Nada looked at me as if still not over the fact that I had decided to take my life. I know it very well even if she didn't express her hatred towards me. Because she had always been a person in my life who grew worried whenever I stressed myself out with work. Look, I love devouring myself into these sort of large cases, and if it had a lot of ties to it too.
Not only that, I was always a workaholic.
"Anyways Aefia, do you want have any idea as to how you want to solve the problem now?" Elanor asked while tilting her head to the side. "You are too deep into it to even turn back, so you better know a way to get out of it too."
"Who said I wanted get out of it? I want to solve it." I answered with a confused face. "I actually came here to ask for a favor... Actually two favours." I spoke while scratching the back of my head.
"What is the first one? Or just the biggest one."
"Well, I have met Lewis. While disguised, and I had to make sure he wasn't aware about me being alive." I spoke while looking away and clasping my hands.
"Aefia... What did you do?" Nada asked while stepping forward. The air immediately grew tense.
"I... Framed someone to ensure my identity. But it is just a tiny bit..." I spoke while holding up my fingers to show just how small. My thumb and index making a small gap, while I awkwardly smiled at them.
"What is wrong with you?! Why did you change that much?!" Nada spoke while face-palming herself on the forehead. "Alright, so who?"
I stayed silent for quite some time while pulling my hand back down, then just staring at the floor as I knew I had made a huge mistake.
"Aefia!"
"Countess!"
"Countess who?!"
"Countess... Elanor..." I wished I could just get swallowed by the sofa or just dissappear in thin air.
"What the absolute heck?!"
"Lewis was about to kill himself alright! I wasn't even in my right mind when I jumped down while disguised! You think just anyone would be in their right mind when their siblings try to kill themselves?!" I aggresively answered while huffing and furrowing my brows due to anger. The vision on the forest that night, came flooding back to my eyes as I leaned back and covering them.
"I don't even know why I had not been able to manage the situation well before I left." I muttered to myself while feeling resentment to myself.
Nada settled back down while beside me. She didn't seem to be angry towards me anymore, as she looked away from my direction. "What exactly happened that led you to frame the Countess?" She calmly asked me. This caused me to jolt back to sitting upright and looking at her with confusion. I thought she was going to continue raging at me, however, she just decided to become silent like that. So I just smiled and answered the reason why I did what I had to.
"I actually indirectly framed Elanor. I left very faint hints, but I don't know if he would be able to catch it, so just to make sure, I wanted to inform the rest of you as well." I let out a sigh as I got back to informing them like a news broadcasting channel. I might as well apply for a resume as a news presenter or a weather forecast reader. And I wouldn't even be able to lie about my experience being equivalent to that of ten years of work.
"Since I had been able to change back to my disguise, the one you all know, I knew that I couldn't actually tell him that I was Aefia. So I made up an entire identity and a story about devil and master. Where apparently, I tried to make Elanor seem like the master and myself as a devil who had taken the body of Aefia. And since it was convincing enough, I had to add in a few things like how Elanor hated me and how she wanted me dead because I had killed someone related to her."
"Like how it was said that devils couldn't come alive in a human body unless they had a contractor, I told him that my master was the one who gave me the body. He wanted to meet my 'master', and I declined, so I know for sure that he would start to hunt Elanor down if he finds out accurately. Until here, I had framed Elanor. I swear I didn't step more then this." I looked up at the woman sitting in front of me.
"I understand it. So don't look at me with such worry. Besides, I wanted to know the exactly story in case I met him myself. Afterall, I had been allied to you for some time now, so eventually he would find out that I have been helping you out, right?"
I nodded while gritting my teeth until my jaw groaned. I wasn't angry, I was just anxious.
"I told him that my name was 'Daphne' since that was all I could think of at that time..." I looked away while sensing a laughing Nada beside me.
"The– why are you laughing?! I didn't have a resolve alright!" I looked at her with flustered face due to embarrassement. Before I continued, I hid my face with my hands for a short moment.
What did I honestly expect? I did have a beautiful choice for name. So whatever...
"Added to–"
"Hahahah!"
"Shut up Nada! Get out of this room!"
"No way... Daphne telling me to get out..."
"Ugh!" I took a pillow from beside me and slammed it over my face, then slumping deep into the sofa. I had this cousin with me for some very long time. Will anyone believe me if they saw me?!
"Let her speak Nada. It may be fire the fact when she starts talking about it."
"Nevermind, you all already know about how I had to hide my identity to him. By framing someone as my master and that I was a devil. That is all I wanted to tell you all." I spoke while standing up, then walking towards the door and holding out my hands. "Now is it alright for me to say I want to rest? And that I want everyone out for the sake of god? Although I happened to also be the also who brought you all in without even explaining why in the first place?"
Nada looked at me for a brief moment of silence, and then started to speak again. "Alright. I also want to go to sleep. You all continue your discussion I guess... Good luck explaining your entire life in the form of words Daphne."
Before she left, she patted my shoulder and then ran through the hallway towards her guest room. I let out a long sigh as I shut the door again. I looked at the room one last time before walking back towards the sofa. Finally, after knowing that Nada wasn't going to come back for a second time, I decided to get back into my plans.
