Chapter 21

It has been a week since then. Today, Gerald and Neil and I are supposed to have a talk at our Arkwright family estate. By the way, this is the first time I’ve seen Neil since the ball.

The two arrived on time, and we gathered around a table in my room. After the maids finished preparing the tea and left, Gerald spoke up.

"Saidi, how are you feeling?"

"Thanks to you, I'm doing well. Thank you."

"I'm glad to hear that."

He narrowed his emerald-like eyes softly, looking extremely relieved. I couldn’t help but think that if everything Neil told me was a misunderstanding, it would be for the best. Today, as always, he was calm and kind.

Moreover, the thought that he might have romantic feelings for me made me feel a bit restless. Trying to act as usual, I took a small deep breath and smiled.

"Right, that man told us everything he knew."

"Huh?"

I couldn’t believe that the man who took Norman’s body would so easily reveal everything. As I was wondering about this, Gerald’s lips curved into a smile.

"Don’t worry, I fixed everything."

While I was still trying to understand his words, Neil was smiling wryly, saying, "You really did a good job."

"However, it seems he was under a powerful constraint spell, so he couldn’t talk about the crucial details."

"Wow, they’re really thorough, huh?"

"Yeah. But there is one piece of good news."

He smiled beautifully, and continued.

"It seems we don’t have to worry about our bodies being taken again."

At Gerald’s words, I let out a gasp of surprise. Neil, too, couldn’t hide his shock, and his gem-like blue eyes widened as he asked, "Are you serious?"

"The method used to swap our bodies apparently wasn’t magic. From the information we could get from the man, it seems they used something like a magical artifact or a divine object."

"Magical artifact...?"

"Yeah. The Ministry of Magic officials really didn’t know about it, so it must be a national treasure-level item that isn’t publicly known. Anyway, it seems the effect of that ‘something’ is starting to wear off."

That’s why we suddenly returned to our original bodies on that day, Gerald said. Indeed, that day felt very sudden and unexpected.

"That’s why it seems they no longer have the power to swap bodies again. However, it’s unclear when Norman will return to his original body. It could be soon, or it might not happen until the end of his life."

"Such... and you don’t even know where that place is?"

"Yeah. They were sworn to secrecy."

Already living a life that is too painful, we suddenly returned to our original bodies and disappeared. Just thinking about what he must be feeling now made me want to cry.

And what about the person who took my body and the one who took the two of us? I can’t imagine they are living quietly in their original lives. There are still too many unknowns, which makes me feel very uneasy and scared.

However, knowing that there won’t be any new victims and that we won’t be taken again is a big relief. When I thanked Gerald again, he smiled softly, as always.

"Did you find out anything about Eliza?"

"Actually, every time I asked the man about Eliza, he lost consciousness."

"Huh?"

"Wow, that’s suspicious."

"Yeah. I think the person who took Eliza’s body is the one I should be most cautious about."

Gerald said he plans to focus on investigating the person named Eliza.

"By the way, did you find out their purpose?"

"Yeah, they just wanted to be ordinary humans."

"Ordinary humans...?"

I still didn’t understand the meaning of those words, but Neil sighed and said, "I’m starting to get it."

"What do you mean?"

"Those people who took our bodies, don’t you think they just wanted to live as the children of high-ranking nobles, doing whatever they wanted?"

"Just a guess, but..."

"Because, if you have the power to take someone else’s body, you could take the king’s or a high official’s body and take over the entire country, right? Yet, they chose to become just a noble child, which makes me think they were pretty ignorant."

"..."

"Besides, when they took those bodies, their limbs were already in bad shape. They clearly didn’t have a good life."

Indeed, as Neil said, when I took that body, my nails were already peeling off in some places. It was hard to imagine that I had a good life.

"If it’s really such a trivial reason that took nearly ten years of our lives, I’d want to kill them even more. They could have taken our entire lives."

"Neil..."

We, born into wealthy noble families, are undoubtedly privileged. On the other hand, the people who took our bodies might have been forced to live in that place for their entire lives.

The despair of thinking that this life would continue until death is something I experienced many times in that place. I can understand the pain to some extent. However, that doesn’t justify taking someone else’s life without any reason.

"Anyway, I’ll continue talking to that man and let you two know if I find out anything else."

"Is Norman’s family okay?"

"Yeah. I made him write a letter saying he’ll be away from home for a while, so they should be fine for now."

"I see..."

It seemed that the man was really obedient, even writing a letter as he was told.

"I want to continue investigating where that place is. I want to rescue Norman as soon as possible."

"Got it. But Saidi, try not to leave this estate. If you need to go somewhere, make sure to let me know."

"Okay, thank you."

"Hey, I’ll help too. I’m bored."

"Sure."

We decided to end the conversation for today, and I took a sip of the slightly warm tea. Hearing all this at once made me feel uneasy.

Suddenly, I noticed that Gerald’s gaze was fixed on my right ring finger. There was the ring I received a few days ago. He still had that soft smile and spoke.

"Hey, Saidi, what about that ring?"