Episode 201

[Scheduled to return to the capital in a week as the battle to exterminate monsters has been prolonged.]

Elisha received a concise note from Lucerne.

'Who asked.'

Elisha felt strange. Whenever Lucerne went to the battlefield, he sent a note like this.

Deng, Deng, Deng, Deng.

The bell rang loudly in the bell tower of the temple in the center of the city.

It was the day of the memorial service for the dead General Welton.

Since he died on the battlefield, his funeral was held informally. On such occasions, a grand memorial service would be held several months after his death. The event was usually held on the anniversary of the temple.

General Welton made numerous donations during his lifetime and was highly respected in the city. The only one who didn't know him was Elisha in this city.

'It's the first time I've seen someone's funeral blessed like this.'

The Cartier family had never seen such a blessed death. Death meant someone's conspiracy and someone's bloody victory.

“I'll be back, ma'am.”

“Are you really going to be okay alone?”

“It's okay.”

Around that time, Elisha interacted a lot with the residents of Rose Mansion. She naturally ate her lunch and occasionally hung out with them and played games in her living room.

She didn't have a bad life like that, but she wasn't used to living with too much talk.

On that day, rare, Elisha was alone. Because everyone in the mansion went to the memorial service.

She, Elisha, read slowly in the living room. It was a peaceful time alone for the first time in a long time.

'I don't understand.'

She thought Elisha was reading a romance novel. A romance novel given by a street vendor. It was quite popular.

All the residents of the mansion except Elisha had read the novel, so she seemed to have talked about the contents of her novel several times.

But Elisha couldn't understand the logic or behavior of her characters at all. But she seems to think of Lucerne in scenes of affection……. Elisha closed the book.

Before she knew it, the sunset was setting outside her window. Her beautiful sunset looked both ominous and lonely. Elisha went for a walk in the garden.

The mansion's gardens were always well tended, just in time for the fragrant flowers to bloom.

'Still, the place that was always lively is quiet, so it feels empty.'

Elisha thought as she strolled through the garden. Then I heard someone walking. Elisha turned her head. She was standing by an unexpected person.

“Lotty?”

Elisha took a moment to think of her name. Lottie was more used to being called 'freckles'.

Around that time, the figure of Lottie was playing a very small part in Elisha's life.

She worked at a famous general store in the capital.

Because the store was very famous, it had a small branch like a kind of brand. Lottie was a kind of salesperson belonging to the company.

Such Lottie traveled back and forth between the capital and this place, taking her goods and often working as a peddler to her wives to earn pocket money. Lottie, who was quick-tempered and good at serving guests, was somewhat known to the noble ladies and young ladies of this place.

Elisha felt sorry for Rotiga, who lives alone like herself. However, her desire to keep her distance did not change, and they often exchanged greetings when they met.

“Ah, Elisha. Sorry……. Me. I have no one to turn to for help……. You shouldn't come here like this.”

Lottie seemed to have lost her mind. Tears filled her eyes, and her whole body trembled.

“What the hell is going on?”

Lottie approached, trembling.

“Nana. Don't you have a family? So she was in trouble. Hey……. Me, help me out.”

At that moment, Elisha felt a kind of ominous feeling. This mansion is a place where security is tight, so outsiders can't come in like this. How did Lotty get in?

“Calm down for now.”

Said Elisha.

“But how did you get in here?”

That was the moment. Elisha felt the warm touch. Lottie was trembling as she held up something of her sharp dagger. Elisha opened her mouth to let out her screams. There will be a guard nearby.

“Town!”

Elisha's body fell to the floor.

But Lottie covered Elisha's mouth with something like her handkerchief. At that moment, Elisha realized that this was a move she had practiced dozens of times.

“I'm sorry, Elisha. There's no other way than to take you. We, at the laundry, are from that damned family who suffered quite a bit.”

Lottie's strength was such that Elisha struggled on her floor, but she couldn't budge. The smell of anesthetic wafted from her. Her head was spinning.

“My situation is okay. Will you understand?”

Lottie laughed, her maddened face. Alas, there is no reverse. Elisha thought.

From the time she was reunited, she was suspicious.

'Ah. She felt sorry for nothing.'

Her performance as she cried and asked for emergency contact numbers was useful. Okay. Since we came from the bottom together, you must have learned everything to survive.

Elisha gasped and struggled, but her limbs slowly gave way. Elisha's eyes darkened.

*​ *​ *​

Elisha opened her eyes slowly.

There was nothing in front of her eyes. Her mouth was gagged, and her eyes were covered with blindfolds. She tried to twist her whole body, but she couldn't move at all.

'I learned where I learned how to bind properly.'

It was clear that even her fingers were tied tightly. No matter how much she twisted her body, she couldn't move.

Waggle. There was a commotion. Her Elisha's body was being moved somewhere.

“Yes, they are all from our company.”

Elisha realized that it was Lottie's voice in the distance.

“It always is. It's all stuff you take back to the capital. Because it wasn't sold. Yes. There are also valuables, so please take care of them.”

Before long, Lottie's crackling voice was heard.

“You are good at jokes. Yes. Here. Good job. Next time, I'll sneak some stuff away and give it to you cheaply. Captain, please take good care of me.”

Above, I heard the banging of Lottie as if knocking on her box. Elisha understood the situation. Elisha was now locked inside her box, disguised as cargo.

