The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 152

#152.

Because it was downhill, I picked up speed, making it hard to stop.

‘Save me, Weasel!’

Unable to stop or even stand, I entrusted myself to the passage.

Unfortunately, the passage was incredibly long. After tumbling around, disoriented, I finally saw a light in the distance and dropped into an unfamiliar place.

Thump!

Luckily, I landed on something soft, like a cushion, avoiding any serious bruises.

The only problem was that the room had been abandoned for a long time and was covered in dust.

“Chup! Cough!”

Dust billowed around me as I crashed onto the cushion like a bungee jump.

“Cough, cough!”

I coughed incessantly, having swallowed a lot of dust. I wanted to open my eyes, but the dust storm made them sting too much.

I quickly scrambled to a less dusty area and blinked my stinging eyes. After shedding tears and blowing my nose, my vision finally cleared, and I immediately transformed into my human form.

“Wow, I almost died.”

If I hadn’t covered my mouth when the wall started closing in, I would have been caught by Naman without a doubt.

I shuddered, recalling the near miss, and patted my chest.

*Is this why you shouldn’t do bad things?* I almost died trying to steal something.

Only after my pounding heart calmed down a bit did I start to assess the situation.

“…Where is this?”

Now that I looked around, it wasn’t unfamiliar. It was definitely a space I had seen in Larien’s memories.

A room that had now lost its owner.

It was a space that the Divine Beast had created for Larien when she lived in Hebel.

The place I had fallen was the armchair she used to use.

“This is still here?”

My heart fluttered as if I were opening a time capsule. The armchair was covered in dust from not being used for a long time.

When I gently rocked it, it creaked, indicating it hadn’t been oiled.

Even though I was seeing these things for the first time in this life, they didn’t feel strange at all.

This was my first time in my current life, but it was a familiar space to my past self.

It was a place I had never visited since leaving Hebel on my own two feet.

I had assumed it had been torn down a long time ago.

Seeing it still here, abandoned, made me think the Divine Beast must have hidden it.

‘Why would he do that?’

A question naturally arose, and I began to examine every corner of the room. I didn’t think the Divine Beast would have left this place for no reason.

And then I found the only unfamiliar object.

“What’s this?”

The jewelry box was locked. I had never seen it in my past life’s memories.

I gently shook the jewelry box. It sounded like something was inside.

A strange jewelry box in Larien’s room. And something rattling inside.

‘Could it be…?’

I hoped that it might be the Opal of Nothingness. That made me naturally impatient.

“H, how do I open this?”

No matter how much I threw it, slammed it, or applied force, the lock wouldn’t break. It was clear that a special mechanism had been installed.

If that was the case, it wouldn’t open without the designated unlocking method.

But I didn’t think I could solve a lock created by the Divine Beast, who had already left the continent.

“Tch!”

Out of frustration, I threw the jewelry box on the floor and collapsed into the armchair.

I was annoyed because nothing had been working out since earlier.

I grumbled for a while.

After calming down a bit and turning my attention to the jewelry box, I belatedly discovered something and my eyes lit up.

“Oh!”

I jumped up and lifted the jewelry box. Then, I noticed the writing on the bottom of the jewelry box.

It was in an ancient language. If Larien’s memories hadn’t returned to me, I would never have been able to read it.

But now, I could perfectly interpret the words.

[Reserved for my first child.

Only the blood of the firstborn can open the door.]

The firstborn he was referring to was Larien, me.

And the only thing he left behind before leaving the continent was the ‘Opal of Nothingness.’

Without hesitation, I bit my finger and drew blood. Then, I dropped a drop of blood into the recessed area above the lock.

At that moment, with a bright light, the lock clicked open.

“Wow.”

It actually worked?

My heart pounded with the feeling of receiving an unexpected gift. I opened the jewelry box with a nervous expression.

But inside, there was something different from what I had expected.

“What’s this?”

Instead of the Opal of Nothingness, there was a tree fruit and a silver knife.

When I pulled the knife from its sheath, the blue blade was still sharp. Ancient words were inscribed on the blade.

[A knife to sever evil ties]

Also known as the Severance Knife.

If the Divine Beast was talking about evil ties, it must be Ebenseb.

The Divine Beast was still cruel and heartless. He even prepared a knife to kill my twin sister himself.

It was clearly a meaningful object. It wasn’t the Opal of Nothingness I wanted, but it seemed like it would be useful later if I kept it.

I carefully held the silver knife in my arms. Whatever it was, it was definitely necessary to end Ebenseb, who had become immortal.

Then, I picked up the fruit rolling around in the jewelry box with my index finger and thumb.

Even though it had been left for a very long time, the fruit hadn’t rotted and remained intact. When I saw the green fruit, I sighed softly.

“Why is a pheromone fruit here…”

In the past, when the Divine Beast stayed in Hebel, there was a pheromone tree. That tree bore fruits containing all kinds of pheromones, and the fruits were always green.

Once, I was curious and asked the Divine Beast.

‘Divine Beast, why doesn’t that tree’s fruit ever ripen?’

‘Because it doesn’t ripen through ordinary methods.’

‘Then how do you make the fruit ripen?’

‘If you pour out all the pheromones you have, you might be able to ripen one fruit. But it’s better not to do that.’

‘…Why?’

‘That’s a fruit that seals pheromones. If you try to ripen it carelessly, you’ll lose your pheromones forever.’

‘Gasp!’

‘Conversely, if you eat a ripened red fruit, you’ll be able to use pheromones that aren’t yours.’

‘Wow! That’s amazing! So, can you have multiple pheromones?’

‘If you can handle it, yes. But you shouldn’t eat red pheromone fruits carelessly.’

‘What happens if you eat them?’

‘If you eat the fruit and can’t handle it, you’ll just die. Greed leads to death.’

The Divine Beast’s voice, explaining kindly, seemed to echo faintly.

And then another memory suddenly came to mind.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve seen this fruit in this life too.’

It was the memory of when I first opened my eyes in this world.

At the end of winter, on a day when spring snow was falling, I opened my eyes in a vast, empty field and wandered around, clutching my empty stomach.

But there was nothing to eat in a place where the spring air was just beginning to spread.

When I thought that eating snow was reaching its limit, I smelled a sweet scent.

Entranced by the scent, I began to dig through the snow and found a red glowing fruit.

And I ate it deliciously.

At the time, I just thought it was an emergency ration that someone had accidentally dropped.

I was so hungry that I didn’t even have time to check what it was, and I ate it greedily.

If I had known it was a pheromone fruit, I wouldn’t have eaten it so carelessly.

But at the time, I didn’t have Larien’s memories, so there was no way I could distinguish a pheromone fruit.

This is why you’re bound to get sick if you pick up and eat anything.

‘In the end, I not only got sick but was also put in a life-threatening situation.’

Why was such a dangerous fruit just lying there?

Besides, the pheromone tree had disappeared a long time ago.

The Divine Beast burned the pheromone tree before leaving the continent. It was a measure taken out of concern that the pheromone tree would be misused.

There was no tree, but the fruit remained.

No matter how special the fruit was, it would have rotted away without special measures.

But it was not only intact but also contained Ella’s pheromones?

To resolve all the questions, only one premise remained.

“So that was it.”

The fruit I ate back then was the fruit in my hand right now.