"Oh, right." Claire suddenly remembered Cipher's relaxed expression when she opened that bottle earlier, and she immediately felt confused.
"Boss Cipher, do you not feel anything from this a wisp of aura?"
For her, just getting close made her feel like she was on the verge of death, but Cipher was standing right next to her, holding the bottle.
Is it because this thing has no effect on her? It can't be explained that way, can it...?
...Wait, I'm a Demigod of Trickery. With the help of this Castorice's a wisp of aura, can't I tell a little white lie?
Thinking of this, a slight curve appeared on Cipher's lips, and she spoke her lie:
"Because any instant-death type abilities have no effect on me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get close to the Reclusive Princess, let alone become friends with her."
"All instant-death type abilities... have no effect on you, Cipher?!"
Claire was shocked yet again, even unconsciously ignoring the title "Reclusive Princess."
"What? Don't believe me? Although only a part of my memory has recovered, I still trust my memory quite a bit."
Saying this, Cipher once again took out [a wisp of aura], then wanted to open the lid and put her hand into the bottle to prove her words to Claire.
But when Claire saw the bottle being taken out, her eyes once again filled with terror, and she quickly waved her hand, saying:
"Boss Cipher! Don't! I didn't say I don't believe you! Please put that thing away, I really feel like it could kill me!"
"Alright..."
Seeing her so scared, Cipher could only disappointedly put the bottle away again.
"Phew..." The moment the bottle was put away, Claire visibly let out a sigh of relief.
"I'll go continue preparing lunch. Boss Cipher, please call Lauren and the others..."
Claire reminded Cipher as she walked towards the kitchen.
But before Cipher could even say "Okay," Claire suddenly froze in place.
Just as Cipher was wondering if something had happened to Claire, she heard Claire's anxious shout.
"Boss Cipher! Even my A-rank strength is alarmed by this a wisp of aura from a distance, so... what about Lauren and the others, who are weaker than us?"
"...Not good!"
Upon hearing her words, Cipher immediately reacted, and then, accompanied by a golden-purple streak, Cipher instantly vanished from the study.
Claire also disappeared into the air a moment after Cipher ran out.
Listening to the breathing sounds from upstairs, Cipher quickly found Lauren and the others.
However, they had all fainted by this time.
"Boss Cipher, how are things?"
At this moment, the surrounding air twisted for an instant, and Claire appeared beside Cipher, then asked her anxiously.
"It's nothing, don't be nervous." After observing Lauren and the others' condition for a while, Cipher breathed a sigh of relief. "They were affected by a wisp of aura from my friend, but because their strength wasn't enough, they fainted."
"But because there was no close contact, it won't cause any harm to their bodies. They'll probably wake up in an hour or two, so don't worry about that."
"That's good."
Claire also let out a long sigh of relief. She first looked at the three people lying on the ground, then turned to Cipher and said:
"Let's move them to the bedrooms first. It's not good for them to keep lying on the floor."
Cipher nodded in agreement, and then they quickly moved all three into three separate bedrooms.
After all this was done, Claire looked at her terminal, then turned to Cipher and said:
"Boss Cipher, you can stay in this bedroom for now. I still need to continue making lunch."
"Okay."
Cipher nodded to indicate she understood, but she didn't enter the bedroom. Instead, she walked back into the study.
She planned to read a few books to pass the time, and then talk to Claire about the terminal during lunch. Although she now had a huge sum of two hundred and ninety thousand credit points, she didn't even have a personal terminal, so these credit points wouldn't be easy to use.
Originally, Cipher wanted to see if there were any history books in the study, but after looking at the books on the shelf for a while, Cipher stood there in a daze.
"'The Cold-Blooded CEO's Stand-in Sweet Wife: 99 Escapes'? 'The Five Brothers' Group-Favored Little Drama Queen Has Her Identity Exposed Again'? 'Imprisoned Love: The CEO's 33 Days of Passion'? 'Bone-Etching Crisis: CEO Lu, Your Wife Is Buried in the Crematorium'? What are all these things?!"
All sorts of outrageous old-fashioned romance novels filled the bookshelves. Cipher looked at the titles, and as someone who had never read female-oriented novels in her previous life, she felt her worldview was being challenged.
Just by looking at these titles, Cipher felt as if a whole basin of melodrama was being splashed at her.
"Well... never mind, I won't judge others. Let's see if there are other types of books besides these."
She stuffed the romance novels back onto that shelf, then looked at the bookshelf on the other side.
"'Dragon Rider,' 'Soul Creation,' 'Dusty Tribulations'? These look much more normal."
Cipher was somewhat relieved that there were at least some relatively normal books for her to read here, so she pulled out a copy of "Dragon Rider" to see what it was about.
But after only a short time of flipping through it, Cipher's cheeks instantly flushed crimson, and she slammed the book shut.
She looked at the book in her hand, her eyes gradually becoming fierce, then she said through gritted teeth:
"Wh-y! Why did this name sound so normal, but it's actually an erotic novel!!!"
Then she stuffed the book back and pulled out "Soul Creation."
As expected, it was still an erotic novel.
"Forget it, let it all be destroyed. I might as well read romance novels, right?"
After wordlessly stuffing the book back again, Cipher reluctantly pulled out a novel titled "After Transmigrating, I Became the Prince's Hakimi" and started reading it, because at least this title seemed much more normal than the others.
(A/N: This white fox knows that Hakimi refers to honey drinks, not cats, and the music comes from a certain UP's absurd music video based on Tokai Teio. It's just that many people now think Hakimi refers to cats, so to reflect this, I used this title for this fictional novel.)
It tells the story of the female protagonist transmigrating to ancient times and becoming a prince's cat, then experiencing a series of events from the cat's body and perspective.
Although the plot was rather cliché, for Cipher, who hadn't read many romance novels before, it was like discovering a new world, and she read it with great interest.
"Boss Cipher, lunch is ready, and Lauren and the others are about to wake up."
"Oh, oh, coming, coming."
A shout pulled Cipher back from the story in the book. Then she glanced at the clock in the study and realized that two hours had already passed.
After responding to Claire, Cipher finally put down the book and ran out of the study.