Hellbents
Chapter 77: I'm Not Eve

Eve was still angry, of course.

Ellijah knew the rumors circulating among the upper society were not pretty, most intended to bring someone down.

He knew that his fiancee did not want to get in touch with the nobles because of their troublesome tendencies, which was why she rarely attended parties held in the kingdom. But with the bird's news of an affair that never happened, let alone to make pregnant a girl he did not know, unwanted attention fell to Ellijah and the Princess Edodale.

That's why he couldn't completely blame Eve when the girl ran away from the palace.

And after four months of desperately searching. By deploying a sponsoring army in the dark world, his eyes and ears were everywhere. He was also willing to make a Marquess as an enemy and cut off business relations with gossip spreaders, hoping Eve read the news from the Purple Orchid newspaper, dampening the wrath of the girl.

But free, his fiancee was already fully intent on disappearing, and the woman knew very well how to get rid of the trail.

For months he entertained himself with opium, for otherwise Ellijah was afraid that his mind would go mad with Eve's absence.

So when he hears that a girl who is exactly like his fiancee, Elijah cannot let go of the opportunity to meet Eve again. He hurriedly headed for Oranera, the destination-free city of the ship the girl was riding on.

And when the woman claimed not to know him, Ellijah immediately assumed that Eve was still venting her frustration by acting like a stranger.

Eve completely changed her style.

Her hair is now cut short.

Her clothes were also no longer a dress with a practical skirt, like the clothes worn while still in the palace, her petite body was now wrapped with a loose tunic and cloth pants, she said, more like a man's suit than a woman's.

Speaking of men, four months ago he disappeared and now he is surrounded by men who do not know themselves.

From what he saw firsthand, Ellijah found five fruit flies that shrouded his flowers.

Geck! Geck! Geck!

The knock on the large door that Ava was behind broke the cold silence in the room. An old servant, much older than Al, entered after being invited by his master. In the old man's arms was a mountain of paper that almost covered his white mustache.

Ava only saw when Ellijah started reaching for the top document. "Rina Hoffman, although many people consider the girl to be a classy close combatant, Rina herself claims to be a herbalist."

Oh, he's reading Ava's biography now?

"Serviced in an outbreak incident in Englerock with an anesthetic powder finding that caused the monsters to slow down or even sleep. In addition, Rina Hoffman also got a medal for her attempt to take down the group of Banderhobbs who attacked the ship when the black storm phenomenon occurred."

Ava was just listening, still worried about what kind of reaction the man would have to let go.

"Before these two great events, there was no information."

Oh.

"So, can you explain this part?" Ellijah pressed on, fully motivated to unmask her fiance one second faster.

"I don't understand what part I have to explain. I'm grateful you helped me just now, but investigating the background and acts of kidnapping like this, not the behavior I'm about to accept."

"Explain why there is no recorded date and place of birth, childhood history, and also a list of gates entered. As if before four months ago, this "Rina Hoffman" didn't exist."

Ellijah completely ignored Ava's repulsion.

"I won't explain, because I'm not a criminal who deserves to be interrogated."

Well, Ava is a criminal in her home world, but in this dimension all her crimes leave no trace.

Fine lines formed on Ellijah's smooth forehead, he was already impatient. "I don't think of you as a criminal, Eve."

"My name isn't Eve, it's Rina."

"Then I have no obligation to answer your question."

The chair that Ellijah was sitting in rattled as the man got up, his steps wide towards where Ava was.

Ava herself understood that she was not being cooperative, so she thought she would get a table shake or at least a clash. Turning with his expectations, Ellijah who was a Duke instead knelt beside his chair. Then without warning, clasped tightly onto Ava's leaning hand.

"Just stop this cipher, please. You know that the rumors are not true. Come on, let's go back. I promise I'll keep all your requests after that."

Ava did not expect to get a gentle, almost heartwarming plea.

Unlike when a few minutes ago, when Ellijah clutched her arm until bruised, now her hand link is smooth as if touching an antique glass that can break at any time.

Ellijah's cold forehead stuck to the back of Ava's hand, her knuckles were also lightly stroked.

But this kind of attitude that even reminds Ava of Alex, and the identical face that Duke Frost has does not help him in separating Alex's shadow on Ellijah. Ava could barely even stop herself from stroking the hair of the kneeling man.

Perhaps, this kind of melancholy feeling made it difficult for Ellijah to accept that Ava was not Eve.

Still, each of the two of them did not find what they were actually looking for, just another version of a different world.

In the end, Ava still had to convince the man that he was wrong.

It's just, maybe .. a little softer than the previous one.

"One more time, sorry, sir. But I'm not the one you think I am."

Ellijah looked up, Ava's heart sliced with the man's watery eyes, holding back tears. His expression was exactly like that of a kicked puppy.

"Eve, please ...."

Ava couldn't stand this situation. His emotions are always turbulent uncertain when it comes to the twins, two people who accompany his life when it is difficult. So Ellijah's face, which is similar to Alex's, really made an impact.

He was afraid that the longer trapped here would make Ava impulsively confess that she was Eve.

"I can prove it, sir may have an artifact that can be used to detect honesty?" Ava recalls the ring that Rai put out during a game of Truth or Dare on the ship. That way, he can say "My name is not Eve" when asked later, because it is true.

"Right, there are artifacts that can reveal everything." There was still a ray of hope in Ellijah's blue eyes. Unfortunately Ava had to add to the man's heartbreak to be safe out of the entanglement of his dopplegger complicated relationship.

But what was brought was not an item that Ava had imagined, but a crystal ball that she often encountered in a tent of deception under the guise of a future prophecy.

He could not dwell when Ellijah directly attached the palm of Ava's hand to the slippery surface of the ball, the speed of someone with level 200 he could not match for now.

But the seconds went by for a long time, then changed minutes, still nothing happened.

Is-

"The artifact's broken?"

Reluctantly removing his grip on Ava's hand, Elijah is the one who now touches the crystal ball. Without waiting for long a pale blue mist was formed, swirling within the item.

Still functional.

"But why aren't you detected?"

"Oh, because I have no mana."

"What?!"