DDFF | Chapter 03

Chapter 03

If she gave Blaine an antidote, he would probably withdraw his proposal right away.

He would wonder why he had proposed in the first place, but if Elisha denied it until the end, Blaine would likely just think he must have been out of his mind for a moment.

And on the duke’s side, for the sake of their dignity, they would make sure no rumors spread.

“Right. I just need an antidote. There has to be one. There has to be…!”

Elisha, wrapped in a robe, took rapid, shaky breaths.

At this moment, nothing in the world felt more urgent than an antidote.

***

「Pink♡Lady.
A novelty shop for ladies who dream of love!
Kiss-summoning cookies, spell scrolls that steal someone’s heart, seductive perfume, and more! Always in stock!」

A shop with a loud sign and flashy advertisements.

At a glance, it looked suspicious, but in reality, it was simply a small accessory shop for ladies thirsty for romance.

Ladies who dreamed of magical love would buy cute and pretty items there, and word had spread that they actually worked—at least somewhat.

Elisha, too, had first come here in desperation, hoping to grab onto even a piece of straw, and that was how she got the love potion.

And now…

“You’re looking for an antidote?”

The shop owner, Lou, asked in a flat voice as he leaned back in his chair.

Across from him stood Elisha, bouncing on her feet in panic.

“Yes! I need an antidote for the love potion. It was really a mistake! Completely by accident! I made someone else drink it!”

“So?”

“N-No, it’s not just ‘so’! Because of that potion, that person p-proposed to me…”

“Ohhh. So you’re worried your head will roll because they found out you used the potion?”

“Shh! Please talk quieter!”

Worried someone might hear, Elisha hurriedly looked around.

But Lou was just smiling widely.

“Well… if it’s a proposal, you can just reject it, can’t you?”

“I-It’s not that easy!”

“Why not? Unless the other party is the Lindberg Ducal House.”

“……”

Because… it is the Lindberg Ducal House.

Unable to reveal that truth, Elisha pressed her lips together, holding back tears.

No matter how much of a potion seller he was, she couldn’t possibly confess something like that.

“Anyway! I absolutely need that antidote!”

“Ahhh. I truly wish I could help you, but…”

Lou let out an exaggerated sigh.

“There isn’t one. The potion recipe is extremely difficult to make in the first place.”

“What… did you say?”

Elisha looked like she might faint at any moment.

Lou made a pitiful face, but he couldn’t erase the playful look in his eyes.

“Th-Then… how long does it last? A week? A month?”

“That… I don’t know either.”

Lou shrugged like it didn’t matter much.

He was openly spinning around like he was amused now, but Elisha, drowning in despair, didn’t notice.

“It depends on the person. It might even last a lifetime.”

“A-A lifetime?!”

Elisha grabbed both cheeks and screamed from the bottom of her heart.

It felt like her last hope had flown away.

“Waaah… w-what do I do…?!”

Lou giggled as he watched her reaction.

Then he took a brown bottle out from inside his clothes and placed it into Elisha’s hand.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help. Instead, I’ll give you this for free.”

“Th-This is…”

“It’s a stamina tonic. Drink this and cheer up, at least. Now then, goodbye.”

“W-Wait! I can’t just leave like this—!”

Lou pushed Elisha’s cheek firmly with one hand.

Elisha struggled in shock, but Lou shoved her right out the door and slammed it shut.

“Ughhh, nooo…”

Elisha’s voice could be heard as she turned around, half her soul already gone.

With his ear pressed close to the door, Lou shrugged.

“…She really believed it?”

Lou muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

Honestly, when he handed her the potion in the first place, he thought Elisha would get angry and call him a scammer.

But he never expected it to work like this.

“Well, it’s not like I’m the one who pulled this scam. Let’s just watch.”

His finger drew a magic circle in the air.

Inside the circle, a small bird appeared, flapping its wings.

It was magic used to send a message to someone far away.

“I told her clearly there’s no antidote.”

As soon as Lou finished speaking, the bird flew up immediately.

Without hesitating, the messenger bird flew out the novelty shop window.

***

“…Lou, huh.”

The bird flew off and landed on a windowsill where a man was standing.

Without looking surprised, as if he had been waiting, the man received the bird.

[I told her clearly there’s no antidote.]

Once the bird confirmed the recipient, it opened its beak and Lou’s voice flowed out.

[And if possible, just handle love stuff between the two of you normally. Stop this childish play already. …Young Grand Duke of Lindberg.]

At the final grumbling note, Blaine gave a small laugh.

“Hmph. Always nagging.”

Blaine walked toward the window and looked outside.

The magical bird chirped and fluttered around him.

The long day ended, and the red glow of sunset spread everywhere.

Suddenly, Elisha’s face came to mind—bright red after receiving his proposal.

