53 – The Trial of the Evil Woman
I just came to Shael’s room as usual. But Shael is glaring at me. For no reason.
Is it obvious, considering what happened yesterday?
First of all, I asked Shael. With an embarrassed face.
“Why is that?”
“⋯Are you asking because you don’t know?”
I was silent. Certainly, it is true that I was wrong about yesterday.
Because I ordered Sael, who had no choice but to obey my words with strange juice, to put strange words in the snake’s beads.
But I am confident. Anyway, it was Shael who brought out the strange juice first. It wasn’t because I wanted to eat.
“Now, return the snake orb.”
“⋯I don’t like it.”
Sael did not give up easily despite my rejection. Well, it has to be. Because Shael’s dark history is stored there.
I made up my mind to attack Shael.
“Come to think of it, I remember why you tried to feed me the sap of the tree of obedience.”
“⋯.”
“You said you did it because you wanted to know if I liked you.”
Shael was silent for a moment. Even if I were Shael, I would have shut up in her shame. Then Shael erased her silence.
“Because of the alcohol, I don’t remember what happened yesterday.”
That couldn’t be true. Just a moment ago, Shael had been scolding me for returning the snake beads.
“I don’t even know what the sap of the tree of obedience you mentioned is.”
Shael told me. As if he had forgotten even the juice of the tree of obedience he was trying to feed me.
That must be a lie too. His face stiffened and his eyes rolled back. Because Sael’s habit of telling lies was showing on her face.
This time, that habit became more prominent.
“You don’t remember anything except the wine you drank.”
Shael nodded her head.
It was a pity to watch, and the acting was not good enough. I decided to torment Shael to the fullest.
“Did you know that when you get drunk, you tell your true feelings?”
“⋯⋯ Why is that all of a sudden?”
I sent her ridicule to Shael and told her clearly.
“He begged me not to cheat on me.”
“⋯⋯I didn’t say that.”
Still, Shael was continuing her own acting. I was laughing under my breath at such a Shael.
I said, barely holding back her laughter that was about to leak out.
“Then do you remember what we said after that?”
“⋯.”
Shael shook her head. This too must be smoke.
So prepare for the next attack. This time, I will completely destroy the evil woman’s performance. Because there is solid evidence.
ㅡ⋯⋯ I like it.
ㅡSa, I love you.
The sound of Shael talking. It was the sound that originated from the snake’s beads. At this, Shael made a puzzled expression.
As if I really couldn’t remember those words. It was an amazing acting skill different from just before.
“No way, are you going to get away with this?”
“⋯⋯There is no way I would say something like that. Please give me the snake beads again.”
She is shameless even in front of solid evidence. To the point where I couldn’t bear to watch with both eyes open.
I wonder if I really forgot, maybe it’s because of my mood.
* * *
The day after drinking alcohol with Eran.
Shael got up from her bed, clutching her throbbing hair.
‘Something happened yesterday⋯⋯.’
I drank with Eran. I remember that it was to feed Eran the tree sap of her submission.
And how did you do it?
-‘⋯So, drink it quickly.’
You handed over the tree juice of obedience to Eran. Eran received it. And Eran would have drank it.
From Sael’s memories.
Of course that wasn’t true, but⋯⋯.
Sael was convinced of this, and began to mull over the events that followed. But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t remember.
But there was a way to find out.
Shael got up from his seat and started looking for the snake’s beads. After feeding Eran the tree juice of obedience.
I was trying to record all of Eran’s words through the snake beads.
However, the snake beads were nowhere to be seen.
“⋯Ah.”
It was then that a scene popped into Sael’s mind. He is handing the Serpent Orb to Eran.
Drunk Shael must have fallen for Eran’s pun and had the snake’s orb taken away.
Eran was fed the juice of the Tree of Obedience, so if Shael just said something, he would have been able to get it back, but ⋯⋯.
That would have been impossible. Because Sael at that time was drunk and not normal.
