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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Cheshire
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You’ve got a real twisted personality already.
I didn’t even feel like making excuses, so I just replied sullenly.
“Both your character and that dress you’re wearing look like a pile of rags, my lady.”
“What… what did you say?”
I shoved my head toward Sabrina, as if daring her to grab my hair.
“Since you’re showing your true colors, let me say one thing. Don’t you ever lay a hand on the Young Lord again. This isn’t a request or a command. It’s just advice, you see? It would be a disaster if you kept getting on my nerves and your family ended up in rags too.”
Sabrina’s face turned from pale to red.
As Sabrina passed me, she muttered.
“To think you were a nobody before you became the Young Lady…!”
Hey, I can hear you, you know?
At this rate, I’d end up fighting Sabrina before my sister did. With that thought, I turned to the maid.
“Where is Sir Cesar?”
A bath was out of the question now. Since I had time, I figured I’d take Cesar and go look for the Fairy Jewelry Shop.
Surprisingly, instead of following Sabrina, the maid came over to me.
“If you don’t mind, I can guide you, Young Lady.”
Just how much had Sabrina tormented her…
Thanks to the maid who kindly guided me, I was able to find Cesar without getting lost.
Cesar’s face lit up the moment he saw me.
“I’m glad you’re here, Little Madam. His Grace is on his way.”
Oh no, he can’t come yet!
I pulled Cesar into a corner and wrote on his palm with my finger.
[Don’t reply, just listen to what I say.]
[There’s somewhere we have to go right now. Before the Duke gets here.]
Cesar slowly wrote on his own hand.
[Before the Duke arrives, and without the Young Lord’s knowledge?]
That’s right. It’s a surprise gift.
Besides, Kivrin gets cold easily, so he should stay inside and rest.
I nodded.
Cesar immediately wrote the next sentence.
[Take me with you.]
Without even waiting for my answer, Cesar bent his back.
I obediently climbed onto his back.
There were only three of the marquis’s private soldiers guarding the gate.
They didn’t even ask where we were going and just let us pass.
It was only after Cesar and I had been outside for a while that I finally spoke.
“We’re going to the Fairy Jewelry Shop. It has a vivid green roof, a two-story building where snow doesn’t pile up even in a blizzard.”
Cesar found the jewelry shop faster than I expected.
So he was a parachute hire, but a skilled one…
I cautiously opened the door and went inside.
The first floor was empty. Only the second floor, where Cheshire resided, would be under a sound-dampening spell.
“Sir Cesar, please wait here for a moment.”
I went up to the second floor alone.
Before I had even climbed all the stairs, I heard an irritated man’s voice.
“We’re closed.”
“…No, you’re not.”
“I don’t do business with kids.”
You’re going to regret saying that.
I peeked my head out.
Ugh, the smell of alcohol was overwhelming. I was worried it would seep into my clothes.
The man was sprawled on a sofa.
His hair was a shaggy mess he’d clearly given up on managing, and he looked as haggard as if he’d been awake for three nights straight.
“…Are you Cheshire?”
Strange. The novel described him as handsome, even if he looked melancholic.
I observed Cheshire from every angle.
As he shifted his position, his long bangs slid aside, revealing a sharp nose and a piercing on his lip.
Yep, that’s Cheshire alright.
Anyone seeing him for the first time might mistake him for a robber who’d come to fleece the jewelry shop, not its owner.
I pinched my nose, which was tingling from the smell of alcohol, and walked inside.
The owner of the Fairy Jewelry Shop, Cheshire, sold his wares not for money, but for information.
But there was no point in telling him false information.
Cheshire was a transcendent being and possessed a supernatural ability similar to the Pope’s.
Information appraisal, so to speak.
Well, the name sounded impressive, but it apparently had quite a few restrictions.
Like a limit to how many pieces of information he could appraise in a day, or how it drastically increased his fatigue.
Also, he had lived for an unnaturally long time and had a strong dependence on alcohol.
In **, my sister would trade information about Kivrin to obtain accessories and artifacts.
Therefore, since Marquis Ingram had no information Cheshire wanted, he would never be able to get the necklace Sabrina desired, no matter how many people he sent.
