After Demian came back, Lara heard from him about Valentine's hideout.
Her prediction was right.
Valentine still could not break away from his vicious master. He made fake potions, sold them as aphrodisiacs, and dedicated all the profits to his master.
“So, he’s a panhandler.”
Lara concluded that the future alchemist was a panhandler. She waited for him the next day, at the same time, with the carriage parked at the same place.
It continued to rain even after a day.
Konny complained with a sigh, saying that the laundry didn’t dry because it was too humid. Demian was looking out of the window without saying a word.
Valentine showed up a little late. Dressed in a large raincoat, he began the auction, moving back and forth from carriage to carriage.
Demian mumbled.
“He’s limping.”
Lara clung to the window and looked at the place Demian pointed at. As he said, Valentine was walking with a critical limp.
“He must have gotten hit a lot.”
“He’s coming this way.”
Lara’s carriage was the last one.
Valentine approached the window, knocked three times, and asked the same question.
“How much?”
Lara turned her eyes and looked at Demian. Then, he nodded without hesitation and asked Lara.
“Should I catch him?”
“Yes.”
He opened the carriage door.
The sound of the rain, which also sounded loud inside, filled their eardrums even louder.
Demian grabbed Valentine by the back of his neck and lifted him up. He pushed Valentine in with the damp rainwater through the open door.
Valentine was too flustered to even scream. He was dragged into the carriage like luggage and came face to face with Lara.
Demian closed the door and asked Lara.
“Should I cover his mouth?”
“No. He can’t scream.”
Lara said calmly.
If his master found out that he caused a disturbance, he might end up with more than just a broken leg.
Just as she said, Valentine did not scream.
He only sat back in the corner of the carriage, looking alternately at Lara, Demian, and Konny.
Lara opened her mouth first.
“Valentine.”
“W-who are you?”
“You should ask me first how I know your name.”
“Why are you doing this? Who are you?”
“I’m someone who could go to the watchmen station with the aphrodisiac that you sold me yesterday and tell them to investigate it because it was made by a black sorcerer’s apprentice. I can even hand you over to them.”
Valentine’s face turned pale.
One ought to feel sorry for him with the way his whole body trembled, but Lara still talked to him in a dull and calm voice.
“Did you learn black magic?”
“N…no.”
“Don’t lie. I know your master is a black sorcerer.”
He trembled as if he was having a fit.
He looked at Lara with his mouth moved slightly. As if asking how she knew about that with only his facial expressions.
“Why did you make this potion?”
“To…to earn money.”
“Why?”
“My father is sick and my mother has left the house. So my siblings are starving back at home…”
“Don’t lie.”
He seemed to have a habit of lying. How many people has he deceived so far, to the point that whenever he opened his mouth, lies poured out smoothly?
Lara pointed out the truth once again.
“You were a guttersnipe. So your master picked you up and raised you. You have no talent that you can’t even make a contract with a low-level demon. That’s why you’re panhandling every day.”
“Who in the world are you, milady?”
He asked.
It was a trembling, yet powerful voice.
It was as if he was thinking that since he was caught, he should at least know about Lara’s identity before he died.
Lara took a glance at Demian and said to Valentine.
“I will be your employer from now on.”
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Valentine was not easily persuaded.
It was understandable. She showed up in a suspicious way, forced him to get in her carriage, did all his background checks, and used all that to threaten him.
He held out, saying that he would never ever be her subordinate.
He would never change his mind if Lara hadn’t said this.
“I will deal with your master.”
“Pardon? What do you…”
“I will reveal every single detail of your master’s crime so she would never do it again.”
“Are you serious?”
“You are already planning to run away. You think that you might be abandoned anytime. So when there’s someone like me who wants to help you, then you get out of there as soon as possible.”
Even though Valentine was a grown-up young man, he was still beaten by his master every day.
Taming was a scary thing.
What he feared the most in the world was being abandoned by his master and then silenced by death.
“So if you, I mean, when you become my employer… What should I do?”
“Just do whatever you want.”
“Excuse me, but there’s nothing I’m good at. Master always said to me that I’m good for nothing. She was wrong to pick me up, I’m just something for her to wreak her anger upon…”
“Let me ask you one thing.”
Their carriage began to get out of the red-light district under the bridge. As he moved further from the familiar place, Valentine’s face became more relaxed.
Lara asked him.
“When you are free from your master, what do you want to do the most?”
