Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 41.2

Chapter 41.2

Edgar looked at Christine as if he was going to pierce through her face. She was usually good at hiding her expression, but it was impossible for her to remain calm in this situation.

The intimidation that Edgar Richard exhaled was unbearable, but her heart refused to listen, and she felt it tightening again. In an instant, all the blood in her body seemed to rush into her heart and clump together firmly.

“…!”

Her vision turned white, and her head spun. Christine’s body swayed violently as she lost consciousness from the excruciating pain.

Edgar instinctively grabbed her. Her body was hotter than when they slept together. It seemed that the mana was causing a high fever.

Her face was contorted in pain, and her fingertips twitched. She looked similar to the state she was in just before she died in his dream. Suffering in pain, reminding him of the death he didn’t want to remember the most.

“…”

Seeing that, Edgar barely suppressed his anger.

“Isaac,” he said, “Bring the doctor upstairs.”

“Understood.”

“And… search the room where Christine is staying yourself. Search carefully to see if there’s anything related to the chimeras there.”

Edgar’s voice was cold even as he asked for a doctor with Christine in his arms. Isaac was having a hard time figuring out what Edgar was thinking today, but that didn’t mean he could refuse his orders.

“Understood.”

He bowed his head deeply and walked away.

***

Edgar brought Christine to the top floor of the main building of the Black Fang Guild. He then laid her on the couch and poured a glass of strong liquor.

“Ha, ugh…”

As he stood there moistening his lips, he could hear Christine groaning as if she were out of breath. The doctor arrived soon after. He wiped her sweat with a wet towel and said something obvious.

“I apologize, Mr. Edgar. I can’t figure out the cause either. There is no medicine I can prescribe, so the only way is to wait for it to pass.”

“…”

Edgar knew a lot about the doctor. This old man was someone hired specifically to help the chimeras when they were sick, so naturally, he had the ability to detect the mana flowing through their bodies.

“You said you also have mage’s blood in you?”

“That’s correct. My father was a pure-blooded mage.”

“Then you are a half-blooded mage. How do you feel about her?”

Edgar pointed at Christine with his chin.

Surprised that he might have missed something, the doctor felt her pulse again.

“There is a very weak mana flowing in her body, but it is not enough to be called a mage. It seems that her mana keeps tangling and causing pain, but I cannot figure out the cause.”

The doctor repeatedly explained that he had never seen such a symptom before, although he had met and examined numerous mages while working in the duchy.

After hearing him, Edgar signaled him to leave and sat down next to Christine. As he brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, he felt her breathing gradually subsiding.

“Ah… Edgar…”

Christine muttered his name in a daze and desperately held onto the hand on her cheek as if it were her lifeline.

Seeing that, Edgar thought. Why was it that the peculiar symptoms the Baines mother and daughter experienced disappeared when in contact with the power of a chimera?

It felt as if there was an unknown correlation between their curse and the power of chimeras.

It was a very disturbing discovery for Edgar, who thought he knew everything about the chimeras and the powers they possessed.

‘Is this woman hiding something from me?’

Instead of making excuses for her situation to use the chimeras, he thought about what to do with this woman who had collapsed.

He could order her to get locked up in the basement like the others, or…

“If the spy is pretty, I might let it go.”

As he said while fastening the pearl necklace around her neck, she was pretty, so should he just let it go?

Just as he was about to silently pour another drink, Isaac came in with a polite knock and bowed his head.

“Edgar, I found this in Miss Christine’s closet.”

What he was holding in his hand was a small cloth pouch. Edgar took it and held it in his hand. Inside was a handful of something as small as grains.

It was the chimera’s tears that Christine had collected little by little while imagining a happy and free future with her mother, unlike her previous life, where she had died miserably while being exploited by Duff.