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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Zaped
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“Thank goodness.”
“Cassandra is famous.”
“Well,
it would be strange if someone didn’t know a woman like her.”
“The only thing
left is to get through the inspection somehow. If I have to get tested, it should only be a blood test.”
Soon,
an officer returned. He handed me a cell phone wrapped in two layers of secrecy through the isolation gate.
“It’s connected to a video call. Don’t remove the packaging.”
On the screen,
Cassandra appeared.
“Cassandra?”
In the pale office, a woman with long black hair stared into the camera with empty eyes.
“Cassandra,
is that you?”
“Are you happy? You liar.” Something seemed off. I looked at Cassandra more closely. My goodness. She always seemed gloomy, but now she looked utterly depressed, her eyes completely unfocused. “Uh, what?”
“Cassandra is barely surviving, but you look good. You’re lucky, oh dear, so lucky.”
The atmosphere in the isolation room froze. The officer immediately scolded me.
“Didn’t you say you two were acquainted?”
This
was bad. I had to solidify my position here. I looked at the officer.
“Well,
when you’re getting to know someone, you argue and disagree sometimes. But we’re trying to make things work, aren’t we? If we really hated each other, we wouldn’t even be talking.”
“That
makes sense.”
The
older woman, one of the brokers, deeply agreed with me.
“We
weren’t talking about us, were we?”
The driver
replied.
“No.
I was talking about me and my drink. Our adorable little prince.”
I imagined
the driver’s mother as someone like the Queen of England and looked back at Cassandra. She was staring blankly at a test tube, seemingly lost in thought.
“I heard the story. You said you were locked in a chicken coop, but Cassandra was locked in a cage.
“You
work at that office, right?”
“Cassandra became a slave.” “Slave? You? You’re rich, aren’t you?”
“It’s more important than that. Her master took away her name. If you hadn’t abandoned Cassandra that day, things wouldn’t have turned out this way. But you didn’t listen to her either.”
Now, everyone is staring at me with pale eyes.
I’m going to be treated like human garbage.
“…Cassandra. I just couldn’t bear to watch you suffer. You’ve recovered thanks to others, haven’t you?” But can I be expected to take care of someone who was grazed by a bullet? There were doctors nearby, after all. So I didn’t say anything wrong.
“You idiot. Cassandra still has a broken heart. But I realized something after I left you that day. It’s not your fault. It’s the world.”
Fortunately,
only Camilla remained calm. Seeing her clench her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white, I realized she couldn’t bear to see me being wronged.
Still,
it was reassuring to have someone on my side in this lonely world.
“Cassandra.
Let me explain. I need you.”
“H-h-h…” No. I didn’t expect this. Suddenly, Cassandra started to cry uncontrollably. But isn’t it inappropriate to cry during a blood test? I wasn’t sure.
“H-h-h… hic… why are you telling me this now… what are we supposed to do now…”
“Ahem.”
I don’t know who it was, but it wasn’t Camilla, who was putting on a compassionate face.
It wasn’t the imposing lady either, who seemed to have sobered up.
The driver kept pointing at the disease control officer.
“Um, well. Let’s turn off the speakerphone. We need to monitor all conversations, but this is a private matter that I’d rather not know about.”
“Yes, sir.”
That was a welcome sound.
I pretended not to notice and moved to the corner.
Camilla flinched momentarily, as if she wanted to come over to me, but thankfully, she refrained.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“What happened?”
“…I sold you. I’m sorry. That viper of a woman, h-hic, said I had to tell her everything about my time with you if she wanted to take ‘my name.’ So… I had to reveal our precious memories… h-h-hic…”
“What kind of memories did you tell her?” I tried to recall my time with Cassandra. All I could think of was the warmth, the comfort, the happiness… those beautiful memories.
“No.
No, that’s not it. What did you say? You said you sold me?”
“Yeah, good.”
“H-h-hic, g-good? What do you mean?”
Cassandra also values fairness. If she sold me, then I can sell her back.
“You know my situation, right? I’ll end up standing naked in front of your office colleagues.”
Well, they need to check for zombie bites, right? It’s not a lie. But Cassandra’s face was trembling as if it would shatter.
“…What do you mean?”
“I said I’ll be ‘examined’ by someone else. If I’ve already been examined, there’s no need to examine me again, right? Soon, I’ll be standing naked in front of that woman, and she’ll do all sorts of things to me. And then… I’ll leave this place.”
“No. Don’t go. You’re in Hampton, right? Wait. Just wait a little.”
“But I can’t postpone the examination. These people have things to do too. Besides, isn’t that woman from the department next to yours? I can’t cause trouble.”
“You got bitten? You and the people around you.”
“No. If you don’t believe me, come and see for yourself.”
Cassandra’s eyes lit up.
I think I even saw a blush on her cheeks.
It was like a child who had just received a bonus, suddenly beaming after crying uncontrollably.
“…Really? Cassandra, you…”
“I saved it for you.”
Of course,
I’m not that oblivious.
I whispered this secretly, away from Camilla.
But come to think of it, I haven’t seen Camilla completely naked, so it’s not entirely a lie.
We always wore at least underwear, and even on that rainy day, I was covered in soap bubbles.
But
it definitely had an effect. Cassandra’s eyes changed.
“…And,
I think I have a fever.”
It
was an irresistible temptation for the researcher.
“I’ll go right away. Meet me in Hampton. At the jewelry store, the jewelry store. Leave a message at the jewelry store under the bitten cheese sign in District 7. Remember that, make sure to remember.”
“Then what should I tell your colleague?”
“Switch.”
I handed the phone back.
The officer who had removed the cover took the phone to the other side.
After a while, the officer returned.
“Regulations are regulations. Please understand. We’ll only conduct a blood test, and if the rapid test comes back negative, you can pass. But remember, this is only possible because of your strong identity guarantee.”
Not difficult.
I rolled up my sleeves.
The officer drew blood from all four of us.
He said the test would take about 30 minutes.
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I feel like there’s either the previous chapter had text missing or an entire chapter got skipped. There’s a total disconnect in the flow between this chapter and the previous one.
Because there is a chapter and half missed. Chapter 54 + half the next and half this one.
Found in mtl