Chapter 12

⟨Isabel, it’s true that Mother was a great pharmacist. But she didn’t teach us how to make an ancient poison or anything like that. How on earth did you learn to make the poison of the night?⟩

⟨Sister… Actually, I found a place where Mother hid secret books. I studied the books secretly and studied them under my room, underground. You know, when we lived in an abandoned house. There were secret spaces all over the house. There was such a space in the basement of my room……. You didn’t know, did you?⟩

Why did Isabel say it so easily?

‘It’s best to mix truth and lies properly to deceive others. She was trying to trick me into using the poison of the night.’

Nicole now seemed to be able to understand some of Isabel’s ways of thinking.

Nicole felt her hand over the carpet under the bed. Last year, Father managed to buy it by selling herbs at the village market.

When she lifted the carpet, she saw a small handle on the floor.

‘So there’s really a secret space?’

Nicole climbed down the ladder. She could see the inside when she lit the light. The space was larger than she thought and it was organized comfortably.

‘Forbidden books, and lots of herbs…….’

The most surprising thing was not that.

‘Perfectly organized interior. Isabel cleaned this space herself?’

Isabel was the one who always fell or got hurt just by doing small chores. Nicole was dumbfounded.

“What is this silver brooch?”

By this time they were really poor. They are unable to afford such a thing.

There were new laces, brooches and shiny opal rings. They were ostentatiously placed in a small cabinet.

In addition, the type of herb hanging there was shocking.

‘These are all poisonous plants, right? I don’t think it’s been long since this dried.’

Nicole smelled it. Even with her eyes closed, she knew how to distinguish herbs and grasses growing in this mountain.

‘It’s a white snake grass. Why did she pick so many dangerous herbs?’

Nicole thought as she looked at the herbs hanging in several bundles.

It was then. Very quietly, the door was opening.

Nicole raised her head. Is Isabel back?

‘It’s a relief that I put the carpet back in place and closed the door when I came in.’

Nicole reflexively hid herself under the desk. And she turned off the lamp that she brought.

Squeak, squeak.

Someone was stepping on the floor and coming into the room.

Soon Isabel’s cheerful voice rang overhead.

“Oh, today is an important day, so I can’t skip this. I have to take it.”

Nicole stopped breathing.

“But it’s weird, huh?”

Isabel murmured loudly.

“Did I leave the door open to the basement? The carpet–”

“…….”

“It’s a bit crooked”

Bulk. Slap. Slap.

The urgent sound of footsteps came overhead.

Dururek, bureuk.

The basement door opened. Isabel turned her head upside down, smiled, and pushed her head into the secret door.

Bright light poured in. Isabel’s eyes glistened through the open basement door.

“Who is it? Who entered pretty Isabel’s studio like a rat—?”

Isabel slowly hung the light down.

“I have to catch and kill the rat. Isabel is fragile and pretty, but she has a lot of poison.”

Nicole didn’t budge. Soon Isabel looked up.

“Fufu, Isabel is also a joker. Who’s going to come in here? All my family must be sleeping.”

Isabel then added quietly.

“What do those idiots know?”

Her tone gave Nicole goosebumps on the back of her hand.

‘That tone is the same as Isabel’s tone that mocked me in prison before I died in my previous life.’

A clear voice with a creepy look that is devoid of innocence.

Isabel leaned over the ladder.

She grabbed one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling and pulled up a bunch of closely dried white snake grass like a trick.

So she held the grass in her arms and took care of it.

“Then, I’ll be back.”

Isabel said to herself. And there was a sound of closing the door.

꧁꧂

‘I need to know what Isabel is up to. Where is she going now?’

Nicole took a moment to go outside.

“Footprints.”

Nicole leaned over. There was a trail of dirt near the doorway.

If she goes to the right with her back to the low yard door, there is a deeper forest, and if you go to the left, there is the entrance to the village.

Their parents never let them near this road.

Needless to say, Isabel would have gone left.

‘If she didn’t, it can’t be helped. First of all… I should go.’

Nicole began to tiptoe.

While walking along the street, Nicole noticed a shaking light in the distance. It was a mana-powered lamp.

Isabel, she was walking far away.

