Chapter 253
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Half an hour later, Eliza and the rest resumed their journey. The road ahead was smooth, and in just two days, the convoy arrived back at Plutonville, stopping once again at the same rest point they had used before.
After dinner with Nolan, Eliza returned to her room, planning to finally get some proper sleep.
She had just laid down when she suddenly bolted upright.
“Oh my God–I completely forgot about him!”
Without another word, she rushed into her pocket farm.
It had been days since she last thought about Dylan–the poor man she’d drugged and tossed into the pocket farm’s attic like some inconvenient luggage. She finally remembered.
As she stepped into the attic, she saw Dylan sitting idly inside the iron cage, so bored he was literally playing with his own fingers.
He had no way to get out, and no one to talk to. If not for the unknown potion she’d stuffed him with, which left him strangely full, he might’ve starved to death days ago.
At the sound of movement, Dylan immediately looked up from his corner.
When he saw Eliza approaching, his eyes lit up.
“Eliza? It’s you? You’re the one who locked me in here? Is this your secret base or something?”
Dylan had spent the first few days fantasizing about catching whoever locked him up and giving them a beating they wouldn’t forget. But now that the culprit turned out to be Eliza, all of that indignation vanished into thin air.
She narrowed her eyes and asked coldly, “Do you remember who drugged you?”
Dylan’s expression darkened instantly. “It was Anthony. I know exactly what he was trying to do.”
Just because he refused to go along with their plan to manipulate Eliza, they had drugged him by force. Even though he’d run away from home, they were still brothers–nearly twenty years of blood ties–and this was how they repaid him?
Disappointment simmered in Dylan’s chest like a slow–burning fire.
He glanced at Eliza nervously, afraid she might think less of him because of this. “Eliza, I swear, I’ll never stand with them again.”
She gave him a brief look, then turned away, her face unreadable.
Seeing her so calm and distant, Dylan panicked. “I mean it! I know I was stupid before–listening to all their lies–but I’ve figured things out now. I swear I have.”
Eliza asked coolly, “Do you remember anything that happened while you were drugged?”
“I do,” Dylan nodded. “It’s a bit fuzzy, but if I really think about it, I can recall most of it.”
Dylan’s face turned an ugly shade. “So they were really trying to turn me into an idiot?”
In no time, Eliza had finished mixing a bowl of medicinal broth and walked over to the cage. “This will help your brain recover. Drink it if you want. If you don’t-”
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Chapter 253
Before she could even finish the sentence, Dylan reached through the bars and grabbed the bowl. “I’ll drink it, I’ll drink it!”
The last thing he wanted was to turn into a fool–Eliza already barely tolerated him. If he lost his mind completely, she’d probably never even look at him again.
Eliza raised an eyebrow, then turned back to mix a second bowl.
As she worked, she asked casually, “So… do you still want to go back?”
Dylan didn’t hesitate. He shook his head firmly. “I told you–I’ll go wherever you go.
“You don’t need to rush into that decision,” Eliza said. “This could be your chance to return to the Stonor family. All you have to do is pretend you’re still drugged. Act like you’ve lost your memory, and they’ll welcome you back with open arms.”
Dylan slammed a fist into the wooden board inside the cage, his voice hard and low. “I can’t. I won’t. I don’t want to go back. I just want to stay with you.”
Eliza sneered. “And what’s so good about staying with me?”
Dylan looked at her earnestly. “It’s good because it’s you.”
His voice caught slightly. “Please, Eliza–don’t make me leave. If you don’t want me bothering you, I’ll stay at the foot of the mountain. I won’t come near without your permission. I swear.”
He still thought they were back at Saint Grace Nunnery. He had no idea Eliza had already taken him to Plutonville and Noganlul.
Eliza glanced at him again, then said quietly, “Fine. Do what you want. But one thing, Lord Dylan—”
“Yes?” he asked eagerly.
“Don’t call me Eliza.”
Dylan froze. She looked at him coolly and added, “I’m no longer the Lady Eliza of the Stonor family.”
He paused, then asked hesitantly, “Can I… call you Liza?”
“No,” she snapped. Without another word, she shoved the second bowl of medicine into his hands.
Dylan winced but drank it all in one go.
As he handed the bowl back, he suddenly remembered something. “Then… can I call you by your monastic name?”
This time, Eliza didn’t answer.
Dylan let out a breath of relief. A grin slowly spread across his face. “Serenity? Serenity… That’s a beautiful name.”
Then he added, “By the way, could you stop calling me Lord Dylan? I mean, I’m not exactly part of the Stonor family anymore. It just feels weird.”
Eliza shot him another sidelong glance but said nothing.
A moment later, she stepped out, fetched some supplies–food and water from her stockpile in the pocket farm–and tossed them into the cage.
And with that, she turned and walked away.
“I’ve got
work to do. You’ll stay in there for a few more days.”
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Chapter 253
And with that, she turned and walked away.
“Wait-!” Dylan barely had time to ask her to let him out. He wasn’t going to run–really–but clearly, Eliza didn’t trust him that much yet.
Outside the attic, Eliza checked on her poison bugs.
Perfect. Raised on spirit water, each one had grown into a proper king bug. All of them–except for Gilbert’s Soul Centipede.
Because that one had a soul link to its master, Eliza didn’t know how deep the connection ran. If she raised the centipede to full strength, it might start sending energy back to Gilbert.
So, unlike the others, the Soul Centipede was kept in isolation–barred even from approaching the creek.
Still, just being in the pocket farm meant it was absorbing a trace amount of spiritual energy. Eliza didn’t mind. To control the creature, she had to give it something.
Just then, she sensed movement from outside.
Someone had just stepped into her room.
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