-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: A Desperate Secret
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Young Madame. What do you mean? How could I be someone else? It’s quite upsetting to hear you say that, even after hearing my voice.”
“You weren’t Olivia all day today.”
“It’s obviously me, so who do you think I am?”
Olivia denied it.
Still with her back turned to Lumina.
The neatly tied red hair, the tall frame, and the kind voice.
There was nothing to suggest the person before her wasn't Olivia.
“I don’t know who you are. But you’re not Olivia.”
“…”
“Because Olivia is not a Legion.”
A flinch.
The suspicious person with Olivia’s face muttered grimly.
“How did you know?”
“…”
“That I’m not Olivia, and that I’m a Legion. It was a perfect disguise, one that not even Duke Heart could have seen through.”
The person seemed shocked. They spoke as if they couldn’t believe it.
But the reply that came back was refreshingly simple.
“Just because.”
“…”
“I just knew, you know?”
It wasn’t a lie.
But they probably wouldn't believe her if she said it felt completely different from when she touched the real Olivia.
Hearing Lumina’s nonchalant answer, the person let out a small laugh.
“Ash said you were a strange one, and he was right. The more I dug into your past, the stranger it was how clean it was. And talking to you is no different.”
The person with Olivia’s face covered their face with their palm.
And when they moved their hand away…
“I wonder if the Young Madame finds this face more familiar.”
Brown hair and an ordinary face, the kind you'd easily forget. A distinctly male voice.
It was the man she had met when she first went looking for Duke Heart.
She knew he was also one of Duke Heart’s subordinates, but Lumina didn’t let her guard down.
“I didn’t introduce myself back then, did I?”
“I know. You’re Mister Brandon.”
“You could probably drop the ‘Mister’...”
“Yes, Mister. Where is the real Olivia now?”
Unaware that Brandon and Olivia were married, Lumina naturally assumed he must have done something to Olivia.
“She’s probably at the estate, taking care of her piled-up work. She’s a diligent woman who doesn’t procrastinate.”
“Liar.”
“A liar? It’s true! I got Olivia’s permission to borrow her face!”
“Lying pervert.”
“Calling me a lying pervert is too harsh when I borrowed my wife’s face with her permission.”
Wife?
Could he be Olivia’s husband and Ash’s father…?
“Besides, a true master of transformation isn’t bound by gender. Take a good look at my face.”
The fact that Brandon was a Legion, and that he had a unique constitution that allowed him to change his face, was a top-secret matter known only to a few.
But Lumina had already found out he was a Legion and that he could transform into other people.
Normally, the iron rule was to eliminate anyone who discovered the secret.
However, he couldn’t very well get rid of the person Lucius called ‘my daughter-in-law’.
To test Lumina’s reaction, Brandon covered his face with his palm.
When he moved his hand away again, his unremarkable features had changed into quite handsome ones.
*‘I’ve seen that face somewhere.’*
Lumina realized as she studied his face carefully.
It was the face of the actor who played the male lead in .
As she was marveling at his incredible ability, Brandon covered his face with his palm again.
And when he moved his hand away, he had become an old man with white hair.
It was a face she had never seen before, so she just stared blankly.
“So you weren’t a mister, but Grandpa Brandon? And you said you were Olivia’s husband. You’re a total cradle robber.”
“No, this isn’t my face. It’s just some old man I saw passing by.”
He hastily corrected her before her misunderstanding could deepen.
But that was a lie.
Because this was the face of ‘the Doctor’ that Brandon knew.
The Doctor was a person Lucius was desperately tracking.
Not knowing his real name, they called him the Doctor, and he was currently suspected of being the one pulling Lumina’s strings from behind the scenes.
*‘But she showed no sign of recognition.’*
When he had the actor’s face, her eyes had shown delayed recognition, but with the Doctor’s face, she seemed to be asking, ‘Who are you?’
The eyes don’t lie.
When you see someone you know, your expression is bound to change, even for a fleeting moment.
Brandon realized that Lumina had no connection to the Doctor.
“I see what kind of person you are, Mister. But why did you run out in the middle of the play?”
“Ah, that’s…”
Just as Brandon was about to make an excuse.
Drip, drip.
The sound of water dripping could be heard.
*Is there a leak somewhere?*
The thought crossed her mind, but it wasn’t the building. The sound was coming from Brandon, right in front of her.
“It keeps doing this.”
Brandon’s face contorted in pain.
His face seemed to melt and collapse, a viscous liquid dripping onto the floor.
“If I focus my mind, I can hold it together for a while, but it’s gotten strangely difficult to maintain my form, so I came out, afraid I’d be discovered.”
“…”
“Though it was pointless, since the Young Madame had already figured me out.”
He seemed to be trying his best to put on a friendly smile, but it only made him look more pained.
*‘This is more than just being sick. He seems to be in serious condition.’*
Since Lumina herself was a unique kind of Legion, she decided to put aside the matter of a Legion who could freely change their appearance for now.
Right now, Brandon’s legs were trembling, and his face kept melting and reforming.
“Wait here a moment. I’ll go get Father right now…”
Lumina started to turn away.
“Don’t call the Captain!”
But Brandon urgently stopped her.
“Why not?”
“I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but… Wait, wait! If the Captain finds out about this, I’m dead.”
Seeing Lumina about to dash off to Lucius, Brandon spoke quickly.
Lumina tilted her head.
