Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 73

73. I’ll Save My Man With My Own Hands

For Leah, Grace’s answer was crucial.

How much guilt had she suffered? Even against her will, she had entered Grace’s body and come to like Terran.

‘Leah Hamilton, you are me. And Grace Bizac is Leah Hamilton.’

‘Pardon?’

At first glance, it sounded simple, but the exact meaning was hard to grasp.

‘Grace, does that mean we are one?’

Leah shouted at her again, but Grace didn’t appear anymore.

Instead, a horrific battlefield appeared before her eyes. Soldiers collapsed in a forest thick with hazy smoke. There were broken carriages and traces of black burns.

‘Terran! Where are you?’

Leah ran barefoot through the forest in her chemise [a simple, lightweight garment]. With every step, her feet caught on corpses.

It was a miserable sight, making it hard to tell whether they were thieves or Terran’s soldiers.

‘I’m here! Answer me!’

She ran aimlessly through the forest. Then, in the distance, she spotted an object dangling from a large tree.

It looked like a person, or maybe an animal. She didn’t want to see it, but she found herself in front of the tree.

‘Eek! Luke!’

Luke’s dead body was hanging from the tree.

Leah screamed and writhed in agony. Why was she in hell?

‘No! Terran can’t be dead.’

Leah shook her head and walked straight ahead.

In a space where she felt nothing, she vowed not to return until she found Terran, even if it meant dying.

Just then, she heard a voice from somewhere.

‘Grace, save… me.’

‘Terran? I’m coming!’

It was definitely his voice. He desperately called for her to save him.

Leah looked around, not knowing where to go. But the problem was that her body wouldn’t move.

‘Why? I have to go to Terran! Please, don’t do this!’

Leafy vines seemed to come alive, binding Leah’s entire body, making it impossible for her to move.

Leah cursed her situation and cried out desperately.

“I have to go to Terran! Eek!”

Leah waved her hands in the air and screamed.

Her whole body was soaked in sweat, and the strong smell of medicine filled the air. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel people watching her.

“My lady!”

“Sister!”

Pauline and Chenelle’s cries. Leah suddenly opened her eyes wide and jumped up.

“Terran? Has there been any news?”

Leah grabbed the two and asked abruptly.

“Not yet, my lady.”

It was James who answered in a calm tone.

Leah unknowingly babbled about the scene she had seen in her dream.

“The soldiers are all dead, Luke’s body is hanging from a tree… Terran asked me to save him.”

“Waaah!”

At Leah’s words, Chenelle burst into tears like a thunderclap. Soon, everyone in the room was either crying with a mournful face or turning away.

Only then did Leah realize that she had had a dream. Now was the time to figure out how to overcome this difficulty.

“Don’t cry, Chenelle!”

Leah shouted fiercely at Chenelle.

“!?”

Chenelle stopped crying as if she had been shocked. Of course, the others were just as surprised. It was unlike her usual behavior. Leah pondered for a long time.

‘Grace said that only I can save Terran.’

If the soul of Grace, asleep deep within this body, had awakened and told her, then Terran must be in real danger.

‘Leah Hamilton is Grace.’

She decided not to be confused about her own identity anymore.

Whether she was Leah or Grace, her heart was the same. The most precious person to both women was Terran, and that was an unchanging fact.

“Chenelle, we have to save them. Terran and Luke.”

At Leah’s words, Chenelle nodded her head without thinking.

On the other hand, James frowned and rubbed his forehead, looking perplexed.

* * *

The next day, Leah and Chenelle dressed in men’s clothes. Before that, she contacted Rapha to gather all the gang members.

If that wasn’t enough, she told him to bring even the Sarubi gang. She would pay them any amount.

“My lady, the Duke will return. So….”

“You’re telling me to stay put?”

Leah snapped at James fiercely.

“James, if the situation were reversed, would Terran have stood still?”

“Well, the Duke is a man, and you are….”

“Are you saying it’s not okay because I’m a woman? My man is in danger, so I should stand by and wait because I’m a woman?”

“That’s….”

“Should I just feel sorry if he dies, shed tears, and pray?”

“But you’re not strong, my lady.”

“I’ll take care of that. Even if I die, I will definitely save Terran.”

‘I’ll save my man with my own hands.’

Leah’s will was firm. Then Pauline and Marie stepped forward, saying they would go with her.