'They're being loaded onto a steamer.'

The City of Roses, Malaysia. Countless ships came and went in and out of the capital every day. Damn it It's the worst. Elisha measured the time. Apparently, it is still time for sailors to come and go. Steamboats reach the capital in less than a night. Then……. At night, Elisha could die without even knowing mice or birds.

Elisha recalled the store where Lottie worked. Where was the meeting? She had seen the pattern of the upper house. The mark of the upper house with a small dove drawn on it.

Okay. It was a business owned by the Cartier family. But that was in the future.

Elisha was stunned. Okay. There could be no coincidence in this family.

*​ *​ *​

“Coke! Coke!”

Elisha coughed. She opened her eyes, but she still couldn't move her whole body. She tried to say something to her but thanks to the gag in her mouth, oops, oops. There was only a sound.

Then someone's foot came in front of her eyes. And a dark lamp screeched above her head and dust rolled on the floor.

Her man in her old shoes approached.

“Hehe. I just met you again Still pretty, huh? This damn bitch.”

Elisha held her breath. Elisha seemed to have encountered her ghost. She was obviously Jacob.

Then the door opened and someone came in.

“Jacob! What are you doing?”

“Okay, Lotty. This woman opened her eyes.”

Jacob changed his attitude and looked at Lottie. Lottie had a smile on her pretty face. Elisha realized the strangeness she felt in Lottie's face, whom she hadn't seen in a while.

Damn it Lottie resembled her snub-nosed Effie. She had a much cuter face than Lottie, but that was the subtly dull expression on her plain face.

“Elisha. I'm really sorry. Did it hurt I couldn't help it. Someone ordered me I have to find a way to live.”

Lottie undid her gag from Elisha's mouth. Elisha calmly glared at Lotty.

“You are wonderful too. Roti. You have a knack for twisting her arms.”

Come to think of it, after Elisha learned all about her past life, the first thing she tried to change at that time was Lottie's fate.

Clearly, Elisha told Lottie to stay away from Jacob. Even Lottie was able to completely break away from the Cartier family. But she doesn't and she goes back to these fucking family demons. Elisha even felt her disgust. Why are her people disappointing her like this again?

Again, pity was forbidden and a weakness. Hints were enough. Elisha looked at Lotty and said.

She said, “The Cartier family said they gave you money as alimony when you were released. Who gave you the money?”

“How did you immediately notice? Right. It's true that when I was released from the Cartier family, I ran amok asking for money. Then someone called me And after giving the money, he asked if he would continue to work for our family……. I have nowhere to go So I thought about it, but they said I could decide after receiving the money.”

Elisha flinched. Alas, that's how it happened.

“Were you from the county?”

Lottie flinched. But she didn't deny it. She muttered while looking at Elisha.

“Hey. But did I worry about it until the end? But that's it. That you tried to leave me You pretended to be someone you didn't know me because your status was different now. If you had been kind to me even then, I might have told you everything. How to? The money has already been received from the Cartier family……. The money was blown away like crazy.”

Elisha wanted to ask if she didn't know the Cartier family that much. In her fragmentary words, she fully understood the situation.

Perhaps she gave Lottie a large sum of money, and then the family “Confiscated” The money in some way, and Lottie was again in her debt. Fraud, theft, even arson. The methods were very diverse.

Elisha knew very well that the Cartier family had used such methods when necessary. Because there are other people who do that.

“You're such an idiot, Lottie.”

Elisha spat out.

“People from the Cartier family treat only those who find their weaknesses.”

Lottie flinched. She looked at Jacob.

“Lotty, you are different from the other agents. Don't worry. Do you trust me, so my grandfather also entrusted me to you. You know we. Right?”

Jacob said with a smirk. Elisha seemed to be getting sick of her. Said Lottie, looking at her Elisha as if she had regained her confidence.

“It has been like that since long ago. Elisha, you acted like you were in a different situation from others because you were a noble, didn't you? All while working at the laundromat. Even so, we judged each other's identities within it. I'm not an aristocrat, so I've always been the weakest. Elisha. If you took care of me once, you should have continued to treat me like her real brother. But just because you married well, now you're acting like someone else? You were abandoned in the end too.”

“…….”

“The day I met the general near the laundry that day. Wasn't I also by your side at that time? I remember? Elisha, muddy water splattered on your clothes, and that drew the general's attention. I had the same chance as you. I had a chance to rise in status like you. I thought about it every day Let's not miss the second chance.”

Lottie spoke like someone who has been thinking about it every day.

“Lotty! What are you talking about?”

Jacob shouted at those words. Elisha immediately noticed the subtle atmosphere of Jacob and Lottie.

Also, people don't know what to do. In her previous life, Elisha thought that Lottie became Jacob's mistress to improve her own situation. Lottie couldn't stand it for long and was poisoned by Carola's rose poison and became food for wild dogs. However…….

“Jacob, don't worry. I'm only Jacob. But when I think about it, I get angry. You said you didn't love Carola. You said you only like me. Well what does it matter After all, she is dead.”

Ah. Okay. Sometimes emotions are like weeds in sticky, dirty muddy water, where you don't know where to sprout.

Elisha thought back to Lottie from her previous life. Lottie followed Jacob wherever he went. Blind enough.

Okay. It could also be part of the emotion. To Elisha, Jacob was a beast, but to Lottie, he could be an ideal man.