The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 140

#140.

“I know. But it’s also true that Cersia got hurt because of me.”

Ella squeezed the hand she was holding and continued.

“I’m scared. I’m afraid that if I’m too late, something might happen to Cersia.”

“Then, what else can I do but die?”

“Cersia!”

“Just kidding. Anyway, don’t worry about useless things.”

After saying that, Cersia suddenly fell into thought. From some point on, she was often seen lost in thought.

Ella, who was quietly watching this, said softly.

“You seem a bit different these days.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Your atmosphere, your expression. You seem somehow detached.”

At Ella’s sharp observation, Cersia smiled faintly.

It wasn’t for nothing that the moment her first life was remembered, the lives she had reincarnated through for so long began to be remembered one after another.

Most of her lives ended in certain ways, all of them.

Remembering all her past lives was more troublesome than she thought. No matter how much she tried to separate it from this life, memories kept pouring out whenever there was a gap.

‘This life is the end of it all.’

Only she could solve this. She didn’t want to be late this time.

Cersia recalled the dream of Jabisi’s secret garden burning.

Immediately after the memory of her first life returned, she knew that the dream was a premonition. It was one of the abilities Larien had received from the Divine Beast.

Perhaps that dream was one of the things that might happen soon. A future event that she might face or not, depending on her choices.

‘I’ll never let that happen.’

Cersia strengthened her resolve. She wasn’t sure yet whether the return of her memories and powers was due to the Divine Beast’s arrangement or not.

For now, she would just do what she could.

After discussing the aftermath, it was almost time for Jerakiel to return.

Since settling in the North, Jerakiel had been tracking the Butterfly Gang with Ivan.

He wouldn’t waste such a great opportunity to openly stir things up in the North.

Ivan found Cersia first and greeted her.

“Cersia.”

“Where’s Ricky?”

“He said he felt uncomfortable and went to wash up. You know how picky the young master is.”

“Hmm, shouldn’t Ivan be the one washing?”

Cersia glanced at Ivan’s blood-stained clothes. Judging by his calm face, it didn’t seem to be his blood.

“Some guys attacked us on the way. They self-destructed when things went wrong, so I couldn’t avoid getting covered in blood. But it seems certain that the Butterfly Gang is in the North, so it wasn’t a complete loss.”

“That’s a relief.”

Cersia passed by Ivan and headed to the bedroom. She could hear the sound of showering from the bathroom attached to the bedroom.

She waited patiently for him to come out.

The bathroom door opened, and Jerakiel came out wearing only a gown.

“Feeling refreshed?”

She was about to get up familiarly and towel his hair when—

Clack!

With a short noise, Jerakiel roughly shook off her hand. Before she could be surprised, Jerakiel said,

“Who is barging into someone else’s bedroom?”

“Jerakiel?”

“Who said it was okay to call my name as you please? Do I have to tear your mouth to stop you?”

What’s going on?

Cersia was dumbfounded by Jerakiel’s sudden outburst of violent words.

At that moment, all the doors seemed to lock at once, and the pheromone poison filled the surroundings. She was bewildered by the paralyzing poison filling the room.

“What are you doing……?”

Jerakiel was genuinely trying to kill her.

“There’s nothing like this to make you talk.”

“Usually, everyone dies with this much, Ricky.”

Cersia looked around at the poison and let out a deep sigh.

It was fortunate that his pheromones didn’t work on her. Otherwise, it was a poison strong enough to kill her instantly.

She was trying to figure out why he was suddenly acting like this, but Jerakiel’s bizarre behavior didn’t stop there.

In the blink of an eye, he knocked her down on the sofa and climbed on top of her. He frowned and asked.

“What kind of beast are you that my pheromones don’t work?”

“P, please get off…….”

“Are you in league with the guys who attacked me earlier? If so, I won’t let you die easily…….”

Just as Jerakiel was about to create a sword with his pheromones, Tebi suddenly appeared and began to devour Jerakiel’s pheromone poison.

