“……what do you mean?”
Isabel, she was laughing.
“I think I heard ‘something’ last night.”
‘Did she know I went after her? Or that I went into her room?’
Nicole chose. Isabel took the knife in her hand and looked at the blade gently. Nicole was nervous for a moment.
“What’s wrong, Isabel?”
“I’m going to cut some bread. This blade is sharp enough, right?
Isabel hummed and said, as if she’s about to cut bread. Nicole smiled inwardly and replied calmly.
“Actually, I have something to tell you, I went near your room and came back.”
“What do you want to say to Isabel?”
“Yeah……actually, I wanted to apologize to you.”
Isabel’s eyes got bigger.
“What apology?”
“I’m sorry I asked you to help me with the kitchen work. I must have been exhausted for a while because the housework was so hard. You’re still young……. Of course, as your older sister who is a year older than you, I should try harder.”
Isabel blinked at Nicole, who became as simple as before.
“You don’t have to help me with the kitchen. I’ll do a lot of herbal trimming, too. Don’t worry, go and get some more rest.”
“As expected, you’re the best! Isabel can’t live without Sister.”
“Don’t mention it. By the way, I prepared a present for you after breakfast. You’ve been wearing those clothes since last year.…. You don’t have to go out, but I want you to try on pretty clothes. It’s made of muslin cloth that Father got me.”
“Where is it? I can’t wait to see it. My clothes!”
“I’ll give it to you after we eat. And you can go to the flower garden this afternoon to play. I’ll give an excuse to Mother that you and I are going to harvest some herbs.”
Isabel’s lips twitched. The grin gave Nicole goose bumps on the back of her hand.
“Ah- As expected. You’re the best. Thank you so much. You know, Isabel will pick a pretty flower for you. Something very shiny.”
Isabel hugged Nicole tightly like a child.
“But you have to go secretly. If you get caught by Mother, you’ll be locked up in the warehouse again.”
Isabel’s face stiffened at the word warehouse.
Their parents loved their children infinitely.
But they were also people who could do anything to protect their children.
It is not easy to lock up and raise children at their prime at home.
Their mother and father immediately locked their children in the warehouse if they went out without permission or did not listen.
The warehouse was a very dark and terribly humid place. The mere thought of going there gave her goosebumps.
“But she’s sick.”
“Mother may not be able to punish us but once Father comes back, he will. So, be careful.”
Today, Nicole intentionally gave Isabel a break.
Free time to go anywhere. Nicole will use that gap to follow Isabel.
꧁꧂
Breakfast is over. Nicole removed the herbs from the room with an expressionless face.
At this time, Nicole’s pharmacological skills were far lower than Isabel’s.
She lacked the strength to study because she did a lot of housework, and she was not sure if pharmacology would be useful because she was not a healer. So she neglected her lessons.
But Nicole was smart. She quickly learned the books she read when she started studying again after getting married.
‘Why didn’t I know the value of these drugs at this point in my previous life?’
Now she knew how to make a lot of extinct drugs. One of them was a mysterious power.
꧁꧂
“Well, I’m wearing new clothes. I feel good. The weather is nice.”
Isabel, dressed in her new clothes, stamped her feet pleasantly. Moreover, the clothes smelled as good as they could be.
‘She put a lot of thought into it. Stupid fool does something pretty cute today. We’re going to go our separate ways anyway, but I will miss that fool sometimes.’
That’s a common phrase.
Isabel thought. Then she started heading somewhere with a basket of herbs.
In about 20 minutes.
Glittering powders began to shine on the floor along the path Isabel took.
Nicole walked along where Isabel did with some time difference.
‘It’s been a while since I made it myself, but I was able to make it perfectly.’
What Nicole made was an object called the tracking incense.
About 20 minutes after the person who was sprayed with this scent walked away, the powder that fell from that person would glisten.
After a certain period of time, Isabel would not know that her path was traced.
However, the effect was only 5-6 minutes, so she had to be fast.
It was true that she had been making new clothes for Isabel since last year.
She didn’t know the clothes she made for her younger sister would be used like this.
It was the last thing she did this morning, putting the tracking incense in her new clothes.
If the scent disappears, the effect of this tracking scent will also disappear.
‘But this road Isabel took……. She’s on her way to the abandoned mine, isn’t she?’
There were abandoned huts around the only abandoned mine in the area.
Where the mana stones were located, precious herbs grew there as well.
