PMZ 076 – They say if you multiply a negative by a negative, you get a positive.

Betty and I made eye contact.

“It’s Maria.”

“Maria.”

Sensing the rising nervousness in the air between us, the three boys looked around, and only Hayato, who knew what was going on, noticed the reason for the tension.

He stopped his gaze at Maria and looked at me with a question in his eyes.

I nodded and handed Hayato the glass of sparkling wine I had been holding in my hand.

Hold my wine.

I’m a little upset, but I’m calm.

We’ve been through a lot, but that’s all behind me. I’ll have to wait and see why she comes out now before dealing with her.

However, I didn’t want to be caught off-guard and have Maria talking out loud about something that never happened, so I decided to make the first move and headed for Maria’s place.

I crouched down next to her as she sits and playing with the poodle, and I spoke to her in the flattest possible voice.

“It’s been a while.”

Maria looked up at me, her cute face was still the same as ever, but there’s something off about her.

It’s hard to put it into words, but she looked like someone else, other than the Maria I know.

“Oh, lady Alisha! It’s been a long time! You look even more beautiful today! Well, I heard a rumor that lady Alisha got engaged to Hayato, so I thought I’d congratulate you…”

She laughed and said, “Ehehe,” and I didn’t feel the venom I used to feel when she spoke. It’s as if she’s earnestly come here to congratulate me.

“You’re celebrating me? Thank you. But don’t you have something else to do?

What is this eerie feeling?

“Something else…? Oh yes, I was hoping to have a proper talk with you.”

“Talk? You and I?”

“Yes.”

Then a man’s voice interrupted from the side.

“Maria told me that she knew the famous Stuart girl, so I brought her here to prove it. I didn’t think you really knew each other. Maria, you’re amazing!”

This man standing next to the toy poo seemed to be Maria’s companion. He is strangely skinny and frivolous, but his eye is radiating an ambitious aura.

If Hayato is  Mafia look alike, then this man is the genuine article.

He seemed to have a snake-like atmosphere that made him seem like such an unconventional person. He was completely different from Hayato.

I wonder who he is.

I’m pretty sure there was no one like him at Alex’s party.

“Hey Maria…, what’s happened to you and Alex? Who is this person?”

“Alex and I didn’t get along, so we broke up. I couldn’t stay at the party anymore, and when I was in trouble, I met him.”

He stood up and leaned in close to her, and the man took her by the shoulders.

“Yes, my name is John Smith, and when I see someone in trouble, I can’t help but lend my hand out to them. Nice to meet you! I hoped we could get along just fine.”

John Smith.

Is that an alias? That’s a name like Taro Yamada in Japan. It’s fishy.

I need to ignore him and spoke to Maria, who was still embarrassed because of his hug on her shoulder. This guy is dangerous.

“Maria. Why don’t we go over there and have a little girl talk? We have delicious cakes.”

I want to include the words, “Don’t follow me,” but John was the first one to attack.

When I flinched a little, Hayato’s back was already in front of me.

“Mr. Smith. Will you join us for a drink here? I’m having a hard time finishing my drink.”

Nice assist!

Hayato also thinks that this guy is trouble.

I was hoping you could keep him in check until Maria tells me what’s going on.

But Alcohol… be careful not to drink it, okay?

John ran his gaze over Hayato as if to search him from top to bottom, then smiled and took his hand away from Maria.

“Well, well, well… isn’t this the young viscount you’ve heard so much about? I’ve always wanted to talk to you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Yes, I’d like to get to know you better if I get the chance.”

As Hayato took John to Ted and George, he glanced back at us and gave us a worried look.

Don’t worry.

There’s nothing dangerous about current Maria.

First, I took Maria to the cake buffet table and let her choose what she wanted. She chose strawberry cake and chocolate cake.

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve had cake. I’m so happy. Thank you, Alisha.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Are you sure you doing fine?”

She’s so honest, like a real heroine. If she had been like this last year, I feel like I wouldn’t be accused of bullying, condemned, and expelled by her reverse harem.”

“Huh? What? I’m totally fine! I even feel fine without eating lately!”

“Even without eating? That man hasn’t even fed you?”

“He feeds me once in a while. When I make a lot of money, he gives me a treat. “

This…

I feel great darkness.

I don’t know if I should go further. But I can’t stop myself from asking.

“Made a lot of money… What kind of work did you do?”

I’ll do anything. I heal people, and sometimes I deliver things.

Who do you recover, and what do you deliver?

I was relieved that the words “prostitute” hadn’t come up, but I also knew that I needed to dig deeper.

“Healing who?”

“John introduced me to a lot of people.”

“So… what things you deliver?”

“I don’t know. John told me not to look at it.”

“So it’s all John’s instruction?”

“Yes. When I do something right, he gives me a big compliment.”

“What if you do [not] do it right?”

“Well, he has to punish me a little bit. If I don’t do well, I’ll get a little spanking, but after that, he’ll be nice to me again, so I’m fine.”

As she said this, she took a bite of the cake, and tears spilled from her eyes.

That’s not okay at all… What are you doing? Here, handkerchief.

*hic* *hic* “…I don’t know what’s wrong. Suddenly my tears… Thank you, Alisha.”

“Pull yourself together. Where is the woman who laughed at me with his highness go? You looked so much more alive back then.”

My tone of voice became harsh, almost like sister Carlos.

As I was soothing Maria, who was sniffling, Lav came to visit me at this moment. I don’t know if this is the best or the worst timing.

“Dear Alisha! I’m so sorry I’m late! Chris-sama was worried about you. …Oh? What’s wrong?”

