Chapter 169

Yelena had been in danger in both situations. Perhaps she experienced more psychological trauma than she had thought. Yelena pondered this and then abruptly spoke up.

“Oh right, that woman. Was she caught? The woman who was wearing a mask, with blonde hair up to her waist…”

“We couldn’t catch her.”

“Why do you keep answering?”

“Why can’t I? You don’t even care that I’m here, do you? You didn’t even say anything to me,” Edward complained with a voice that hinted at sadness.

‘I didn’t?’

As Yelena thought back on her actions, Kaywhin said, “There were bloodstains, so she seems to have sustained injuries, but she managed to escape in that condition.”

“Ah…”

“For now, we’re searching for her based on the description given by the knights.”

“She’s definitely seriously injured. She lost a lot of blood, based on the pools of blood we saw.”

Edward omitted the fact that there were bits of entrails in the pools of blood he had seen outside of the dressing room. It wasn’t pleasant news.

“She might die before she even gets caught.”

Yelena was lost in her thoughts for a moment. Then she spoke.

“About that woman… I think she might have been Rebecca Marezon.”

“Is it because of her hair color?”

A dirty blonde, as if the color had been watered down. Yelena had remembered that it was the same color as Incan’s hair right before she had passed out.

“That too, but truthfully, she even smelled like Incan.”

“Smell? What does that mean? Yelena, since when have you distinguished people by their scent?”

“I don’t, but…”

Yelena explained the foul odor she had smelled.

“…I think that Rebecca might have also practiced the same black magic as Incan.”

As well as the man who had escaped with Rebecca.

‘It was the same smell, I’m sure of it.’

Kaywhin nodded in response to Yelena’s speculation.

“Even without knowing about that, I sent someone to the Marezon household to look into Rebecca’s whereabouts…”

“And?”

“She’s been missing since before you were attacked.”

That was the deciding factor.

“…There’s a high chance that she really was the culprit then.”

Yelena’s expression hardened. Then, she snapped her head up as if she had thought of something.

“Oh, the necklace. The culprit used a necklace.”

“This?”

Edward rummaged inside his coat. He pulled out a necklace and gave it to Yelena. But there was a problem. The necklace’s gem was nowhere to be found.

“…This is the necklace? Where’s the gem?”

“If you’re talking about the broken necklace that you were holding, then this is it. The gem was pulverized.”

“Pulverized? It was crushed to pieces?”

“Like grains of sand. Do you want to see? Ah, never mind.”

Edward scratched the back of his neck like he had misspoke.

“Half of it was sent to the Black Tower and the other half was sent to the sorcerers at the royal castle to get analyzed. Liliana said that the culprit seemed to have used a strange power with the gem.”

Yelena looked down at the necklace with a troubled look in her eye.

‘Pulverized…’

To think that instead of getting scratched or even cracked, the necklace had been totally crushed. It was unbelievable.

Well, so was the strange power that the culprit, who was assumed to be Rebecca, had shown.

“I see… Ah, where’s Liliana?”

“She’s with Master Sidrion.”

“…Alone?”

Edward shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes. She’s in better condition than you at least. She didn’t faint or hurt her hand.”

“That’s good… And the knights?”

“They’re recuperating. The treatment is going well. They did get hurt, but since they’re all exceptionally healthy, they’ll recover soon. Don’t worry.”

“…All right.”

Yelena looked out the window at the night sky. It looked to be late, so Yelena figured she should check on the knights the next day. If she visited them now, she might wake them up in vain.

Edward continued speaking.

“By the way, Father went to the royal castle to request their help with locating the culprits and entrust their sorcerers with analyzing the gem powder. He’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Aha, thanks,” Yelena replied. Then, she contemplated briefly and said, “By the way, Edward. Can you do me a favor and leave for a minute?”

“What?”

“Get out, please.”

Edward busily shifted glances between Yelena and Kaywhin at the unexpected request.

“What… are you planning on doing after kicking me out…”

“What are you talking about? It isn’t that, so get out.”

“Yelena, you can’t forget where we are. Your whole family lives in this house. And the walls aren’t as soundproof as you thi–”

“I said it isn’t that! Get out!”