The Predator's Contract Partner

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“Sa—save me… … . help me… … . whenever… … .”

“This is the poison you prepared. Did I feed you ‘The Devil’s Smile’?”

Elisha bowed her body and said.

“During the fireworks, you put drugs in the wine. Then our agents, who were hiding and watching the situation, gave the signal. And in the midst of the intruder commotion, Lucerne’s men swapped the glasses,”

Elisha explained softly.

“Oh, yes. Today’s fireworks display has been postponed. About an hour ago, news circulated inside the capital, so I guess you didn’t know. Besides, no matter how magical the flames are, how can they explode so close to a window?”

“… … . What?”

“Under Lucerne, there are wizards who are good at illusion magic. They’ll probably be waiting over there.”

Elisha remarked and pointed to the roof of the building diagonally seen from the cafe window.

“In other words, the spark you saw in the first place, it was an illusion. So, you, who thought that the flame was covering you, worked hard on the glass… … . It was perfect.”

It was the first time since Arien was born that she felt so stupid. Her whole body trembled in defeat and humiliation.

“This… … . this… … .”

Elisha smiled and showed her wrist.

“And there’s this too.”

A bracelet was glittering around her wrist. It was a small bell-shaped bracelet.

“This is a gift from the same magicians who are good at fantasy magic. It was also useful for finding the corpse of Ristralpho that your father-in-law murdered. Now… … . We even added a function that it will react when poison is nearby.”

A bracelet that Lazuli and Lapis fixed and enhanced it this time. As before, it had the ability to detect contaminated mana and now could detect toxins.

“This bracelet vibrates in response to the presence of a poison right in front of it. It is a pity that it is not something that can be used permanently,”

noted Elisha with a small smile.

“So, I had a hard time hiding the vibrating bracelet.”

Arien understood. The reason Elisha kept fidgeting wasn’t because she was so smitten by the fireworks… … .

“Since everything is so certain, I had no choice but to switch the glass,”

she whispered.

“Save me, save me… … . Send me to my husband,”

Arien pleaded. It was not too late yet. Marco had the antidote, so if she met him and took it, she could survive. Arien’s eyes flashed with malice.

‘I’m going to kill you, you damn motherfucker—I will never forgive you! I’m going to rip this bitch to death even if I have to cling to Jacob. I can’t forgive you!’

Inwardly she was swearing.

Elisha blinked. Ian slowly approached Arien. Soon Arien’s consciousness faded away.

Seeing her droopy body, Elisha and Ian exchanged glances.

***

“Ian says that the situation is under control and sorted out.”

Nora delivered to Lucerne the items brought by her subordinates through the capital gate. The ring in Lucerne’s hand was stolen from Arien. It was the ring with poison called the “Devil’s Smile.”

“What about my wife?”

“Elisha-nim is safe. Everything went as expected, and the whole thing was said to be completely under our control with our agents.”

“I’m still not pleased,”

muttered Lucerne.

“I feel dirty that my wife is going through an operation that has a chance to endanger her even the slightest bit.”

Lucerne rarely expressed his feelings. Nora nodded in agreement without hesitation.

“The madam had a good point however that if we didn’t cooperate, she would continue to be endangered and risk exposure to poison in the future. Better to solve it all at once rather than take the risk and tremble with anxiety.”

“Elisha,”

murmured Lucerne.

“… … She’s the kind of woman who I want to locked up somewhere safe, like a basement.”

Nora agreed quietly.

“… … I agree.” [t1v: wat.]

When Lucerne beckoned, the knights who were silently approaching joined. Nora went ahead and knocked on the wooden door of the cabin where Marco was hiding.

Marco opened the door with a smile that spread across his face. However, the person he met was not his wife, Arien, but the expressionless knight, Nora.

“Excuse me,”

Nora said politely.

Punch! Nora plowed her fist into Marco’s stomach. Lucerne slowly walked out from behind.

“You got emotional.”

“How can you rationally treat someone who has plotted to poison someone else’s wife?”

“… … .”

Lucerne, watching the scene, had the impression that Nora had changed strangely. However, since she was not Elisha, he did not mull over it deeply.

“Lu—Lucerne… … !”

Marco, who was curled up and swaying like a ball on the floor, stared at Lucerne in shock.

Lucerne chuckled. The knights came and put a leather bag on Marco’s head.