How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 11

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“Pass on romance.”

Angelina drew a line through the word [Romance?] she had just written.

‘I’m going to die in two years, what’s the point of romance.’

Unless it was a love that would burn passionately like a midsummer night’s love and then end.

Starting a relationship while knowing the end would be disrespectful to the other person.

‘Passionate love’ didn’t suit Angelina’s personality, and she didn’t have much desire for romance anyway.

‘It’s not like there are men more handsome than my brother, so I can feast my eyes on him.’

If she ever wanted to watch a play or dine out with someone, she could just ask her brother.

Wasn’t he the kind and gentle brother who would immediately clear his entire schedule with a bright smile at the mere mention?

Of course, that’s why she couldn’t casually bring it up.

Angelina scanned the words she had scribbled in her notebook, her chin resting on her hand.

Next to [Blake Kadenhart] were written [heirloom], [sword], [list of traitors] in round handwriting.

It reflected the worries she had because of the original novel.

But turning the page revealed completely different content.

[Bucket List]

It was a list she started writing after realizing she had a limited time to live.

But that page, which should have been full of lingering attachments and desires, was empty.

[1. Spend money extravagantly.]

That was all, just one line.

“Sigh.”

As she let out a short sigh, the cafe owner appeared on the stairs.

He placed a sweet tea on her table with a smile.

“I didn’t order this though?”

“It’s a service from our shop.”

“Hm?”

Angelina gave him a look that seemed to ask if this was some kind of flattery, and he added an explanation.

“As you instructed, we served a cup of tea to all the guests downstairs. Seeing everyone’s happy faces was so nice, all of our staff wanted to reciprocate by offering this to you.”

To that, Angelina responded indifferently.

“I don’t think I gave such instructions.”

At her words, he smiled even more deeply and said.

“Of course not. We just ‘arbitrarily’ used what we didn’t want to keep as a ‘tip’.”

“This is too much even for the third-floor rental fee.”

“The rest is a tip.”

“Even if it’s a tip…”

This was the conversation Angelina had with the owner when she first entered this place.

As part of her money-spending spree, she wanted to play the role of a rich person giving a generous tip.

But because the owner persistently refused, her mood was ruined, and she added grumpily.

“If you don’t want to keep it, just use it to serve a cup of tea to everyone here.”

She said that and fled to the third floor, thinking it would look ridiculous to say “If you won’t accept it as a tip, give it back.”

But to think they actually served tea to everyone.

“…Well, good job.”

If everyone was happy receiving the tea, that’s fine. It’s a shame she couldn’t see it herself though.

The owner turned away with a broad smile at Angelina’s response.

Angelina watched the owner’s retreating figure with a dumbfounded expression.

How can he be so happy after blowing away a hefty tip that rolled in?

But she quickly stopped caring. Other people’s strange attitudes towards money were not her concern.

What mattered to her was this [Bucket List].

Angelina’s pen tip tapped the page, creating black dots.

As she watched the ink seep through, making the black dots grow larger, a thought occurred to her.

‘Villain.’

Just why is her brother the villain?

What’s the reason for writing this bucket list? Because she’s going to die.

How did she know she was going to die?

Because she remembered the contents of the novel.

But while everything else was understandable, there was one thing she absolutely couldn’t comprehend.

The theory is that her brother is the villain.

She understood that this was inside a novel and accepted that she was going to die.

While she couldn’t understand why the villain was more handsome than the male lead, she accepted that man as the male lead.

But no matter how much she racked her brain, she just couldn’t understand why her brother was the villain.

[Ante Flaubert]

Angelina wrote her brother’s name and stared at it intently.

She put a star next to it, underlined it with wavy lines, and even added two pigtails, but nothing more came to mind.

‘It’s not like he was in a love triangle with the female lead and male lead…’

Throughout the novel, Ante Flaubert interfered with the male and female lead. His hatred towards the two was always explicitly expressed.

But the reason never came out.

Among readers, there was speculation that he might actually be in love with the female lead, but that turned out to be false in the end.

After all, he tries to kill the female lead but fails, and ends up meeting his death by the male lead’s sword.

“Haa… I don’t get it.”

Angelina couldn’t believe that her kind-hearted brother, as described in the novel, was the leader of the underworld.

This brother would fret and fuss, looking like he might cry if she even got a paper cut, insisting on calling a priest and a council member.

How could such a person torment the male and female leads so cruelly and even try to kill them in the end? Does this make any sense?

‘But having accepted that this is inside a novel, I can’t completely ignore that information.’

Viewing only that with blurred eyes could also be self-deception.

Above all, the narrative in the novel was too vivid to simply ignore.

「On that day, Ante Flaubert lost his light.

For him, ‘light’ was neither the holy power of the priests, nor the magic of the wizards, nor the aura of the knights.

For him, ‘light’ was only his sister.

Though he enjoyed all power and wealth, without his sister, they were all utterly useless.」

Thinking about that narrative, she wondered if perhaps there was no other reason for her brother becoming the villain.

Maybe he just needed to vent his sense of loss somewhere after losing her.

Angelina knew better than anyone how dearly her brother cherished her.

Thinking about it that way made her heartache.

The brother she knew and the one in the novel were so different, could it be because of her death?

‘Since I can’t prevent my death… I need to make sure my brother will be okay on his own before I go.’

She needed to create plenty of other sources of light for him.

Only then could Angelina write the second item on her [Bucket List].

[2. Make friends for brother.]

A smile spread across her face.

Unlike when she was thinking about spending money extravagantly, this was a smile full of overflowing affection.

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Ante’s hand paused as he was cutting his steak.

“Where did you say… you’re going?”

His eyes were filled with bewilderment as he looked at his sister sitting across from him.

“The Magic Tower.”

However, his sister, too engrossed in marveling at the tenderness of the steak, didn’t notice and answered quite cheerfully.

Faced with this sudden crisis, cold sweat ran down Ante’s spine.

But maintaining a calm expression, he asked.

“Do you need something?”

He asked in a casual voice, putting down his knife and picking up his wine glass.

But Angelina’s next words made him pause as he was about to take a sip.

“I want to meet the Tower Master.”

Finally, unable to properly drink the wine, Ante put it back down and scrutinized his sister’s face as he asked.

“…Why the Tower Master?”

The man who didn’t get nervous even when facing the Empress or when assassins broke into his room was now watching his sister’s expression carefully.

“Um… There’s something I want to ask?”

Angelina couldn’t bring herself to say ‘To find friends for you, brother,’ so she gave an ambiguous answer.

But that only amplified Ante’s anxiety.

He stared at his sister quietly while repeatedly rubbing his index finger with his thumb. It was a habit that surfaced when he was deep in thought or nervous.

“Is it because of the magic sword you got at the auction house recently?”

“Ah… You heard about that?”

Even though there was no way her movements wouldn’t have been reported to her brother, Angelina scratched her cheek awkwardly, feeling as if she’d been caught.

“About that…”

Realizing that if he knew about the magic sword, he must have also heard about what happened with Duke Kadenhart, Angelina opened her mouth to make an excuse.

But Ante was a beat faster.

“Is it because of the seal on it?”

He seemed uninterested in her encounter with Duke Kadenhart, focusing instead on the magic sword and the visit to the Magic Tower.

“If it’s about that, even the Tower Master won’t know anything. It’s not the kind of seal that can be solved simply with magic.”

“…Huh?”

Seal?

Angelina was momentarily dumbfounded.

This is the first I’m hearing about this?