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Chapter 19
I covered my mouth as a smirk escaped.
“What, you liked my cooking that much? Enough to want to make me your personal chef?”
“…Think whatever you want.”
“I’ll take it that it pleased you, just as you ordered.”
He shot me a sharp glare.
It felt strange.
His murderous gaze, which belonged to a villain, didn’t scare me like it used to.
In the original story, he had committed sins unforgivable by anyone’s standards.
But the Rafael I had met and experienced in person didn’t seem like a bloodless, heartless villain at all.
Maybe it was because Nox hadn’t appeared for a long time.
Or perhaps the world being peaceful gave me such thoughts.
Dantalion fell into deep thought.
It had been weeks since he last sought out a relic and absorbed its power.
The biggest problem was that, despite gathering all kinds of information to find relics, it had now become almost impossible to even trace them.
‘That merchant didn’t seem to know anything.’
Dantalion had met a wandering merchant surrounded by sacred energy at an art auction.
Valuable time had been spent, but the gains were minimal.
Next, he ordered his subordinates to investigate everyone the merchant had met.
The merchant had traveled from the south to the north of the empire, meeting countless people.
So they decided to start by investigating those met in the capital.
Since only Dantalion could sense sacred energy visually, he took matters into his own hands.
This time, the target was the owner of a tea house frequented by nobles.
No appointment was needed; he simply checked when they came to drink tea—but it was a dead end.
The tea house owner wasn’t blessed with sacred energy.
‘I’m starting to get annoyed.’
To achieve his plan, he needed to gather sacred energy and act as quickly as possible.
Yet time kept slipping away.
“The blended tea you ordered.”
Dantalion lifted his teacup. He lazily glanced down at the terrace below, thinking only of taking a sip before leaving.
That’s when a familiar black wolf-emblazoned carriage caught his eye.
It was the Recongias family, the black counterpart to the Esteban family clad in white.
Recongias was a cursed family that Dantalion was supposed to take down.
‘All the trouble I endured because of that bastard since childhood…’
Annoyed, Dantalion was about to look away—but his eyes widened.
From a carriage that had stopped nearby, the hateful Rafael stepped out first.
And following him came a sacred energy so massive and intense it radiated powerfully.
Dantalion recognized it instantly.
It wasn’t influenced by a relic; a woman herself was holding that sacred energy.
She wasn’t from the Esteban family, so how did she have such enormous sacred energy?
Before curiosity could take over, desire surged—he wanted to make that immense sacred energy his own.
He longed to rush out, grab her arm, and drag her back to his mansion.
Then, in a deep, hidden underground chamber where no one could see, he could make her create whatever he wanted.
Anything she produced would become a relic.
‘No, that’s not enough.’
Even the relics made by the first Esteban Marquis hadn’t held such massive sacred energy.
‘I want it all for myself.’
He wanted to experiment with every method to take her sacred energy entirely for himself.
To realize this desire, he’d need to control her first.
Dantalion clenched his fists to calm his excited heart.
‘If I rush, I’ll ruin everything.’
For some reason, she was with the Recongias Marquis.
‘Could it be that the Marquis recognized her value?’
Unlikely.
The Recongias family, skilled in manipulating magical power, couldn’t sense sacred energy.
So was it just coincidence?
Even after a brief glance, she was a strikingly beautiful woman, so perhaps he just liked her looks and was taking her around.
After all, this street was full of couples on dates.
‘No. This isn’t just anyone—it’s the Recongias Marquis.’
He was notorious for having no interest in women, which made this even more suspicious.
‘Better to be cautious.’
Especially since Rafael was known for being meticulous. Investigating why someone so precise was with a precious source of sacred energy seemed necessary.
Sacred energy was worth any small trouble.
Having spent all my time in Potato Paradise, I had no knowledge of the capital’s streets.
Still, I was familiar with the names of art supply stores and galleries that appeared frequently in the original story.
The art supply store was called Blue Lobster.
