How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 23 - 4. Everyone Has at Least One Secret They Want to Hide
Considering Ante’s usual reputation, he was more than capable of such things.
Blake, who had given a calm answer, turned his body and waved his hand dismissively.
“If you’re not looking to pick a fight, just glare moderately and unpack.”
He dispersed everyone’s attention and started the camping preparations.
However, unlike everyone else who began preparations following his order, Blake turned his head once more to look at Angelina.
‘…So this is what I couldn’t grasp.’
Was that woman the unfathomable opportunity he had felt before entering the Tower’s Path?
If that’s the case…
His gaze following her contained a strange mix of expectation and caution.
***
While sharp vigilance and low-lying distrust were exchanged without Angelina’s knowledge, Angelina herself was troubled in a completely different sense.
‘Even for a world where coincidences from the novel run rampant, isn’t the sister of the villain and the male lead’s paths crossing too much?’
She was quite displeased.
‘Come to think of it, there was a setting where the male lead tried to draw the Tower Master to his side.’
It wasn’t dealt with as an episode in the novel, but rather mentioned later in narration as a ‘that happened~’ kind of thing, so she had forgotten about it.
However…
‘Why does it have to coincide with the time I’m going to the magic tower?’
She had tried to avoid getting involved again after the magic sword incident.
‘I can’t just pretend not to know and go separately either.’
The more she thought about it, the more frustrating it became.
“Sigh…”
Angelina concluded that the unreliable novel was the problem and let out a sigh.
What had happened had already happened. There was no use in resenting the situation; it would only give her a headache. It was much more beneficial to think about what to do from now on.
“Haley. How long until we reach the magic tower?”
“If we pass through all the gates smoothly, it should take about four days.”
“Four days…”
If they also pass through the gates without problems, it means four days of unavoidable companionship.
A long time if you consider it long, a short time if you consider it short.
She couldn’t keep avoiding them, and she couldn’t just talk about the weather every day either.
It’s not like she was going to discuss politics with him, nor engage in power struggles.
How could she maintain an appropriate distance from him without appearing rude?
Angelina pondered while stroking the fox-like magical beast that had offered her a place to lean on.
Then suddenly, a thought occurred to her.
‘No, wait, I was planning to prevent my brother and the male lead from becoming enemies anyway, right?’
Her ultimate goal was to prevent her brother’s death.
The reason she wanted to prevent her brother from becoming a villain was because that would lead to his death.
Her brother becoming a villain was a problem, but the bigger issue was that he made enemies of the male and female lead.
He dies receiving ‘justice’s’ judgment after tormenting them.
But what if he’s on the same side as the protagonists?
Even if her brother turns evil, his chances of survival increase significantly. The kind female and male lead would embrace him.
From the moment she set out to recruit the Tower Master, her ultimate goal was to improve the relationship between the male lead and her brother.
‘Since there’s been no interaction yet, is it about setting the right first step rather than improvement?’
Ante had been busy raising the Flaubert Marquis family, and Blake had probably been preoccupied with subduing magical beasts in the empire’s borderlands.
‘It’s a perfect blank slate, so any kind of relationship can be drawn.’
All I need to do is lay down a pretty foundation.
Originally, in novels, being next to the male and female leads was the best strategy.
After long deliberation, Angelina was able to reach a conclusion.
‘Yes, let’s start right now.’
A smile curved on her lips.
There was no hesitation in putting it into practice.
She immediately stood up and headed towards where the Kadenhart party had settled.
But she became puzzled seeing his party scattered about, not even having fully laid out their spots.
‘By the way, why did they appear from the Dark Forest side instead of using the Tower’s Path?’
Why take the harder path?
But the question didn’t last long.
‘Well, the male lead must have his own profound reasons.’
Aren’t novel male leads usually full of settings and backstories? There must be some story behind not using the Tower’s Path.
Angelina didn’t particularly want to dig into it. It wasn’t something that concerned her much, so she wasn’t very curious either.
