Her heart sank within her.
The black ink bottle, the knight commander who urged her, the high altar, and Prince Sidhar came to her mind one by one. Before her death, Lara bought poison from an alchemist, one that could melt her guts even with just a single sip.
The alchemist, oddly, sold his poison in a small, round ink bottle.
It was the exact same bottle that Lara was holding.
"Lara?"
Demian checked her expression.
As if he had a hunch that something was off, he reached out and took the medicine bottle.
Then, Lara raised herself up.
She slammed the carriage door open and grabbed the potion seller, who was counting money, by the collar as she got caught in the pouring rain.
"W-what?"
He was flustered and quickly pulled himself away.
But Lara did not let him go. Her long hair and pretty dress quickly got wet in the rain.
Lara stared silently at the man that she caught.
She could not see his face.
He meticulously covered himself with a hood so that only his mouth and chin were barely visible.
But then again, it was 10 years ago, so even if he showed his face, Lara might not recognize him.
She could not remember his look in detail because she did not encounter him many times.
Lara told him.
"I will double my payment."
"Huh, w-what?"
"This time tomorrow, one more bottle."
"Okay, just let me go!"
The man shook Lara's hand roughly and quickly ran away.
Lara looked at his back, not even thinking about shaking off her wet hair.
"Milady! You're going to catch a cold!"
She might have stood there for a while if Konny hadn't nagged and pulled her back in the carriage.
Then, Demian got up.
"I will be back."
Though Lara did not say anything, Demian realized that he had to track down the seller, and thus left the carriage quietly.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
The sound of the rain was loud, making it easy to follow him. Even if it wasn't raining Demian wouldn't have been caught, so he moved at ease anyway. The man who sold fake aphrodisiacs for 300 gold to Lara looked quite happy. He walked and hid, then walked and hid again, to count his bills while grinning.
He was very suspicious.
It did not seem like he noticed that Demian was following him, but he kept looking around and walked with his shoulders hunched as if he was being chased by someone. After repeatedly turning around and around in the back alley of the complicated red-light district, the man arrived at a shabby row house.
He ignored the door on the first floor, turned to the back of the building, and went into the basement through the side door. It was a very small door, one that Demian would not have known if he hadn't been paying attention.
It was like a ventilation opening.
When he approached closer and put his ear up, he could hear someone's voice faintly from inside.
"I'm sorry! Don't kill me!"
"T-there was a rich woman at the end. I'm telling you the truth! I will give you everything. Please… don't. I'm sorry!"
"Master, please spare me!"
It was the man's voice.
Even when talking to Lara, he stammered with uneasiness, he kept checking his back as if someone was chasing him, and as soon as he arrived at his hideout, he begged the person inside to spare his life.
What a poor man.
It seemed that the man was a subordinate to a suspicious person and had been caught trying to sneak away some of the 300 gold Lara gave him.
Someone's underling, huh?
Demian knew of people who used an underling while keeping a hideout like this and keeping themselves private.
The black sorcerers.
He wanted to go inside and investigate, but since they were in the basement, he couldn't see any windows. They might have dug a tunnel inside. But he could not just wait there.
'This is why she promised him twice as much tomorrow.'
Demian was amazed.
He did not know what Lara's ability was. He also did not know how she knew about himself. And it was obvious that she did not know the aphrodisiac seller was the black sorcerer's underling at first.
But she realized something and got confused after grabbing the potion bottle.
And at that moment, Lara made an appointment with the man by saying she would come back again tomorrow. She was a very unpredictable woman. The more he stayed around her, the more curious he became.
'Whew.'
The black sorcerer was right in front of him, but instead of thinking to catch the black sorcerer, Demian became curious about Lara.
If the Crown Prince of Tarragon had known about this, he would have lamented that he had chosen the wrong person to be a spy.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Lara sat in the carriage and waited for Demian. When her confusion subsided, things in her past life became clearer.
"I can't believe the saintess came to buy something like this… I knew the world was going crazy, but I guess it's totally going to cease to exist now."
"You must have known that the demon is after me. I'm buying this just in case."
"Are you sure about that? You're the daughter of the Marquess of Bailey though. Ah, is it Duke now? He must have felt happy with that title now."
"I don't have any intention to have a conversation with you. The money is here. Keep your promise."
"Well, I will sell just anything to anyone as long as I get the money."
Alchemist Valentine.
The black ink that Lara drank when she died was clearly a poison that he made.
She paid a fortune to buy the ink back then.
Valentine became an apprentice of a black sorcerer as a child, but he could not sign a contract with the demon even after becoming an adult, and so his master abandoned him after that. Lara knew about his past because the black sorcerer, who was his teacher, was the drug manufacturer who had been in contact with the Marquess of Bailey.
The black sorcerer was a vicious woman.
Not only did she abuse Valentine violently, but she also ran after him as he fled for his life. It was to silence him with death. Valentine led a life of repeatedly running away, hiding, and fleeing. When he was about to go mad, he met the saintess Lara.
Perhaps he did not care anymore about anything.
"Saintess, if you really are God's daughter, you need to listen to me. There's a black sorcerer in Hautean. And your father is selling the drugs made by that black sorcerer to the priests."
She should have grabbed his hand back then.
She should have listened to what he said and thanked him for the courage to report. She should have protected him.
"Don't lie. My father is an honest man."
Lara did not believe him.
Until then, she had a strong belief in the Marquess of Bailey. If her father said that he did not do it, then she would have 100% believed him.
"Lying is a grave sin. Keep your silence and reflect on yourself."
Valentine was greatly disappointed.
Despair would be more appropriate. He cried out, "You're God's daughter, you're the saintess. How could you do this?"
Then, he disappeared into the streets and didn't show up for a while.
It was not until the time she almost died when Lara knew that Valentine had become an alchemist who was mad about money. He made and sold drugs and poisons to the corrupted nobles and priests.
He came back after becoming the same villain as his master that he really hated.
Lara blamed everything on herself.
He was not originally that kind of man.
He reported his master's crime and the Marquess of Bailey's corruption to the saintess because he wanted to stop them from committing any more crime.
Even if it was his only lifeline, he still wasn't a villain then anyway.
"It's because of me."
Lara mumbled.
Her head was throbbing.
She thought it would be over if she got revenge on her father and the Prince, and made atonement for the mistakes she had done to her mother and Demian. So she didn't interfere with other people's situations. That was also the reason she refused the reward from Princess Sonnet.
But her unexpected past popped up like an awl and broke her heart.
She thought this to not be right.
Lara slowly took a deep breath. There must be a good reason why the great existence chose her and sent her back to the past.
He said that this was her chance to get everything right.
She had to change it.
She was going to help Valentine.