After maintaining that posture for a while, Audrey finally realized that whatever image she had once had in Mozzo's eyes was completely beyond saving.
Letting out a long sigh, she simply gave up pretending.
After confirming that the door was securely locked and that the final rune barrier was still functioning properly, Audrey sat down on the sofa with her coat left hanging open.
Looking seriously at Mozzo, she said:
"It seems there are quite a few misunderstandings between us. But before that, I need to ask you something. Has the mark on my body truly been removed?"
Mozzo turned slightly away from her again and replied:
"If my memory is correct, then unfortunately, Miss Hepburn, the mark on your body has only been hidden. It hasn't disappeared."
Although Audrey understood that her earlier actions had basically amounted to trying to seduce him, she still felt a small sense of relief when he deliberately turned away again.
At the same time, however, the frustration from earlier resurfaced once more.
Women truly were difficult creatures.
She closed her coat and asked:
"Then can you remove this mark? Or at least tell me what it is?"
Mozzo hesitated briefly before honestly answering:
"It's a slave mark. A servant's seal and binding used by the elves on captured foreigners."
"Slave?!"
The moment Audrey heard that word, her head nearly exploded.
She hurriedly pressed on:
"Then do you have a way to remove it?"
Since he had already started explaining, Mozzo saw no reason to keep hiding things. After thinking for a moment, he said regretfully:
"There are ways. But I don't think any of them can succeed in the short term."
"What are they?"
"The first is to have a Sequence 4 or higher intervene. They can forcibly remove it."
The moment Audrey heard that, she immediately said:
"Please tell me the second method!"
What a joke.
Sequence 4 meant a demigod!
How was a wild civilian Beyonder supposed to get a demigod to help her???
Mozzo continued:
"I wasn't finished. Aside from Sequence 4s, some special Sequence 5 pathways may also have methods. For example, Puppeteers can transfer curses from themselves or others onto their puppets. Your situation might be solvable that way as well."
"No need to continue. There's no way I could ever get a Sequence 5 to help me."
Audrey spoke bitterly.
How could a low-sequence wild Beyonder possibly have access to people like that? And even if she did, the price would never be something she could afford.
Still, hearing that special pathways might have a solution made Audrey cautiously ask:
"The Doll pathway's Sequence 7, Puppet Master, can also transfer curses. Could they do it?"
"I'm afraid not. Puppet Masters can only transfer curses from themselves."
Audrey held her forehead in disappointment.
"Then please tell me the second method."
"The second method is also difficult, but the chances are probably better. You need to find the one who branded you. This is an elven magic art. The caster can remove it."
Audrey immediately recalled that terrifying steel puppet and frantically shook her head.
"Absolutely impossible! If that thing sees me again, it'll kill me immediately!"
Mozzo originally wanted to say that elves did not casually kill their slaves. To them, slaves were the property of the Twin Sacred Trees, the Sun King, and the High Lords.
But seeing Audrey so certain, he held his tongue.
After all, reality and the memories from his dreams might not perfectly align. And even within the dream memories themselves, there were plenty of contradictions.
"Then could you tell me exactly what happened to you?"
Hearing that, Audrey hesitated for a moment.
But instead of answering immediately, she asked:
"What price do I need to pay for your information? Let me say this first—I don't have much money right now, and I'm almost out of mystical materials."
As she spoke, Audrey slowly lowered her head.
Then she pulled open her coat again.
"If you insist on equal compensation... then this is all I have left..."
Mozzo glanced back once before his eyebrows twitched violently, and he immediately turned his head away again.
Raising a hand to stop her, he said:
"Miss Hepburn, I may not be a noble, but I do consider myself something of a gentleman. Please stop. And while I appreciate your respect for fair trade... there's no need. Really."
Audrey let out an enormous sigh of relief and hurriedly closed her coat again.
But then she suddenly asked:
"Um... am I ugly?"
"Huh? No, you're very beautiful. Truly. But that's unrelated. I simply think obtaining a woman's body through this sort of transaction is extremely shameful."
Audrey quietly looked at Mozzo for a moment.
Then she stood up and bowed.
"Thank you for your generosity and your gentlemanly conduct. But I absolutely cannot allow you to provide such information for free. Since that's the case, I can only pay you in money. So... would two hundred gold pounds be acceptable?"
Two hundred gold pounds???
The kind of gold pounds I'd only seen five or six times in my entire life???
And she was giving me two hundred???
Instinctively, Mozzo stared at Audrey in disbelief.
"Two hundred gold pounds?!"
Mozzo was shocked by the sheer size of the payment.
But Audrey instantly panicked, because she thought he found the amount too little.
Truthfully, even Audrey herself thought so.
Because in the world of mysticism, Mozzo's few simple sentences were nowhere near as ordinary as they sounded.
Without Mozzo, Audrey could only have tried removing the mark through her own channels.
Not only would that likely fail, but she might even pay with her life in the process.
So yes, two hundred gold pounds really was too little.
Thus Audrey hurriedly waved her hands.
"I only have two hundred gold pounds right now! In total, I'll pay you five hundred!"
More than double?!
"Five hundred... cough cough. Alright then, five hundred it is. No need to rush though. How about this, you only need to give me one hundred for now. Your financial situation seems pretty strained."
Audrey immediately stood up again and bowed as if granted a pardon.
"Thank you once again for your generosity and gentlemanly conduct."
After speaking, she reached into a hidden pocket inside her skirt and pulled out ten gold notes before handing them to Mozzo.
"Here is your one hundred gold pounds. As for the remaining four hundred, I'll try my best to pay you within two months... no, within one and a half months."
Mozzo accepted the ten gold notes, each worth ten pounds, with a completely expressionless face.
At that moment, Mozzo felt as though even his soul was trembling with joy.
I just said a few sentences.
And most of them were only to confirm whether the dream world was real.
And I already earned more money than I had seen in the past decade?!
True, Dream Mozzo had been absurdly wealthy.
But dreams and reality were two different things.
If reality hadn't been so miserable, he would never have treated the dream world as such an important emotional support all these years.
After all, at the very beginning, he had only planned to ask Audrey for two hundred copper pence.
And even then, he had felt guilty for overcharging...