Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

The total area of ​​Diesel is equivalent to a large city in Victoria. If it weren't for the enthusiastic tour guide, even if the hero dragged his seriously injured body and the witch needed to use a wheelchair to get around - as long as the wheelchair was strong enough and would not fall apart, the two of them could rush all the way, visit every street and alley of Diesel in a day, and quickly find the anomaly that caused the disappearance of the White Tower investigator.

In fact, that is exactly what they did.

After confirming that the enthusiastic tour guide was unlikely to be able to provide them with any useful information, the two of them quickly broke away from the enthusiastic tour guide and then took it upon themselves to quickly screen all the suspicious places they could access across the country.

Then, they found nothing unusual.

Unlike Lentiheim, which revealed many abnormalities at first sight, Diesel is simply the most normal human country, at least on the surface.

The people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the king, as a leader... although he was said to have some minor shortcomings, he was still doing his job conscientiously.

There is no pollution as imagined, nor are there cruel and tyrannical tyrants or wise and reliable emperors. It is not a paradise on earth, but it is not a purgatory of suffering either.

Diesel is really ordinary and unremarkable - just like most countries, or cities among human countries.

The witch and the hero really couldn't find anything unusual in such an ordinary small country. In addition, it was already late, they were all injured, and they hadn't found a suitable place to live yet...

They decided to return to the Sea of ​​Forest first.

Warp is such a convenient spell that Laciel sometimes even thinks it is one of the greatest spells ever created.

Only a small amount of magic power and the coordinates determined in advance were needed. After a gust of breeze, they returned to the door of the Witch's Nest in the Sea of ​​Forest.

Although it seemed like a lot of things happened, all in all, only a few days had passed.

The scenery of the Forest Sea had hardly changed. The door of the Witch's Lair was tightly closed, the cabin built by the two of them was still there, and even the coffin made of the Elf Mother Tree was still there.

But at this moment, Lacele suddenly saw Charles walking towards the coffin.

"?"

She subconsciously wanted to ask Charles what he wanted to do, but before she could say anything, Charles had already arrived in front of the coffin.

He held out his hand—

He wants to open the coffin.

[To be continued]

-

8. Touched the face

Charles wanted to open the coffin.

But Lacey didn't want him to open the coffin.

For this reason, she stood up from the wheelchair very quickly, and subconsciously asked:

"Hey hey hey...what do you want to do?!"

Charles, who had his hand on the coffin lid, turned around and replied calmly:

"I want to open the coffin."

But Lacier's eyes are not blind, she can certainly see this obvious fact -

Charles' abacus beads fell on her face. She couldn't continue to pretend that she didn't notice anything, right?

Like an ostrich? Burying its head in the ground and pretending to be dead when in danger? Or pretending to be quantum mechanics? As long as she, the observer, does not observe, the danger that is already in front of her has not yet collapsed into a state of real existence?

But ostriches don't actually hide their heads when they are in danger. Just like a frog in boiling water, this kind of specious rumor often cannot stand up to verification. Lacey felt that if she was really stupid enough to stick her butt up and bury her head in the soil to act stupid, then Charles would probably stand behind her and thank nature for the gift.

Step brother, I am Laceel.jpg

We have to stop Charles!

Although she hasn't thought of a suitable excuse yet, now is obviously not the time for her to leisurely think of an excuse.

In order to prevent Charles from noticing her abnormality, Lacie sat down again and pretended to be calm and said:

"Didn't I tell you that unless it's necessary, try not to open the coffin, otherwise it might destroy the balance of magic in the coffin... If that happens, your wife's body might not be able to be preserved any longer."

Charles nodded upon hearing this.

Obviously, he knew this too - but even though he knew this, he still turned his head back as if he had heard nothing, with both hands on the edge of the coffin.

"!"

Alarm bells rang in Lacey's heart.

what's the situation?

Didn't Ciel consider the safety of the priest more important than anything else? Last time when she said that opening the coffin might destroy the balance of magic, Ciel immediately stopped what he was doing, but this time...

This time, he seemed really determined to open the coffin.

Rachel knew that if Charles really opened the coffin, he would see that it was empty. When she thought of this, the first emotion that came to her mind was not guilt but anger.

byd brave!

Originally, before setting out for Lentiheim, she wanted to find a suitable opportunity to mold a body and put it in the coffin. This way, even if Charles missed the pastor lady one day and secretly opened the coffin, he would not be suspicious of her because of the empty coffin.

But Charles took such good care of the coffin.

Ever since he brought the coffin to the Sea of ​​Forest, he has never left its side, and even wanted to sleep next to the coffin.

Of course, even if the cabin was built and Charles no longer slept next to the coffin, she would not have the chance to find him, because she knew that with Charles's keen perception, even in the middle of the night, as long as she tried to get close to the coffin, Charles would suddenly appear like a ghost.

So she never found the right opportunity.

Therefore, the coffin is still empty today.

It was at this moment that Lacie suddenly thought that she might have been able to write down the coordinates inside the coffin and then teleport the priest's body into the coffin.

After solving the abnormality in Lentiheim, Fuwenna told her that the so-called "elven mother tree" refers to the mistress. And the materials used to build the coffin are some "fragments" that have fallen off from the mistress over the past three thousand years.

