Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

From that moment on, Vigia and Galahad kept staring at Ruiyin with identical looks of wounded disbelief.

“You actually listened to that Baozi…”

“You actually refused to untie the adorable Lord Vigia…”

“You really are as poisonous at heart as you are with your mouth…”

“Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz…”

Ruiyin stopped discussing things with Juvina. She turned back and gave them a slightly puzzled look. “Why should I save you?”

Vigia trembled with rage. “You actually asked that? How can you be so cruel? Aren’t we companions? So you should…”

“The ropes are only tied around you horizontally, aren’t they? Galahad’s legs are bound so he can’t bend them, but your legs are so short the rope couldn’t even find anywhere to wrap around. It doesn’t affect your ability to free yourselves at all,” Ruiyin said mildly.

Vigia stood up and tried running two steps. “…Huh? Looks like you’re right!”

And so the little discussion circle quickly expanded from two people to four creatures…

Juvina leaned sideways against the wall, hands folded over his knees. Ruiyin noticed that he had a pair of very well-kept hands, his fingers pale and slender. When those hands held a quill to write love letters on flower-scented parchment, they could probably capture the hearts of many noble ladies. Of course, that was assuming no one looked at his swollen, bruised face, which made him resemble a certain cartoon bully.

When Juvina spoke, his voice carried a polite sort of confusion. “You are not a mage. I can sense no fluctuations of magic from you. And since you can be companions with a Knight of Light, that means you are not a cursed witch or Undead mage either. However, the moment you approached me, I could feel the Dark Curse leaving. That leaves only one possibility. Do you perhaps carry some extremely powerful magical item?”

It had been so long since Ruiyin had spoken with a normal person this refined that she froze for a moment before suddenly remembering something. She unfastened the mosaic mirror with its cracked surface from her belt and tossed it to him from a distance. “If by ‘Dark Curse’ you mean that, then I think it might be this.”

The exquisite lady’s dressing mirror turned between the man’s long, pale fingertips. After a long while, he said thoughtfully, “A relic of Dark God Seres. It can dispel most Dark Curse effects below the level of forbidden spells… Forgive my discourtesy. I did not expect you to be carrying such a divine artifact.”

“It can lift curses in a place where magic is completely restricted?” Ruiyin caught on at once. “Then can we use it to get out of here too?”

“In theory, yes, but…”

Before he could finish, his expression suddenly changed. The man sprang forward with the agility of a tiger, snatched up the rope on the ground with one hand, and swiftly bound Ruiyin back exactly as she had been. With one kick, he sent Vigia and Galahad flying into the unseen shadows, while at the same time quickly tucking the mirror into his own clothes.

“What are you doing?!” Ruiyin cried in shock. She struggled as she shouted, but every movement was easily suppressed by one of his hands. The man brought his face close to hers and whispered, “Be quiet, my lady. Someone is coming.” Then, while Ruiyin was still stunned, he curled back into his original corner and resumed his initial unconscious posture.

Almost the very moment everything went silent, the room’s door was pushed open by a hand.

Ruiyin lay stiffly on her side on the floor, her back to the door. She could only hear a series of very soft footsteps scraping against the ground until they stopped beside her.

Without warning, a sharp pain tore through her scalp. Ruiyin’s face was forced to twist around hard, and she even heard her own neck crack from the strain. Then a face so exquisite it was practically demonic entered her line of sight.

No other features were needed. The sheer beauty of that face transcended even the advantages of his race. Silver hair, pointed ears, and crimson eyes narrowed with malice. Landatini, one of the Dark Elves, looked her over with the picky gaze of someone inspecting merchandise. His hand was gripping her hair, and his thin lips curved in a cool, cruel arc. Seeing her face contort from pain, he smiled even more happily. “You don’t seem very pleased to see me.”

Ruiyin opened her mouth. “I…”

“What? Unwilling to speak?”

Ruiyin turned her head away in disgust.

Landatini watched her with interest. “That’s fine. I like stubborn people. Besides, for a prisoner, nothing you say could possibly anger me.”

“Really? Then I’ll say it.” Ruiyin finally turned back, her face livid as she looked at him. “I… urgh…”

The nausea she had been forcing down through the pain finally surged up as vomit, splashing all over Landatini…

“This is the first time I’ve ever met someone who made that kind of request of me,” Ruiyin said, instantly looking much better as she gazed, refreshed and clear-headed, at the object of her outpouring. “What are you here for?”

Landatini’s face turned iron-blue, and he rushed out like a whirlwind…

…Then rushed back in like a whirlwind after changing into another set of clothes!

He lifted Ruiyin up again. This time, wisely, he did not hurt her. Extending one hand, he pressed her shoulder and pinned her against the wall, narrowing his eyes as he studied her closely. His hand slowly moved to her chest, his pale, cold fingertips resting against her shabby cloak as though they would pierce through it in the next moment.

Then that perfect face, close enough to touch, suddenly leaned in. The distance between them vanished almost instantly. With their posture and his movement, at first glance it looked exactly like the classic forced-kiss scene from some brainless idol drama.

Ruiyin heard three shocked gasps come from the corner at the same time.

Her body was pinned against the wall, and the approach of an unfamiliar man had left her nearly as stiff as a board. But he merely buried his head in the hollow of her neck. The tip of his high nose slowly, greedily traced over her inch by inch, and the cold sensation, like a venomous snake, raised goose bumps all over Ruiyin’s body. She forcibly suppressed her shuddering and made herself stare blankly ahead…

After what felt like a century, Landatini finally straightened slowly. He stared fixedly at her and asked softly, “Who are you?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ruiyin said coldly.