‘I was hoping, even just a little, that she might remember our promise from when we were kids…’

It was the first time since childhood that they had faced each other so closely.

But Elisha hadn’t recognized him at all.

‘We haven’t even known each other for an hour…’

Instead, she had only been confused by his proposal.

Even so, Elisha was still innocent, and dangerously lovable—just like she was in his memories.

‘To think Elisha would actually go looking for a love potion because she planned to accept Montis’s proposal.’

He could still clearly remember Elisha searching for a love potion at Lou’s shop.

Elisha didn’t even dream that he had been hiding there that day, listening to every word.

In truth, Pink♡Lady was a secret base for the knight order led by Blaine.

It was a store created to deceive others’ eyes, and Blaine never expected Elisha would come looking for it.

‘I was going to come and take her with me once this mission was over…’

Blaine knew very well how many eyes were on him, as a Sword Master.

So, to keep Elisha from being exposed to danger, he had only watched her from a distance.

He had planned to officially take her with him once he completed this mission.

But because Montis had set his sights on her first, his plan had been ruined.

‘A love potion? Eli—no, customer, why would you need something like that?’

That day.

He still vividly remembered the moment Lou recognized Elisha and panicked as he rushed to respond.

In the end, Lou gave Elisha a fake potion—just rose water with a few drops, magically colored to look real.

Because if Elisha couldn’t get a potion, there was no telling what she might do next.

In the meantime, Blaine looked into how far the marriage talks between Elisha and Montis had progressed.

He needed to get between them as quickly as possible.

‘At first, I wanted to approach her slowly, but… no. Maybe this worked out better.’

If he approached her directly and Elisha rejected him, wouldn’t that be a disaster?

But if he claimed he drank the potion because of her, then guilt and responsibility would hold Elisha in place.

‘She won’t have a reason to run away… and she won’t have room to doubt me, either.’

A cold smile spread across Blaine’s lips.

No matter what happened, Elisha would now stay safely inside his arms.

‘Now that I’ve secured Elisha…’

It was time to prepare the next step.

As if it had read his thoughts, the magical bird landed on the window frame again.

Blaine gently stroked the bird’s beak and spoke in a low voice.

“Lou, keep watching the movements of the Grand Temple.”

***

The basement of the Grand Temple.

This secret place was protected by a barrier so that only those with permission could enter.

There, High Priest Havel sat in the darkness, wearing a robe pulled over his head.

People dressed the same way sat in a circle around him.

They were the secret organization called “The Goddess’s Shadow,” the group that handled all of the Grand Temple’s dirty work from behind the scenes.

Havel slowly tapped his finger on the table as he listened to their reports.

“We discovered two gifted ones in the Kalsburn region. One of them was a newborn, so we dealt with the parents and brought the child easily.”

“…Mm.”

Havel nodded slowly with an expressionless face.

But his eyes were far from satisfied.

“Only two this month?”

“Th-That is…”

At Havel’s scolding, the members exchanged tense glances.

What the Goddess’s Shadow valued most was putting as many people with special abilities as possible under the temple’s control.

All of this was for the ‘holy ritual’ they were preparing.

“The day the black and red moon rises is not far away. If we miss that day, we won’t be able to obtain Mohania’s power in this lifetime.”

They had only one goal.

To summon the sealed Goddess of Destruction, Mohania, and gain the power and authority to overturn the world.

For that, they needed an enormous amount of mana, and gathering gifted individuals was essential.

That was why they built orphanages to sort through children, and trained the public under the mask of religion.

Under the kind face of the Grand Temple, everything was done fairly easily.

However, not everything always went as planned.

“It seems the Lindberg Ducal House has noticed something. That bastard Blaine’s movements aren’t normal.”

Recently, there had been reports that Blaine was secretly moving his knight order and watching the temple.

There was no choice but for Havel to become tense.

Because of a prophecy passed down in the Grand Temple from long ago.

「The Sword Master who appears once in a hundred years will stop the Night of Mohania.」

The return of the Goddess of Destruction was already a destined fate.

But they said that if a Sword Master inherited the power of the main god, Danua, he could stop it.

And that Sword Master was none other than Blaine Lindberg.

The heir of the very ducal house that openly criticized the Grand Temple’s actions of gathering gifted people.

“Damn Blaine Lindberg…”

Havel muttered as he bit down on his lips.

He wanted to get rid of Blaine immediately.

But eliminating him quietly, without leaving a trace back to the Grand Temple, would never be easy.

“Ah, we also have something to report regarding Blaine Lindberg.”

At that moment, one member stepped forward carefully.

The instant Havel heard the report, a chilling light flashed in his eyes.

“…Is that so? Blaine Lindberg proposed to a woman?”