Chapter 23

Translator and Editor: Lea and Ishy

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Chapter 23

“Are you turning back now?”

Carinne stared down at her real body as she said, “No. Let me sleep for one more day.”

“But Lady Carinne, that will strain your body.”

“That’s what I expect.”

“It’s dangerous.” The man’s tone was extremely hard, as it normally was when he spoke to me.

But strangely enough, that dry voice of his made me feel as if he was worried about the lady in front of him.

“Didn’t you already start experiencing chills and fever? I’m afraid without sufficient preparation, this method of sorcery is something–”

“The human body cannot endure. I know, Richard.”

It seemed that the butler’s name was Richard. I noted the name.

“Lady Carinne.”

At Richard’s reproaching call, Carinne’s lips burst into a laugh.

A laugh with an unclear meaning to it.

Ridicule, close to mockery.

“But wouldn’t she be worth it?”

My breath caught in my throat when I heard her bring me up. “Olivia, that girl, I mean.”

“Is there a problem?”

“She’s secretly throwing away the tea I give her.”

My heart dropped suddenly.

She continued, tilting her head to one side,

“It’s weird, though. The scent and taste are the same as I recall.”

“…”

“I wonder how she ended up doubting the tea when she had been drinking it well.”

I clenched my lip, the subtle taste of iron lingering in my mouth.

“I shouldn’t have let Olivia go out. I didn’t expect her to run into Lennox Kravant.”

“It’s not Lady Carinne’s fault.”

“I did nothing at all. Thanks to that, I made a painful mistake.”

“The magic spell caught by Brienne is still valid. The Viscount will not allow their marriage so easily.”

Thump. my heart sunk deeper.

“There shall be time before the approval. I’ll find a way in the meantime.”

“No,” Carinne answered sharply, looking up at Richard.

“Lennox Kravant himself came all the way here. I’m sure that he recognizes the spell cast on the Viscount.”

“…”

“As long as he intervenes, we won’t have time, Richard.”

A short silence followed.

It was Richard who opened his mouth this time.

“Do you think it was her Epure that found out what the Qualum leaves were?”

Epure.

The moment I heard that word, my mind shook once again.

I stood up straight behind the tree I was hiding, clenching my teeth as I supported myself so that I would not fall.

‘I knew it!’

They knew that I was an Epure and a purifier.

If it weren’t for Ash, I wouldn’t have known about the awakening of my powers by myself.

How much did Carinne know?

What more things was I unaware of?

A cold sweat trickled behind my back while my lungs begged for more air. My jaw trembled as terror hit my whole being like a wave.

I bit my lips, preventing any sound that might slip out.

In the meantime, Carinne’s answer flowed into my ears.

“At least the Duke heard that the Qualum leaves grow wild in the Rutoru forest.”

“…”

“Perhaps he has figured out the purpose of those leaves as well.”

Richard, who had been listening silently, opened his mouth again.

“But how did they recognize the Qualum leaves mixed with the tea? It must have been difficult to distinguish with the naked eye since it almost has the same shape and size.”

“The Epure may have sensed a different energy through her instinct, perhaps…”

Her words were cut off there. She remained silent for a while as if lost in thought.

Such silence could arouse anxiety among the viewers.

By the time I felt my chest weighing down with the growing tension, Carinne’s lips finally opened.

“If I watch her a little more, I’ll get a definite answer.”

“No. You have to return now.” Richard shook his head firmly.

“Not longer than half a day from now, Lady Carinne’s body will begin to collapse.”

“Don’t worry about me,”

Carinne affectionately soothed Richard.

It was just as she did to Olivia before revealing her true character in the original novel.

“I’m afraid you need some rest.”

“I don’t.”

“You haven’t slept properly lately.”

“I’m fine.” She reached out to Richard, her finger brushing lightly against the masked man’s cheek before it jerked away.

It was very fast.

A short movement that would never have been noticed if I hadn’t focused on watching.

Carinne soon turned away, indifferent as though nothing had happened.

The soft airflow between them broke immediately.

Turning around, she called him with a steeper and drier voice.

“Richard.”

“Yes.”

“My plan is going to change a little bit.”

