Chapter 41
Elodie shrugged her shoulders.
“Ani, jal mol-la. Gunde aju mot-tae-go sa-akhan akdang gamuniragu deureosseo. Geunikka nahan-te nappeun jit haesseul sudo itjan-a!”
(“I don’t really know. But I heard they’re an evil, wicked villainous family. So maybe they did something bad to me!”)
And she gave an answer that only a child would give.
Edmund, thinking he had reacted too sharply for no reason, scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“If the Basilisks are the culprits…”
And even to a childlike, nonsensical hypothesis, he answered with complete sincerity.
“They are excessively greedy people. If they kidnapped the only bloodline of the High Priest, I wonder what price they were bribed with.”
The boy furrowed his smooth brow, falling deep into thought.
He seemed unable to imagine it very well.
Perhaps because he was born and raised in Valkyrisen, the symbol of peace and a neutral territory.
He didn’t seem to understand just how hideous humans could become because of greed.
Nor that deceiving the gods would be nothing to a malicious person.
But Elodie knew.
‘The price the Basilisks received was the position of High Priest.’
If becoming God’s representative was possible, wouldn’t staking the entire fate of the family be worth it?
No matter what price had to be paid.
And in her previous life, they had succeeded.
But this time, they absolutely would not.
Because…
She felt like she had just found a clue.
‘Nyx Basilisk.’
The moment she saw his face, Elodie immediately thought of someone.
‘Caron Valkyrisen.’
They looked alike.
Suspiciously alike.
So alike that no one would doubt it even if they were told they were parent and child.
The third young lord of Valkyrisen looked just like the direct bloodline of Nyx Basilisk.
And then she recalled what she had heard earlier from Eagles.
“Every year, many children are abandoned in Animallnollia for various reasons—
born weak and weeded out, born with abilities that threaten the herd, falling behind in competition…”“When Valkyrisen finds such children, they rescue and take them in, protecting them until they can stand on their own.”
Perhaps.
This was just speculation, but—
‘Caron might be… Caron Basilisk.’
That thought occurred to her.
The first day she met Caron, she had clearly seen a black snake slithering through the garden bushes.
She ran straight toward it, but by the time she arrived, the snake had vanished.
Instead, Caron appeared — with hair as black as the snake’s scales.
At the time, she believed he was Valkyrisen’s third young lord, so she simply dismissed it as her imagination.
But now—
‘Caron might have been a child abandoned by the Basilisk family, and Valkyrisen picked him up and adopted him.’
Or…
‘They only pretended to abandon him. He might have been deliberately planted in Valkyrisen as a spy.’
Was that too far-fetched?
But considering the Basilisks were bold enough to kidnap the High Priest’s child, it didn’t feel impossible at all.
Elodie realized, belatedly.
The reason Caron had felt strangely familiar when she first met him might have been because of her subconscious memories of Nyx Basilisk.
‘I don’t know why he felt nostalgic…’
“Hahaha, are you going to deliver divine punishment for me?”
Maybe she missed him enough to want to kill him.
It wasn’t that important, so Elodie brushed the thought aside.
‘I wonder if Edmund knows.’
That his younger brother was actually a Basilisk.
‘It didn’t seem like the servants knew.’
Elodie glanced sideways at Edmund and asked:
“Edmungteu mangnae dongsaeng-un yojeum mwo hago jinae?”
(“What is your younger brother doing these days?”)
“Caron?”
Edmund looked surprised that the topic had suddenly shifted to his brother.
The two had never had any connection before.
“He’s staying at the annex palace.”
Something she had been wondering for a while rose in her mind.
What kind of illness required someone to live isolated in the annex palace?
“Is it contagious?”
“…You could say that.”
No, it wasn’t.
She had literally seen him walking around.
Elodie frowned at Edmund’s suspicious answer.
‘The illness part is probably not a complete lie.’
The third young lord was supposed to die soon from an incurable disease.
‘He died at fourteen, right?’
It happened not long after the Duke of Valkyrisen passed away, so she remembered clearly.
‘He’s nine right now.’
There wasn’t much time left.
If Caron Valkyrisen really was Caron Basilisk—
If he was truly Nyx Basilisk’s child—
Even if he was just a relative—
Elodie absolutely had to save him.
Because he was her only potential path into that closed-off family and her only direct connection to Nyx Basilisk.
‘I need to meet him again, face-to-face.’
Elodie was very confident in one thing: her self-healing.
She had mastered it completely on the very day she transformed into a human for the first time.
She was invincible.
No matter how severe a contagious disease he had, she was certain she wouldn’t catch it.
“Mangnae-neun byeolgung bakk-e naogo sipji an-dae?”
(“Does the youngest not want to come outside the annex?”)
“He probably does…”
Edmund gave an awkward smile.
It seemed he knew Caron occasionally snuck out.
Seeing that Edmund tacitly allowed it meant the illness definitely wasn’t contagious.
“Come to think of it, Caron is around your age, Lady.”
He seemed to think she was showing interest simply because they were close in age.
A convenient excuse — so Elodie quickly nodded.
A child wanting to play with someone her age was perfectly natural!
“To be honest, I don’t know much about him either. I’ve never had a proper conversation with Caron…”
“Huh, really?”
He’s still your brother though?
Edmund’s expression turned faintly bitter, and he murmured softly:
“Since he stays at the annex, the only way to communicate with him is through magical devices… but he’s never responded, even once.”
Oh dear.
She had sensed he kept his distance from people, but she didn’t expect him to do the same even to his brother.
Even though Edmund was so kind.
‘He doesn’t even try talking to his own family…’
But he didn’t look like the type to interact with strangers, either.
Even if she tried bumping into him intentionally, he’d probably ignore her and run off.
Elodie concluded:
She would have no choice but to barge into the annex palace and corner him directly.
“Naega mangnae chajaga-seo byeong gochyeo julkka?”
(“Should I go find your little brother and cure his illness?”)
She said lightly — like she wanted to play doctor.
Yet Edmund, who had readily agreed earlier when she said she would help heal Aizen, now reacted very differently.
“Absolutely not.”
He spoke firmly, then immediately panicked as if afraid he had startled or hurt her feelings.
“That’s not what I meant…”
‘It’s that serious?’
But Elodie’s mind was elsewhere.
‘As expected. Something’s strange. Just like Grandpa’s warning. And now Edmund’s reaction…’
It seemed even Ratson blood wasn’t completely safe around the third young lord.
When she stared at him, demanding an explanation, the boy sighed and said:
“His illness… even Lord Ratson couldn’t cure it.”
“Huh? Even Daddy?”
Even the High Priest, who was a hundred times more experienced than Elodie, had failed.
“Yes. And every year it only worsens. His condition must be even more severe now.”
Elodie’s baseless confidence deflated a little.
If they had gone as far as calling the High Priest, then they must have tried every possible treatment.
And still, nothing worked.
Hmm.
Hmmm…
“All right. I won’t cure him.”
(“Okay. I won’t try healing him.”)
When she nodded, Edmund visibly relaxed with a soft smile.
But Edmund didn’t know.
What she meant was simply that she accepted she wouldn’t be able to cure him right now.
‘This will need a long-term plan.’
If she couldn’t heal him immediately…
First, she needed to become close to him.
When Elodie eventually mastered her healing ability enough to treat his illness, he needed to trust her enough to willingly accept her help.