The gallery was Green Shrimp.
Thankfully, I remembered the important details.
‘The art supply store doesn’t matter.’
Art materials weren’t important to me.
But the gallery—Green Shrimp—had to be visited.
Celestine’s paintings were sold exclusively there.
As I looked inside the store, I blinked when I noticed a small nameplate.
‘This is Blue Lobster?’
The art supply store Rafael led me into was Celestine’s regular shop.
How did he know this place?
Blue Lobster was a small shop with no sign. Only those in the know would find it; someone not painting wouldn’t notice.
“You know your way around a shop most people don’t even find?”
I was supposed to act ignorant, having just arrived in the capital, but my curiosity slipped out in a less-than-pleasing question.
I realized too late that I should have played dumb—but the words were already out.
‘Oh well.’
It wasn’t strange for me to know the name of a store I’d frequented as a painter.
“All the supplies in your studio came from this shop. It’s famous for making special paints.”
Ah, so the paints made from ground gemstones and brushes from dragon tail feathers came from Blue Lobster.
The heroine’s regular shop wasn’t an ordinary place.
My heart thumped for no reason.
‘Maybe I can meet the heroine too?’
Even when Celestine was exploited as a proxy painter, or became Dantalion’s ward, she always used Blue Lobster’s paints.
“The paints from Blue Lobster have beautiful colors! Their hues are different from any other store’s paints.”
Celestine only used Blue Lobster’s paints.
Moreover, she was said to be stunningly beautiful.
Hair the color of spring flowers, pale pink, and eyes like a clear lake.
In the original story, her smile was so beautiful that even someone with an icy heart would smile along.
‘I want to see her once.’
I’d rather not get involved with the tragic original plot, but having been dragged to the capital, I wanted to see the heroine’s genius face at least once.
I glanced around to see if there were other customers.
Tch.
Unfortunately, inside were only me, Rafael, and a man who seemed to be the shop owner.
“Found what you want to buy?”
“I’ll look a little more.”
Pretending to buy art supplies, I had to examine everything carefully.
I headed to the wall filled with paints.
I found a shelf holding only black paints.
Carbon Black, Lamp Black, Aniline Black, Vine Black.
All the same color, but the labels showed differences.
‘Hmm… I should buy one.’
The prices were so terrifying that I couldn’t bring myself to pick one.
The money Rafael gave me was considerable.
Even after buying several paints, there’d still be plenty left, but habits from Potato Paradise caused my hands to tremble; I couldn’t choose.
Rafael stepped closer.
“If you don’t like the paints here, we’ll go somewhere else.”
We couldn’t waste all our time at one shop.
“No, there’s one I like.”
“Then what are you hesitating for?”
“Hmm… I don’t know which one to pick.”
“Just buy them all.”
“Wha—? That’s unnecessary.”
“Thinking too long is a waste of time. Pick what you need and discard the rest.”
What a creative way to waste money.
With my commoner’s mind, I couldn’t keep up with a rich person’s thinking.
While I stood there in a daze, he gestured, and the shop owner approached, beaming like the happiest person alive.
“Yes? Did you call?”
His voice was cheerful.
Having already tasted Rafael’s money, he quickly began packaging the paints with every gesture.
‘Wait, I’m buying ten black paints, and he’s not even objecting?’
The owner, not wanting to offend the moneyed guest, praised everything and finished packaging immediately.
In the end, I became the proud owner of a bundle of black paints.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Rafael had finished paying in an instant to save time. Thanks to that, none of my money was spent.
I felt good since I suffered no loss.
Outside, Rafael spoke.
“Next is the gallery?”
“Yes.”
The gallery was already determined.
By now, Celestine would have started working actively as a proxy painter.
And the gallery that monopolized her paintings.
“Green…”
Before I could finish, Rafael cut in.
“If there’s no other gallery we need to check, we’ll go to Green Shrimp.”
Huh?
That strange feeling I had earlier coursed through me again.
