though.”

“Yes. I hope you choose a pretty one.”

Elysia didn’t know how to define her feelings that were erupting. ‘Well. As a reader, I guess I feel betrayed by the heroine’s personality?’ That may be the case.

As she left the shop, Lumiere’s gaze persisted on Elysia. Following Elysia, Ryan glanced behind. Ryan’s eyes, staring at Lumiere, were full of hostility. Lumiere looked embarrassed at the completely unsavory glance.

Because of Elysia’s presence, he couldn’t show it too much, but he acted impulsively to his desire to threaten her even the slightest.

After getting into the carriage, she asked Ryan for information about the cufflinks that Lumiere would buy.

Who would those cufflinks go to?

***

Elysia was caught by her maid, Gray, and was being nagged every day. She wanted to tell Gray that even if she had been doing skincare every day, she wouldn’t notice any noticeable change.

‘I would rather drink blood.’

Will the maids retire if she treated the skin with a bit of blood? No, for some reason, it seemed that they were going to run.

“The wedding date hasn’t been set yet.”

“Others prepare for a year, so you should do that, too! My lady might be more attractive than you are now.”

As Elysia ate the fruit on her face, she saw a spark in Gray’s eyes. She lowered her hand slowly, trying to get another piece.

“The dress sample will be available tomorrow.”

“...Wasn’t it two days ago that I asked for it?”

“Is that so? I just listened to the aides.” Gray tilted her head at an angle.

‘This is crazy, this marriage is a scam.’

Elysia was certain that this was a contract marriage, but why would she think this way? Everything went smoothly, as if it was a match. It was as if you could really have a wedding in a month.

‘I think that’s what’s going on.’

“Now, the two aides are staying together.”

At those words, Elysia shuddered. The two aides demanded to come to make this choice if they couldn’t find an agreement. How often will they come to see her if they were stuck together for twenty four hours?

She wondered when would a peaceful day come?

One of the maids handed out a glass to Elysia. “It’s a drink that Gray has ordered.”

“I don’t like it. I won’t drink it.”

“My lady, it’s good for your health. Sir Ryan went to find the ingredients.”

‘Why did Ryan ask to do this...’ Still, there are so many things that he had been doing already. How much is Gray asking for this busy kid to do.

However, after seeing the drink that was sticking out in front of her nose, Elysia realized this wasn’t the time to be worried about Ryan right now.

The mere sight of the dark liquid evoked rejection.

“I said I’m not drinking it. This is an order.”

“...His Grace, too.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, my lady. This is something His Grace has allowed me to do.”

‘What about my father?’

At Gray’s glance, the maids gathered around Elysia. They were willing to grab her arms and forced her to drink if they had to.

She knew that her father was full of worries when he heard she collapsed. The reason she collapsed from magic depletion, which was something that was never heard from her family.

“Give me. Stop the massaging. I’m going to drink it, so go back.”

“My lady, you must drink all of it. You must drink it in the evening, too.”

“Yes, I see. This is difficult...”

“Drink it and grab the candy here. I’ll be back in 2 hours!”

‘What else are we going to do in two hours? I thought today’s treatment was over.’

Elysia gave a look, telling the maids to leave the room. Noticing that Gray and the maids had finally withdrawn, she thought she would take some rest. However, she spotted a maid with a drink.

‘Was there a maid like that before?’

Come to think of it. She had been told that they had recently been busy preparing for her wedding and had hired a large number of workers to work for the short term.

“You’re not leaving?”

“W-when you finish drinking it, I was ordered to take the empty cup away.”

Elysia looked puzzled at the maid stuttering her words.

...Is she going to watch me drink it all?

With a small sigh, she lifted her glass and swallowed the drink. ‘Ugh, what is this taste...?’ It tasted far worse than its appearance. Her face was crumpled at the horrible taste she tasted for the first time in her life. Elysia, who had emptied it at once, handed the cup to the maid. She had a big smile on her face as she left the room.

“I think I should drink this and eat Cassian, not candy.”

The idea that she had to drink it every day made it terrible to just think about it. It seemed that Elysia had to talk to her father again.

***

“Ryan!”

Elysia, running away from the maids in her mansion, waved her hand excitedly when she found Ryan returning after going out. The tail of her mouth rises to the warm, rewarding appearance of her money well spent.

“Lady Elysia, I was about to go find you.”

“I’m sorry. Are you so busy these days? It seems like the maids asked you to do something weird.”

“That’s fine.”

Elysia led Ryan to the corner of the mansion. He followed her with a confused look.

“If I get caught now, they’re going to squeeze my life out for five hours.”

She sat down on the floor, not caring if the dress was ruined or not.

“At least, a handkerchief...”

“What did you say? Rather than that, the ingredients you’ve been looking for... what’s that?”

” It’s nothing. I just bought medicinal herbs that are hard to find.”

He then started listing the ingredients he had been looking for one by one. Elysia, who imagined something more terrible, relaxed her shoulders. After explaining everything he got, Ryan opened his mouth again.

“Lady Elysia, this is the spirit stone you mentioned.”

He took out a little box and lifted it up in front of her. There were two spirit stones in the box. One was Lumiere’s possession, and the other was a spirit stone mined in the same place.

Elysia tapped the box with her finger and fell into agony.

‘He said the wizards were uncooperative.’

Cassian reported that the magicians had pressed about the fact of not giving the magic samples. In addition, they also mentioned how they could not cooperate without a formal trial. If it was revealed that Lumiere did, in fact, meddle with Elysia’s magic, it was difficult for the Imperial Magic Department to cooperate.

Even if Elysia thought Lumiere would respond easily and denied it wasn’t her, she didn’t do so.

She was convinced that it was Lumiere and had to choose whether to check through her spirit stone or hand it over to a formal trial.

‘I should first check who she gives the cufflinks to.’

It wasn’t too late to decide what to do after that.

***

Elysia found a temple in the capital. In the Empire, it was customary to visit temples and pray before marriage.

‘Customs are like losing money.’

No one ever came to the temple empty-handed. Most of the nobles made donations, and the commoners visited the temple with whatever that suited their circumstances.

Elysia bowed her head as she looked at the statue.

She could not sincerely pray.

No, she had so much to say.

‘If you really exist, I have many words that I want to say. Why did you do that to me? If you have any conscience, please pay attention to calls even if it’s now. Why did you make me some kind of predator? Why...?’ Elysia put down her hand, which she had been gathering, weakly.

‘What’s the use of doing this while just looking at the statue?’

The priest next to her glanced at Elysia and gave a warm expression. The priest named Amon was said to be the priest who healed her during the carriage accident six years ago.

Elysia had a memory of him that she saw right after opening her eyes in this world.

“I’m so happy to see you so healthy. It must be a gift from God.”

“Thank you.”

Amon led Elysia to a quiet place inside the temple. Then, he peered around and opened his mouth with a serious face.

“Does the divine power still work?”