The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 113

#113.

“That’s right. Heathcliff couldn’t avoid the attack either. The ‘Butterflies’ have finally created an infectious drug.”

Ella muttered, her face dismal. Hearing this, Chelsia felt a chill, but for a different reason.

“It must be like zombies.”

“Zombies?”

“Yeah, monsters that bite people and spread infection.”

Chelsia shuddered, imagining a future she had never experienced. The thought of a pandemic worse than war looming ahead made her feel hopeless.

Moreover, a beastman rampantly releasing pheromones after losing Easy [a hypothetical scenario where control is lost]? That was even more terrifying than zombies.

If Ella’s words were true, they had to be caught before they succeeded in manufacturing the drug. Ella said,

“As soon as I opened my eyes [after regressing], I headed to Hebel. I thought the secret might be in the only place where the drug didn’t work.”

“So, you becoming Isaac’s benefactor was also…”

“That’s right. It was a planned approach. I needed a justification to move freely in and out of Hebel somehow.”

“So that’s why you endured even when Isaac tormented you.”

“Yes. If things continued as they were, there would be no way to avoid the future I had escaped from. I wanted to find any clue, no matter what.”

How much she must have struggled, knowing the future alone.

While she was spending a harsh winter as a ferret, Ella was clearly fighting a lonely battle in Hebel.

The thought vaguely occurred to her that the reason she possessed this body might be related to Ella’s regression.

Considering Ella said she had been in Hebel for about a year, the timing was roughly right.

It didn’t seem like a simple coincidence. It felt like some great destiny was connecting Ella and herself.

Chelsia asked cautiously,

“Did you find any clues?”

“…Unfortunately, no. I haven’t found anyone related to the Butterflies yet. It seemed like the reason they weren’t affected by the drug was thanks to Hebel’s mist. But the mist is in the realm of the Divine Beast, so…”

“I see.”

Indeed, if it was a mist imbued with the power of the Divine Beast, it might have some special power hidden within.

In the first place, even beastmen with strong pheromones couldn’t gather their wits inside the mist.

Moreover, recalling the Divine Beast’s memories from the Saintess test, Hebel’s mist was originally intended as a barrier to prevent beastmen from approaching.

Only Larien, who was permitted by the Divine Beast, could transform into a human, so it must have been even more powerful back then.

It was a power strong enough that even the Black Lion couldn’t transform into a human, so it must have played a significant role as a fortress in the future as well.

Since the mist was in the realm of the Divine Beast, it wouldn’t have been easy for Ella to analyze the mist itself alone.

Besides, Ella was only temporarily staying in Hebel, so there must have been severe restrictions.

Ella glanced at her, asking weakly,

“Are you disappointed? Because I didn’t find anything?”

She seemed to think she was disappointed because she hadn’t said anything for a long time. Chelsia shook her head and explained,

“No. If it could have been found that easily, the future you experienced wouldn’t have happened.”

“Chelsia-nim…”

“You must have suffered a lot. It must have been hard carrying it all alone all this time, right?”

Ella’s expression turned emotional at the calm words of comfort.

“I was just a little lonely. Because no one remembered me.”

“I’m similar. This place is so different from where I used to live that it was overwhelming for me to adapt at first.”

Unlike Ella, Chelsia was a possessor who came from a completely different world. First of all, the fact that she wasn’t human but a ferret when she opened her eyes was an overwhelming reality for her.

How many people could keep their sanity after becoming a ferret?

Of course, it was fortunate that she was a ferret beastman. If she had been born as a real ferret, that would have been horrifying in its own way.

Ella blinked, surprised. She must have known she was possessed since she had a contract with a Guardian, but she didn’t seem to have guessed that she came from a completely different world.

Ella was a possessor who was born and raised in this Amitaras.

“Was the world Chelsia-nim lived in very different from here?”

“Yeah. There were no beastmen where I lived. If there were talking animals, they would have been on television long ago.”

“Television?”

“Hmm, I mean it’s such a miraculous thing that everyone would know.”

“I see…”

After that, Chelsia and Ella shared stories they couldn’t tell anyone for quite a long time.

The fact that they both knew the future made them feel even closer than before.

After a while, Chelsia said,

“I heard from Nahaman before that the reason you can go outside Hebel without pheromones, unlike the other priests, is because your pheromones disappeared after birth. Does Nahaman also know that you regressed?”

“No. Nahaman-nim thinks I lost my pheromones because I was sick. You’re the first person I’ve told about regressing, Chelsia-nim.”

“Well, there’s no need to tell the truth to someone who insisted on sacrificing you.”

Chelsia felt uneasy for no reason at the fact that Nahaman had tried to sacrifice Ella.

When she thought about it, the most mysterious being in Hebel was Nahaman.

He was the only priest in Hebel who had pheromones and was not affected by the mist.

It was thanks to the protection of ‘Eternal Peridot,’ the ever-awake Guardian.

Of course, there was a restriction that he couldn’t take a single step outside Hebel, but he was an absolute power within Hebel.

If the outside of Hebel was all devastated in the future, his power would have been even greater.

Then Ella said,

“I heard there was a revelation.”

“That revelation might have been made up by Nahaman. Nahaman is the only one who can read the scriptures and communicate with the Divine Beast.”

It was a somewhat irreverent statement, but Ella just smiled bitterly.

“At least it would have calmed the public’s anxiety.”

“If he made you a sacrifice for such a reason, I’m going to dislike Nahaman even more.”

Chelsia said firmly with a hardened expression, as if such a thing was not right.

Ella gazed wistfully at Chelsia, who was rolling up her sleeves and defending her.

“I’m okay. It’s all in the past now.”

“Sigh, you’re just too naively kind. How are you going to live in this harsh world?”

Chelsia sighed deeply like an old soul. Ella couldn’t help but laugh at her childish appearance pretending to be older than her.

Then Chelsia said,

“Now that I think about it, the reason you were surprised to see my pheromones was because I turned back time. Originally, this power was your power.”

“That’s right…”

When her pheromones became the topic, Ella naturally thought of the person who had advised her before her regression.

‘If that power is too much to bear, there is a way to discard it. To have someone else take on your destiny instead.’

At the time, she was sick and tired of her power. So much so that she wanted to throw it away to anyone if she could.

That was why she readily carried out the advice of someone whose face she couldn’t even remember now.

As a result, Ella’s destiny was transferred to Chelsia.

Chelsia, who was unaware of this, was looking warmly at Ella.

She almost confessed everything to those sincere eyes.

But if she did, their current relationship might be broken.

The more intimate she became with her, the more difficult it became for Ella to tell the truth.

Ella’s eyes grew hot as she worried. Just as Ella was about to reveal the truth, feeling a pang of conscience.

“Actually…”

“This is a disaster. What if she freaks out when she finds out I have two pheromones?”

Ella couldn’t bring herself to say the truth that had been building up in her throat because of Chelsia’s absurd confession. It was because a problem she hadn’t even thought of had arisen.

“Excuse me? Two pheromones?”

“Yeah. I have two pheromones.”

“But a beastman with two pheromones…”

“Can’t exist. So right now, my body is like a ticking time bomb.”

Chelsia smiled awkwardly. Ella couldn’t hide her even more embarrassed expression.

It was because she hadn’t expected Chelsia to have separate pheromones.

As Ella moved her lips without saying a word, Chelsia said,

“Tavi said that when I become an adult and all my powers are awakened, my body won’t be able to handle it.”

Thump.

At that moment, Ella’s heart plummeted to the floor.