Chapter 24

Translator and Editor: Lea and Ishy

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Chapter 24

In the room overlooking the garden from the front, I couldn’t see the detached building with the empty lot.

What if I didn’t go to my old room to find Ash?

Assuming it was an emergency, I started getting dizzy again.

I was rubbing my eyes roughly, and it was then that my eyes landed on the window.

‘Huh?’

It was the place where a single pot was kept, with a pretty red flower–

There was a flower… but it disappeared.

“Why did this happen? It was fine until yesterday.”

I picked up the pot with trembling hands.

“Who did such a thing…?”

The flower—which had bright red petals and pretty leaves—was in shreds as if it were eaten by a mouse.

“Was there an intruder?”

It was then that my nerves began to tighten again.

[It’s not like that.]

Ash peered at me with an awkward look on his face.

“It’s not?”

After rubbing his forehead for a long time with the tip of his wings, he hesitantly opened his beak.

[Actually… I did that.]

“What? Why?”

[It wasn’t an ordinary flower. It causes a strong sleeping effect.]

I froze as he said it.

“Hold on, what are you saying…”

[It helps you sleep well, and you don’t wake up for at least 6 hours once you fall asleep.]

My mind went blank.

[Even after 6 hours, you’d find it hard to leave your dream world unless someone woke you up.]

Now that I recall, I often overslept after coming here.

‘Like a fool, I thought I was just sleeping more in the morning.’

I thought I was only adjusting to the habits of Olivia’s body from the novel.

Suddenly, I was reminded of the first day I found myself in her body.

“Good morning, My Lady. You woke up earlier than usual today. Did you have a good sleep last night?”

Mary—who came to wake me up on the first day—was taken by surprise.

I didn’t think much of it back then, but now that I think about it, she was very surprised to see me awake.

‘She has been aware of my change since then.’

Then, she kept observing me through Mary’s eyes.

“How did you know that it caused sleep?”

[When I came alone to your room…]

“When you left me and disappeared?”

At the time, my heart sank when the butler suddenly appeared in front of me.

[Sorry.]

He apologized with an awkward look and continued to speak.

[I felt a strange sensation coming from the flower. Chills, perhaps? So I tried the petals.]

“You ate it?”

[When something feels ambiguous, that method gives the most accurate results.]

Ash added with an apologizing look on his face,

[I was flying to tell you about its sleeping effects, but I guess it was too strong for me. I fell asleep on the way.]

Thanks to him falling asleep on the balcony of my old room, I could get a glimpse of some of Carinne’s secrets.

“Why did you do that? What if something had happened to you after eating that dangerous thing?”

[As long as you can see, I have no problem. Thanks to that, I found out about the improved variety of the sleep-causing flower.]

“Improved variety?”

[Yes. If it were normal sleep-producing flowers, I would have known. Do you remember when you said Carinne studied medical herbs?]

I nodded as I thought of a verse I got from the original work.

《Recently, in the central aristocratic society of the Balkan Empire, enjoying magically-improved colorful flowers has been spreading like a trend.》

[She has improved the flowers so that you can’t recognize them.]

Such creepy thoroughness.

Carinne had kept her poker face intact even after she became suspicious of me.

I shuddered, my body twitching like a tree.

[Olivia, are you alright?]

I slowly took a deep breath to calm myself.

At times like this, I had to keep my mind cool.

‘The reason Carinne is watching me before she kills me is because I didn’t have enough of her poison.’

It wasn’t enough to be made into an evil spirit.

And there must have been a reason to choose the cumbersome method of ‘sorcery’ as a way to get rid of me.

‘This place is dangerous.’

I stood up straight, looking out at the dim light of dawn in the sky.

Then, I started to pack only the essential items in my handbag.

[Olivia, what are you doing?]

“I’m going to get out of here right now.”

Whether or not he thought I was acting emotionally without countermeasures, he shouted in surprise,

[Are you serious that you’re going to leave this early in the morning?]

“Carinne knows that I’ve decided to marry Lennox. There’s no way she’ll let me leave her cage through this marriage.”

[But how will you do that? There’s no place for you to stay outside!]

