I’m the Youngest Daughter of the Serpent Family
Chapter 48
Before falling asleep, the thought had crossed my mind.
Who on earth am I?
It was a natural question to have.
Who left me here, why, and for what reason? And how had they even managed to pull it off?
The Astrophel family maintained immense security; not just anyone could approach.
Especially if another beastman had approached, they would have noticed immediately.
Yet someone had vanished after leaving me not just anywhere, but right inside the mansion, completely undetected.
And the room holding the successor eggs would have been strictly guarded.
Seeing as I was protected alongside Seth and Arvan, neither Kaid nor Baon seemed to have known either.
“Airing is curious too! I wish Durias would come fast and tell me.”
“Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm.”
When I gave a calm nod, Kaid suddenly furrowed his brows.
“……Is that why you asked if anyone from the East attended the banquet last time?”
Huh?
“Did the young lady ask about the East?”
Baon looked at me with a startled expression as well.
I had only asked about the East because that was where I used to live in my past life.
Ah. Come to think of it, didn’t the Bird Clan live gathered in that region?
The two wore dead serious expressions.
They looked shocked, as if they had overlooked a vital fact all this time.
After a long silence, Kaid opened his mouth.
“The Roisar family did send word of their absence. Are you curious about who your own kind is?”
“……Huh?”
“You must want to meet members of your clan who look like you. That is why you asked about the East.”
“……Huh?”
No, that wasn’t it at all. I didn’t particularly want to meet them. Although seeing them in person might be fascinating.
The two men’s expressions turned exceedingly grave.
“Young Lady, you were born in the South.”
“I know.”
“…You may not know this, but the South is far better to live in than the East.”
“Mm. I know dat too.”
At my reply, Kaid’s face hardened even further.
“It seems you have already looked into what conditions are like in the East.”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Then who told you?”
“……Dat’s not it either.”
The misunderstanding was deepening by the second. They seemed convinced that I had researched the East out of a longing to see my own kin.
Shaking my head side to side, I pressed the rest of the stamps down firmly.
Before the break of dawn.
Durias strolled at a leisurely pace.
At the edge of the silent cliff, the only sound was the soft rustling of dew-laden grass beneath his boots.
A faint rustle.
At that sound, the target—cornered at a dead end—stiffened completely.
One could tell at a glance that she was terrified.
Straightening his necktie, which had come undone during the pursuit, Durias gazed steadily at her.
A flicker of irritation flashed across his dark golden eyes.
“Are you quite finished running?”
“……Why are you doing this to me?”
The hunted woman finally opened her mouth.
Having fled in a frenzy, her entire body was covered in red, angry scratches.
Barely catching the breath lodged in her throat, she cautiously checked behind her.
Fierce winds whipped beneath the cliff.
A massive river flowed below, but there was no guarantee she would survive a fall from this height.
However……
Being captured by the man before her would hardly lead to a better fate.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, she looked at Durias with trembling eyes.
“Why are you chasing me?”
Durias, who had halted a set distance away, let out a dry chuckle at her question.
“Haha. You ran blindly without even knowing why you were being pursued?”
“That’s……”
Ella bit down on her lip, unable to answer.
Seeing that, Durias’s tightly set lips curved into a sharp arc.
It was the moment a mere hypothesis transformed into certainty.
She grew anxious at the sudden shift in Durias’s aura.
With every path blocked before and behind her, leaving her with no choices, despair threatened to black out her vision.
“……What do you intend to do with me?”
“What do you mean, do with you?”
“……”
“Ah. Do you know something that would warrant me doing something to you?”
Durias muttered casually.
At his clear, ringing voice, Ella’s complexion gradually drained of color.
The edge of the Eastern border.
There was no telling how he had managed to track her here.
In the first place, a prominent figure like him had no reason to personally grace such a remote area.
Judging by his attire and demeanor, he had clearly not crossed the border through legitimate means either.
Ella instinctively sensed that the situation was taking an ominous turn.
“Did you speak with our clan’s Head before coming here?”
“Hm?”
“If not, why don’t you go through the proper procedures first? ……Things might sour between the South and us, you know.”
Ella’s voice, taut with tension, quavered at the end.
She wondered what good words like these would do, but she had to try everything she could.
Durias, who had been listening leisurely to her words, widened his eyes as if surprised.
“Are you worrying about my standing right now?”
“……”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but there is no need. Because……”
Looking around at the deserted surroundings, Durias gestured deliberately with his chin.
Realizing his implication, Ella drew a sharp breath.
“Because there is no one here, and you will vanish without a trace.”
“……!”
“So, why don’t we stop wasting each other’s effort?”
Looking at the sky where the sun was beginning to rise, Durias knitted his brows.
He had no time to delay here any longer.
Just as Ella said, Durias had crossed the border without giving prior notice to the East.
If the East caught wind of this and made an issue of it, it could escalate into an uncontrollable diplomatic incident.
“I’m not particularly free, either.”
Not wanting things to get complicated, Durias wanted to wrap the situation up quickly.
He let out a sigh, lamenting his own lot in life.
He had thought that with a rank like his, he at least wouldn’t have to go on business trips personally……
There was no helping it. When the higher-ups told you to roll in the dirt, you rolled.
“Come along quietly, Lady Ella. I, too, am just following orders from above…… If I’m late, I’ll get scolded.”
“……My, who on earth would scold Lord Durias? What a joke.”
Just then, a figure clad in a black hood emerged from behind Durias.
At the appearance of another Black Mamba, Ella swallowed the scream threatening to burst from her throat.
The two began conversing in an idle manner.
“I have two superiors above me as well. I truly have no desire to imagine getting reprimanded by them.”
“Then this mission must succeed no matter what.”
Two superiors.
At those words, goosebumps pricked all the way up to Ella’s scalp.
For she knew all too well who stood above him.
It would be Kaid Astrophel and his aide, Baon.
The realization that those two were looking for her caused Ella’s mind to go completely blank.
Because of that, she failed to notice the hooded figure creeping closer step by step.
Belatedly sensing the movement, Ella flinched and froze.
“……Don’t come any closer. You need to take me alive, right?”
“That’s right.”
“If you take another step, I’ll jump!”
“Oh my?”
“That’s not what you want either, is it? If you want to take me, make a formal request to our clan’s Head!”
Ella played her final trump card, her voice ringing with desperate force.
Even so, she bit hard on her lip against the creeping tide of dread.
What if the Astrophel family had tracked her down knowing what she had done……?
Would she be able to keep her life then?
The answer was no.
From the moment they began searching for her, her fate had already been sealed.
The second she was caught, she wouldn’t make it out intact.
‘I can’t rely on the clan either.’
If word got out that her tail had been stepped on, her own kind would eliminate her first.
In an instant, an unbearable surge of indignation welled up inside Ella.
‘Why do I have to go through this? I’m clearly a victim too!’
This couldn’t happen. Ella’s golden eyes filled with venomous resolve.
She had to survive no matter what.
At Ella’s threatening cry warning not to come any closer, the dark figure came to an abrupt halt.
Soon, a gentle voice drifted over.
“Go right ahead.”
“……What?”
Ella questioned, doubting her own ears.
“I said, feel free to do so.”
At that, even Durias turned a dumbfounded gaze toward the black figure.
“Hold on. Are you prepared to take responsibility for those words?”
“Didn’t they say she doesn’t need to be in one piece?”
“……Well, yes, but.”
“As long as she keeps her life, it shouldn’t matter if she’s a little broken, right?”
“True, that certainly would make her easier to transport.”
Durias nodded at the reasonably convincing logic.