3. Pepper! pepper!
Those who had spent more time with the Tillard family laughed.
Their dirty plans on how to teach her a lesson started flowing out of their mouths.
They were talking about a woman who had no special ability, and no matter how much she screamed, no one in her family would believe her.
So much so that the person who asked what they were going to do to her hesitated a little at the ugliness of what he heard.
“Is.. is it really okay to do that? What if His Eminence the Duke finds out-”
“It's okay. As long as it doesn't leave a trace, we've got permission from Young Master Ramyo as well—”
They couldn't finish their sentence about who gave them permission.
Efrain sent his signal, and the swordsmen immediately jumped down the hill path.
“Oh, hold on!”
The shadows were swinging their swords while gritting their teeth in anger.
“You scum!”
“You bark like this in front of your masters!”
“Take this, and drink this too!”
The Taillard family knight who was observing the sudden fight quickly stepped back.
He was holding an emergency artifact in his hand to call for support.
"Support! I'll ask for support...! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"!"
But the knight who tried to withdraw suddenly shouted.
In the blink of an eye, his entire hand vanished.
Ilyas, who was observing the situation, calmly informed Evren: “…There was no need for you to interfere, Your Highness.”
“It's okay”
There was no need to use the Annihilation Ability.
Evren knew that the shadows alone were enough to subdue them.
But from the moment he heard their lowly conversation, a ringing began to resonate in his ears.
'Those bastards insulted something that belonged to us!'
Ever since that brief contact with Lillian, his mind had been running wild.
It was a very short contact.
There was a refreshing feeling that clearly regulated the tangled ability within his body. But that harmless sensation was overshadowed by another, more intense sensation.
Soft, sticky, and makes the muscles tense so hard...
But Evren's green eyes began to darken with sadness.
The scent that constantly stimulated him...had vanished.
* * *
Lillian swallowed dryly.
She doesn't know how lucky she is because she fought hard not to faint from the fever.
“Egh...”
Sure enough, she was looking at the roof of the tent from the inside.
The doctor and some knights were moving around her noisily...
'We were attacked'
At that moment, she clung to her bag as a lifeline.
It was a very good decision even though it was made in a flash.
And now —
She blinked her eyes once, and the scene around her completely changed in an instant.
'Where am I now?'
All the views she had seen at dinner time were gone.
The tree where the incident occurred, the fire that was lit to boil the soup, everything disappeared.
Instead, a darkness with no light stretched out before her.
'a moment'
This is illusion magic used to hunt prey.
And the voice coming from behind her back is...!
“Ah, it's so hard to find you.”
A cold sweat ran down Lillian's back.
Unbelievable, so fast.
“It seems like making people angry is fun for you, doesn't it, sister?”
“…….”
“Answer!”
Lillian forcefully turned her stiff neck.
There was a familiar platinum-haired young man approaching.
She saw his face, which resembled the faces of miserable people, twisted with resentment.
“…Ramio”
“Huh. I was wondering what you were thinking when you simply agreed to go north.”
“…….”
“It is natural that you thought of running away on the way.”
Ramio smiled sarcastically: “But I was astonished. I did not expect that with your intelligence, you would hire such mercenaries.”
“……?”
“How much did you pay them? Their skills are really good.”
Mercenaries?
Lillian narrowed her eyes, wondering what he was talking about.
'This idiot...! He doesn't know that they are Prince Evren and his shadows?'
It seemed that the complete darkness and their black uniforms made him not realize their identity.
'Maybe this was better'
This way I can hide my trace for as long as possible.
This will also help expose how foolish Ramyo is.
“Okay, let's finish this game of hide and seek. Follow me while I'm still in a good mood, sis.”
Ramio gave a kind-looking smile.
Those features that people praised as a noble knight shined thanks to that smile.
And Lillian was also fooled by that smile every time.
Rather, she wanted to be deceived.
Sometime...I mean, when they were very young.
Because they played together and shared sweets sometimes.
Until one day Ramio decided to “grow up.”
'Don't come near me. you're dirty
'Ramio, why..why are you doing this?'
“My sister, they say that you are incapable, and that getting close to you may transmit the infection.”
She did not realize that this harsh rejection was actually declaring the end of their relationship.
But now, Lillian also gave up on that relationship.
She looked sarcastically at her brother, who was still imagining that she was trembling in fear of him.
“Why would I follow you? Do I look like someone who was hit in the head with an arrow and lost his mind?”
"… What?"
“Don’t you understand? Did your eardrums fail when you were still young to make me repeat myself twice?”
Ramio became angry and raised his voice: “Are you out of your mind because you wandered outside? Come here immediately!”
“Why? To take me and enslave me as a maid again? Isn’t the reason you’re ‘coming to take me’ now because of your backlog?”
Is it the work of Ramio alone?
Starting from Little Duke Quirn, all the way to Iris.
People abroad revered them as 'the perfect Taillard siblings'.
It was thanks to Lillian who was gradually dying while carrying out their 'missions' in the shadows.
They do not consider her a true member of the family, but they have no qualms in enslaving her as the family's servant.
Why?
Because she is the only incapable in the family of controllers.
'They dressed me in beautiful clothes just so I wouldn't tarnish the family's reputation.'
Broom, clock, tablecloth, candlestick.
Then Lillian.
Her role in the family was placed on the same level as tools.
But now Lillian was taunting Ramio who was frozen in place: “Does the Imperial Palace Knight Commander know? That our youngest knight is just an idiot who can’t read a single piece of paper unless he enslaves his cousin as a maid?”
Ramio's shoulders trembled slightly.
“Shut up!”
“Indeed, my grandfather made a lot of donations, right?”
Chuck—! Lillian clapped her hands provocatively.
“Aren’t you lucky that you were born into the Tillard family? If you hadn’t been born into a family that could buy everything with money, how would you have lived, huh?”
“Huh!”
Ramio let out a laugh like a rampaging beast: “No matter what happens, I will never live like you, you dirty insect.”
"Very funny. You were also one step away from being treated like scum, you know that?"
Her response was explosive.
But Lillian was secretly starting to feel anxious.
This is the 'magic smoke bomb' that Ramyo used to use.
Although effective, it definitely has a weakness.
'Its effect lasts for about 5 minutes...!'
She kept talking to buy time. Escaping from this place was useless.
Even if you attack the caster, the magic works until its duration expires and cannot be stopped.
'The opportunity will only come once'
That moment when that magic starts to wear off —
'The exploit has appeared!'
Lillian suddenly took out a bottle hidden in her sleeve.
Ramio sneered at first: “What good is this trivial thing...!”
But as soon as the black powder entered his eyes, a cry of pain escaped from him due to the stinging pain.
It was black pepper, that very precious spice brought from across the border.