Fortunately, Nicole moved very quietly. Her lamp was not even on. Thanks to this, she was able to keep Isabel from seeing her.

It was not easy to walk stealthily in the dark forest depending only on the light in the distance.

It was an experience that she didn’t know if she was following a person or was possessed.

‘It’s really Isabel, isn’t it?’

Fortunately, there was a dirt road built long ago here, so there was no sound of her footsteps.

The light stopped somewhere. Then the clouds cleared and the moon was revealed.

She saw Isabel holding a light through the tall trees.

‘That’s not the way to town, where are we going? It’s a deep forest there. It would be really dangerous.’

Nicole left a moment later and went through tall trees with Isabel.

And Nicole was shocked at the sight.

“Mansion? In a place like this?”

It was a two-story farmhouse mansion that appeared as they walked a little after passing through the dense trees.

Isabel bent down and felt somewhere in the fence with her hand.

Nicole peeped at the process, hiding behind a tree.

Isabel grinned and opened the door with the key she found in the gap in the fence and went inside.

The door didn’t even open. When Nicole saw Isabel go inside, she carefully followed her in.

‘Where did she go?’

Then there was a rustling sound. It was at the back of the mansion. Nicole stopped her footsteps and headed there.

It wasn’t a person who made the rustling sound. It was the livestock in the barn.

Nicole hid behind the barn and looked forward.

“Fufu, enjoy your meal. There you go. You eat well. You have to eat well for me to achieve my goal.”

She whispered

It was a very small voice that seemed to be hallucinating. Isabel was throwing something at the cows’ culls as she was grinning.

Nicole almost screamed.

Looking at it carefully, it was the white snake grass that Isabel packed a bunch of.

‘Are you feeding the cows at someone else’s house with white snake grass?’

White snake grass was no big deal when people ate it directly.

But the problem was the cow that ate the white snake grass. Cows produce milk that is drunk by imperial people the most everyday.

However, milk squeezed from cows that ate white snake grass is poisonous.

The person who drinks the milk experiences severe stomach aches and headaches. Such constant consumption of contaminated milk can lead to death. It was called the milk of death.

‘I don’t know who lives in this mansion, but is Isabel trying to kill the people in this mansion?’

Or maybe…….

Nicole bit her lip.

“Hehe, hehe. There’s not much time left.”

Isabel smiled quietly and left the place excitedly.

Nicole came out of her hiding place a long time later. She looked around the mansion.

It’s a place that takes about 20 minutes to walk from home. A mansion hidden in the forest at the entrance of the village that takes an hour…….

“Like a fortress, a secret place hidden among trees. I didn’t know there was a place like this here.”

Nicole was like in a dream.

‘I really didn’t know anything.’

Suddenly, thinking about her past life made Nicole feel weird.

‘Isabel, what the hell are you…….’

It was then. Nicole suddenly felt a splitting headache hit her head.

“Ugh…”

⟨Come on, good sister? Look at this, you idiot. Remember what I say from now on.⟩

A laughing voice

⟨Hey, what if you really die this time?⟩

⟨It’s okay. I want to do it every day if I can. But it’s only possible when the Grand Duke of Valentines is far out. Now, you know who made you like this? Your only brother died. It’s all because of your husband that this pretty Isabel is suffering…….⟩

“What? That memory?”

The leaves of the dark garden rustled.

Nicole didn’t even realize that she was walking until a moment later. The wind was blowing.

‘Where am I?’

And when she came to her senses, Nicole realized she was standing in a dark path.

“Ah…”

A light came on from her back.

“Was I in a panic just now?”

It was a very small altar that caught Nicole’s eyes in confusion.

Purple flowers were in full bloom around the altar.

‘Is this… a memorial altar?’

A memorial altar on a white platform

The altar was filled with white flowers. Next to it, items such as a small music box, small dolls, and books were placed.

‘It’s a memorial altar made for a young person who died.’

During the Great Depression, Nicole had seen similar altars. Sometimes she was allowed to go out, so she went to the temple instead, and there was an altar like this set up for a young priest.

‘Is there anyone in this house who died young?’

Nicole leaned over.

“Who’s there?”

Nicole rose from her seat in surprise. It was a strange voice.

Someone was walking in from behind the mansion.

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