How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 19
“Why? Haley, do you know what this is?”
“No! I’m surprised because I don’t know!”
“Hmm, so even Haley doesn’t know this monster.”
While Haley was shocked, Angelina casually examined the fox monster from various angles.
“…Is this why you went off alone?”
Laura asked with a frown.
“Yes.”
Despite the question being tinged with reproach, Angelina answered cheerfully.
“It kept hiding whenever there were many people around. I had to coax it to bring it along.”
Angelina answered nonchalantly, but the knights’ gazes on it were sharp.
They were utterly perplexed. If what was in the young lady’s arms was truly a monster and an unidentified one at that, it was no ordinary problem.
But none of them showed it. Attacking or doubting it outright would be tantamount to distrusting the young lady’s decision.
At least, the young lady they knew wasn’t someone who would act without thinking.
So there must be a good reason and much consideration behind picking up this creature.
The first to organize her thoughts was, of course, Laura, who had been by her side the longest.
‘So this creature was behind the young lady’s recent peculiar behavior.’
Laura had been worried sick about Angelina’s occasional strange behavior lately.
Staring intently at empty air, muttering things too strange to be considered talking to herself, tearing up pieces of meat and scattering them next to trees, and such actions.
Laura had thought these were abnormal symptoms caused by the stress Angelina received upon entering the Dark Forest.
But assuming this monster was behind it all, everything made sense.
It was a relief to finally have an answer.
But now there was a different problem.
‘I couldn’t sense it at all.’
Whether beast or human, there should be sounds of breathing or footsteps. And Laura was quite adept at detecting even the slightest presence.
Yet she hadn’t noticed even a speck of its presence.
She couldn’t help but feel wary.
No matter how cute and harmless it looked now, they couldn’t be certain it was safe.
Like a monster that behaves like an ordinary snake usually but suddenly transforms into a dragon, it could be hiding its power. Of course, it could also be a monster that’s just pretty like a firebird.
Knowing Laura’s concerns, Haley, who had been observing it for a while, asked.
“My Lady, do you intend to take it with us?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what it is?”
It could have sounded sarcastic, but Angelina, knowing Haley well, knew it was a question asked out of genuine curiosity.
“Isn’t it a monster?”
“No, I mean, it seems to be a monster, but I was wondering if you know what kind. I’ve never seen one before.”
Haley, being a mage, could usually distinguish between monsters and magical beasts. The energy flowing through their bodies was different.
But this monster was a species she had never encountered before.
“I don’t know the species either.”
At Angelina’s honest answer, Haley let out a “Hmm” before adding an explanation.
“As you know, not all monsters are friendly to humans. It could be dangerous to carelessly take in an unknown monster.”
This was what everyone wanted to say.
“In that sense, could I keep it until we reach the magic tower? We can quickly identify it by checking the monster encyclopedia there.”
Even if it wasn’t in the encyclopedia, there was a systematic procedure among mages to check a monster’s intelligence and attack power.
Haley felt they could only comfortably keep this monster by the young lady’s side after going through such procedures.
“Of course, no matter how clever monsters are, they’re much purer than humans, so I’ve never heard of one backstabbing someone…”
As Haley’s muttering dispersed into the air,
“Kyu!”
The monster in Angelina’s arms raised itself.
“Kyu! Kyuu-!”
Standing firmly on Angelina’s arms with its two front paws, it puffed out its chest. It even raised its head and glared at Haley.
As if saying, ‘How dare you doubt me? How insolent!’
It looked quite angry, but due to its fluffy appearance resembling a fennec fox, it wasn’t threatening at all.
“Pfft.”
“How cute…”
Rather, it melted the hearts of several knights, including Haley, because it was extremely adorable.
At this, the monster trembled, then hit Angelina’s arms more forcefully with its front paws while making a louder sound.
“Kyu!!”
Its posture and expression seemed to shout, ‘Are you laughing at me?’ Even though it wasn’t speaking, they felt like they understood everything.
Perhaps because of this,
“Well… Honestly, I don’t think you need to worry…”
Haley, who had been assertively stating her opinion just moments ago, now showed an attitude of trying to retract her words ambiguously.
Watching this, Laura spoke in a voice of disbelief.
“If the ability to enchant people is also a skill, then it’s a formidable creature.”
Everyone nodded vigorously, strongly agreeing with Laura’s concise conclusion.
The monster was still making “Kyu, kyu” sounds and throwing a tantrum.
Angelina chuckled and hugged the monster again.
“What could something this tiny possibly do?”
As if soothing it to stop, she stroked the fox monster’s head and back while speaking, and it quickly cheered up, rolling around in her arms.
“If you’re still worried, we can sleep with the door open.”
Understanding Haley and the knights’ concerns, Angelina suggested.
“No, there’s no need to go that far…”
“If we open all the doors, you might catch a cold, so just leave the window open a bit.”
Although Haley shook her head as if it was fine, Laura interrupted and accepted Angelina’s suggestion.
Most of their doubts were gone, but it couldn’t hurt to be cautious.
“I’ll do that.”
Accepting Laura’s suggestion, Angelina went into the carriage. Shortly after, the window opened slightly.
And soon, the sound of even breathing flowed out.
Since she had already talked with Ante before going to bathe today, she could go to bed right away.
━━━━༻❁༺━━━━
“Your Grace, this doesn’t seem right!”
After several days of intense forced marches, Mason finally exploded.
“We’re not animals being trained, what kind of situation is this?”
As people who had spent years monster hunting, they were used to being pushed to extremes. But even so, the current situation was hard to endure.
Usually, even in extreme situations, they could always find a space to rest and gather their thoughts.
But not this time.
As Mason said, the forest didn’t allow them any rest, as if they were being trained.
It would drive them to the brink of death, and just when they thought they were going to die, it would pause briefly, only to push in more monsters before they could fully recover from fatigue.
Forget about camping, they hadn’t been able to sleep for more than an hour at a time for over a week. It was a pressure that would have driven ordinary humans mad long ago.
That’s why it became even more certain that all of this was the doing of the magic tower. This was the reason for Mason’s outburst.
“Seriously, that magic tower master bastard, isn’t he a psycho? No matter how annoying visitors are, how can he treat us like dogs and pigs!”
Mason angrily vented. But his voice, steeped in fatigue, lacked strength.
“Do we have to cooperate with such a guy? Let’s just go back!”
This was clearly an act of deceiving and mocking Blake. And Mason couldn’t stand by and watch his lord being treated this way.
“Well.”
But unlike Mason who was venting his emotions, Blake showed a more composed demeanor than ever.
His ashen face and haggard appearance showed the accumulated fatigue, but he maintained his composure.
“Are you still thinking of joining hands with that magic tower trash even in this situation?”
“Mason is right, Your Grace. There’s a limit to testing people.”
Mason wasn’t the only one who had lost patience. All of his close aides looked like they might collapse at any moment.
“I understand you all, but I don’t think going back is something we can do as we please either.”
Blake said, scanning the surroundings.
As he said, the area was so thick with smoke that they couldn’t see an inch in front of them, and monster cries echoed from unknown sources.
It felt like being stuck in a swamp. The more they struggled, the deeper they sank, with no way out in sight.
“Ha, I swear I’ll kill that magic tower bastard if I see him.”
Pushed to the limit, Mason unleashed his anger and curses without restraint. Some of the aides joined him in cursing the magic tower master.
Sean, one of the aides with relatively stable emotions, approached Blake and suggested.
“Your Grace, then how about we try going towards the tower’s path?”
“……”
“I think we can find it more easily than the exit due to the barrier’s energy.”
