Chapter 69
The arrogant runaway baby had become humble.
‘If they come looking for me, I’ll go home quietly.’
In her current state of mind, she could even stage a tearful reunion with her family.
“Hi-yuung.”
Chesha let out a sigh that seemed to sink into the ground.
If Kierne discovered she was the seductress, she’d be as good as dead.
‘But I have to survive first.’
Until she found a way to restore her body to its adult form, the fragile baby Chesha resolved to hide in the Basilian County household.
While she was at it, she figured she might as well attend the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly too.
‘I had to enter the Holy Empire anyway.’
But it was a worry.
For now, she’d patched things up with this temporary fix, but how long could she live as a baby?
And a baby that didn’t even grow, at that.
In just a year, suspicions would begin to arise.
She needed to solve the problem, but as a fairy, there was nowhere she could ask for help.
‘No, there is one place…’
It was the legendary fairy kingdom, where fairies fleeing from humans had pooled their powers to create a vast illusionary realm and hidden away.
However, Chesha didn’t know how to find it, and they hadn’t reached out to her despite her aberrant powers.
Judging from the occasional incidents of fairies being hunted, it seemed they left mixed-blood fairies with humans untouched, without interference.
‘Let’s think about this slowly for now.’
Hata had disappeared saying he’d try making another potion, but it probably wouldn’t work.
Having sorted her thoughts, Chesha waited solely for the day Kierne would arrive.
And finally, the promised day came.
A carriage emblazoned with the Basilian County crest pulled up in front of the mansion.
Hailon, holding Chesha and peering out the window, muttered under his breath.
“Persistent.”
“…….”
He’d agreed to meet in a week but hadn’t told Kierne where to come.
The one who hadn’t informed him was astounding, but the one who’d figured it out on his own was no less impressive.
Chesha shook her head inwardly in disbelief.
“Stay in the room for a moment.”
He placed Chesha down in a room overflowing with dolls, toys, picture books, and other baby items scooped up from every shop in the capital, then descended to greet the uninvited guest.
‘I can’t miss this!’
Today, the two would exchange information about the fairy experiments, so she absolutely had to eavesdrop.
With a resolute expression, Chesha slapped a butterfly onto her forehead.
The now-invisible Chesha successfully sneaked into the drawing room.
She arrived a bit late, having moved while concealing her presence, and Kierne had already passed some information to Hailon.
Hailon, seated on the sofa, was flipping through the papers one by one with an expressionless face.
A quick glance revealed it was the content Chesha had seen in the Black Forest.
Kierne, sitting across from him, was elegantly sipping tea.
He seemed a little thinner in the interim, his jawline sharper than before.
After reading the papers for a while, Hailon raised his gaze to meet Kierne’s.
“Even assuming all this information is true.”
Hailon spoke in a chilling voice, as if interrogating a heretic.
“It seems there’s no reason for the count to take an interest in fairy experiments.”
Kierne struck hard right from the beginning.
“My wife is a fairy.”
“…!”
This was a revelation that would shock even the unflappable Hailon.
Not missing the stir it caused, Kierne continued.
“She didn’t know she was a fairy at first. She’d lost her memories and was abandoned in the Black Forest. Naturally, I didn’t know either.”
A fairy’s body resembles a human’s.
Until they wield their power and reveal their peculiarities, there’s no way to distinguish between a human and a fairy.
If one had to name a distinguishing trait, it would be their beautiful appearance.
Thus, neither the memory-lost fairy nor Kierne, who had taken her as his wife, knew the truth.
“Then how did you come to learn she was a fairy?”
At Hailon’s question, Kierne smiled faintly.
“My wife vanished right before my eyes.”
“…….”
He continued calmly, without a trace of sorrow.
“Just before dying, she used her fairy power to show me an illusionary realm. And I watched her vanish.”
Kierne smiled.
His lips formed a smooth curve.
“Since that sight was unlike an ordinary human death… I couldn’t fail to recognize it.”
Yet beneath the tranquil tone lurked an unmasked madness.
It was a madness so eerie that even Hailon fell silent for a moment.
Chesha, quietly huddled in the corner eavesdropping, swallowed a scoff.
‘Liar.’
It was a cunning blend of truth and falsehood.
Creating an illusionary realm demands immense power from a fairy.
It’s impossible for a dying fairy to do so.
Unless they possessed power on the level of a queen.
Inferring from what Karha had said before.
The countess had likely created an illusion to deceive Kierne’s eyes and escaped just before death.
Then, she would have faced her end alone in some quiet place.
‘Why run away? Did she not want to show him her dying form?’
As Chesha pondered this, the conversation pressed on.
“I want to find those who abandoned my wife in the Black Forest. And you, Inquisitor, are not one to overlook the Holy Empire’s injustices. We share the same objective.”
Tucking away the detail about attempting to revive the dead beneath his tongue, Kierne smiled slyly.
“I’m proposing we join forces.”
Hailon infused divine power into the paper he held.
The letters etched with dark magic were purified by the divine energy and vanished.
“What benefit do I gain from allying with a dark mage?”
Handing the blank sheet back to Kierne, Hailon locked eyes with him steadily.
“If I drag the count to the heresy interrogation chamber right here and now, I’ll naturally obtain all the information.”
The implication of Hailon’s words was crystal clear.
Don’t test the waters; if you have cards to play, lay them all out now.
And Kierne more than fulfilled what Hailon demanded.
“That’s rather harsh.”
Feigning offense by furrowing his brows, Kierne bantered lightly.
“When you entered my domain before, didn’t I let you leave unharmed?”
“…….”
Hailon’s eyes narrowed.
Kierne smiled with his eyes and leaned back against the sofa.
His haughty demeanor fit him like a custom-tailored suit.
“The fact that the esteemed Inquisitor infiltrated the underworld…”
Kierne said, his red eyes gleaming with allure.
“As its master, I chose to bury it.”
“…Ha.”
Hailon let out a hollow laugh.
He evidently had no inkling that Count Basilian was the lord of the underworld.
Reacting as if he’d taken a solid hit, Kierne waved his hand with evident pleasure.
Shadows surged upward, swallowing the blank paper whole.
Having brazenly wielded dark magic right in front of the Inquisitor, Kierne tilted his head and asked.
“Now, are you inclined to have a serious discussion?”
Kierne and Hailon formed a temporary alliance.
It was an exceedingly precarious pact between beings who were utter opposites.
But thanks to these two men climbing aboard the same ship, Chesha found herself at ease.
Especially with Hailon’s assistance, her freedom to maneuver within the Holy Empire would expand significantly, making it all the more advantageous.
Returning to her room before their conversation concluded, Chesha sank into deep contemplation.
The deceased countess…
Kierne often glimpsed her in Chesha.
‘Why, of all people, did I have to resemble the dead countess?’
There was no chance she was Chesha’s mother.
Lichesia had been born before the countess and Kierne even met.
The timelines didn’t align at all.
‘And the countess probably died before she went mad.’
Her death must have been dignified.
Unlike Chesha’s mother.
‘And my father couldn’t possibly be someone like Kierne.’
Chesha was speculating that she had been conceived from an unwanted union.
