“F-Fake?”

“This item is different from what you described before.”

“….”

“Trying to fool me, huh? Let’s just call off the deal then.”

But Jane was the type of person who wouldn’t back down easily. She rolled her eyes as if she didn’t give a damn about whatever I said.

“Sure. Let’s call it off.”

But oddly, her confidence increased.

“It’s your loss not mine.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Because you wanted this, but I’m going to sell it and make a lot of money.”

She crossed her arms and nodded slowly. Her thought was so obvious that it sent shivers down my spine.

“So boring.”

“What?”

“I expected you to have some bright ideas that aren’t this obvious. You’re trying to bargain just now, aren’t you? By saying that you’re going to sell it somewhere else.”

I walked closer to her in slow and steady steps.

“Y-You get it pretty quickly.”

“Yeah, I’ve honed my wit thanks to years of living in such a traumatic house.”

“Good for you. You’re right. This is a very precious item, you know?”

“Are you saying this suddenly turned red?”

“Yeah, that’s why you need to pay me generously.”

“And if I don’t?”

I responded to Jane’s nonsense with a smile.

“What do you mean? You need it, right?!”

“Yeah, but asking for a mine is too much. Aren’t you being too greedy? This is why I’m reluctant to make a deal with you.”

Her face turned red and her hands trembled as if she was angry that things weren’t going the way she wanted.

“Ha. Forget it! You have no idea how hard it was to get this.”

“You’d better cut the nonsense now. I might be generous enough to give you the mine if you hand over the item right now … .but if you refuse, I’m afraid you’ll end up with nothing.”

I walked toward Jane slowly. She compressed her body inward like a turtle as if scared that I’d use violence against her.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I won’t hit you. Don’t be scared.”

“A-Anyway! I won’t give it to you.”

Jane tilted her head and seemed unable to grasp what I said.

“The master has the right to search the maids’ home at any moment. Especially when something that was initially mine is taken, as in this case.”

When I walked to the door, Jane looked pale as if she realized something was wrong.

“A-Are you going to take it forcefully?”

“Just tell me already. Forcefully? Nah, I’m just taking what’s mine to begin with. And just forget about the mine because you won’t get anything.”

The business was over anyway. So I opened the door to leave, but Jane grabbed my hand.

“W-Wait a minute. P-Please hear me out, okay?”

“Are you finally back to your senses now?”

“…I-I’ll give it to you. I said I’ll give it to you! But promise me that you’ll hand over the mine. Okay?!”

“Okay. But keep in mind that you won’t have any chance next time.”

Jane looked dazed and took a small necklace out of her sleeve and forced it into my hand.

“Here.”

And the necklace glowed faintly red even though Jane previously said that it had no color.

It wasn’t very bright, emanating that soft glow.

“What do you think? Isn’t it weird?”

“You said it originally didn’t have color?”

“That was the case when I sold it back then. That’s why the jeweler still had it. It didn’t look like it was going to be worth a fortune, after all. And there’s no mana in it either.”

She came closer to inspect the necklace in my hand.

“What’s interesting is that it didn’t glow red until I arrived here.”

It was similar to May’s story last time. The ring on that woman’s finger also changed color.

Now I looked at the jewel in my hand.

“This was…left by my biological mother…?”

“Yeah.”

It was strange. The red glow moved constantly like smoke circling around the jewel. I was fascinated by the sight of it.

“I can’t believe that you’re only paying me with a mine for such a precious item.”

“Isn’t it strange to call it precious when it could be worth nothing for other people?”

“…Whatever.”

“Leave now.”

“When are you going to hand over the mine?”

I clicked my tongue at Jane who kept making a fuss.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it when the time comes.”

“Don’t you dare fool me….!”

“Don’t worry. Just leave now.”

Jane opened her mouth as if she had more complaints, but I opened the door so that she could leave.

Only then did Jane leave the room. When Jane left, May entered this time.

“Madam. The doctor requested to meet with you.”

“The doctor?”

“Yes.”

“Tell him to come here. If I tell him to meet me in my room, I’m sure Rere will be worried.”

At my order, she bowed her head before going outside.

Last time, I called the doctor after hearing about my genetic disease. It turned out he also knew about the illness. He added that there was no doctor who didn’t know about this so-called disease bestowed by God.

But he tilted his head as if puzzled when he examined me. He left for a while, saying that he’d need to look into it more since my disease seemed to be different from the one he had known.

And then he returned.

Not long after that the door opened, revealing a familiar person.

“Madam.”

“It’s been a while since I saw you.”

“You’re right, hoho.”

I hadn’t seen him in a few days but a dark shadow had already formed under his eyes as if he was really tired.

“Instead, I’ve been looking into the disease as per your order. My research is not complete, but I thought I should tell you what I learned first, so I came here.”

“What did you find?”

“It’s a genetic illness normally passed by mothers to their daughters. The disease only affects the female line. If a male is born, the condition will likely develop in his daughter.”

I listened to him with a nod.

“While there are cases where people make it to adulthood, children usually die from it. The disease doesn’t spread much because the children who suffer from it die before they are old enough to bear their own children.”

The description I heard briefly last time surprisingly had more details than I thought.

“There is no way to cure the disease, and there are symptoms just before death.”

“I heard that I had the symptoms, too.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have them right now.”

“…How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. I’ve looked through various articles, but I couldn’t find anything that explains it no matter how much I looked.”

I looked straight at him. He was the doctor who treated Rere and Ian. So he was the best doctor among the others.

‘I’m sure he wouldn’t lie.’

Am I really not sick?

“Thank you.”

“There have been several cases where the disease developed at a slower pace. I’ve heard stories of people living past twenty.”

“Past twenty, huh….”

“Yes.”

“Good work. By the way, did something happen to you?”

He tilted his head in confusion.

“Yes. Nothing happened.”

“That’s a relief…I’m worried that the person who also has interest in this matter will be on your tail.”

“Ah, I see what you mean.”

By the way he scratched his head, I gathered the doctor must not have expected that someone had been monitoring him.

“…It’s a relief that nothing happened. Thank you anyway.”

“It’s nothing. Then, I will come to you if I have any other information.”

“Alright.”

After that, the doctor left the room. His eyes were filled with curiosity just like a scholar thrilled by arcane studies.

I watched him leave then returned to the room where Rere was sleeping.

* * *

A few days passed.

The day I had promised Rere finally arrived. The day when I set off to Ludella.

After saying my goodbyes to Rere the day before, I got up early to prepare myself and stepped into the carriage.

“I want to go with you….”

“We can’t leave Rere alone even if it’s only for a day. You stay here with her.”

“I wish I was still Luka at times like this.”

Already sitting in the carriage so early in the morning, I smiled brightly at the nervous Ian.

“There’s nothing to worry about. I have all the information I need thanks to Ian.”

“…But…But…Leona. I’m so afraid of leaving you alone.”

“I’m really fine. I’ll come home fast after visiting the temple in Ludella so Ian doesn’t worry.”

“Yeah. Contrary to the expectation that there will be no one, I assure you there are people there. I don’t think it’s dangerous, but I’m still worried. Make sure you keep the knights next to you all the time, okay?”

Ian kept fussing about me like a mother sending her kids off to school.

“Alright, I’ll be right back. I’ll leave Rere in your care.”

“Yes.”

I set off on a journey to discover myself.

Leaving all my worries and anxiety behind, I headed to Ludella with ten knights prepared by Ian.

I held a paper containing information about Ludella from Ian and opened it as soon as the carriage set off.

There I saw a familiar name that made me feel strange.

[Jena Rhee]