My prediction was correct. The man had not given up on the white snake.

However, I had no intention of handing over the divine beast I had just rescued to someone who would boil it into snake soup.

“Sir, if you wanted it that badly, you should have bid higher at the auction. It’s no use telling me now.”

“I’m not offering more money, I’m proposing an exchange for something even more valuable.”

Even if it was a con man’s words, the white snake was rumored to be an elixir of immortality.

The gentleman before me must have firmly believed those words to try to buy the white snake even for 100,000 gold.

But something even more valuable than that?

‘What could he be talking about?’

The man continued confidently.

“If you hand over that white snake, I’ll give you the original copy of Alonso’s scripture.”

Yan, who had been listening silently beside me, immediately refuted.

“Young lady, that’s a lie. The original scripture was burned and destroyed last year.”

Alonso was a sage who appeared and disappeared 500 years ago.

There were rumors that he might still be alive since his body was never found, but there were no records of a human living over 500 years anywhere.

Before Alonso disappeared, he had recorded a book over his lifetime which people called Alonso’s scripture.

And that book contained detailed explanations of forbidden black magic written in ancient language.

‘The original Clemens was like that too, saying if he could just find Alonso’s scripture, he could revive the forbidden black magic.’

Originally, Alonso’s scripture had been translated into common language and spread to various countries.

At first it was for research purposes. The kings of each country even swore not to use it except for peace when receiving the translated versions.

However, after the war started, without knowing who was first, black magic was immediately used in the war.

As a result, what could have been a small spark that could be quickly extinguished turned into a world war.

After the world war ended, the kings of each country gathered and agreed.

‘Let’s erase all records of black magic!’

The kings brought all the translated black magic books they had and, with everyone’s consent, destroyed all records of black magic.

However, what they had gathered and burned at that time were only the black magic books translated into common language.

The original copy of the black magic book, Alonso’s scripture, still remained.

Since it was written in ancient language, it was not easy for individuals to interpret.

Nevertheless, its danger level was very high, so it should not easily fall into the hands of others, which is why the imperial household kept it secretly.

And as Yan said, that item had burned along with the imperial villa a year ago and disappeared from the world.

It was an incident that had caused a stir in the empire for a while, enough for even me, who had only stayed in back alleys last year, to hear about it.

“That’s not true.”

“Show us proof.”

Yan was not easily convinced. Seeing Sophia step forward beside me, it seemed she also thought the man’s words were lies.

“I’m telling the truth. How can I show proof? I can’t bring the scripture to show someone who may or may not accept my offer. Who knows what you might do.”

However, the truth of his words wasn’t important to me right now.

‘The scripture really wasn’t burned, just as this man says.’

That was information from the original work. In the original, the scripture that was said to have burned is later recovered by Ilazer.

‘The problem is how this person knows the scripture wasn’t burned.’

In the original, the scripture was hidden from the world by one person.

By the one person who deliberately set fire to the imperial palace and spread false rumors that the scripture had burned.

‘Could this person be…’

“Young lady, shall we go now? Young master is returning.”

As Sophia said, I could see Clemens returning from afar with an auction house employee.

At that moment, the man in the white mask bent his knee as if trying to meet my gaze.

Yan blocked in front of me with one hand. Despite the clear hostility, the man spoke without caring:

“This information might not interest the little lady yet. Then how about this.”

The white-masked man’s gaze fixed on me. As if trying to see through the mask I was wearing.

“Your brother might be interested. More than that fake white snake sold for 2 million gold.”

He murmured lowly. It was a voice so quiet only I could hear.

I took a sharp breath. The man in the white mask left before Clemens arrived.

‘Could he possibly know that Clemens can interpret ancient language…?’

“Who was that just now? What did he say to you?”

Clemens asked worriedly. He hadn’t expected someone to come looking for me while he was gone.

I quickly spoke before anyone else could.

“It was nothing, right?”

I deliberately sought agreement from Sophia and Yan. They agreed somewhat reluctantly.

Since the others agreed, Clemens didn’t seem to suspect anything.

I recalled the man in the white mask again.

Who is he to have Alonso’s scripture? The one that was said to have burned in the imperial palace a year ago.

In fact, I already knew the answer. Even while thinking it was impossible, only one person came to mind.

‘…The Emperor.’

Not only did he have easy access to the scripture, but the current Emperor was only a regent who temporarily ascended to the throne until Ilazer came of age.

Perhaps that’s why he didn’t hesitate to do all sorts of vile things to bring down Ilazer.

One of those was handing over Alonso’s scripture to Clemens, who was Ilazer’s close associate.

That becomes the catalyst for Clemens to betray Ilazer. The scripture was the only reason Clemens had been good to Ilazer.

Clemens has the magic of the twins. And Clemens himself had the ability to interpret ancient language.

If he interpreted the ancient language and learned the principles of black magic, it would be nothing to use the twins’ magic to dominate the world as he pleased.

