The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 180

Ella stared at me blankly.

“There were more pheromone fruits?”

“I told you I wasn’t acting without a plan.”

“Then not healing your body now is…”

“Yeah. I did it on purpose. I need to adapt to life without healing pheromones now.”

Ella’s lips moved as I said this with a smile. I held her hands tightly and said,

“I’m sorry. I only realized I could give you the pheromone fruit after crossing the gate.”

The pheromone fruit wasn’t a sacred object. So, I assumed that anything brought from the other world wouldn’t disappear here.

Actually, it was half a gamble. I thought the reason the Topaz of Time appeared to Ella might be because of the pheromone fruit.

He must have been curious about Ella, who possessed the fruit that had already disappeared, and regressed her. With the pheromone fruit, too.

‘The Divine Beast must have hidden the Topaz of Time in the altar in the first place.’

Remembering the Divine Beast, who always foresaw everything, I gave Ella the pheromone fruit without hesitation.

Because Ella wanted to get rid of her pheromones at the time.

I smiled awkwardly and placed the fruit in Ella’s hand.

“Now there’s no reason to throw away this power, right?”

“You intended to do this from the start.”

“That’s right.”

“Because of me…”

Ella held the fruit and shed tears.

“If I hadn’t been so fickle…”

“Ella, look at me.”

I forced eye contact with Ella, who was crying with her head down.

“It’s true that I was in pain because of these pheromones, but I was also safe because of them. If it weren’t for this power, I would have died long ago when I fell into the desolate fields of this world without knowing anything.”

Back when I couldn’t even transform into a human and wandered the vast fields, there were countless times I almost died encountering predators.

When I barely managed to escape, fainted, and opened my eyes again, my wounds had healed remarkably.

At the time, I thought I had fainted out of fear from a small, easily healed wound. But in reality, I had survived thanks to the healing pheromones.

If I hadn’t met Ella, I might have died without even starting.

“So, thank you.”

“Lady Chelsia.”

“I hope your heart can be at peace now.”

“…Hngh!”

As if that were a signal, Ella hugged me and sobbed. I couldn’t help but rub my own stinging eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile, it was Heathcliff who captured the remnants of the Butterfly Gang while Chelsia was asleep.

To think that his father was involved with the Butterfly Gang.

When the thing he secretly hoped wasn’t true became reality, Heathcliff had no time to just grieve.

Now that he knew his father, the head of the Paige family, was a member of the Butterfly Gang, it was his responsibility to clean it up.

He couldn’t trust anyone in Paige anymore. Not even Rudy, his aide.

Hearthcliff headed north as soon as Hebell disappeared. He originally wanted Ella to come with him, but…

‘Will you come with me?’

Ella didn’t answer Heathcliff’s suggestion for a while. Heathcliff’s energy drained at her subsequent words.

‘Lady Chelsia hasn’t woken up yet.’

Hearthcliff thought that was Ella’s subtle way of refusing.

Even if they cleared up the misunderstanding, was it still not enough to restore their relationship to what it once was?

No matter how hard he tried, it was difficult to close the gap between them.

Realizing this, Heathcliff returned to the north alone.

Fortunately, Eve and Nahid, who were from the north, were by his side. Thanks to them, capturing the remnants was easy.

Most of the Butterflies didn’t know that Nahid had been captured yet.

As expected, Rudy was also one of the Butterfly Gang.

‘Young master, you can’t do this.’

He gnashed his teeth and spewed curses.

‘The head of the family will shed tears of blood in the afterlife. How can you rebel against your father’s work like this? It’s the greatest act of filial impiety!’

‘Watch your mouth, Rudy. I’m the head of the family now.’

‘……’

‘And I have no intention of upholding my father’s will.’

Rudy struggled in denial of his defeat before being executed.

The Butterfly Gang, having lost its leader, was less impressive than expected.

To survive, they began to confess one after another, and the location of the hidden laboratory was also revealed.

And in that laboratory, he saw Ella’s records.

