Chapter 51

“This…”

He couldn’t speak properly. But that wasn’t important now. Something was wrong with his hair. Actually, it was more like his physical appearance. It was like…

“Ugh!”

As he screamed, he screamed at himself in the mirror. His mouth was weird too. There was a trail of blood running down his face.

“Ah!”

There was no tongue in his mouth which screamed. Why don’t I have a tongue?

Anton was appalled and suddenly a bright light appeared. It was dazzling, yet understanding the current situation was more important. Anton strained his eyes and looked in the direction of the light. It was coming through the open door.

“Ah!”

Anton screamed once again. Soon after, an unknown man walked through the door and approached him. Anton was scared, but his anger was greater than his fear. Who dares?!

The man walked past him, and Anton didn’t take his eyes off him. The man lit the fireplace. He did such a ridiculous thing and didn’t acknowledge Anton. After finding out who Anton was, the man would be surprised and kneel. It’s fine that my tongue was cut off.

With the alchemist’s medicine, his wounds would heal quickly. Alchemy. Yes, a cut tongue is nothing before an alchemist.

As soon as Anton remembered that, the remaining fear he had disappeared in an instant. A weird wound on his head or tongue could be quickly healed.

Anton waited until his opponent showed his face. He wondered what kind of crazy person did this nonsense. The unknown man turned around. In the flickering light of the fire, his face slowly revealed itself.

What? The moment Anton saw the man’s face, he couldn’t hold back a scream.

“Aaah!”

Frowning, the man said, “Too loud. Please be quiet for a while. I’m a kind person who decided to keep you alive.”

“Ugh!”

The man approached Anton, looked at his mouth, and said, “You can’t speak, but it doesn’t hurt. Amazing, isn’t it?” The man clicked his tongue and grabbed Anton’s chin. “Don’t struggle. The wound on your head is still open.”

Connecting something to Anton’s arm, he continued, “Stay calm. I have to go now.”

“Ugh!” Anton shouted and cursed at his ridiculous opponent, but he couldn’t say anything meaningful.

The man walked farther and farther away from Anton.

Anton stomped his feet. He shook his hold body; however, his bindings were never removed. Don’t go!

The man left the room and the door began to close. Anton shouted with all his remaining strength. That man shouldn’t have done this. But Anton’s cry was of no use. Soon, the door closed completely.

Still, Anton couldn’t stop struggling. Because that man’s face was just like Anton’s.

“Ah!”

The futile struggle continued.

***

Back in the mansion, Juno headed to the workshop where Jupiter and Peter were.

“Teacher?”

Peter welcomed her as usual. “Juno.”

She also greeted Jupiter. “Jupiter, you were with him?”

“Yes.”

Juno looked between the two. “What were you doing?”

Jupiter replied as if it was nothing. “I was asking what it was like to do research. It’s interesting.” As Juno looked at the object in Peter’s hand, Jupiter held her hand and asked, “How did it go?”

When Juno found out the two were planning something, she was suspicious of Jupiter’s behavior but didn’t show it. He would tell her when the time comes.

She replied, “Easy like always.” Juno noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Hebe? I don’t see him a lot these days.”

It wasn’t just today. It was hard to see Hebe at all.

Peter answered her question. “He’s with Lily.”

Juno furrowed her eyebrows. “Is he getting close to her?”

Peter replied, “Sure.”

“I told him not to.”

She was worried about Hebe. She didn’t know when anything or what would happen, so he couldn’t get too attached.

As Juno turned around, Jupiter asked, “Are you going to find him?”

“I suppose so. Aren’t they too close?”

Jupiter smiled softly. “If you’re worried, go ahead.”

Juno narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you’re not going to introduce yourself?”

“Yes, for a while.”

“All right.”

Juno knew if she went to Hebe now, she had no choice but to run into Lily; however, since they lived in the same mansion anyway, it was natural to keep bumping into each other. And Juno wanted to meet the child again. It wasn’t that she was worried about the child. It’s not good to keep relating herself to me.

The child was discouraged by the first meeting, so there might still be some awkwardness between them. Somehow, Juno had to find out the difference between Lily and herself and change her opinion about the child. It wasn’t good for her to keep thinking about Lily as is.

Juno, who left the workshop and was near some dolls, slowed down when she heard a laugh. You must be having a lot of fun. As the laughter got closer, Juno felt her body stiffen, but she ignored it. She didn’t like having to prepare herself to see a child.