However, since it is in the middle of the road over the mountain, vagrants sometimes sit in the cabins, so they did not come here carelessly.
“The tracking incense has been cut off here, but it’s clear from the direction.”
In time, Nicole arrived at a hut at the entrance to the abandoned mine.
The window of the hut was wide open.
Kyaaahahaha.
A familiar sound was coming through the window of the cabin. It was Isabel’s laughter.
Nicole lowered herself and approached the window of the cabin.
Isabel and a woman with faded blonde hair were talking, with big eyes and small build. In addition, she looked very messy.
“How can Isabel come at such a time?”
“Ah, can I meet you only at night? I came because I missed you. Karen.”
Isabel said sweetly. A woman named Karen laughed loudly.
“Anyway, our plan is almost successful now. How about you? Are you cleaning up your pathetic family?”
“Karen, if you say that, Isabel will be scared……. Can I really leave my family?”
“You’re still so naive!”
Nicole realized.
‘I’ve seen that Karen woman in my last life.
‘When I was the Grand Duchess in my last life. The only places I am allowed to go to were Isabel’s house and the temple.’
Even so, if my seizures were too severe, Raul reluctantly let me go.
⟨Please do exactly what I said last time. ……Don’t get caught. And your medicine…… take it.⟩
One day Nicole was lucky.
This is because Raul has an urgent appointment and he will not be able to return home for a month.
She didn’t even care what happened.
The butler said she could go to Isabel’s house as if he was being generous. Nicole visited Isabel with rare delight.
But there, she has another guest. Isabel lowered her voice and was whispering and talking to the woman in the room.
It was a woman with short hair and a revealing dress. Nicole has never seen such a woman in such a racy outfit before.
⟨Isabel? You have a guest?⟩
Isabel’s eyes widened when she saw Nicole.
Soon after, she smiled an innocent smile and introduced her as an employee of a store she often called to buy things.
At that time, Nicole let it go without thinking much. Now that she thinks about it…….
‘Karen will work as a close aide to Isabel a few years from now.’
In addition, in her last life, Isabel boasted that she was rich to Nicole, who was in prison.
She may have done a lot of things, starting with stealing Grace’s property. Then it’s not a lie she was rich.
‘How long has she known Isabel since? I don’t think they’ve been together for a long time.’
Nicole kept eavesdropping on their conversation.
The woman named Karen kept drinking cheap wine.
By putting the gibberish together, Nicole could see the situation.
Karen wandered here and there with her own brother and sister and got into this place. Then she happened to meet Isabel, who was harvesting herbs.
Just as good people easily recognize each other, evil people often recognize each other at a glance. They hit it off right away.
The mountains during summer was a good place to live for homeless people. Because it was colder here than down the mountain and there was no danger of being killed by wild animals.
Isabel made them hallucinogens to win their favor, and told her about Grace.
Soon the three put their heads together and set up a plan to rob Grace.
‘What I expected is right. They’re going to accuse Grace of being a witch and rob the mansion…….’
But why didn’t Isabel run away with them in her last life, when it’s obvious it was her plan?
Nicole could easily guess why.
‘After hearing the secret of the Yveschapel family, she thought about it for a few days and changed her mind. She reported our existence to the Imperial family, planned to kill me, and somehow she tried to become the Grand Duchess.’
Nicole laughed bitterly. However, the words that followed made her mouth cold.
“I heard you’re being held and bullied. That kind of mother should disappear. You worked on that medicine as I advised, didn’t you?
“Yes, Karen’s advice is very helpful to Isabel. Isabel is so happy. I’d be sad if my mother died, but……. But there’s nothing we can do. How do I change my destiny?
Medicine?
Around this time, Isabel was playing an important role in making Mother’s medicine.
‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
Mother was giving Isabel the recipe to make her medicine.
‘Did Isabel, who already made this evil plan without difficulty, do something at Mother’s medicine?
‘It’s true that Mother’s disease is a lung disease. But…’
All kinds of secrets were handed down to the Yveschapel family.
It was mainly medicine with special effects, painkillers, and medicine to treat injuries. There were even many recipes for poison.
But there were no drugs to cure a disease.
‘We had to buy lung disease medicine from afar. Father searched everywhere for good medicines for lung disease.’
Father’s outings became more and more frequent.
He needed money to buy medicine from afar. Naturally, they had to sell herbs more often.
‘Mother’s been losing more and more strength…….’
By that, who gained freedom?
♥♥♥
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