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(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 4/4 🎉)

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Somehow, an uneasy feeling began creeping up.

Looking at Yupheon’s face as he kept giving me gentle eye-smiles, I suddenly remembered his expression when he grabbed me in the square yesterday.

That face, where his usually playful eyes trembled anxiously while seeming to carefully watch my reaction…

Certainly, it wasn’t the kind of expression one would show to someone they’d only recently met.

“Wh-why would you mention the Saint…”

I forced an awkward laugh, trying to deny this unsettling sense of déjà vu.

When I laughed, he followed suit, creasing his eyes even more as he answered.

“Because that woman troubled you.”

“….”

My expression stiffened involuntarily.

“I’m just an ordinary pharmacist and yesterday was the first time I saw Lady Yuria…”

I stepped backward while reciting the same excuse I’d given to Cail.

“Yes, that’s right.”

However, he nodded firmly while brushing off my excuse.

“Everything you say is right, pretty one.”

“….”

Smiling brightly while agreeing with everything I said, he didn’t seem to have any intention of properly listening to me.

It seemed pointless whether I made excuses or not.

‘Besides…’

I looked at Yupheon with eyes full of suspicion.

‘He says he hates Yuria? Why is he telling such lies?’

The him I remembered from my previous life cherished Yuria deeply.

When was it?

Ah, yes.

At some event where Yuria and I were in conflict.

He suddenly hid Yuria behind him protectively as she shed tears with a pitiful face, and said:

‘It’s alright, Yuria. I’ll protect you so the witch of Shunaibel can’t eat you.’

‘Sob, hic, Yuphe. I’m so scared.’

‘Oh dear, you poor thing, so frightened. Don’t cry, Yuria. It hurts me so much when you cry.’

‘Then will you hug me, Yuphe? I think I can calm down if you hug me.’

‘Gladly, my Saint.’

That unfamiliar face smiling coldly at me while holding Yuria in his arms was still vivid in my memory.

And yet.

Despite declaring himself Yuria’s protector and treating me as an enemy, turning his back on me.

Even after Yuria officially became Niel’s lover, he never left her side.

There were even rumors that he, who had adamantly refused to become Pope despite being born with the strongest holy power, took the position for Yuria’s sake.

Because as Pope, he could become the Saint’s official protector.

Even if he couldn’t be with Yuria, Yupheon’s love for wanting to protect her even in that way circulated among people like a legend.

‘After all that, now he says he doesn’t like Yuria? I’ve seen so much with my own eyes!’

I wanted to bring up those times and argue, but the words got stuck in my throat.

I couldn’t do that.

T/N: When your brain says “speak!” but your throat says “nope!” – A Certified Romance Novel Syndrome affecting FLs and MLs alike since the dawn of literature. ಠ_ಠ

Because I was no longer Jella Shunaibel, the last Emperor of Shunaibel, but in the body of Jella Irene, an underworld pharmacist.

I had to be an ordinary pharmacist with no connection to the heroes.

Of course, I had an ominous feeling that I’d already been found out, but still.

“Everyone in the world knows you like Lady Yuria.”

So all I could do was pout my lips and mutter like this.

To this, Yupheon drooped his eyes and spoke in a somehow melancholic voice.

“…You don’t believe me.”

“No, well. Does it matter whether I believe it or not?”

“….”

He looked at me with lonely eyes, then broke into a small laugh.

“Indeed. I suppose there’s no helping it…”

His voice seemed to contain some kind of resignation.

‘Why is he reacting like that?’

Just as I was tilting my head in confusion.

“Sister!”

Felitz, who had just collected the remaining payment from the butler, came out and stopped in shock upon seeing Yupheon.

“Gasp…!”

“Oh? I know this one. It’s Felitz, who lives with our pretty one.”

Yupheon smiled kindly at Felitz, acting familiar.

“Hello, Felitz.”

At that moment, Felitz shrunk his large frame.

“What’s wrong?”

“It suddenly got strangely cold again.”

“The weather is cold today.”

I thought nothing of it and asked him something else.

“More importantly, did you find anything out?”

“Ah, yes, Sister. I carefully asked the butler, and as you said, something feels off about it being an epidemic.”

“Feels off?”

“The Count’s daughter’s maid is also around the same age, and though they isolated her just in case, she hasn’t shown any symptoms yet.”

As I thought.

“Well, the doctor says they’re watching her since she might still be in the incubation period, but it’s suspicious that only the Count’s daughter showed symptoms despite being together every day.”

Of course, because it’s not an epidemic.

“Good work. Keep watching the Count’s mansion.”

I patted Felitz’s shoulder lightly, then glanced at Yupheon.

“So, you came to find me just to tell me that earlier?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t know Count Pluna’s daughter at all?”

He answered seriously to my question.

“I’m not the kind of man who goes around playing with just any woman, pretty one.”

He might not play around with just any woman, but he seems to have no problem calling just anyone ‘pretty one.’

I really couldn’t figure him out.

Was Yupheon really not involved in this?

If so, I needed to meet the person most likely involved in this matter, Yuria.

“Then I have a favor to ask.”

“Oh? What is it?”

His eyes sparkled excitedly at the mention of a favor.

“I want to meet Lady Yuria.”

Pause. His expression darkened dramatically.

“What?”

“If I use your name, I think I could meet Lady Yuria, so please help me.”

“Why do you want to meet that woman?”

Just like in my previous life, whenever I tried to get even slightly close to Yuria, he would stiffen his face and prevent me from approaching.

Remembering that time made me feel suddenly emotional.

“Am I not allowed to meet Lady Yuria? Are you afraid I’ll harm her?”

“No, that’s not it…”

Yupheon frantically waved his hands, then put on a pitiful expression and answered while carefully watching my reaction, as though making excuses.

“What if that woman tries to frame you?”

“Why would the Saint do that to me?”

I blinked my eyes while looking at him.

Suddenly a question popped into my mind.

‘That woman, to you… Because she kept trying to frame you.’

‘That woman troubled you.’

Come to think of it, why do they think Yuria framed me?

Wasn’t I the one who troubled Yuria more?

True to her role as the righteous protagonist, Yuria didn’t like the villain Jella.

But I don’t remember ever being harmed because of her. Because Yuria…

“Anyway, absolutely not.”

Yupheon flatly refused.

“Ah, well, fine then. You think I can’t meet her without your help?”

When I replied in an annoyed voice, he widened his eyes and looked at me.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to ask Niel Alpenhayer?”

“Huh? Why bring up that person’s name? I was just going to ask young Lord Amets…”

“Young Lord Amets…?”

Yupheon’s eyes grew round for a moment, then curved strangely.

“Felitz and young Lord Amets too. Our pretty one has many men around her.”

“What do you mean men? Young Lord Amets is just…”

“Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets…”

“Why are you muttering young Lord Amets’s name like that?”

“Hmm, because I mustn’t forget it.”

Yupheon flashed a grin and kept repeating young Lord Amets’s name over and over, clearly determined to burn it into his memory.

“Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets. Young Lord Amets…”

“….”

Why do I feel like I’ve made another big mistake regarding young Lord Amets…?

***

Meanwhile, Yuria, who had fled from Niel’s reception room, ran and ran like a madwoman with terror staining her face.

‘It doesn’t work! It doesn’t work!’

Though palace officials who discovered her offered to call a doctor, she didn’t want to stay even a moment longer in the palace with that mad emperor.

Only after finally leaving the palace could she catch her breath.

Her hair was disheveled, and the white dress she wore was stained red with blood dripping from her shoulder.

It was where Niel had cut her with a broken vase he had swung at her.

She gripped her shoulder, gritting her teeth at the pain that belatedly washed over her.

‘That madman really meant to kill me!’