She took a few more steps and saw Hebe smiling brightly.

Ah. As soon as she saw that smile, Juno couldn’t move anymore. She could tell as soon as she saw it. It wasn’t the bright smile Juno knew.

A thoroughly calculated grin.

Only then did she understand Peter’s response. Peter didn’t answer her question properly. But unlike Hebe, Lily was smiling brightly like she was truly happy.

“Damn it…” Juno clenched her teeth.

Unlike her mother’s family which had problems, her father sometimes gave Juno a fake smile. There was a time when she thought the smile was real, and there was a time when she liked her father. Once again, the younger Juno Trish, who had known nothing, came to mind.

Juno shook her head. I was mistaken.

To meet again and find a difference. Just doing this alone, she found another similarity. If she met the child now, the thoughts in Juno’s mind would become more complicated.

Her initial decision was correct. She shouldn’t run into that child as much as possible.

Juno turned around. Like she was running away from that laugh.

“My lady?”

Juno, who was climbing the stairs quickly, tripped at the sound of the voice from behind her.

“What?”

She could feel her body slowly falling backward. Juno reached for the railing, but couldn’t grab ahold of it. As soon as she felt her body in the air and nothing touching her feet, Juno closed her eyes in anticipation of a collision.

“My lady!”

“Ah!”

Her heart raced; however, it didn’t feel like her body was in the air like before. A pounding heart and a nervous stomach like she was weighed down by something. Juno grasped the situation and heard a familiar voice.

“Are you all right?”

She thought he was far away, but John’s arm wrapped around her waist since he was close. He caught her and stopped her from falling; however, her stomach was in pain because of how tight his grip was.

Juno stood up with John’s help. “Thank you.”

“Be careful.”

Feeling John’s gaze as it slowly checked Juno for any injuries, Juno straightened her posture. It was obvious he would feel bad if she showed her stomach hurt. However, such efforts didn’t seem to work.

Staring at her stomach, John asked, “Are you ill?”

Juno shook her head quickly. “No! I’m fine.”

She changed the subject before John apologized. “Why did you call me?”

“I found out more about the matter we discussed earlier.”

“Huh?” Maybe it was because she saw the child, so she couldn’t remember what she ordered John to do.

He explained himself. “About the disappearance of the insect dolls…”

“Oh, then let’s go to my room.”

Perplexed, John asked, “Are we not going to the workshop?”

Juno laughed as she recalled Peter and Jupiter. “They have a secret, so let’s have our own secret.”

John smiled faintly at Juno’s playful way of speaking, knowing that Peter could hear their conversation from another room if he wanted to.

“Understood. Then you better go to your room and take some medicine.”

Juno nodded as she glanced to the side. Fortunately, her head was clear from what happened prior. She once again pushed Lily and her past self to the back of her mind.

Not yet. Not yet.

Funnily enough, Juno wasn’t ready to face herself from the past.

Back to normal, Juno followed John with a smile and headed to the bedroom. There was so much work to be done right now.

***

As soon as Juno swallowed the medicine given to her by John, she sat down and asked, “What did you find out?”

“I checked when and where the dolls disappeared.”

Juno looked at the map he gave her. The location and the date of the dolls’ disappearances were written down, and the results pointed to one thing.

“This…”

John answered with a nod. “Yes, I think they’ve entered the capital.”

“So… they knew those were dolls and got rid of them?”

“Yes.”

Then there are two cases. The first one was that ordinary people were suspicious about the insect dolls and dealt with them.

“John, would non-alchemists know the insect is a doll?”

“It’s not impossible.”

The dolls and real insects were so similar that they couldn’t be easily distinguished with the naked eye, but if someone were to look carefully, even a normal person would find something odd.

Pressing her head to her aching head, Juno said, “You can tell the difference between an insect and a doll.”

“Because I have good eyes.”

As he said, John was equipped with eyes incomparable to the ones on the market.

“So, if they have good eyes like yours, they can recognize them?”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t see they were normal dolls.”

It was fortunate someone hadn’t figured out the insect dolls were used as spies. If people found out Juno watched everyone with dolls, she would be criticized. No, it was actually good. This was a problem Juno could deal with.

As she continued to imagine the worst-case scenario, John opened his mouth. “It might not be very important.”

“Yet the possibility that it’s a big problem still exists, right?”

“Yes.”

The big problem Juno assumed and John guessed was the second case. The person who got rid of the insect dolls was an alchemist.