The eyes of the man grew slightly.

I saw Carinne’s eyes sinking darkly into Mary’s sockets.

Her eyes weren’t cold, but rather they looked submerged inside the swamp of dead leaves and decaying soil.

Maybe it was inside an unknown abyss.

Carinne whispered,

“I might have to push Olivia off this chessboard first.”

***

I did not know how I got out of there.

I retraced my path, thinking only that I had to get away from them.

From some point on, I had been running like crazy.

My heart thumped violently as though it wanted to leap out of my mouth. A terrible pain squeezed my chest, but I didn’t stop running.

I couldn’t stop.

I was so afraid that I jumped two stairs at once to get to my bedroom.

Even the darkness-filled hallway was weak in front of such a fear.

[Olivia!]

When I saw the small bird who promised to stay beside me when I first came to this world, it was only then that I was completely relieved.

[I was looking for you because I couldn’t see you. Where have you been?]

Relaxed, I collapsed on the floor of the hallway like a broken marionette.

[What’s wrong with you! What’s going on!]

He shouted in shock.

I was on the verge of tears because I was very grateful and glad to hear his voice.

[Olivia, it’s okay. Let’s calm down and talk about it.]

I could barely form the words through my grasping breath.

I shook my head, my chest trembling as I breathed out,

“Car…inne… I saw her.”

[Carinne? But wasn’t she coming back from her treatment tomorrow?]

“Mary… it was Mary.”

I fumbled, but that was enough for Ash.

[Oh my God…]

His face grew pale as he covered the back of my hand on the floor with his soft white wings.

My mind gradually calmed down as I felt his warmth.

[Let’s talk about it in detail.]

Ash snuggled me into the room.

I breathed slowly as I sat down on the sofa. Little by little, the tension eased and my head, which was hazy as mud, began to clear up.

‘Carinne is going to get rid of me.’

The engagement between me and the Crown Prince was not an impossible future, unlike the original.

Nevertheless, Carinne did not withdraw her goal of killing me.

Rather, she was trying to change the plan and speed up her actions.

‘Why?’

Because I was an Epure. And I was going to marry Lennox Kravant.

‘Then why?’

Ever since the day I possessed Olivia’s body, the question had been making me uncomfortable throughout.

It slowly appeared on the surface of my mind, after hiding itself in a deep unconsciousness.

Yeah. Maybe I was making a wrong assumption from the beginning.

I had to reflect on everything from scratch.

Carinne’s ultimate goal, for example.

‘Carinne’s wish was to become the Crown Princess, wasn’t it?’

It was necessary to judge her coldly.

If Carinne had planned to become a Crown Princess, she should have let go of me when I was trying to marry Lennox.

But she was still aiming for my death.

‘Then for what…’

The story “Reversed Lady” ended with Olivia’s death. Carinne’s actions after the end were unknown.

This was the only thing I was certain about.

That my existence as an Epure hindered her goals.

For Carinne, I was an obstacle that needed to be ripped off.

As she said, she wanted me to be removed from her chessboard like her opponent’s Knight.

“Ash. Carinne knows that I’m an Epure.”

[Is that true?]

I calmly told him what I perceived in the ‘vacant lot’.

By the time I finished, the sun was rising with bluish light permeating into my room.

Ash asked with a serious look on his face.

[Since when was Mary Carinne?]

“I don’t know. But this isn’t her first time changing her body.”

Carinne would have done that periodically to make sure Olivia was still dancing on her palm.

[It’s highly likely that she changed her body with servants other than Mary.]

I nodded and agreed.

“What’s more, the butler is helping Carinne, so using the employees would have been easier than a piece of cake.”

At this point, everyone in this mansion—whether voluntarily or controllably—was at Carinne’s hands and feet.

[I wonder how they were so meticulous.]

“It would have been a disaster if I hadn’t found Carinne going towards the vacant lot. Thank God-”

I stopped my muttering as a frightening thought hit my brain.

“It can’t be…”

Immediately, I got up and opened the door to the balcony.

The garden—lit at dawn—was full of fresh flowers with dew.

“That’s why they changed my room,” I laughed as I continued.

“So that I wouldn’t find that vacant lot.”

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