Lav was puzzled by the delicate atmosphere.

The next duchess of my house has one male and one female guard from our family, and I felt very relieved.

But I can’t let her go to Hayato and the others right now. Even with the guards, I don’t want John anywhere near Lav.

“Lav, may I ask you to come with me for a moment? I’d like to take this young lady someplace private.”

“That’s okay… But what is this all about?”

“I’ll explain later.”

With that, I dragged Maria to the restaurant and entered the backyard after getting the manager’s permission.

I asked the male escort to stand at the entrance, and the three of us, me, Lav, and the female attendant, surrounded Maria.

I asked them to keep a little distance as I put my hands on Maria’s clothes.

“Maria, excuse me for a moment. I have to check.”

“What? Oh, no. John said I shouldn’t show it to anyone.”

I knew it.

When I took off her clothes, Maria’s body was covered with numerous bruises. It looked like she had been beaten.

I hear Lav and the others gasp, and I checked her arms and legs for needle marks.

I wondered if they were using some strange drug.

“There are no injection marks on you… I wonder if that man is not the true devil, but Maria… you should be done with that man, he is not a good man by any kind of definition.”

“But…! I only have John, and John only has me! He’s a lonely man. … I’m sure he’ll be ruined without me.”

Absolutely false.

I wanted to say that, but I swallowed it down and talked to her as if I were talking to a young child.

“I understand how you feel, but you are ruining your man if you serve him even with all these bruises. Don’t let him think that he can make people do what he wants by doing this.”

“But I love him! If he walks away, I..”

“You have such a pretty face; why did you become dependent on such a snake-like man? Isn’t there someone better out there?”

“I don’t care if someone is decent or not when I love him! I love him with all his flaws!”

Her Heroine power is high!

Why didn’t you show it last year?

No, did you? Maybe you did.

But why is it that every time I try to do the same, it will go in a weird direction?

“What are you going to do then? Are you going to marry him? When you have children, will you be able to protect them from his violence?”

“I’ll protect them!”

“You can’t even protect yourself now, can you? You should at least be able to stand up to him before you say to make a big statement like that!”

I dressed her and sat her in a chair.

As Maria began to sob, I struggled to think of what to do.

“Alisha…? what is this all about?”

Oh, I forgot to explain it.

I explained to the bewildered Lav the general background of my relationship with Maria up to the present.

Lav, who had been nodding her head and listening to the conversation, suddenly raised her head and stared at Maria.

“…oh… I might be wrong, but maybe, just maybe, I know what is this, Alisha…”

“Really?”

“She might be under a magical takeover.” {or hijack, I was troubled which one is more fitting for this symptom}

Magical power takeover.

A personality change that occurs when you are forcing to channel your magic power directly into a person.

You can’t tell what kind of change they’re going to experience until you try it, but unless you have excellent senses, it’s hard to notice and even harder to counter.

Once they succeed, the person’s personality will be taken over by the other side, and depending on the degree, it may even cripple them.

Although there is a risk on the part of the person who initiates the act, it is difficult to find out if someone did it, and for that reason, it is an act of disregard for the other person’s personality.

It’s a serious crime.

“Are you sure about that, Lav?”

“Hmmm… I can’t say for sure until I get someone to take a look at it, but I have a feeling that this is the case.

It’s not unusual for a person to be energetic without eating, and it’s also not uncommon for a person to have a slight personality change, just like my brother, when his hair color changes.

This of this as an extreme version of that.”

“So it’s true that his color affecting his personality. I thought that was the case too…”

“He will insist that he hasn’t changed, though.”

His sister also thought so. My feeling was right.

No, I don’t care about that right now. Anyway, we have to do something about Maria.

“To find someone who can detect and heal …”

“There aren’t that many. The person also needs to know her original personality, has a good amount of magic power and great control over their magic.”

I can only think of one such person.

“His Highness is the only one who fits the bill… and I don’t know if he would be willing to…”

“You get the gist of it. You might want to do something about it sooner rather than later. If it’s been set up for a long time, it will take time to separate it from the original, and if you’re not careful, it may have blended with her own magic and may never return.”

“You’re right. Let’s try to contact him as soon as possible.”

No matter how you look at it, Maria is more of a good woman and good heroine now, but it doesn’t feel good to forced her to be this way.

The Venomous Maria is much better than this version of her.

“Anyway, I’ll heal her bruise. I may ask both of you to testify that this person was injured in the future, you can reject it, but I would appreciate it if you would do so.”

“Yes, I understand.”

I cast a recovery spell on Maria and comb her hair as well.

I’m not sure if she cares about herself anymore, but her hair is in a mess.

“Maria. You should stay at my place today. I’ll talk to the man myself.”

“eh? But staying at a newlywed’s house is such an unthinkable thing to do…”

It’s amazing.

That Maria is evolving into Saint Mary.

Was that man actually a good match for Maria?

I will pretend that I didn’t hear the devil whispering in my mind, [Can’t we just leave it like this?]

Share

You may also like...

2 Responses

  1. Ya Think? says:

    Well… They say that if the person turns you into a better person, that person is the one. So, yeah… Perfect 😂. (sorry, I never condone domestic violence, but this Maria just a bit funny to me).

  2. mya aila says:

    Thank you for the chapters!!!
    Hayato would be fine, right? He wouldn’t end up drunk, right?
    Well, I don’t know if it is a bad thing if he does get drunk.
    Alex was looking ambitious…I wonder what he was planning when he saw Alice.

Leave a Reply to mya aila Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *