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Chapter 91. Memory Manipulation
Leighton immediately realized.
‘This is His Grace’s room!’
Unlike other rooms filled with merely basic furniture, there are many furniture and items there, all of them are subtly luxurious, so it was unlikely for the employee of this mansion to use rooms filled with such things.
In other words, it must be the room used by the owner of this mansion.
Leighton was eager to be able to finally figure out the duke’s room, but he managed to calm himself down by chanting that he was like a spy who had managed to infiltrate the enemy’s country.
‘I wonder if there’s anything related to medicine here.’
Leighton searched in every spot from the entrance of the room to the inside. But there wasn’t a speck of dust in the extremely clean room.
Leighton, who finally reached the desk near the window, after searching through his bed, closet, and even drawer, hoping to find something. There was a letter on the desk.
The letter was sent to…. The magic tower?
‘It’s very suspicious.’
The tower was an incredibly closed place. Therefore, it costs a lot of money to strictly screen the customers.
The customer’s information wouldn’t be disclosed even if the magic tower is blown up.
Why did the one and only duke of the empire communicate with the magic tower?
Leighton unfolded the letter in anticipation. However……
“What’s this…….”
The contents of the letter were written in unrecognizable alphabets. Leighton stared at the letter strugglingly, but he couldn’t figure out what it was about.
But there was one letter that could be read clearly.
‘Total lunar eclipse…….?’
There was just one phrase written in the Andrian Empire.
However, Leighton anxiously folded the letter because he couldn’t collect any information even from a single word.
Leighton began to rummage through the desk drawers, thinking that he shouldn’t return just like that. Most of the drawers were empty, but the one at the bottom contained a stack of papers.
Leighton took out those papers. He skimmed through the paper on the top in his hand. Transaction statement was written on the top of the paper and there was a seal stamped at the bottom of the paper with Griff’s name on it.
It’s related to Griff……! He was eager for a moment just like when he found out the letters earlier, but he couldn’t figure out what was written in it as it was unreadable.
‘D*mn! What’s this paper about?’
Leighton anxiously gathered the papers again and put them back in the drawer. He didn’t get anything anyway.
He has been away for too long under the excuse to go to the bathroom because he has looked further.
He was about to return because he thought Nelia would discover him there, but he realized there were quite a few books about the Legend of Sigrit on Duke Hart’s desk.
Now that he thought about it, the duke has said he was also looking for information about Sigrit’s heart due to His Majesty the King’s order.
“He shouldn’t have found it before I managed to……”
Leighton left the duke’s room with an expression of dismay.
And the moment Leighton turned around to descend the stairs, someone grabbed him by the wrist.
***
Leighton left for the bathroom, so Nelia drank water because she felt thirsty.
Duke Hart looked down at the table without a word, she couldn’t figure out what was on his mind. He also looked like he was being absorbed in his thoughts.
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes.
Some time has passed, but Leighton hasn’t returned.
Nelia, who fortuitously tapped the table with her fingertips, got up from her seat when Leighton had left the room for about twenty minutes.
“It’s strange for him to not come back even though it’s been a while. I’m going to fetch Leighton just in case he wanders around the mansion.”
Duke Hart looked up at Nelia, who got up so suddenly.
“If he went to the bathroom with Ton, it would not be possible for him to get lost.”
Exactly. He wouldn’t be taking this long if he had gone with Ton, but he has been too late by now.
‘He’s most likely snooping around.’
As Nelia didn’t say anything, the duke immediately nodded with a friendly expression.
“If you’re concerned about him, try to find him.”
“Yes, I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Nelia walked out of the parlor with quick paces. He might still be in the bathroom, but she somehow had an ominous feeling.
That ominous hunch grew as she looked at Ton who was sitting alone in the hall. Nelia walked up to Ton and asked as he was sitting with newspaper in his hand.
“Ton…… Have you seen Leighton?”
“Young Master Leighton? I didn’t see him.”
Ton asked when Nelia’s face was filled with a sense of frustration.
“What’s wrong?”
“He said he was going to the bathroom, but he hasn’t come back even after 20 minutes.”
Ton folded his newspaper and put it on the table before standing up.
“Oh, dear…… he might have lost his way in the mansion. I’ll look for him.”
“Yes, please. I’ll look for him as well.”
Nelia said so and walked in the opposite direction of Ton.
‘Where the h*ll did he go?’
She told him to go to the bathroom with Ton, but he must have been snooping around the mansion as he disappeared while being on his own.
Nelia wandered around the mansion for a while to look for Leighton, but he was nowhere to be found. She even asked the servants if they had seen Leighton, but their answers were all the same, they didn’t see him anywhere.
Nelia, who bit her lip and as she thought about where to find Leighton, suddenly remembered about Zenuit.
‘……I’m gonna go to Zenuit and ask him.’
If he used all of his abilities, she thought it would be easy to find someone in this mansion.
Then, when Zenuit found Leighton, he would immediately manipulate his (Leighton) memory so that he wouldn’t be suspicious of Zenuit.
Nelia, who had concluded her plan, headed straight to her room on the fourth floor. As she entered the room, Zenuit, who was lying on the floor and working on the puzzle by himself, raised his head.
“Nelia!”
He was aloe for only about an hour, and Zenuit seemed to be having fun with himself.
“What are you doing here?”
Zenuit, whose eyes sparkled upon seeing Nelia, looked beside her.
“Did you bring your brother?”
“No, he said he was going to the bathroom, but then he disappeared. Therefore, you know what you have to do, Zenuit. Find out his whereabouts.”
Zenuit pouted.
“It feels like you’re thinking of me as a useful magic tool.”
“It’s solely because of the great ability which Zenuit possesses.”
Nelia approached Zenuit with such a flat compliment.
“Come on, find out where Leighton is.”
“Wait, let me see.”
Nelia thought it was a good thing that she came to Zenuit for this.
Zenuit said and stared somewhere on the floor for a moment. He seemed to be focusing on something.
Nelia thought it was similar to Duke Hart’s appearance a while ago as she looked at Zenuit. Duke Hart and Zenuit have little in common, but there were times when they shared strangely similar things.
‘Or do I look like that as well when I’m focused…….’
Nelia didn’t take it seriously and wanted Zenuit to find Leighton’s whereabouts.
Soon after, Zenuit turned to Nelia and spoke.
“There’s nothing to find.”
“……?”
“He’s in the room next door.”
Room next door……?
If he’s in the room next door, he must be in Duke Hart’s room!
Nelia hurriedly went into the hallway. Right after the door of the duke’s room opened, someone came out from there.
It was Leighton, the person she had been looking for.
Nelia strode over him with a stiff face and grabbed Leighton by the wrist.
“Leighton!”
Leighton opened his eyes wide when he spotted Nelia.
“How can you be here……!”
“That’s what I should say to you! You said you were going to the bathroom. Why are you here?”
“Oh, about that……”
Leighton looked around the hallway before taking Nelia into another room.
It seemed that he decided to come into the duke’s room because he was afraid of being caught by others, but gladly it was Nelia’s room.
In other words, he came into Nelia’s room on his own.
Nelia thought it was a good thing. Now that Leighton has entered the place where Zenuit was on his own accord.
On the other hand, Leighton didn’t seem to have spotted Zenuit as he entered the room.
Leighton spoke to Nelia with a serious gaze.
“Actually…… I picked up a strange medicine when I came to this mansion last time.”
Having heard that Leighton had picked up a medicine, Nelia recalled how he had been asking about the duke’s health.
‘So that’s why……’
If he picked up the medicine around the mansion, isn’t it probably a transformation medicine…….?
Nelia asked Leighton while concealing her embarrassment.
“What’s that weird medicine…….?”