As soon as Eran arrived, Shael spoke to him.
“Now, return the snake orb.”
There was no way Eran would listen to that.
“Come to think of it, I remember why you tried to feed me the sap of the tree of obedience.”
“⋯.”
“You said you did it because you wanted to know if I liked you.”
You fed Eran with the juice of the tree of obedience, and then even said that?
Shael hated himself in the past when he was drunk. He didn’t do anything well
He foolishly blew that good opportunity.
No, actually, there was only one thing I remembered.
-‘I’m not having an affair, so you don’t have to worry.’
But that was all. It must have been what Eran said after drinking the tree juice of obedience, but it was a harvest in its own way…
That was a result that was not enough for using the juice of the tree of obedience.
At that time, Eran said to Shael.
“He begged me not to cheat on me.”
“⋯⋯I didn’t say that.”
Obviously, I wouldn’t have. Please. Eran looked at Shael in agony and laughed.
It was next that Eran took out the snake’s marble with a slight smile.
ㅡ⋯⋯ I like it.
ㅡSa, I love you.
Shael’s voice coming from the snake’s orb. Until yesterday, that snake’s orb belonged to Shael.
In other words, those words from the snake beads were recorded while drinking with Eran yesterday.
And snake beads cannot be manipulated.
“⋯.”
Shael couldn’t help but panic. I don’t know why I spit out those words.
No matter how drunk he is, there’s no way Shael would spit out such words.
I was just denying it. While brainwashing himself that the snake’s beads are strange.
* * *
And again the next day.
Shael woke up feeling tired. She couldn’t sleep, recalling the conversation she had with Eran when she fed him the juice of the Tree of Obedience.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with an answer. It’s just that his head is pounding.
There is no harvest despite hard work. Just as Sael was about to give up trying to bring her memories back, a memory popped into her head.
The memory of hugging Eran. It began to emerge in Shael’s mind in detail.
I shook my head and tried to clear my thoughts, but even that was no use.
I remembered the feeling of burying her face in Ran’s chest.
It was too vivid a memory to be an illusion.
“⋯⋯Why.”
Why the hell would you do that?
Not only that. Even in the snake beads that Eran had told him about, Shael did something strange.
I hate to believe it, but Eran said ⋯ and she even begged Eran not to cheat on her.
At that time, Eran’s words came to Shael’s mind again. As if Eran was by his side, vividly.
-‘Did you know that when you get drunk, you tell your true feelings?’
A word I saw in the book. Soon, Shael shook her head.
She vowed that the next time she went to Azbel’s library again, she would tear up the pages of that book as well.
Shael finished her preparations and looked at her watch. Eran will come early today.
I woke up late from sleeping there, and the clock pointed to the time Eran would come.
“⋯.”
But Eran doesn’t come. Even though the time for Eran to come had already passed.
To be honest, only a little bit of time had passed, but to Shael, the difference was significant.
At this, Shael was convinced. Since she has no one to bully, Ran is looking forward to it because she is bored.
It’s clear. There is no other reason than that.
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The sound of a door opening. Shael spoke without even checking the door. Because it was obvious who came in.
“It’s late.”
Shael’s dissatisfied words. Normally, a strange excuse would have come back as the answer.
But this time it was different.
“Eran can’t come today.”
It’s not Eran’s voice full of excuses. It was Duke Jespen’s voice. Shael reflexively opened her mouth.
“⋯⋯ Why?”
“You seem to be suffering from a high fever. He told me he might not be able to come tomorrow.”
Is Eran suffering from a high fever?
Shael got up right away from her seat. In her head, she chewed over the words the Azbel family pharmacist had said.
-‘First of all, the body gets weak ⋯ and sleeps a lot. When things get worse, I have a really bad fever.’
-‘After suffering from such a fever, I feel strangely healthy.’
──And after that.
-‘⋯⋯ Will die within a week.’
An ordeal I thought would never come. It was coming to Shael.