“A human woman. Such a filthy, contemptible creature, and yet you unexpectedly smell very good.” Landatini gazed at her greedily, like a starving beast staring at a delicious piece of meat. “It seems what I sensed the last time I met you was no illusion. The purest aura of darkness, even denser than in the Dark Temple… Human, who exactly are you? What is your connection to the Dark Race?”
Ruiyin jerked her head back and said coldly, “Nothing. We have no relationship at all. See that Silver Knight over there? He may be an idiot, but he is still a Knight of Light, and he and I are companions. There. Are you satisfied with that answer?”

Those bloodred eyes stared at her without blinking. Their color was clear as crystal, yet they carried a nightmare’s worth of malicious suspicion. He looked at Ruiyin for a long time before slowly shifting his gaze away.

“I will find it,” he said softly. “Human, don’t even think of trying to possess something that doesn’t belong to you. Not everyone is as lucky as that Apprentice Knight.”

“Lars?” Ruiyin finally could not hold herself back and cried out, “What happened to him?”

Landatini gave a cold laugh. “Those who intrude into the Orc King’s nightmare will fight forever, never able to wake. But at least he is still alive. For a human, isn’t that fortunate enough?”

Landatini seemed not to count anyone in the room as living at all. As for Galahad, who was crouched in the corner and constantly muttering things like “holy crap” under his breath, Landatini gave him only a faint glance that lasted less than a second before leaving the cell.

“So the Dark Elves sensed it too, did they?”

Landatini had barely stepped out when the round-faced man curled up in the corner flipped himself upright. First, he very politely apologized to Ruiyin. After untying her, he sat back where he had been, stroked his chin with his fingers, and assumed a deeply thoughtful expression. “Yes, of course. They are children of darkness. How could they fail to sense an aura like this? But that fellow actually didn’t make a move on the way here. What is he thinking?”

“An aura like this?” Ruiyin frowned. “Juvina, I thought that if we were going to cooperate, we should first reach a shared understanding on certain matters.”

The man smiled faintly, his refined gentleness hiding an aggressive edge. “But I believe this is not a burden a delicate lady should have to bear. Please rest assured, I will get you out safely.”

“Oh? By taking my property and using it to bargain with the Dark Elves?” Ruiyin stared at the Silver Mirror Juvina had stuffed into his clothes with no apparent intention of returning.

Their eyes met. The air went tense as drawn blades.

Galahad and Vigia silently moved to stand behind Ruiyin and glared over with her…

In the end, because his eyes were neither large enough nor numerous enough, Juvina suffered a miserable defeat. Forced to hand his spoils back to Ruiyin, he said, “That one called Landatini has the bloodline of the Elf King.”

“The Elf King?”

“Yes. He was the one who, according to legend, founded the Dark Elf Empire. But for reasons unknown, his bloodline gradually vanished over the next several centuries. Although it is extremely thin, that Landatini is indeed a descendant of that line. So no matter how faint the scent left on you is, he can still sense it,” Juvina said, glancing at the mirror now back in Ruiyin’s hands.

“What exactly is this thing?”

She knew it was a divine artifact and that it could summon a strange Black Knight. Beyond that, even Galahad knew very little about the mirror. Yet the man in front of her actually knew.

“This is a relic of the God of Darkness, Seres,” Juvina said. “It is also one of the objects people call divine artifacts. And the God of Darkness is the first deity of the Dark Elves. This item is of vital importance to them. If it falls into the hands of a descendant with a pure bloodline… they can summon Seres’s Undead and regain the protection of their god. For humanity, which has already lost the protection of the God of War, that would mean the entire continent being plunged into all-out war.”

“…Seres’s Undead…” Ruiyin fell into thought. Then she suddenly raised her head and asked, “Juvina, if a human summoned the God of Darkness before the Dark Elves did, would that solve all the problems?”

“Impossible,” Juvina said flatly. “No human can do that. Dark God Seres is the deity who governs destruction, deceit, and conspiracy. A human body could never bear a contract with the God of Darkness. If someone really could do it, then they would have to be…”

“Have to be what?” Galahad asked impatiently.

“They would have to be lying.” Juvina waved a hand as if it were nothing. “If even I couldn’t do it, how could anyone else possibly manage it?”

“Wait… You said you tried to summon him?” Vigia suddenly cried. “Then does that mean you’re a mage?”

The round-faced man lifted his head slightly and gave an unconcerned little cough. “Not exactly. In truth, I am only…”

“So you really aren’t one.” Vigia let out a long breath of relief and patted her frightened chest with one claw. “I heard mages are all handsome, slender beauties. If you were one, then you would really be… ahem… quite unconventional.”

For some reason, the atmosphere around Juvina seemed to turn gray all at once…

Galahad shifted uneasily. Looking at Ruiyin, he asked in a low voice, “What exactly happened to Lars?”

“He’s waiting outside for us to meet up with him,” Ruiyin said lightly. “Don’t worry.”

“But that Dark Elf just said…”

“He is the companion I chose.” Ruiyin cut off Galahad’s anxious question without hesitation. “If he can’t even survive, how could he call himself my knight?”

Ruiyin clenched her fists tightly. Her body trembled slightly, but she still forced herself to lift her chin. “He will be waiting for us outside. So no matter what, we have to find a way out of here. Understood?”

Author’s Note: Mr. Thief has a normal IQ, but he belongs to the type of person who has extreme confidence “in certain areas”. So when he acts abnormal, don’t be too surprised…