Chapter 145
Eugenie stared at Elaine with a blank expression. It wasn’t that her facial muscles were stiff from indifference; she just genuinely didn’t know how to respond.
‘What is she even talking about?’
When someone suddenly says something absurd, your brain needs time to catch up, and so do your facial muscles. Out of all five men, someone is lying to her?
‘Why? About what?’
Three of them had known her for a long time. Even the two she’d met through her mother’s ‘contract’ didn’t strike her as the type to lie to her.
‘Percival would just blush and get all flustered as usual.’
If it had been when they first met, she probably would’ve suspected Cassius most. But he’s the one who very plainly defined their relationship as ‘just contract partners’, and since he didn’t want anything from her, that actually made him more trustworthy.
Elaine tilted her head when Eugenie stayed silent for a while.
“You don’t believe me, do you? But I can tell when people are lying, thanks to my ability.”
“But Elaine, everyone tells little lies in their everyday life.”
Eugenie replied, regaining her composure after the initial shock.
People sprinkle minor lies and exaggerations into their daily lives. Some steal snacks and pretend not to know anything about it, or claim to be researching when their thesis is sitting untouched.
But Elaine shook her head, dismissing that expectation.
“I can’t detect insignificant lies. Those are too trivial.”
“Then what do you pick up on?”
“I can only sense lies where the person is deliberately trying to deceive someone.”
Eugenie’s lips pressed together like cold stone. That was not what she wanted to hear. She also couldn’t bring herself to fully trust Elaine yet.
Cassius had said the Sabnac family used ‘useless members’ as material for human experiments…
“Your ability sounds very useful, but even someone with that skill was made into ‘material’?”
“It takes time for my power to work properly.”
“How long are we talking?”
“Roughly two weeks to a month?”
“Oh. I see.”
That did make the ability a bit inconvenient. If it took that long, dark wizards would just torture people to get the truth out faster.
“But why are you telling me all this?”
“You did save me… and honestly, I have nothing else to do in this era.”
Elaine nodded toward the window. Even if she had adjusted well after waking up, the world outside was undeniably different from what she knew.
“So for now, my only option is to stick close to you while I figure things out.”
“…”
“If I notice anything suspicious, I’ll let you know.”
Eugenie rolled her eyes, mulling over the seemingly kind offer.
‘Elaine is nothing like Apollin.’
She didn’t come across as the type to gossip behind people’s backs, steal rooms in the mansion, badmouth Theodora Norton, or take pleasure in poking old wounds like the whole May Chester incident.
‘Besides, haven’t I already been recognized as someone with immense magical power? If it comes down to it, I can probably handle her myself.’
And honestly, maybe what Elaine considered a ‘lie’ wouldn’t even be a big deal by Eugenie’s standards.
Unless it was on the level of Peregrin Norton deceiving Theodora, she could overlook it as a matter of privacy.
“All right. I’ll help you adjust to this era, and in return, I’ll accept your help too.”
“Understood.”
“And one more thing.”
Eugenie set the glass vial of magic stone solution down on the nightstand with a soft clink.
“Let’s figure this out together first.”
“What are you hoping to find out?”
“I have two goals for this…”
Eugenie said, thinking back to her plans when she first obtained the solution.
“The first is to create an artificial substitute for a magic stone. It’ll be easier to analyze as a liquid than an ore…”
“And the second?”
“That is—”
She trailed off, hesitating for a moment.
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