“Duke Kadenhart.”
Unaware that he had been watching her until just moments ago, Angelina innocently called out to him.
“Would you like to have dinner together?”
It was an approach full of her own ulterior motives, complete with a rarely seen faint smile.
Chapter 4. Everyone Has at Least One Secret They Want to Hide
Blake readily accepted Angelina’s proposal to have dinner together. There was no reason to refuse.
However, Blake’s party, who had approached to help unpack and prepare, couldn’t help but pause.
“This is…”
Blake let out a low groan as he watched it rotating and grilling over the magic fire. It was a groan full of bewilderment.
Angelina, who had looked puzzled for a moment at his reaction, belatedly let out a sigh of realization.
“Ah, you must be seeing a Forest Cow for the first time.”
“….”
Blake didn’t answer. In fact, it was a monster he had slain dozens of times on the way here, but it was certainly the first time he learned that its name was ‘Forest Cow’.
“According to Haley, it’s a monster that only lives in the Dark Forest.”
“…I see.”
Somehow, he had felt it was a species he hadn’t seen in any of the subjugations he’d been on until now.
“It looks like a mix between a pig and a bear, but it tastes like beef.”
“You’ve eaten it?”
“I ate it on the first night we entered the Tower’s Path. We were lucky to catch one this morning too.”
Blake didn’t know what expression to make at her nonchalant explanation.
Was she… trying to test him?
Blake was well aware of his nicknames and rumors circulating in society.
The Duke of Madness. The Butchering Lunatic. The monster who lives on drinking monster blood.
These baseless rumors and nicknames had twisted into even more cruel forms over time.
For Blake, who had been pushed into life-threatening subjugations from a young age by the Empress, these were utterly unfair words.
Of course, Blake ignored them all. They were just nonsense after all, and he had neither the time nor the emotion to spare for such gossip.
But surely there would be many people with prejudices against him based on those rumors.
So Blake couldn’t help but be suspicious.
The nobles he knew well enjoyed testing others and judging them as they pleased.
If it were them, suggesting to eat a monster would have been an action to test him.
But his counterpart was Angelina.
The woman who spent a billion just because he asked for help, without even knowing who he was.
The woman he had judged to be innocent but not stupid, generous but not foolish.
And above all, the woman who possessed something his instincts couldn’t quite grasp.
That’s why Blake didn’t know how to respond.
He was worried that if he returned the provocation in kind, he might end up making a verbal blunder, but he didn’t want to appear as a clueless fool either.
Unable to do this or that, he just glared at the Forest Cow with a stiff face when she spoke to him again.
“Do you perhaps dislike meat?”
She had misinterpreted his hardened expression.
‘Strange. The novel didn’t mention that he was a vegetarian.’
But thinking that such details might have been omitted in the unfriendly novel, Blake answered in a low voice.
“It’s not that. I’m used to this kind of thing.”
It was an answer containing a bit of truth and sincerity that he wouldn’t have given in front of other nobles. They would have only picked at his words.
But perhaps it was because the expression of the woman asking the question was purely innocent.
As there was not the slightest hint of testing him, Blake answered quietly.
“As long as it fills the stomach, what does it matter what it is?”
When out on subjugations, it wasn’t once or twice that supplies were cut off and food ran out.
After waiting and waiting, they eventually turned their eyes to the monster carcasses. They had to eat to survive.
The smell was terribly fishy, and it was never delicious. But regardless of the taste, he always felt that something was wrong.
He felt something twisting in his chest as he ate the targets he had slaughtered until they were covered in blood.
He wondered how he was any different from the monsters that hunted and devoured humans.
He felt a lack of the proper conduct that should be upheld as a human, and sometimes he even thought he was disgusting.
But…
“Right? If it doesn’t make you sick, that’s a bonus, and if it’s even tasty, that’s the icing on the cake, isn’t it?”
Why is this woman sympathizing with his strange and nauseating words?
