Pale gold eyes precisely locked onto the direction where Elrose was hiding amidst the flickering light and shadows of the magic street lamps.
Elrose’s heart nearly stopped. She instinctively gripped the edge of her cloak, shrinking her body deeper into the shadows.
Fortunately, Eliana’s gaze did not linger. She merely scanned the area calmly, as if she had sensed a slight abnormality but had not discovered a specific target.
‘Strange, I clearly felt a gaze prying into me…’
Eliana’s brow furrowed slightly. This place was mostly populated by Humans who could use magic, so it was difficult for her to use hypnotic magic to drag the voyeur out.
‘Forget it, I didn’t feel any malice from that gaze. Perhaps it was just a passerby who looked at me a few more times.’
Thinking this, she tilted her head, turned around, and continued walking unhurriedly deeper into the street.
It was a false alarm. Elrose let out a long sigh of relief, her back already damp with sweat. However, her doubts only deepened. What was Eliana doing here? Was she planning to buy some magic items?
The girl quietly lifted her head and glanced in the other woman’s direction.
A demon’s sensory abilities were likely far beyond her imagination; she could no longer follow as carelessly as before. Elrose steadied her mind and was about to continue her tailing when a voice suddenly called out to her.
“Miss, would you like to take a look at my wares?”
the voice was raspy and abrupt, sounding like sandpaper rubbing against wood. Elrose froze and looked toward the source. In an inconspicuous corner of the street stood a dilapidated little stall.
The stall owner was a hunched figure wrapped in a grey robe, his face hidden in the shadows of a hood. A faded velvet cloth was spread out before him, and on that cloth lay a blue necklace.
“I’m sorry, I have other things to attend to right now,” Elrose said softly.
It was more important to figure out where Eliana had gone. However, when she turned her head back, she found that the maid’s figure had vanished without a trace.
Obviously, because of her distraction just now, she had lost her target.
For a moment, a look of distress crossed Elrose’s pretty face. If Eliana bought something strange and dangerous, what was she supposed to do?
As Elrose stood there at a loss, the stall owner who had interrupted her spoke again.
“Miss, are you sure you won’t take a look? I think it suits you very well.”
‘Take a look at what? I lost her because of you,’ Elrose thought, feeling a flare of anger. However, the stall owner’s next words made her eyes widen.
“This necklace is called the Guardian.”
As the stall owner spoke, he pulled out a small bottle of potion.
“As long as you wear this necklace, you can tell if the person who drinks this potion harbors any malice toward you.”
Elrose’s heart skipped a beat. The stall owner’s words were like an ice pick, precisely piercing through her current agitation and regret.
A necklace that could see through malice? If it were true, it would indeed be a huge help to her.
However, in this Magic Market where the fish and dragons were mixed and it was hard to distinguish truth from lies, this kind of sales pitch was not new. Eight out of ten stall owners would boast that their products had some kind of miraculous effect.
She wouldn’t fall for it so easily. Besides…
She couldn’t help but look again at the unremarkable stall, the dim blue necklace, and that bottle of potion that gave off a suspicious, shimmering green glow under the magic lights.
The stall owner remained hunched over. The darkness under the hood seemed to absorb all light, making it impossible to see his intentions.
Nothing before her eyes gave her any reason to trust him.
“Can you prove it?” Elrose asked, taking half a step back and speaking in a cold voice.
“Prove it? I wouldn’t dare prove this.”
This sentence should have completely extinguished Elrose’s desire to buy, but with his next words, her eyes lit up.
“Once this potion is consumed, the drinker must be absolutely obedient to the wearer of the necklace. If they harbor any malice toward the wearer, one strong tug on the necklace will cause the drinker to die.”
‘They’ll die…’ Was this not exactly the insurance she needed? Elrose walked quickly to the stall and picked up the necklace, her gaze flickering with uncertainty.
Even though she didn’t know if this would work on a demon, those two points alone made it worth the purchase.
The girl’s heart hammered against her ribs, and a hint of pleasant surprise appeared on her face.
The stall owner seemed to see through her excitement and let out a raspy, low laugh that was almost inaudible in the noisy market.
“You have a discerning eye, Miss. This necklace… is not something you see often.”
Elrose’s fingertips traced the cool blue pendant. It looked like some kind of dim crystal, but it felt warm to the touch. Inside, there seemed to be extremely tiny points of light swirling slowly. She forced herself to calm down, knowing she couldn’t appear too eager.
“The price?” she asked succinctly, her eyes fixed on the shadows beneath the hood.
The stall owner stretched out a withered, spotted finger and signaled a number.
Elrose sucked in a breath of cold air. It was nearly all the gold coins she had on her. Lady Vanessa would absolutely never allow her to spend money like this.
She bit her lower lip, rapidly weighing the options in her mind. Losing Eliana was already a blunder. If this necklace was truly as the stall owner claimed, then it might be the key to making up for her mistake or even gaining control of the situation… The risk was immense, but the potential reward was equally staggering.
“How can I be certain it’s actually effective?” she asked again after a moment of thought, still feeling uneasy. “What if it’s just a regular ornament and a bottle of poison?”
“Miss…” the stall owner said slowly. “A soul has only one life; it is the same for everyone. Whether you believe or not is entirely up to you.”
His words were watertight, even carrying a sort of bewitching tranquility. Elrose fell into a struggle.
The money was important, but the threat of Eliana was more immediate. The demon maid was on this very street with unknown intentions. If she truly brought back something dangerous…
Elrose’s mind flashed back to Eliana’s pale gold eyes and the things she had done to her before. She couldn’t hesitate any longer.
“…I’ll buy it.”
She finally made up her mind, took out a coin purse from a hidden pocket at her waist, counted out the corresponding gold coins, and placed them one by one in front of him.
The stall owner silently put away the coins and pushed the necklace and the bottle of green potion toward her.
“May it protect you, Miss.”
Having said that, he vanished like ink dissolving into shadows.
This time, Elrose did not show much surprise. She looked down at the necklace and potion in her hands, then pulled up her hood to hide most of her face in the shadows before merging back into the crowd.
By the time she returned home, it was already late at night. Elrose lay on her bed, staring at the necklace. Now she had to consider how to get Eliana to drink that potion.
Right then, a slight movement came from outside the door. If she hadn’t been listening carefully, she wouldn’t have heard it at all.
‘Someone’s here?!’ Elrose hurried to hide the necklace and potion under her pillow and pretended to be fast asleep.
Who could it be so late at night? Just as the thought surfaced, an extremely seductive voice reached her ears.
“Miss… I’ve come…”