The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 160

#160.

At the call, Heathcliff trudged towards Ella and knelt down. Then, holding Ella’s hands in his, he kissed them.

“It’s all my fault.”

At those words, Ella could do nothing but swallow her sobs.

They were silently embracing and crying when…

“Um, I’m so sorry to interrupt this touching moment.”

“…Lady Chelesia?”

Ella was startled and turned her head towards the voice. Chelesia suddenly appeared from the cliff as if from nowhere.

In fact, she had opened a door invisible to them a long time ago. Chelesia scratched her cheek awkwardly and said,

“Um, do you happen to know where Zerachiel is?”

* * *

The moment I stepped through the door, the white door disappeared before my eyes as if its purpose was served.

I couldn’t confirm whether it had completely disappeared or had become invisible to me. Perhaps it meant there was no longer any reason to cross over there.

I let out a soft sigh and looked around. What greeted me beyond the door were scattered corpses. The pungent smell of blood stung my nose, and I covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve.

I clicked my tongue at the sight of the Sarvan family head among the corpses, his eyes still wide open in death.

“I was going to take revenge.”

I was planning to punish the Sarvan family head as soon as I arrived here. But he had already died a long time ago, his head severed.

Judging from the lingering pheromones in the air, there must have been a fierce battle.

Fortunately, Eve was not among the corpses. It seemed Ella and Heathcliff had arrived in time.

I looked at the dazzling bracelet with satisfaction. As I thought, the relic contract there seemed to be valid here as well.

‘I’m glad I contracted in advance.’

The ‘Ruby of Binding,’ ‘Spinel of Illusion,’ and ‘Lapis Lazuli of Oblivion’ were still missing.

In any case, it was highly likely that Ebenesev already had them in her possession.

Among them, the Spinel of Illusion and Lapis Lazuli of Oblivion were confirmed, and the problem was the Ruby of Binding.

‘If I had known this would happen, I should have taken the relic first, whether Naaman saw me or not.’

I still regretted losing the Ruby of Binding by a narrow margin. It was even more so when I thought about how Heathcliff would have suffered because of it.

Even here, the Ruby of Binding was as good as taken by Ebenesev. If so, it was important to prevent her from using it.

‘First, I need to find Zerachiel.’

From the beginning, Ebenesev’s goal was Zerachiel, who possessed Barbie’s soul, and me, who possessed Larien’s soul.

She couldn’t find me easily there, but here, she was likely to have already recognized me.

Because I had encountered a woman resembling Ebenesev at the banquet.

Still, thanks to encountering Ebenesev in that world, there was something I could know.

There was only her shell where Ebenesev’s stone was. And her soul was probably that woman who appeared boldly before me at the banquet.

In the first place, even if I got rid of the shell, Ebenesev would not die. The annihilation of the soul. That was the only way to end Ebenesev in this world.

Perhaps I had to annihilate her body and soul at the same time.

What was fortunate was that she was limited in using the relics.

She had been deprived of her powers by the divine beast and kicked out of Hebel, so she had no authority to access the relics normally.

But the reason she was now able to access the relics was probably because of that.

‘My body is here, but my soul has already become free.’

It seemed that Ebenesev had become partially free, even if she couldn’t completely break the divine beast’s punishment.

Even so, it was obvious that there would be difficulties in using the relics in an abnormal way.

A mere beast-person could not completely sever the divine beast’s restraints.

That was why Ebenesev seemed to have repeatedly gone through the process of leaving her body there and putting her soul into another vessel.

And ultimately, the vessel she was trying to take was me. Because my soul was full of the divine beast’s blessing.

‘I’ve been waiting for you. The one who was supposed to be the sacrifice was not that child, but you.’

Realizing that, I was worried about Zerachiel, who was left in this world. If she had the Ruby of Binding, she would definitely try to kidnap Zerachiel.

Perhaps the reason she sent me beyond the door was all to buy time.

Little did she know that through that time, I had seen through her plan.

While I was feeling down, I saw Heathcliff and Ella in the distance. I was lucky since I was wondering how to find them.

“Ell…”.

I lowered my voice belatedly as I was about to greet them happily. Their atmosphere was unusual.

After a while, the two began to hug and cry. It looked like it would take a while.

I would have waited long enough if it were normal, but now time was of the essence.

I couldn’t wait any longer and made a sound, and Ella found me and ran over to hug me.

“Lady Chelesia!”

Unlike before, Ella was looking at me desperately. I was convinced that she had regained her memories of me in the past.

Besides, it seemed that the misunderstanding between the two had already been resolved without me having to step in. I asked playfully.

“Are you feeling a little better?”

At my question, she burst into tears that she had been holding back and blamed me.

“Why did you do that!”

“…”

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Tears welled up in Ella’s big eyes. Seeing that complex expression, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Ella, I’m okay.”

Because she cared about me so much. I didn’t regret taking on the pheromones for her sake.

“You’re not okay. It’s all because of me…!”

“I’m serious. Do you think I would have done that without any countermeasures?”

But Ella thought I was lying to reassure her and hugged me even tighter.

Since it was difficult to explain more than this now, I patted her back and looked at Heathcliff, who was standing behind her.

He had been sacrificed to Ebenesev in the last life, and I wondered if he had regained his memories. He looked quite haggard.

He came to me and said.

“The Butterfly gang took your husband. I tried to chase after them, but…”

“You couldn’t stop them. They would have had the Ruby of Binding.”

“That’s the Ruby of Binding? …But that’s a relic. But how could someone who isn’t a saintess…”

Heathcliff stopped talking. After a while, he muttered in vain.

“Well, Hebel and Luden were in cahoots [collaborating secretly]. What’s the point of all that now.”

There were so many incomprehensible things that he seemed to have given up thinking. His face was confused after learning too much in a short time. I answered as if I understood Heathcliff.

“Yes. Even if it’s Zerachiel, she wouldn’t have been able to resist the Ruby of Binding. You know that well because you’ve experienced it, Heathcliff.”

“!”

Hearthcliff opened his eyes wide as if asking how I knew that.

Then Ella raised her head and said.

“That’s right, Janus! That person was the leader of the Butterfly gang.”

“Janus was the village chief of Dane Village…”

Well, since they worshiped Ebenesev, it was natural that they were on Ebenesev’s side.

More than that, I need to find the woman I met at the banquet.

Then Ella continued with a slightly hesitant face.

“Yes. But, Lady Chelesia. Actually, I’ve seen Janus’s face before the regression. At the time I was sacrificed, the executioner suddenly changed to Janus. But that face looked just like… Saintess Larien.”

“What?”

“The statue of Saintess Larien in Hebel and Janus’s bare face looked so much alike. At first, I thought it was the incarnation of Saintess Larien… But now that I think about it, she looked more like Ebenesev.”