“I’m going to leave with Duke Kravant. Lennox has decided to pick me up.”

Ash’s eyes widened.

I had made a promise with the Duke, knowing this was going to happen.

I didn’t have time to explain it from the beginning, so I roughly answered, “It happened, somehow,” and looked down at the bracelet Lennox gave me.

The jewel the size of a little nail sparkled in bright colors.

“You’re right. It is very early,”

I muttered, grabbing the golden bangle of the bracelet and turning it around. The jewel, which was connected to a thin gold chain, rolled over my opposite palm. I threw it into the fireplace without hesitation.

[Why are you ripping off the bracelet… Gasp!]

The jewelry, worth a considerable amount of money, was engulfed in hot flames.

‘He told me that he can detect dangerous situations immediately.’

If the bracelet’s true intent was broken or was damaged, to be exact.

I wrapped my wrist tightly with my other hand as I stared at the jewel beginning to be shattered by the angry flames of the fire.

‘So, Lennox.’

‘Hurry up and take me away from here.’

***

Nishir—Lennox’s shadow and loyal adjunct—was somehow satisfied with his work.

Being an aide to the relentless and brutal man demanded a fairly strong heart, but it didn’t matter to him.

Rather—due to the nature of his master, who preferred thorough and efficient processing of work—this work itself was easy.

Since there was no end to his orders.

In other words, Lennox had never surprised his subordinates by making hurried decisions about his unscheduled duties.

But at this moment, Nishir was in one of the most critical moments of his short life thanks to his master, who suddenly dropped the bomb.

“Did you say… 15 days?”

“Yes.”

Nishir’s head started to spin. A whimper came out on its own. “Your Highness…”

It was only yesterday that his master notified his sudden marriage.

Nishir was so surprised, he almost bit his tongue as soon as he heard it.

The rest of the Duke’s subordinates—who heard the news from him—were also surprised.

“Sir Nishir. You didn’t eat something wrong last night, did you?”

“I heard that if you suffer from overwork, you can hallucinate or hear things, so I suggest you take a vacation for a while…”

It was such a shocking event.

The master had never paid attention to women, let alone married someone.

To be precise, he never took interest in others.

Not only did he never bring someone to his mansion, but he also never stepped into society.

Nishir wiped his face dry with both hands. He was frustrated at his inability to respond in this situation.

He asked again, eagerly hoping that he had heard it wrong,

“Pardon me, My Lord wants us to prepare a wedding in 15 days?”

“Exactly what I said,” came the relentless answer.

His master appeared too natural for him to be surprised.

Nishir had been using obedience as a virtue without judging his Lord’s orders, but he had no choice but to express his opinion on this matter.

“Wouldn’t it be better for My Lord to take time for the marriage? There’s no need to rush like this.”

“There is,” Lennox answered straight away.

“I have already signed a contract.”

“Pardon?”

Nishir’s eyes were big enough to pop out of their sockets.

Clicking his tongue lightly, Lennox snapped his finger before Nishir’s shocked face, which was usually serious.

A piece of paper appeared in the air with the sound.

The surface of the paper was shining—a soft golden vine pattern bordering its edges.

Along with the two signatures at the bottom of the document, the seals notarized by special ancient magic were evident.

‘A marriage contract!’

Nishir gulped without realizing it.

“What are you waiting for? Take it.”

Nishir received the contract with trembling hands.

It was written in clear words.

[Within 15 days from the day of the finalization of the contract, the couple shall complete all the procedures…]

Nishir’s eyes became dark. He did nothing to hide his expression.

‘This is impossible.’

A wedding wasn’t a task to be performed so easily, like a flick of a magic wand.

He could reschedule the employees to send invitations to Duke Kravant’s officials, but even so, he could not guarantee that they would be able to finish the preparations in 15 days.

Nishir’s mouth was dry.

Carefully choosing his words, he managed to express his opinion.

“The time is too short. It would take at least 10 days to prepare and send the invitations.”

However, Lennox smiled slowly as he leaned against his leather couch.

“There’s no need for that. Because only two are needed to attend the wedding.”

Lennox added in a terribly arrogant manner,

“Me. And the woman who I shall marry.”

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