The Tyrant’s Tranquilizer - Chapter 101

Lira sighed deeply. 

“If the Witch of the Forest of Fidelia had been alive, I would have been able to rely on her. You don’t know, but she was called a wise person among the witches.” 

“Huh? The Witch of the Fidelia Forest? Are you talking about Grandma Witch?”

“Do you know Denevia-nim?”

“Yes. Because she’s the one who raised me?”

“Denevia-nim raised you?”

Lira opened her eyes wide.

“You didn’t know?”

“I had no idea.”

Lira was in shock. She exchanged greetings with Denevia every year at the hunting festival, but never heard of her raising a child. She would have asked to be introduced if she had known.

“Why didn’t she say a word? Brillai-nim didn’t know too—”

She didn’t understand that she didn’t even let Brillai, who was in charge of all the witches, know.

“Why did she hide it?”

When Lira was so surprised, Amelie was dumbfounded. Is that such a surprise?

“But why didn’t you know anything about being a witch when you lived with Denevia-nim? What did you learn to live?” 

“I was actually different from the average person.”

“Different?”

“Not long ago, I was in a state like an idiot. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t use magic, I wasn’t in a state to learn anything.”

“Really? Now, you’re good at talking and using magic.” 

Amelie recalled the moment she came here for the first time in a long time. When she got angry while reading the novel, a strange voice pushed her into this body. Come to think of it, it wasn’t long ago, but she felt distant from her life as Lee Sooyeon. 

“It suddenly became like this a few months ago. It must have been something Grandma Witch did.”

“What did she do to make a person who lived her life like an idiot change like this?”

That’s what Amelie wanted to ask. Amelie always wondered how she possessed this body.

“Isn’t there any magic you can think of?”

“No at all.”

Lira cut it short. No matter how good the magic was, it couldn’t change the natural constitution.

“Then—”

Amelie pondered for a moment and asked.

“Is there any magic to bring someone else’s soul and put it in your body?”

“What a dream-like things you are talking about!”

Lira burst into laughter.

“How can you control the souls of people like that? Not even a great witch can do that. It’s possible with God. It’s similar to the magic you said, necromancy, but it’s just about summoning the souls of the dead for a while. It’s also a magic that only two or three people can do if they stick together.”

“I see.”

Amelie nodded helplessly. She thought meeting another witch would solve all her questions, but it didn’t live up to her expectations. In contrast to her, Lira said with a cheerful expression. 

“This has solved a mystery.”

“Mystery?”

“Yeah, it’s strange where the hell did you get so many magic books. A kid who doesn’t know anything about witches has all the magic tools. I thought you robbed a witch’s house.” 

“I didn’t rob it. It’s all the legacy of Grandma Witch.”

“I see.”

Lira nodded.

“That’s why you have a lot of good stuff. The altar and the pendant are very precious, so if they were stolen, I would have taken them.”

“If it’s stolen, you have to find the owner and return it. What are you talking about?”

Amelia frowned. Lira shrugged her shoulders.

“But is there a pendant?”

Amelie traced her memory. There was no such thing as a pendant among the inheritance of the grandmother witch. What is she talking about? 

“It’s in a little drawer by the workbench over there.”

“Where?”

“Wait a minute.”

Lira went to the drawer and picked up something shiny.

“What is this?”

Amelie pays close attention to what Lira is holding. It was a locket pendant delicately engraved. She thought she had seen it somewhere—. 

“Ah, that’s right. It’s the pendant I got from the dressing room.”

It was the pendant that Caroline returned the day she went to the dressing room saying that it was in her clothes. It seems to have come out of the lake by accident, but it was not Amelie’s either, but she took it.

“At that time, I left it to Sir Chad. That’s right, I just left it here at the time, but I completely forgot.” 

As soon as she returned, she was so busy dealing with Serwin, who had become strange since then, and preparing to meet the witch that she forgot. 

“Isn’t this yours?”

“No, it’s the pendant that came with me when I fell into the lake. What’s wrong with this?” 

“It’s a witch’s item. Can’t you see the demon’s pattern in front of it? It’s a very precious item. You can’t engrave a demon’s pattern just anywhere.”

It was only possible to engrave the patterns of demons on the altar or ceremonial items. The fact that the pattern of the demon remained on the pendant meant that it was an important object equivalent to that. 

“Is this the demon’s crest?”

Amelie took a good look at the front of the pendant. There was something engraved with geometric patterns. It’s surprising that the craftsmanship is so delicate, but she doesn’t know if it’s a demon’s crest.

“Look.”

Lira raised her fingertips and moved it over the pendant. As the flames from her fingertips followed the engraved lines, a completely different pattern appeared when viewed only with her eyes. It looked like a bird quietly gathering its wings as if to incubate her eggs. 

“Wow. It’s a real demon pattern!”

“It’s like a thing that was made a long time ago. That’s how precious it is. But this came from a lake? Which lake?”

“A lake next to Enrique Palace.”

“What’s in there?”

“…human bones?”

“What’s that? Is it a grave?”

It’s similar. Amelie smiles awkwardly.

“The one who gave you this. It’s the woman from the dressing room, right?”

“Yes, it’s Caroline.”

“I’ll check it out and come back.”