“You two should take care of the workshop. Make sure there are no disruptions to the general store and take orders well.”

“But who will take care of you, my lady?”

“Don’t worry about me. Managing the staff well is Pauline’s job. Marie, help Pauline.”

“Understood.”

Finally, Rapha and the gang members gathered in front of the Duke’s residence.

The number of them armed with guns and swords seemed to be about a hundred.

Leah and Chenelle rode horses toward the main gate of the Duke’s residence.

“Rapha! The Sarubi gang won’t do it?”

“They agreed to join, but they say there’s a premium for mercenary work.”

“I’ll pay them any amount, so tell them to join. If we save the Duke, everyone will receive a great reward.”

At Leah’s words, the gypsies buzzed. They had heard it from Chenelle before. The Sarubi gang was especially good at using weapons.

With them, they would be able to fight even if they encountered a gang of thieves.

Then Rapha shouted to the gang members.

“Take the antidote now!”

“Yes!”

Rapha handed the antidote to Leah and Chenelle as well. One of the thieves’ favorite tactics was to confuse the enemy’s minds, he said.

They would burn dried poisonous herbs to create a hallucinatory state, then mercilessly slaughter them. So, they had to take the antidote in advance to avoid being affected by the smoke.

“Rapha, give me one more antidote.”

Leah took another brown medicine that looked like goat dung. She had to prepare for any unexpected situations.

Finally, Leah’s group set off for the Basel Forest.

Everyone was riding horses or pulling carts, so their mobility wasn’t too bad, and the Sarubi gang joined them along the way, bringing the total number of people who could fight the thieves to nearly three hundred.

With this many, they could fight any army.

“Sister, when we get to the forest, we’re going north.”

“Yes, I brought a compass too.”

There must be a reason why Chenelle insisted on going north all the time.

That would soon be the hope that Terran and Luke were still safe.

“Hold on tight, Chenelle.”

“Okay, Sister!”

The two rode their horses toward the Basel Forest.

* * *

It was late at night when they arrived at the Basel Forest. As expected, the black forest was filled with white smoke from days of burning poisonous herbs, a sight that could be seen from afar.

The gang members all held torches to illuminate the black darkness. Soon, they saw corpses scattered here and there.

The sight of the thieves’ and soldiers’ bodies intertwined showed how fiercely they had fought.

‘They even sent reinforcements, but were they all helpless in a state of hallucination?’

It didn’t make sense that the imperial army couldn’t defeat the thieves. Well, the thieves wouldn’t have been confident in fighting a trained army in a normal way.

“Let’s go north.”

“Okay.”

Leah held the compass, and Chenelle held the torch as they walked along the forest path.

Anyway, Rapha and the Sarubi gang members had taken control of the entire forest, so it wasn’t too dangerous. Besides, twenty gang members were following behind them.

“It smells terrible.”

Chenelle covered her nose. The stench of decaying corpses already filled the entire forest. Then, one of the gang members following behind shouted.

“There aren’t many soldiers’ bodies?”

‘That’s strange.’

Leah also kept checking the bodies as she came.

Hoping that Terran or Luke wouldn’t be among them. Most of them were thieves, with only one out of every three bodies being a soldier.

“Let’s go quickly!”

She kept urging them on and walked tirelessly north. After walking through the forest for several hours, it was dawn.

“Sister! There’s a light over there!”

Chenelle shouted and pointed to a cluster of huts that looked like the thieves’ base.

“I found it.”

It was hard to find because they were hiding in such a deep forest.

They must only come down from the forest when they loot, attacking passing people and carriages. But the closer they got to the huts, the thicker the smoke, making it hard to see.

“Cough, cough.”

Chenelle coughed severely, and the people behind her coughed in succession.

If they hadn’t taken the antidote, they would have lost consciousness and collapsed.

Leah pushed through the thick smoke and went deep into the hut village. Soon, she was shocked by the shocking sight.

“Oh my god!”

Soldiers were passed out in huts everywhere. She understood why there weren’t many soldiers’ bodies.

“Terran!”

Leah shouted his name. If her intuition was right, he would definitely be here.

“Check the condition of the fallen soldiers and give the antidote to those who are not dead!”

“Yes.”

The gang members quickly checked the soldiers, and Chenelle was busy looking for Luke.

“Where’s my brother?”