“Father can be a bit cruel, but he’s not so heartless as to kill one of his own men over something like this.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Brandon wore a grave expression.
He had recently been facing death, and not in a figurative sense. And he couldn’t tell anyone about it.
Normally, he would never have uttered such words, but perhaps it was because he had been suffering in secret.
Without realizing it, Brandon held out his arm and showed his wrist to Lumina.
A dense pattern of diamond shapes was drawn around it, like a bracelet.
At a glance, it looked like a tattoo.
“It’s proof that I’ve been cursed with black magic.”
“…Black magic?”
“Yes. There’s a binding spell on me. If the Captain finds out about my condition, I’ll die.”
“I don’t know much about black magic, but is it normally possible to know the specific terms of the restriction?”
“…”
“Or did something go wrong when you tried to use black magic yourself? How do you know so much about it?”
“Because the Doctor who cast the black magic on me told me.”
Brandon recalled the time he was out and about, busy investigating Lumina’s background.
“It’s been a while, my runaway test subject. Ah, they call you Brandon now, don’t they?”
A figure in a deep black hood approached Brandon.
Even without seeing their face, Brandon immediately knew who it was.
It was the ‘Doctor’.
He was briefly flustered by the sudden appearance of the Doctor, who had vanished six years ago.
He was helplessly defeated.
When he came to his senses, a considerable amount of time had passed. Along with the distinct mark of a curse.
Only a few hazy memories remained, but the Doctor had…
“I’ve poisoned you. If you want the antidote, steal the research data on ancient magic that Duke Heart has been studying. You have one week. If you don’t hand over the data, you will die.”
That’s how he had been threatened.
“Why does he need that?”
“How should I know?”
He must have blurted it out without thinking, as Lumina was looking at him with a questioning gaze.
“I don’t know why I keep talking about this in front of you.”
It must have started after my wound was healed by Lumina’s power.
Just by being near Lumina, he felt a disarming sense of ease, as if he could say anything.
Of course, he was focusing his mind as hard as he could to keep from mentioning any top-secret information he absolutely shouldn’t reveal.
“Have you told Olivia about this?”
“No. How could I?”
Lumina realized why Olivia, who had been so devoted to the ducal family, had betrayed Lucius.
*‘To save her husband.’*
It wasn’t for nothing that Olivia held the position of a competent aide. She was quick-witted.
Even if she didn’t know now, it was only a matter of time before she noticed something was off.
*‘It’s obvious that if Olivia questioned him sternly, he’d confess just like this, as if he couldn’t help it.’*
She didn’t have to see it to know.
“Have you looked for an antidote?”
“Of course I have. But I couldn’t even identify the poison, as if he made it himself.”
“In that case, maybe I can do something, just like how I treated your wound last time.”
“Your ability is to heal after transferring the wound, right? Can you control it perfectly?”
“I can, to some extent, with injuries.”
“That’s for external wounds; this is an internal toxin. What will you do if you accidentally transfer the black magic as well?”
As he said that, Brandon studied Lumina’s expression.
Lumina looked like she knew nothing about ancient magic.
It was the same as when he had shown her the Doctor’s face.
With an ability like Lumina’s, the Doctor would have kept her by his side.
Having actually lived as one of the Doctor’s test subjects as a child, Brandon was now completely convinced that Lumina was not one of the Doctor’s subordinates.
“Besides, you promised the Captain you wouldn’t use your ability on anyone other than Karayan.”
Since it was dangerous, he didn’t want to involve Lumina, who was still so young.
“I’d rather die than become a traitor.”
A loyalty that dedicated one’s life to their master.
A unique ability useful for gathering information. The competence to earn Duke Heart’s trust.
And even a heart that cherished his family.
His lips seemed a little loose, but all things considered, Lumina found herself liking Brandon.
“Don’t give up on your life so easily.”
“…”
“Why can’t you think of it the other way around? As your wife, Olivia would do anything to save you.”
Even if it meant being branded a traitor, even in death.
Just as Brandon was trying to protect his family out of love, Olivia would also brave any danger because she loved him.
“You’re very human for a Legion. But there’s no other way. Either I become a traitor, or I just die. It’s one or the other.”
Lumina pondered deeply with a serious expression.
In the end, would Olivia betray Lucius for Brandon’s sake, as if by a fixed destiny, leading to both of their deaths?
*‘If she had betrayed him out of genuine malice, it would be one thing, but she had no choice if she wanted to save her family. The antidote. If only there was an antidote…’*
Lumina wanted to forge a new destiny, just as she had changed her own future of being betrayed by her relatives.
Pulling up various memories, Lumina crouched down and touched the liquid on the floor with her finger.
To be precise, it had a texture closer to pudding than liquid.
“The black magic just seems to be a binding spell, so all you need is to get the antidote within the time limit, right?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s simple. There’s a way.”
“What? That’s impossible. If you’re thinking of using your ability as a Legion…”
“No. I have another way.”
“Me stealing the information?”
“Not that either.”
Lumina said firmly.
“Then what is it? Don’t tell me you’re going to get the antidote? It’s impossible. The person who made the poison is a genius.”
“A genius? That’s great. More importantly, Mister.”
Lumina stood up, smiled, and approached Brandon.
“Do you have some money?”
“Uh, huh? Uh…”
“Great! Then give it to me.”
And with that, she confidently shook him down for his money.
