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“Then heal me!”
Pushing the embarrassed bald man, the oldest-looking man glanced at the man wearing a robe with a doubting look.
‘What do you think she might not be a priest because she looks shabby?‘
As she leaned over to heal the man who had collapsed, bright red hair flowed through her robe.
Seeing the red hair, I thought of a woman with the same red hair, but I shook my head. It might not be her.
She was a person I couldn’t meet. Then a white light burst from her fingertips. It was divine power.
While I was busy thinking about something else, an older man changed his attitude and smiled slyly and thanked the person wearing the robe.
“Thank you very much for this. Thanks to the priest, my brother’s shoulders are healed!”
The old man, skillfully clearing up the situation, led his younger brothers out quickly. As I watched the fleeing gangsters with absurd eyes, I heard a small voice next to me.
“Are you okay?”
The woman wearing the robe was kind enough to worry about me.
“Oh, thank you for your help. I don’t have a wallet right now, so I couldn’t pay you enough for your help, but if you give me your name…”
Dark green eyes were seen through the tightly pressed robes.
Red hair and dark green eyes?
There was only one person who came to mind. Certainly, today was the day that Radiata made holy water from the original and went to the black market.
‘Are you really Radiata?’
I didn’t expect to meet you so suddenly like this. I knew she was coming to town, but I didn’t think we would be in any direct contact.
“You don’t have to pay me. Then let’s just call it a day.’’
She feared that I would try to catch her so she moved away quickly. If she lied that she was a priest, she thought that the men would retreat.
Since she has divine power, it was also evidence to support the lie. She was also in a difficult situation, but she couldn’t stand injustice.
Radiata was a true heroine.
I was admiring her personality when I saw a cheap bottle of water on the floor. It must be the holy water she made to start a deal with Nepenthes.
“Excuse me! You dropped this!”
I tried to call her out, but she didn’t look back.
Looking down at the bottle, I hesitated for a moment on what to do about it, then I followed Radiata.
‘She helped me, but I can’t pretend I didn’t know that she needed this!’
Radiata slid into a dark alley. It was a narrow alleyway where one person could barely get in.
”… Selling this…was.”
“Is this holy water? How can I believe you?”
Even during the day, there was no sunlight, so the sound of conversation was heard from the dark alley.
“Direct…Effect…”
”Wait a minute. It needs to be confirmed.’’
Radiata’s voice was too small to be heard properly, but the other man’s deep voice could be heard.
‘I was just going to hand her this bottle and go back.’
A little curiosity arose. Because this rare character with the heroine right now, was a character she met just to sell her holy water.
Nepenthes was a character that was much harder to see than the Duke of Kolnuta, who can be seen at every party.
If it wasn’t today, I would probably never see him in my life.
Because he met with Radiata secretly.
I thought that I wouldn’t get involved with the original story, but my head titled further toward the desire to see the languid and decadent beauty of Nepenthes, which I could only imagine when I read about him in the novel.
‘Wouldn’t it be okay if I just take a peek at his face? Even if I get caught, I could just say that I picked up a bottle.’
I crept toward them, lowering my upper body and walking carefully without any sound of footsteps. Radiata didn’t notice my presence because it was dark in the alley.
“Come in.”
After confirming the bottle of holy water, the man took Radiata and went into the shabby building.
This place was probably the entrance to the black market, a shabby building that was about to collapse. I stumbled in front of the old door.
‘I wanted to see you, but it would be too dangerous to follow along.’
I was engrossed in internal conflict, but soon I gave up. I was curious about Nepenthes’ faces, but I was afraid to follow them to the black market.
I shouldn’t have been involved in them. Something wrong might happen and I could die, I came to town looking for a job anyway.
‘It’s a waste of time to stay here. Let’s go and just do what I came here for.’
I left the bottle of holy water near the building and tried to go back. Had it not been for a nasty-looking man.
“You always make me do annoying jobs. Finding a bottle on the street? It would be faster to find a person.”
I momentarily stick to the wall next to the building. The man passed by, muttering to himself, I was wondering if he hadn’t seen me. I stiffened, hearing his irritated voice.
‘Are you looking for the bucket? There should be a few more.’
Radiata, who needed quite a bit of money, used her abilities to the maximum and made a lot of holy water.
And the bottle of holy water in my hand right now was only a fraction. She wasn’t looking for it because there wasn’t enough holy water. They must be trying to retrieve it because making holy water outside the temple was illegal.