"Now that you know about my devil identity, I wanted to speak about my second plan." I explained while keeping an expressionless face at the two others sitting opposite to me. "Now I know for short what the cure to this apocalypse is, but I just don't have the blood sample I need for resting the cure. Can't you somehow manage it from a medical attendant or something?"
Elanor and Cedric turned stunned at my words, as if I wasn't ever going I ask that even in a second life if I ever returned. Then, they both let out a smile and Elanor was the first to start speaking.
"Well this is a very sincere request coming from you. I honestly expected you to be asking about more information from the Mides family and the Imperial palace."
"Am I that stupid? I hate a life too alright. And I want to go rest early so, can I get my answer first?"
"Sure. If you want, I can tell you about the millitary unit that goes on a hunt to infiltrate facilities. There is an empty slot for my house which you can fulfil if you want, and in replacement for your representing my house, I will help you hide your identity from Lewis. How is that?"
"Sounds good then. But does it require an all-time presence? And stuff like training and all?"
"No. It is all just breezy and the only thing you need to do to look out for the infected and take them back to the medical team. However, there is a need for being on-call. It would be best for your own self if you stay all time. Also, I think you would be able to interrogate the Mides proxies when away."
"There are proxies in the military?" I asked out of confusion and excitement.
"The Mides family has surrounded the entire Empire with their people, so that when the time comes, they can instantly have people on their side from many different prospects."
"Oh... Well I knew that they had proxies in the most common places, but to think they have the entire empire infiltrated. Well thanks for the information." I blurted out with a smile. However, inside my mind, I had to be very precautious and secretive.
The last time, the proxies that I had killed and interrogated, all knew me too well. So I have knowledge they would see through my disguise and be a able to instantly tell me appart. This thought itself made me question whether I really cared about my own safety.
"And about what sort of a weapon they use?" I asked while tapping my chin.
"Does it really matter to you? I thought you had skills in wielding both, sword and guns." Cedric spoke, not in a tone of harshness. But out of curiosity and shock. Although the words were like that, it was rather amazement that was more in his tone of voice.
"Yes. Because I need to know about the distance when I try to take the blood sample."
"Why? Can't you take it from a dead body?"
"Not really, because dimenthyl menthyl mercury is a bit dense. I need to know exactly how much of a dosage was injected. That way only can I calculate how long a particular patient would last. Now anyways, I need the blood flowing in a very tense speed to be able to collect the right amount of mercury on blood." I spoke while clasping my fingers tightly.
Elanor turned quiet for a while, as if deep in thought.
"I think you will be able to get what you want whenever you want. I just think that you will struggle a bit, other then that, you shouldn't be concerned of that sort of things when you register. Keep that in mind." She spoke while standing up.
"Wait. So you will consider me in already?" I asked in astonishment, as I jolted to my standing position too. Followed by me, Cedric stood up too.
"Otherwise, I knew that you would have gotten in without a house too. You had some great skills while acting to be an Imperial guard." He spoke while pointing a thumb-up at my direction.
"Huh?!"
"You think the Mides family was the only one with spies around the palace? I sent one of my own to guard each member of the family in your stead. And my spy had told me about your arrival not so long ago. I think just this morning that I got his letter and then in the afternoon you had come to my estate." Elanor answered, to my wordless question. I couldn't do much than to stare blankly at both of them.
"Wait wait wait! I have a stalker?!"
"Aefia. Get some rest. I know you are well-deserved to need it."
"Aren't you even going to ask me about what sort of cure there is to an incurable sickness?!" I asked while racing up to Elanor's place.
She stayed silent for quiet the time, until she blurted out for a bit more. "Before the cure, maybe I should ask about the symptoms." Her smile rubbed off, as she glanced at my serious face. I wanted to let them know about it too, because ever since I had been in this estate, I kind of... Felt something off about her.
"Muscle pain, difficulty doing easy everyday tasks, major headache, vision blur, hearing problems, lose of taste, lose of sensory nerves at arms and legs. Stumbling, walking problems... I can name too much. During the very end, the person dies completely." I added while pointing up my fingers. "And not all symptoms are visible at the same time. So it can occur at times and then dissapear into a new symptom."
Cedric, for some reasons, started to check himself. "I am completely alright. Phew!"
His small remark made me turn to face him, and in that swoft movement, I caught his attention long enough to express a small message.
"Watch this woman."
I didn't really say it or whisper it, but it seemed that just with my facial expression, he understood almost instantly. And he turned serious while stepping up to monitor Elanor besides me.
As expected, she was holding out her own hands and gritting her teeth. Even Cedric could tell something was wrong.
"The Mides family must have infiltrated this mansion too." She spoke out finally. Then, she looked up to look me in the eyes. "So what is needed to find the cure to this illness?"
"I need to enter a certain type of dungoen." I answered while continuing my observations on her. "So what is it that made you think about the Mides family reaching tot his place already?"
"Muscle pain, sensory loss, vision blurring, stumbling. It seems that after my sister's and father left this world, they came after me."
I tilted my head in dissapointment while folding my arms.
"Elanor, by chance, do you suspect someone in particular?"
"Yes." She looked at me more softly this time.
"Do me a favor, call for her." I ordered to Cedric and Elanor while walking out of the room.
"Shit... I always knew this was a possibility. Why did I deny it in the first place?!"