Can We Become a Family? - Chapter 36

36. Please Raise Me

Navia opened her eyes with a yawn.

‘Where am I?’

An ominously black space. In it, Navia looked all over the place with trembling eyes.

Am I dead? Did a new life start again?

But the regression was over now.

Throb!

At that time, a blurry pain was felt all over her body, and her confused mind was cleared.

Navia blinked her eyes slowly and calmed down her exhilarating breath.

‘I didn’t die.’

The situation before she fainted passed in her mind.

The rainwater as cold as ice, the bursting floor, muddy water everywhere, and heavy and cold clothes.

The foot that kicked her. The grasp on her neck. A red-eyed man who suddenly appeared.

“Save… me…”

She even committed something she couldn’t understand at the moment.

‘I asked him to save me.’

The ninth life began, and Navia had asked for help countless of times. But they were all necessary and all part of her plans.

It was the first time she sincerely begged for her life.

‘But I lived.’

She thought she was going to die, but she survived.

‘Then, was that man Duke Lark Eseled?

Navia raised her upper body. The space was black all around. A black canopy, a black blanket, black walls, black furniture, and a black floor.

There was only one place like this in the world.

Eseled Duchy. She came in herself.

Navia looked down and saw she was wearing pajamas.

The texture of the fabric was very soft, like it was made of a very high-quality fabric. Just like Vivian’s pajamas.

Then, she checked her body.

‘My wounds were healed and my body was washed too.’

On top of that, for the whole body to have a lot of traces of treatment, the pain was very faint.

“Did they use an anesthetic?”

Anesthesia was a fairly high-priced herb. This was because there were few farms that could cultivated it. In addition, the conditions for getting permission from the Empire were very difficult because they could also be used as a drug.

Courtesy always came at a price.

Navia thought it would be the same again this time. Weren’t they supposed to benefit themselves?

‘I hope so.’

That way, they can negotiate for each other’s benefits.

‘What’s important right now is to proceed with the next work on time anyway.’

Navia checked outside the window. It was still raining.

It always rained without fail for all eight lives. So if there was no change, it would still about a day or so after the day she escaped.

‘Given that there was no exact sign of nursing or an attached maid, it’s likely that it’s the same day.’

Then time was still running in her favor.

Navia checked her wrists.

When she checked the black moon, which had been completely depleted of mana, she felt calm.

‘The black moon is the only thing on my side in this world.’

That alone made Navia feel a little relaxed. Navia stumbled out of bed.

There was a sharp pain all over her body, but she could move this much.

Rather, because of the anesthesia candles, the subtle chronic headaches she always had disappeared, and her mind was satisfyingly clear.

She had a lot to think about. Even though she was out of Agnes, she was still in his sphere of influence.

‘I have to publicize this before Nikan hires an assassin to deal with me or the Imperial family forces me to be their foster daughter.’

The justification was in Eseled, so as long as he held and welded it, she would have more time to escape. In order to do so, she had to succeed in her negotiations with the head of Eseled.

Negotiate for her own safety and benefit Eseled.

Grumble-.

But before that, she was very hungry.

“…I’m hungry.”

Navia grabbed her flat stomach that produced a pathetic sound. She thought that she should relieve her terrible hunger before starting her activities.

‘I need water.’

She was glad that she was used to filling her stomach with water to soothe her hunger.

Navia looked at the table where a kettle of water would be placed.

On the table was a glass bottle full of medicine, water, and sweet snacks.

Navia stared at them.

‘Is it for me to eat?’

It seemed to be so in this circumstance.

She took the medicine first and then drank the water. But she didn’t touch the snacks.

It was just out of habit.

Tok.

Then something hit the cup.

Navia put the cup down and lifted it up. It was the pearl hairpin.

Originally, the hairpin wasn’t suitable for a noble lady. Maybe it was because she acted so harshly now, but the painting was peeling off, making it look even more crude and shabby.

“This hairpin came all the way here.”

If she were in Agnes, she would have thought that it was a good thing she didn’t lose the hairpin.

What about now?

Tak.

Navia walked in front of the window and opened it wide. Then, the cold rain and wind blew in.

The wind and rain blew the black curtains. Navia’s silver hair between the curtains also drifted thought the air.

Between the achromatic colors, her cool red eyes were as clear as blood.

She didn’t need the hairpin now.

She didn’t want anything from them.

‘And soon, I’ll throw away that castle.’

Just like this hairpin.

Navia threw the hairpin.

That’s how the hairpin mixed in with the rain and disappeared.

“Ah.”

The rain froze into snow. Navia looked up in surprise and looked up at the sky.

‘It’s already snowing in November.’

Was this also the effects from the storm?

Navia watched the little snowflakes fly in the wind and then closed the window, hugging her cold body.

She didn’t have any good memories of snow, so she wasn’t as excited as an ordinary child. Navia hated the snow. Likewise, she hated the rain. She hated everything about her death.

‘…I have to see Duke Eseled before it’s too late.’

Navia let go of her miscellaneous thoughts.

Before she grabbed the doorknob to leave the room, the door opened roughly.

Click!

Navia identified her opponent with a slightly surprised look.

Oily brushed black hair, murky eyes, and a superficial and splendid attire to show-off.

‘Count Theorban Alvin.’

Duke Eseled’s cousin.

Navia knew this man quite well.

Not because Theorban was a great figure, but because he had a strong desire to rise in status. He caused many accidents here and there.

‘He was a man who desired money and power and had no basic common sense, let alone manners.’

Theorban was no different from Navia’s memories. From opening the door without knocking, he didn’t show even the slightest sign of embarrassment from Navia, a young child.

Clear and thick hostility flood in with cold air. Navia breathed in slowly.

Did they know who she was?

It was a sense of forging herself sharper.

Navia quickly wore a mid-sheep-like mask and pretended not to recognize Theorban.

“…Nice to meet you. I am Navia.”

Theorban clicked his tongue.

“Tch!”

‘This girl is a prisoner who was captured after attacking the duke.’

It was very unpleasant that such a poor thing was in such a good room, receiving such good treatment, and in a fine state.

“It’s such a spectacle that I don’t take care of the house myself!”

Navia stood motionless, unaware about Theorban’s out-of-the-box roar.

But the inside of her head was busy.

‘Was Theorban Alvin the head of the family?’

The head’s representative.

The position was to be held by a successor or someone of an immediate blood relative.

If you become the representative, you have the authority to handle the work instead of the head when he is unable to perform his original duties.

Such an important position won’t usually be entrusted to Theorban without him going crazy.

‘But Duke Eseled doesn’t have an heir or any other immediate bloodline.’

Consequently, Theorban was forced to act as Eseled’s representative.

As a matter of course, Theorban didn’t perform his duties faithfully on behalf of Lark, who was unable to engage in any external activities.

Thus, Duke Eseled suffered financial difficulties, and this place was about to be thrown over.

‘That’s why I have a chance.’

Navia had an ace up her sleeve to deal with Theorban and intended to negotiate with Duke Eseled.