Valentine, who was sitting with his head bowed down, raised his eyes.
When he saw Lara’s eyes looking straight at him, he unknowingly opened his mouth and answered the question.
“Business.”
“Then do that.”
Lara nodded.
Valentine was just amazed by Lara.
He rambled that he was just following Lara in her carriage in an unguarded moment, but he could not tell whether this was a dream or reality.
He felt like he had to shake them off right away and go back to his master. But at the same time, he felt that if not now, this opportunity would never come again.
After that, the words Valentine managed to bring up were surprisingly about his worries for Lara.
“Hey, be careful. My master is really scary.”
“My escort knight is way scarier.”
Lara was confident.
In return for her trust, Demian grinned and mumbled.
“Thanks, Lara.”
They moved quickly and returned home.
Then, they informed Isadora of all that had happened.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
“He sold aphrodisiacs?”
“Yes.”
“They found a black sorcerer?”
“Yes.”
Isadora asked again every time she was briefed on what Lara found out.
It was inevitable because it was such unbelievable information.
“Milady said that she wants to use this as a weapon to make it easier for you to divorce Marquess of Bailey.”
“What? I mean… She investigated this so I can get a divorce with my husband?”
“Yes, she’s really extraordinary.”
Sebastian marveled at and admired Lara.
However, Isadora said that as a mother she could not help but worry about the negative impact on Lara when it was disclosed to Hautean that Marquess of Bailey was deeply involved with the black sorcerer.
She was hesitating.
Sebastian tried his best to persuade her, but she was adamant.
“Is divorce the only answer? I would rather report this case to the royal family or the temple and ask them to dispose of this matter in secret. Then, it can end without Lara getting hurt.”
“That’s impossible. The Temple of Glory has long colluded with them and the royal family will never hide about this incident. Rather, they would exaggerate the report about this incident. After all, this is a good opportunity for them to keep the temple in check.”
“What about letting my husband pay for his crimes, but we don’t get a divorce?”
“Milady said she wanted to throw away everything she inherited from the Marquess of Bailey.”
Sebastian tried to speak as objectively as possible.
He thought he should not interfere in other people’s family relationships. So he was going to stop persuading with just conveying what Lara said and leave all the decision-making to Isadora. If only Isadora hadn’t said anything that he could not possibly agree with, he would have bowed politely and stepped back as usual.
“What have you done to that young kid…”
“Pardon?”
He asked back in surprise. Then, he gushed in a slightly out-of-character agitated tone.
“Ma’am, you’re probably the only one in this world who thinks milady is still a young kid. She’s all grown-up now.”
“She’s still a baby in my eyes.”
“Milady is not just a young kid. She’s more like an adult kid.”
“Is that an insult?”
“What I mean is she’s wise and fearless. Such a person is the scariest.”
Lara had a deep and careful, but bold look. It was a sudden change that happened one day, but it happened anyway.
There was no way her mother, Isadora, did not realize that.
Sebastian was serious.
“If milady said she would throw her family away, then she means what she said. If she said she wants both of you to get a divorce, she means it. I’m telling you once again, she’s already an adult. Even if you’re her parent, you should not make assumptions and judge what she’s feeling.”
“I see.”
Tap tap.
Isadora tapped her desk steadily. It was her habit that popped up whenever she was deep in thought.
Lara was young. She was still young until just recently.
She was so weak and emotional that she cried and disinvited Isadora from her coming-of-age ceremony when she was informed that Isadora would leave Bailey Manor.
But why did she suddenly change?
It seemed that Lara just went through something serious, but it was frustrating because she could not figure out what that was. It didn’t seem that she would answer even if Isadora asked about it.
Tap tap.
After much consideration, until the tip of her fingernail was tingling, she managed to make a decision.
“Sebastian.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Call Demian.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Attack and capture that black sorcerer. Tell Demian to gather the evidence from her hideout. Our trading company's mercenaries are in the capital, tell them to go with him.”
“Are you talking about the wolves?”
“Yes. I’m going straight to the watchmen station to file a formal report about this.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sebastian bowed politely.
Leaving Isadora’s office at a rapid pace, he ordered a servant to call Demian, while quickly getting into the carriage to go to the place where the trading company’s mercenaries were.
Then, as soon as he took a seat, he took out his notebook and began writing Valentine’s exclusive employment contract, as requested by Lara.