If someone notices that the liquid in the bottle was holy water and reports it to the temple, the temple would trace the person who made it, and Nepenthes who tried to monopolize it would be annoyed.
‘I’ll just leave this here and go.’
I didn’t want to get involved with Nepenthes because of this bottle. I only wanted a glimpse of his face, and I didn’t even have the slightest desire to talk to him.
“I will contact you as soon as we find the bottle.”
“Thank you.”
Between the old wooden doors, I heard the voice of a man and a woman talking. I instinctively shut my mouth. Because the person who would appear at this time had been decided.
‘No! Why are you coming out already? It’s been less than 5 minutes since you went in and talked. I don’t think he saw me even in the original, right? Was the setting changed because of this one bottle?’
A red warning light appeared in my head. I even stopped breathing at the thought of death if I got caught in this moment.
My heart, which was not aware, pounded violently with fear, but I said to myself that it would be okay because there was a certain distance, from the spot I’m hiding to where they were standing.
Please, please just go over it. I prayed earnestly, but there was silence between the two who were talking.
Just say goodbye to each other and leave already!
“…”
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“A rat is hiding.”
“What?”
I’m doomed. How did they notice when I was covering my mouth with my hands and not even breathing?
Nepenthes had no mercy.
And he hated bothersome work. He was a person who quickly rules out if there’s a person who stains his plans even a little.
“No. The deal with you has been established, so wait for the Count. I will prepare the promised price tomorrow.”
‘Okay, then.’
Radiata did not involve herself much deeper and went back. Whether she thought that it was better not to prolong their ties.
I had to run too. If I stay here still like this, I would die at the hands of Nepenthes if he caught me.
However, unfortunately, unlike my plan to run, my stiff body did not move.
“Where did you come from?”
I got goosebumps. It was scarier than the horror movie I watched in my previous life. The character with useless curiosity and misgivings died first.
Why was I interested in this? I regretted it, but it was late. It was too late to run away.
‘How can I live?’
I eagerly rolled my head as I heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. I opened my tightly closed eyes. My fingertips trembled, but I’d die if I act stupidly right now.
Gently biting my lower lip, I thought of a topic he might be interested in.
“You…”
Nepenthes’ voice could be heard behind my back.
I was curious just a moment ago, but it was hard to turn my back on him because I thought he was the grim reaper who would take my neck.
Even if you enter a tiger’s den, you could survive as long as you stay alert! I’ll pretend like I don’t know anything and go out shamelessly.
It’s because this was the entrance to the black market, and if I act like a person that didn’t know him, that he was the king of the black world, I could treat him as a passerby.
Thinking positively, I hid my hand holding the bottle in my skirt. I turned my back and started breathing with a slightly frightened expression.
‘I am a lost village girl.’
It was when I tried to spit out the lines I thought could work against Nepenthes, that I tried to brainwash myself into thinking that ‘I’m just lost.’
“Ah, me…What?”
The excuse, ‘ I’m lost, in which direction should I go to get to the plaza?’ didn’t come out of my mouth until the end. It was because my head turned blank as soon as I met Nepenthes.
‘What? The Crown Prince? why?’
A question mark took over my head.
Almond-colored eyes with reddish brown hair reminiscent of dull blood. Bravely flat shoulders and neat fingers.
It had a completely different atmosphere from the crown prince I met, but his handsome face was the same.
‘Is it an illusion? Doppelganger? Nepenthes said that he was an orphan born from a commoner. What the hell’s going on here?’
However, common sense didn’t help me figure out this situation. There was no reason for the crown prince to change his hair color and eyes and stay on the black market.
The prince who would be in the imperial
He was standing next to Radiata. Nepenthes only stared at me, but he rarely opened his mouth. No, it was an observation.
‘Let’s calm down. I don’t know if he’s the real prince or someone who looks the same, but the important thing was my answer.’
If the real Nepenthes and Prince were the same person, and I pretended to know him and he said, ‘You’ve found my identity. So you have to die.’
However, it was also awkward to continue making excuses. I reacted as if I was embarrassed when I saw his face.
‘How could I keep the flow naturally, pretending to be fine in a suffocating atmosphere?’
I forced myself to stop thinking things that started to complicate my mind. It was because I decided that it would be better to speak quickly, even if it was not convincing than to take time here.
I bowed my head slightly, wrapping my cheek with my other hand without the bottle. I said in a small voice as if I was shy while hiding my expression as much as possible, “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re so handsome that I’m so speechless.”
“Well, I’m a little handsome.”
It was a mouthful, but Nepenthes had a pretty satisfying smile.
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