[Number Nine (No.9)]

She was recorded as one of the test subjects without even a name.

Hearthcliff had no choice but to close his eyes tightly at the documents filled with how many experiments there had been and what kind of pain she had suffered.

In the past he couldn’t experience, in the past he could never return to, he had been chasing after the gang that had manipulated pheromones with her.

To think that it was actually led by his father.

The fact that he didn’t know the culprit even though he had him by his side, and the fact that he was the son of that culprit, was even more painful.

Hearthcliff couldn’t face Ella anymore.

His father had driven too many beastmen to their deaths, only to gain power.

Because of that, Ella lost her family and suffered pain she didn’t have to endure.

In the end, all he could do was atone for what his father had done.

Moreover, if things continued as they were, the North was in danger of self-destruction. He belatedly learned that most of the high-ranking nobles in the North had participated in the pheromone manipulation.

He was catching the Butterfly Gang day and night.

That’s when Nahid spoke. He was acting as Heathcliff’s temporary aide in place of the dead Rudy.

“Head of the family, you have a visitor.”

“Which family has come to confess that they are part of the Butterfly Gang this time?”

Hearthcliff rose from the sofa with a tired face. Nahid didn’t answer and led him to the drawing room.

It was because Heathcliff didn’t like talking much. To be exact, it meant that he didn’t have the leisure to have pointless conversations.

He headed to the drawing room without knowing who had come.

When Heathcliff saw a familiar figure from behind, he sighed softly.

“Ah.”

The person who came was Ella. Heathcliff couldn’t believe she was in the North. He clearly thought she had refused.

He stood frozen like a stone in front of the door for a long time. Nahid broke the silence between them.

“Ahem!”

Ella turned around at the sound of Nahid’s clearing his throat.

“You came?”

“……”

“Why are you standing there like that? As if I’ve come to a place I shouldn’t be.”

“…It’s not like that.”

Hearthcliff bit his lower lip and slowly approached Ella.

“There’s no place in the North where you can’t be.”

“Yeah. That’s what you always told me.”

Ella smiled faintly and patted the seat next to her. As if that were a signal, Heathcliff sat down obediently.

“I’ll wait outside.”

As Nahid tactfully left the room, silence fell again in the drawing room.

Ella silently fiddled with her teacup. Unable to bear it, Heathcliff asked in an impatient voice.

“What brings you here?”

At that question, Ella made a grumpy expression. At this, Heathcliff blinked, wondering if he had made a mistake.

After a while, Ella said.

“You told me to come.”

“Huh?”

“When you said let’s go together, you told me to go first.”

“Ah.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t understand?”

Ella tilted her head. Heathcliff stared at Ella with a dumbfounded face.

Belatedly realizing that he had been digging a hole for himself, he buried his face in his hands and muttered.

“…I thought it was a rejection.”

“Idiot.”

Ella added in a sulky tone.

“I thought I’d feel relieved only after seeing that Lady Chelsia had woken up.”

“That’s what it was. …I’m glad.”

Hearthcliff let out a sigh of relief as he rubbed his face roughly. Ella’s gaze towards him was quite gentle.

She stroked his hair and called out softly.

“Heath.”

“Huh?”

“I’m really sorry for treating you badly.”

“…No. I hurt you first.”

“After regressing, I always thought I was alone until I met Lady Chelsia. I wanted to cut off all previous ties.”

“……”

“But it was too difficult to cut you off. So, I think I hated you more.”

“Ella.”

Hearthcliff raised his head. Then he saw Ella’s blue eyes filled with tears.

He wiped away her tears and whispered gently.

“I’ll never leave your side again.”

“Yeah.”

“If you’re okay with someone like me, will you stay by my side?”

Hearthcliff’s fingertips trembled. Seeing him still trembling with anxiety, Ella quietly held his hand.

“Of course.”

Unlike before, when she had hurt him with thorny words, she was willing to stay by his side.

“Who else would you keep by your side if not me?”

“There’s no one but you.”

Hearthcliff hugged Ella tightly.

“You’re all I need.”