‘Alonso’s scripture must not fall into Clemens’ hands.’

I was already planning to reject his offer, but that thought became even more firm.

Just then, an auction house employee came running from behind, out of breath.

“Ju-just a moment please! Customer!”

“What is it?”

“Th-that is! The item you just paid for has disappeared!”

If it’s the item Clemens paid for, it must be the silver snake!

“Disappeared?!”

I blurted out without thinking. Seeing my reaction, Clemens also questioned the employee.

“What do you mean by that, disappeared?”

“Li-literally, sir. Our staff are searching hard right now but strangely it’s nowhere to be found. We-we’re very sorry, truly sorry, customer.”

“I paid for it so it’s my property. You must find it.”

“Ye-yes, of course! Please wait a little longer. We will definitely find it for you.”

“Diane, go wait in the carriage first. I’ll follow shortly.”

Clemens seemed to not want to keep me here any longer. As I walked towards the carriage, I kept thinking.

‘The divine beast disappeared?’

The divine beast had barely moved earlier.

I didn’t think the divine beast, which had only slightly twitched its tail, would have escaped on its own now.

I recalled the audience members who had been obsessed with the white snake at the auction earlier. They hadn’t been able to pay and couldn’t buy the white snake they wanted so badly.

In this situation, there was only one thing they could do.

‘They might have stolen it.’

Wasn’t it the white snake that someone wanted so badly they were willing to offer even Alonso’s scripture, which was said to have disappeared from the world?

No, even if it wasn’t the Emperor who offered me the scripture, others could have coveted the divine beast enough to steal it.

‘Or like last time, the divine beast might have really gone into hiding.’

Nothing was certain.

Hiding – when it showed me the scene of tailing the assassin last time, the divine beast said it had used hiding. That it had used hiding so others couldn’t see it.

‘The divine beast might not have escaped now either.’

It might have just used hiding while unable to move inside the small cage.

When I stopped moving, Sophia asked:

“Young lady, what’s wrong?”

‘Should I ask them to bring the cage the divine beast was in?’

I considered it briefly, but the divine beast was already at risk of becoming snake soup because of talk about elixirs and such, so I couldn’t let its identity be revealed like that.

Feeling a bit guilty, I lied to Sophia.

“Sophia, I’m thirsty.”

“Oh no, we don’t have anything to drink right now…”

“You know that juice we had earlier? I want to drink that!”

“Hmm, just a moment.”

Sophia caught a passing auction house employee and spoke to them, then turned to me.

“Then I’ll go get it quickly, could you wait just a bit?”

“Okay!”

After Sophia disappeared, I gently beckoned to Yan. Yan willingly bent his knee to match my height.

“Do you have something to say?”

I held Yan’s hand tightly, filling it with apologetic feelings.

‘Good Yan…’

“Young miss?”

Question marks floated on Yan’s face seeing my behavior, but I pretended not to notice and turned my head.

“I’m sleepy, I want to sleep.”

“Yes, I’ll wait outside.”

“Okay!”

I quickly climbed into the carriage.

“Rest well.”

The carriage door closed with a thud.

Since I had to ride back in the carriage with Clemens, it wouldn’t depart right away.

I quietly listened for sounds outside. It was quiet now, but I was certain.

In a place like this, someone was bound to cause a big commotion.

“How dare you! Do you know who I am!”

My prediction was correct. A man shouted roughly not far away.

I quickly opened the window. The carriage window was just big enough to squeeze my body through if I tried.

But there was one thing I had overlooked. The carriage window was much higher than I thought.

As soon as I stepped out, my body tumbled forward.

“Ouch!”

“Aaargh! Let go! Let go of this!”

Fortunately, my voice was drowned out by the noise of the fleeing man.

I jumped up and ran through the carriages.

‘Let’s find it before Clemens comes back.’

I know where the divine beast is likely to be. It shouldn’t be difficult to find.

A woman opened the door and entered. Stumbling steps, dark red spots appearing on her body, symptoms that appear after long-term exposure to drugs.

“Welcome!”

The doorkeeper greeted the guest cheerfully. Such guests were an endless gold mine for them.

“What would you like today?”

The woman glanced at the face of the employee who was asking while gently rubbing her palms together.

She was about to ask for the same as yesterday, when a commotion broke out somewhere.

“Oh my, if he gets caught like that, he’ll end up losing a limb at least. This is why they say people with light pockets don’t know how precious their bodies are. Don’t you think?”

The woman’s gaze, which had been following the fleeing man, fixed on one spot.

“That child.”

“Child? Where is there a child here?”

The employee didn’t see, but it was clearly visible to the woman’s eyes. A young child with black hair.

Ah, yes. No matter how many people there were, she couldn’t fail to recognize her. Wasn’t it the child she had seen to the point of tedium over the past few years?

‘My daughter.’

The woman’s lips stretched into a long smile.