I opened my mouth.
“I need an artifact that heals wounds. The best one you have here.”
Cheshire picked up a liquor bottle from under the sofa.
He poured the alcohol straight into his mouth before speaking.
“I don’t think a little girl like you can pay a fair price for that ring, *hic*. And of course, the same goes for the Young Lady of the duchy.”
It would have been stranger if an information broker didn’t know who I was, so I didn’t even bat an eye at the title.
I was in a hurry, thinking only of healing Kivrin’s hand soon.
“You will be murdered by the Crown Prince.”
The corners of Cheshire’s mouth lifted.
“For a guy like me, having my life threatened is just another day at the office. That information is worth less than this bottle—”
“And also, I’m Del.”
“…”
Cheshire dropped the bottle he was holding.
I dodged the bottle as it rolled toward me and waited for Cheshire’s response.
I’m temporarily retracting my decision to focus on my current life, Young Lord.
If it were Kivrin, that’d be one thing, but if this Cheria was Del, that was a different story.
I was going to make full use of it before my sister could expose it.
I didn’t trust my sister at all, especially since she had already threatened me by claiming to have foreseen the future.
Besides, Cheshire was one of Kivrin’s few allies in the novel.
Well, if my guess was correct, he was actually an ally of Del, not Kivrin.
“…What did you just say?”
Cheshire shot to his feet.
His gaze was unnaturally fixed on a point in the air, as if he was appraising the information I’d given him.
The biggest advantage of Cheshire’s ability was that I didn’t have to explain anything in excruciating detail.
True or false. Yes or no. It gave a clear answer.
Though, with his face already flushed from drink, I had my doubts about whether his ability was even working properly…
Cheshire pointed a finger at me.
“Too small! Too puny! I think I could lift you with one hand!”
“Don’t people usually keep thoughts like that to themselves?!”
It sounded like he was trying to pick a fight, so I retorted informally, but Cheshire paid me no mind.
He approached with a staggering gait and circled me once.
Then he made a displeased face.
“Lady Del, please stay still. I can’t observe you.”
“…”
You’re the one who’s moving right now, you know?
Cheshire’s foot caught on a liquor bottle rolling on the carpet.
He picked up the bottle and asked.
“Would you like a bottle too, Lady Del? *Hic*.”
Are you serious?
“No, thanks.”
Maybe I should just go back…
Cheshire wasn’t exactly normal in **, but right now, he was the very definition of a drunkard.
I barely managed to hold on, thinking of healing Kivrin’s burn.
Cheshire hiccupped and wiped his mouth.
“Wait, then what about that young lord? I was keeping an eye on him because he possessed a part of Lady Del’s power…”
Without waiting for my answer, Cheshire began to speculate on his own.
“Ah, you used him as a shield to hide your own feeble reincarnated form? Well, the best shield is a human shield, after all… Lady Del? Where are you going?”
Cheshire scrambled after me.
“Lady Del!”
I shook off his hand.
“Let go of me! I take back what I said about being Del!”
Who are you calling a shield!
Cheshire tripped over his own feet and tumbled, then clung to my shoe.
“Aaargh, I’m sorry! Please don’t take it back!”
“…”
After a brief scuffle, I ended up sitting on the sofa.
Cheshire was sniffling.
“Lady Del, I’ve been waiting for the day I could meet you again.”
“…I’m over here, you know? Who are you talking to, the wall?”
“Oh.”
Cheshire’s head creaked as it turned toward me.
I resisted the urge to click my tongue and said.
Hang in there, please.
You have to heal my little marshmallow!
“My name is Cheria.”
“Cheria… Cheshire…”
Suddenly, Cheshire became serious.
“Could it be that our names starting with the same letter is a sign of destiny that I am fated to be your subordinate in this life as well?”
“Subordinate? You?”
My skeptical tone seemed to offend Cheshire.
“Of course! You have no idea how well I followed Lady Del’s orders! When you said you’d make me your underling if I survived jumping off a cliff ten times, I did it. I also completed the command to survive for 365 days in the sea, drinking nothing but seawater.”