Although the mistress of the elves was once a creation of the rational side, after falling to the Pangaea, she inexplicably possessed some of the characteristics of the legal side.

It is precisely this quality that causes the fragments that fall off from His body to possess a very high mystical power.

That's why the coffin had the effect of isolating the influence of the external environment, and that's why Charles didn't notice when Lacie released the warp spell in the coffin before.

She could have used this effect to stuff a fake, pastor's body into the coffin, but her carelessness caused her to forget this crucial point, so now she can only sit in a wheelchair and regret it.

Am I a pig?

While Rachel fell into deep self-doubt, she continued to persuade him as if nothing had happened:

"I know you miss Miss Pastor very much, but if you rashly open the coffin and destroy the balance of magic inside, then I will be..."

At this point, she pretended to pat her legs, which had not yet healed, to remind Charles that she was still weak:

"If it were me in the past, I would be able to save you easily even if the magic balance inside the coffin was destroyed. But now, I can't guarantee that if the magic balance in the coffin is destroyed, the pastor lady inside will be safe and sound."

"..."

Charles just remained silent.

He didn't even look at Lacie's face. He still kept his hands on the edge of the coffin, as if he had been mentally prepared for something, or had decided to do so a long time ago.

"It doesn't matter," the man said suddenly without thinking, "I just want to see... whether she is still in here."

"?!"

Charles's words made Lacie a little overwhelmed.

Although Charles didn't look at her, she subconsciously looked away and her heartbeat began to accelerate.

Oh no, she thought, could it be that Charles has already guessed it?

Although this did not surprise her at all - after all, she had already revealed her identity, but the situation was a bit delicate at the time, so Charles did not believe what she said at all - but now Charles seemed to have finally reacted.

He began to suspect her, so naturally, he wanted to open the coffin and perform an autopsy to prove his suspicion.

He wanted to know whether she was Rachel, he wanted to know whether she was pretending to be the pastor, he wanted to know whether the pastor lady who was supposed to be sleeping in the coffin was still there.

The answer is of course no.

There was no body of the pastor lady in the coffin, only air.

But what could Lacey do at this time? She couldn't just jump in front of Charles after he opened the coffin and found that the pastor's body had disappeared, and ask him, "Are you surprised? I made your wife disappear!"

Then Charles would definitely ask her to get the pastor's body back.

Lacille couldn't do it.

But if you can't do that, you have to use mugwort.

If she was the one who made the pastor's body disappear, then she would have to use her own body as compensation to Charles.

To Charles, this might be fair.

Is it right?

Lacie suddenly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

She tried to imagine—

If Charles opened the coffin and found it was empty, thus confirming his guess and discovering that the white moonlight in his mind was actually her in disguise, what would be his reaction?

So she not only swallowed her saliva, her whole body trembled, and then she couldn't help but want to pick up the wheelchair and run away on the spot.

After three years of getting along, Lacele had already become familiar with Charles's character.

You can joke with him casually, even occasionally a little too much, but only - Charles can't tolerate deception, let alone a deception like hers that is almost unforgivable.

She had deceived Charles' heart.

Even she, after her anger at Charles's failure to repay his debts subsided, gradually realized the evil of her actions.

So... after all, they will be liquidated... right?

I just don’t know how it will be liquidated.

To be honest, Laceel even thought that Charles had the potential to become a yandere. So maybe, after discovering that she was deceiving him, Charles might tie her up, imprison her, and even use the master-servant contract they signed to order her not to leave him no matter what.

Then again?

What kind of action will this particularly strong and heavy love be transformed into?

Lacey suddenly felt a little regretful.

Before, she spoke too loudly to Lao Deng. At this moment, she suddenly realized that the old ones are still the best. Maybe... she really needed the spell prototype in Lao Deng's hand that was said to have a 100% contraceptive rate.

Anyway, she could still treat being slept with by Charles as if she had been bitten by a dog, but giving birth to Charles' child...

Don’t do that kind of thing!

Lacee thought tremblingly, quietly pulled out her wand, and planned to use the warp spell to escape while Charles opened the coffin.

Although she also knew that even if Charles was injured, he could still interrupt her chanting at any time with forbidden spells, just like he did not long ago.

So even she herself felt that she had become a useless fish that could never get up again. Facing Charles, all she could do was to simply flutter her arms and legs and pretend to be resisting.

Charles finally opened the coffin.

At the same time, Lacie was mentally prepared. Her expression became firm, as if she was ready to die. She was just about to shout, "Let the storm come even harder."

But Charles didn't do anything to her.

She was surprised, but did not dare to confirm the situation, so after a long while, she finally mustered up the courage to open her eyes and look at Charles.

Charles was still standing next to the coffin at this moment, with a strange expression on his face, as if he had seen an incredible sight.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Lacie seemed to have guessed something, so she quickly stood up, limped to Charles' side, and looked into the coffin.

Then she saw herself.

——To be precise, she was the pastor lady in disguise.

But why?

Obviously she... obviously she hasn't put her plan into practice yet!

And Charles beside her also felt confused and bewildered.

But soon, he seemed to realize something, and with a serious look, he stretched out his hand.

So, under the witch's gaze, the brave man's right hand, which carried the power of forbidden magic, gently fell on the cheek of the pastor girl who should not have appeared in the coffin.

But Miss Pastor did not dissipate.