Lira jumped off the workbench.

“What are you going to do?”

“You should ask yourself.”

Lira flew away on a broomstick while maintaining her cat appearance. Amelie didn’t even have time to stop her. 

“Wait! Let’s go together!”

Amelie hurriedly grabbed a broom and followed Lira.

******

Thanks to Amelie following her, Lira took a less direct approach and landed in the alley near Monet’s dressing room.

“Is it there?”

Lira pointed to Monet’s dressing room with her front paw. Just in time they saw Caroline passing through the window. She was completely unaware of the danger that was upon her, and she was busy looking at her clothes under the sunlight.

Maybe because it was lunchtime, Caroline was the only one in the dressing room.

“Yes, but what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to hypnotize her. Then she can’t lie.”

Lira laughed insidiously.

“That’s why the witches gets cursed at!”

“What are you saying?”

Lira snorted.

“You can wait here.”

“I’ll follow you. I have to see what happens.”

“Nobody is going to get hurt. But you better turn into an animal. Everyone over there knows your face.”

“…Yes.”

Amelia chanted a spell. She usually transforms into small animals, so it was perfect for hiding.

“Huh?”

Even after the transformation was completed, her vision didn’t lower. Amelie looked down at Lira silently. The round cat’s eyes became more round. The woman said in bewilderment.

“Why… aren’t you a hamster?”

So what kind of animal did she turn into? Amelie returned to her human form. 

“What animal was it this time?”

“…pink deer.”

“Ugh.”

If it’s a deer, transforming doesn’t help! A pink deer roaming the city center. It was clear that if people noticed, she would be hunted. She was finally becoming bigger animals like she wanted, but it didn’t really help. Amelie was depressed. Ha, there’s nothing she likes about it.

“Does it change every time you transform like that?”

Lira looked at Amelia with strange eyes.

“Yes. I am not good at transforming, so I can’t transform into an animal like Lira.”

“Normally, you can only transform into one animal. You can’t transform into all the animals you want.”

“Really?”

“You’re a little— no, we’ll talk later. Let’s solve the purpose of coming here first.”

Lira quickly turned around. They hurried to get the job done before anyone else came.

“Ugh. What should I do?”

Amelie walked back and forth, lowered herself and cautiously approached the dressing room.

“Meow.”

Lira opened the window and skillfully went inside.

“How did a cat get in? Get out of here! You can get your fur on the clothes—”

Caroline’s voice was cut off. After looking around quickly, Amelie went into the dressing room.

Lira became a human and put a bottle of perfume under Caroline’s nose. Caroline stood with a hazy face like a wax figure. There was a strange smell in the room. 

“Did you hypnotize her?’

“Yeah. It’s a hypnotic scent. It’s simple, isn’t it?”

Simple wouldn’t be the problem. With a sigh, Amelie locked the door of the dressing room, and covered all the windows with curtains. 

“Go sit over there.”

Caroline sat down in the chair as Lira told her to.

“I’m going to ask you a few questions. You can’t say no.”

“Yes.”

Lira asked a personal question to make sure she was hypnotized properly. After some mischievous questions, Amelie became very sorry for Caroline.

“It’s the most important question. Where did you get this?”

Lira showed the pendant to Caroline.

“That’s… From Miss Amelia’s dress…”

“When?”

“The day of the Imperial Palace Party…”

“Tell me more about it.”

“Miss Amelie came back to His Majesty in wet conditions… and the maid took off her wet clothes… There was a pendant inside it…”

“Someone could have put it there?”

“No… I took it as soon as they took off her clothes, so they didn’t have time for that…”

“Then it’s true that this pendant came out of the lake?”

Amelia didn’t have a pendant until she changed into her new clothes and fell into the lake.

But when she changed her wet clothes, a pendant was found.

While moving from the lake to the palace, Serwin ran holding her, so there was no room for anyone to put it in.

The only time the pendant could be put into her clothes was when she fell into the lake.

“Then is it the Emperor?”

“If His Majesty was going to give me this, he would have given it to me by himself.” 

“Still, it’s strange that such a precious thing came from the lake. It doesn’t even have hands, so why would it come to your clothes?”

“I think that’s strange, too— but it’s not His Majesty. If you don’t believe me, I’ll ask him later.” 

“How do you trust the Emperor?” 

“His Majesty doesn’t lie to me anymore.”

Amelie was confident. Far from lying, Serwin became too honest and it was a problem.

“All right. Let’s assume the pendant came out of the lake.”

Lira made her decision after much consideration.

“Then I’ll leave. What about Caroline now?”

“She’ll remember that the black cat came in and had a hard time kicking me out.”

“She won’t remember, right?”

“Yes, let’s get out of here.”

“I’m sorry, Caroline. I’ll make it up to you!”

Amelie hurried out of the dressing room. Lira transformed into a cat and watched her surroundings. Thanks to this, the two were able to get out of the dressing room without anyone knowing.

“Phew.”

Amelia sighed and picked up the broom she had hidden in the alley.

“I’m going now.”

“Meow.”

Lira suddenly imitated a cat. Amelia quickly realized Lira’s intentions.

‘Who’s coming?’

Amelie grabbed the broom and picked up Lira.