infodatos Chapter 360: Be More Careful [Bonus - ]
Chapter 360: Be More Careful [Bonus - ]
Chapter 360: Be More Careful [Bonus Chapter]"Your Majesty, I’m telling the truth.
If I undo the spell I cast earlier, Rendell will begin hearing the sound from here and he would also pick up the scent of my blood.
He would know it’s truly me.
You can read and hear our thoughts so you would know the truth," he said, and Arabella froze.
". . ."
She was silent for a few seconds.
If this was indeed Alwin, then he already knew everything she was trying to hide.
What should she do if he was in indeed Alwin?!
"Stop this nonsense," Arabella glared at him.
She almost believed him.
She was trying to buy time for the real Alwin or Riley to come.
’But why is everyone taking so long?’
What if she was already dead by the time someone came to save her?
"My apologies for my behavior earlier.
I had to go this far just to confirm my suspicions, Your Majesty.
I had been suspecting you since the day you ask for a divorce with His Majesty.
Your former self would have never done it.
I had been observing you for a while.
And when I noticed you seem to be able to read us too thoroughly, I began suspecting you could hear our thoughts or something like that."
He explained that since then, he avoided thinking about his suspicions in her presence.
Then, he tried intentionally letting her hear his thoughts and gauging her reaction.
The way she always knew how to respond and act to whatever they said made his suspicions stronger.
He noticed that she wasn’t really surprised about anything.
It was rare to see her surprised or at a loss for words.
That included when she heard about Esmeralda and Blanca and most especially when she learned about Ferdinand being a dragon.
"I thought that maybe, you have memories of the past just like me, so you already knew a lot about everything.
However, your actions suggested much more than that.
Your eyes are always following people around or you close them as you focus to listen more without getting distracted about what’s going on in front of you."
’I do that?’ Arabella didn’t even notice.
"There were times I thought I was merely overthinking because I had memories of the past. But now, I was able to confirm it.
You can read our thoughts. And you have memories of the past just like I do.
You said it yourself earlier too.
You already know about Young Master Fermin and Marcus."
"T-then, you are Alwin?" Arabella paled.
’What the hell is going on?
Is he playing a trick on me?
Or can I really believe him?’
What if this was Marcus and he was fooling her into believing he was Alwin so he could manipulate her again?
"Yes, I am Alwin, Your Majesty.
At this point, Marcus has no reason to kill you yet, so he probably hadn’t thought about killing you.
You are not yet his target unless King Chester orders him to kidnap you for his carnal desires.
But he probably won’t since they were already supposed to depart tomorrow."
That’s right.
Marcus first met Arabella a few days ago. And if he did have memories of their previous life, he would have had thoughts about it when he saw her for the first time.
"Moreover, only Your Majesty and I know that Renee is Evania.
And His Majesty already marked you.
You must also be able to feel my presence. Especially since I usually use the magic of dragons His Majesty taught me.
If that presence changed, then that means I’m not the Alwin you know.
Likewise, if someone else occupied my body, the presence would also change," he further explained.
Arabella then tried to concentrate in his presence and there was no change at all.
It was the same as usual.
Alwin also emanated an aura of golden green and his presence felt the same.
"See?
Now, I’ll undo the spell so Rendell would enter.
Let’s just say, I picked up some leftover fragments of the teacup that got broken."
’He’s even willing to let Rendell in. Is he really Alwin, then?’
He flicked his fingers and the blood on Arabella’s hands, clothes, and hairpin vanished.
Only the ones on the carpet remained.
With another flick of his fingers, her hairpin was back to her hair.
He reattached the hair he cut earlier too. It was as if it was never cut in the first place.
"I will undo the spell now," he said, and Arabella listened to Rendell’s thoughts.
[The scent of blood.
Why is it coming from inside?!
Did someone get to sneak in without my notice?
Her Majesty is in danger!]
"Your Majesty?
Your Majesty!" Rendell opened the door.
[Wait, this is the scent of Elven blood.]
Rendell looked around.
[Alwin is bleeding?
Why?
Who would be able to hurt Alwin?!
No, Her Majesty is my priority.]
"Your Majesty, are you hurt anywhere?" Rendell eyed her from head to foot.
[I don’t feel anyone else’s presence.
There was no lingering scent of other people too.
Did Alwin deal with them and cleaned up?]
"No, I’m perfectly fine," Arabella managed a smile.
"I see. That’s a relief."
Rendell then eyed Alwin.
"I can smell your blood. Did something happen?"
Rendell looked around again.
He thought there could have been an intruder that he didn’t notice and Alwin had to deal with it and somehow got hurt.
"I accidentally gripped at a shard of the broken teacup that was leftover in the corner.
I picked it up since Her Majesty might accidentally get hurt," Alwin lied.
"Oh, so that was it?
I thought something happened.
Be more careful next time," Rendell said and returned to his post.
[It’s been a while since I smelled Elven blood.
It seems he stopped practicing swordsmanship and archery for too long.
He could even get injured from a shard now.
Thank goodness he’s always wearing that cloak. He won’t get injured even if someone tried to sneak up on him and stabs him.]
Listening to Rendell’s thoughts, Arabella flinched at the word "stab."
Once the door closed, Alwin flicked his fingers again to return the barrier so Rendell would not hear what they were to speak about.