“I don’t know, I think it’s true that His Grace takes some kinds of medicine……. Because when I tried to sell it to the black market trafficker, they didn’t buy it because they didn’t know what it was.”
“You…….? You were trying to sell it knowing it’s the duke’s medicine?”
Leighton leaned down and spoke in a low voice at the sight of shocked Nelia.
“If you tell me what kind of medicine that is, I’ll give you 30% of the share to you. The medicine is made by a well-known pharmacist named Griff, so the black market trafficker were going to buy it at an extremely high price.”
If it was the medicine created by Griff, it must be the transformation medicine.
“Don’t joke with me……! GIve me that right now! It’s called stealing!”
When Nelia tried to dig through Leighton’s pocket, he grabbed Nelia’s wrist.
“Oho, I only picked what’s dropped by HIs Grace.”
Leighton said so and pushed Nelia away. Someone supported Nelia’s falling body from behind.
“It seems that you just can’t listen.”
It was Zenuit’s voice. Nelia almost fell backwards as he put his hand on her back.
Leighton leaned his head like a giraffe when he heard someone else’s voice from behind Nelia.
Leighton, who finally discovered Zenuit, blinked quickly.
“What about this kid? Oh, you’re the Zenuit that Nelia keeps. As a fake cousin.”
It was Zenuit who answered on her behalf.
“Yes.”
His short and curt answer made Leighton’s eyes widened.
“You can’t speak in an informal way to an adult!”
“You have to act like an adult to become one. I can’t treat you like an adult when you push your sister like that.”
Leighton opened his eyes sharply as he saw Zenuit who had a cute little face and a strange tone.
Zenuit ignored Leighton and spoke to Nelia.
“Nelia, embrace me. I’m going to fulfill your request now.”
Oh, memory manipulation.
Nelia wanted Leighton’s brain structure to change completely while his memory was being manipulated, but she knew it was such an unreasonable demand.
Nelia held Zenuit in his arms. Then, Zenuit reached out with his arm and slapped Leighton on the head.
Leighton frowned at the pain he felt for a moment and grasped his head.
“Ah……!”
Nelia looked at Zenuit, who suddenly slapped his brother, with a surprised face. Zenuit spoke with a huff.
“Although I actually don’t have to hit him, I hated the way he acted. Therefore, I gave him a slap on the head. Of course, his memory will be set now.”
Indeed, Leighton didn’t say anything to Zenuit, who hit him, he just rubbed his painful head.
Then after a while, Leighton looked at Zenuit in Nelia’s arms.
Nelia was anxious about how he would behave toward Zenuit.
“Our Zenu, I haven’t seen you in a long time. How can you be cuter than the last time?”
Dear God…… Leighton was being affectionate as if Zenuit was really his cousin. Nelia knew Zenuit’s ability worked out.
‘It’s really amazing……’
Of course, this idea would only remain in her mind. Zenuit would be very proud of himself to heat that.
“More than that, don’t you really know what kind of medicine His Grace Duke Hart is taking, Nelia?”
Leighton, who was staring at Zenuit, was looking at Nelia while unknowingly having a frown on his face.
Might as well hit him on the head one more time so that he would have lost all his memories.
Nelia sighed as she looked at Leighton when he asked about the medicine again.
“As His Grace said earlier, it’s a medicine for headache. That is as far as I know.”
“It can’t be. Griff doesn’t just make such a common medicine!”
How did he find out about Griff? Did he also hear this person from the black market trafficker whom he has met?
Just where is this guy wandering?
Nelia didn’t even hide her annoyed tone.
“Just imagine it in your head, we have to go down as soon as possible. His Grace awaits us.”
Nelia turned away as if ignoring Leighton.
“Hey, Nelia!”
Leighton grabbed Nelia’s shoulder firmly. Nelia frowned.
‘Regardless, I don’t think so.’
He wasn’t someone who is supposed to be given words, therefore force is necessary.