“Natalia, do you need to rest?”
After Field and the others had moved a certain distance away, they were finally able to continue discussing their next course of action.
“No need.”
Natalia shook her head, then looked towards Alice.
“I only activated the light element within the cross. I didn’t actually expend much magic power. But, Lady Alice, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine too. I didn’t use much magic power either.”
“Then, shall we replenish the light element in the cross a bit and go purify the water source?”
Natalia made the suggestion while looking at Alice and Field.
“That’s fine. Solving these problems sooner will put people’s minds at ease sooner. However… we should first return to the carriage.”
Field suddenly changed the subject, saying they should first return to her own carriage.
Alice beside her also nodded silently in agreement.
“Are you worried about Lady Liyakade?”
Natalia immediately saw through their thoughts.
After all, only Alice had come down earlier.
Liyakade had been in the carriage the whole time.
Looking at it that way, Liyakade should have been poisoned too.
But, since Alice was there, Liyakade should have already received treatment.
She’s probably just weak right now.
“With Lady Alice’s healing, Lady Liyakade should recover quickly, right?”
Natalia tried to comfort the two.
But as soon as the words left her mouth, Alice’s eyes actually grew somewhat dim.
“C-could it be… Lady Liyakade’s poisoning is very severe? Even Lady Alice can’t heal her properly!?”
Seeing Alice suddenly looking somewhat downcast, Natalia panicked.
She also began to worry about Liyakade.
If even Alice couldn’t heal Liyakade properly, she couldn’t imagine how serious Liyakade’s symptoms must be.
No wonder Alice and Field were so worried about Liyakade.
Thinking this, Natalia felt even more respect for Alice and Field.
Even though their good friend was poisoned so seriously, for the sake of the bigger picture, the two had temporarily set their friend aside to go heal the other poisoned people first.
Truly great.
No further words needed.
But in reality, Natalia had gotten it completely wrong.
It wasn’t at all what she had guessed.
“It’s not really a poisoning issue… Anyway, don’t worry about Liyakade’s matter.”
Field said casually, negating the poisoning as the cause.
Clearly, this explanation indicated the two didn’t want Natalia to know what was really going on.
And Natalia, unlike Walter, was more perceptive.
Since Field didn’t want Natalia to know, then Natalia wouldn’t ask further.
In truth, the reason for the dimness in Alice’s eyes was because Alice simply couldn’t heal Liyakade.
Alice’s healing was actually a form of harm to Liyakade.
That’s why Alice’s eyes grew dim when she heard Natalia’s words.
At the same time, Alice recalled the scene in the carriage earlier.
Liyakade, after being poisoned, had clearly become somewhat different.
She became a bit like her old self, yet not entirely like her old self.
The poisoned Liyakade was no longer afraid of Alice’s light element, even treating Alice’s light element as a kind of mark.
The long-awaited closeness and intimacy, and the playing with those spiritual beads… had allowed Alice to reach her peak in the carriage.
The sense of loss and gloom from these past few days had been completely released under Liyakade’s caresses.
However, now that she had calmed down, Alice realized these were actually symptoms of Liyakade’s poisoning.
These toxins, for normal humans, were a poison that affected the mind and weakened the body.
But for Liyakade, these toxins were merely a stronger kind of… computer accessory.
These computer accessories only made Liyakade’s emotions and desires surge.
Her desire for exploration and development even surpassed her fear of the light element.
In this process, even the light element became something Liyakade could utilize, becoming a somewhat more stimulating plaything.
But this wasn’t Liyakade’s normal state at all.
In short, Alice was now very afraid.
She felt some trepidation.
She was afraid that when she returned to the carriage, she would find Liyakade had reverted to how she was the past two days.
That Liyakade would still unconsciously distance herself from Alice, still be afraid…
But… that lustful appearance wasn’t the real Liyakade either.
She wished more for Liyakade to like her the same way she used to, even when fully lucid.
“It’s okay, Alice.”
Field seemed to have noticed Alice’s hesitation and fear.
She gently placed her hand on Alice’s shoulder to comfort her.
“We’ll know when we go back and see.”
Field didn’t say anything specific, as Natalia was still there.
If she mentioned Liyakade being afraid of Alice or the light element, it would surely arouse Natalia’s suspicions again, leading to unnecessary trouble.
“We’ll go check on Liyakade first. You should return to the camp and rest for a bit too.”
“Yes, Lady Field.”
With that, Natalia watched as Field and Alice boarded their own carriage.
After seeing them off, Natalia returned to the camp to rest.
Although Alice and Field had clearly indicated they didn’t want Natalia to pry into the matter, their behavior was just too strange.
It made Natalia unable to stop herself from thinking about the secret hidden within.
If it wasn’t poisoning, then what was it?
The stranger part was that when talking about poisoning and healing, only Alice seemed downcast.
Logically, for both Field and Alice, Liyakade should be equally important to both.
Why was only Alice acting somewhat downcast?
Thinking this, strange memories surfaced.
Yesterday, after Natalia’s request to serve as a guard was rejected, she had naturally also seen Vidar harassing Liyakade and the others.
However, at that time, Natalia, who was already somewhat wary of the three and observing them, had already noticed the somewhat strange atmosphere between the three of them during the meal.
And last night, Field and Liyakade had left the camp together, who knows what they were discussing.
Wait! These two left the camp last night, and today the water source had problems…
Could it be they… No, that can’t be right.
Field is a princess, and Alice is a light element magic user.
They have no reason to do such a thing.
But then why, today, when they were getting close to the carriage, did Field suddenly tell her to stop?
And why did she use magic to set up a barrier, not only blocking sound but even blurring vision?
Come to think of it, before Field set up that barrier, Natalia thought she heard some strange sounds… like a girl’s moans… and the carriage seemed to be shaking a bit too.
And Alice looked a bit strange after getting off the carriage.
C-could it be!?
No, it can’t be!?
Natalia was suddenly shocked.
She didn’t know how, but a flash of inspiration struck her, leading to an extremely absurd possibility.
If… if that was the case, then hiding their identities, leaving the camp in the middle of the night… it would all make sense!