Jerakiel’s eyebrows twitched as the suddenly appearing fish grew in size.

At that moment, Ayla, who came in late, was horrified to see Jerakiel threatening Cersia.

“Ugh! W, wh, what are you doing!”

Following that, Ayla rushed over and separated Cersia and Jerakiel as soon as Tebi swallowed all the remaining poison.

“Get out of the way. I’m interrogating an assassin.”

“Excuse me?”

“What about you barging in without permission? What are you doing?”

“Huh?”

Ayla tilted her head in bewilderment. Following that, Marina and Ivan also appeared, hearing the commotion. Ivan looked at Cersia, who was hiding behind Ayla, and said cheerfully.

“Is this a lovers’ quarrel?”

“What are you talking about? Me having a lovers’ quarrel with this smelly ferret.”

However, Ivan’s smile disappeared at Jerakiel’s next words.

Everyone in the room froze at his strange behavior.

At that moment, Cersia held up two fingers in front of his eyes and asked.

“How many do you see?”

“Now you’re treating me like an idiot.”

Jerakiel answered, nervously sweeping back his wet hair.

“I don’t know why my pheromone scent is so strong on your body, but…….”

“That’s because you imprinted on me without my permission.”

“I did?”

“Yes. You did.”

“That can’t be.”

Cersia pushed away the bewildered Jerakiel and straightened her clothes. Judging by the situation, she seemed to know what was going on.

Jerakiel looked even more confused by her calm reaction.

Cersia said to Marina, who was still frozen.

“Marina.”

“Yes.”

“You learned about the madness from Duke, right?”

“Yes, yes!”

“It seems like Jerakiel has started the first stage of madness.”

Why did the madness have to start at this time?

She was about to try to stop something, but this happened, ruining everything from the start.

Ivan and Ayla’s faces turned serious at the word madness. Marina had a look that said this was coming.

In fact, before moving to the North, Marina had been taught about the madness by Duke.

This was because there was no one to succeed Duke after Victor’s death, so he passed it on to Marina.

The madness intensifies through a total of 4 stages.

[Stage 1 ― Personality disorder where one becomes a completely different person.

Stage 2 ― Obsession with a specific target.

Stage 3 ― Amnesia where memories disappear in fragments.

Stage 4 ― The destructive instinct to eliminate all pheromones.]

Usually, by the time it reaches stage 4, it’s no different from a rampage. It’s because you want to kill everything you see.

Marina had learned how to make the antidote in preparation for the possible madness. It was a medicine that could delay the madness until it progressed to stage 2.

“O, I’ll go get the antidote right away!”

After Marina hurriedly disappeared, silence fell in the room.

Jerakiel still had a confused expression despite Ivan’s explanation.

The only fortunate thing was that he was docile, unlike when Zakari’s madness broke out.

When Zakari’s madness manifested, young Jerakiel was almost killed. It was because he tried to kill Jerakiel with his strength.

Perhaps Victor had used some kind of trick on Zakari back then as well. Usually, even if a personality disorder occurs, it’s only temporary and doesn’t come with violence.

Anyway, Jerakiel seemed to have calmed down at the word madness. The fact that his gaze towards me was colder than before was a bit unsettling.

“Still, it’s a great relief that it’s only this much. Half of the castle was destroyed when Zakari was like that.”

“Well, considering he sprayed pheromone poison right away, is he being gentle?”

“That’s about right. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. As you can see.”

Ivan and Cersia exchanged words and settled the situation for the time being. Then, Cersia and Jerakiel’s eyes met.

Suddenly, Jerakiel made a displeased expression and said.

“What are you looking at, you ugly pumpkin?”

Could madness be another word for middle school syndrome [a phase of awkward and rebellious behavior often associated with adolescence] ?

Cersia, who was suddenly attacked for her appearance, pointed at herself with her finger and asked.

“Are you talking to me, by any chance?”