How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 37
“Kyuu?”
Angelina, who had been lost in thought for a moment, was interrupted by the sound Pudding made as it tilted its head.
“Right. That’s something to think about later.”
For now, she had done what she could. It was a waste of time to worry about things that could only be known later.
“It seems it was a satisfactory meeting.”
Blake, who approached her, asked.
Angelina nodded as she held Pudding back in her arms.
“It wasn’t bad, more or less.”
“I’m glad.”
His voice, congratulating her success, was sincere.
So Angelina smiled slightly and said,
“I’ll pray for a good result for you too, Your Grace.”
But at her words, he stared at her for a moment and then chuckled.
“Why are you laughing? Is it a meaningless encouragement?”
“No, it’s not that….. It’s just that you said you’d ‘pray’ for a good result after what you said at the gateway lodging.”
“To avoid making mistakes in unexpected places, one should cultivate good habits.”
Angelina glossed over it, saying that since antagonizing the Sun God’s Order must never be revealed, she was cultivating words and actions like a believer to avoid making mistakes in social circles.
‘In truth, I neither oppose nor follow it.’
She didn’t particularly hate or despise the Sun God’s Order; she was doing this for her brother’s safe future.
So these habitual phrases came out because she had been an ordinary believer no different from other imperial citizens until she recalled her past life and the novel.
However, there was no need to explain these intricate circumstances to him
“Lord Blake Kadenhart, the Archmage says he’s ready.”
Just then, Sobre called for him, and their conversation ended there.
“Good luck, Your Grace.”
“Thanks to you.”
Blake sent her a grateful look and disappeared through the teleportation circle activated by the mage.
Angelina stared blankly at the teleportation circle for a moment, and Sobre, who had safely sent Blake off, approached her and spoke.
“When you leave, you don’t need to walk along the tower’s path. We’ll teleport you outside the Dark Forest.”
“Really? That’s convenient.”
Angelina was quite pleased that her carriage journey home would be significantly shortened. She was starting to get bored of rolling around in the carriage anyway.
“Then I’ll guide you right away.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. Did you have any other plans?”
Sobre asked, checking his file. Since nothing was written except meeting the Archmage, he tilted his head and looked at Angelina.
“It’s not so much a plan as…”
Angelina glanced at the teleportation circle where Blake had disappeared.
It feels like I didn’t say goodbye properly.
“Were you… companions?”
At Sobre’s question implying they hadn’t come together, Angelina shook her head.
‘Well, it would be strange to wait around for someone who’s not even a companion and might come out at any time.’
If pressed, the wish for good luck earlier could pass as a decent farewell.
‘But it feels a bit disappointing to just leave like this.’
Since she had been building a good relationship with him to erase death from her brother’s future, Angelina was reluctant to leave just like this.
Naturally, her gaze turned to Blake’s close associates.
Come to think of it, they would be the people she’d meet most often if she got close to the male lead.
‘No one dislikes someone who treats their people well.’
Especially the male lead in the novel, who took good care of his people, so it would be even more so.
‘It wouldn’t hurt to score some points, right?’
As she was thinking this…
“Do you have something to say?”
Mason approached and asked. His question contained curiosity and a bit of wariness.
“You said your name was Mason, right?”
“Yes. Just Mason, without a family name.”
He revealed his identity and bowed slightly.
Somehow, he felt he should show a bit more respect to someone Blake seemed to like.
“Do you happen to have any accessories?”
“Accessories…?”
“A necklace, bracelet, or bag charm.”
“I do have a necklace.”
Despite the sudden question, he pulled out a necklace hidden under his clothes.
It was a shabby necklace, but its well-maintained condition showed it was precious to Mason.
Angelina stared at it intently and frowned.
‘This seems to be it, but…’
The novel with its unhelpful description only mentioned ‘accessory’, so she couldn’t be certain. But seeing how carefully he handled it, it seemed to be the right one.
‘Why do I feel so queasy?’
The problem was that looking at it made her feel nauseous around her solar plexus.
Angelina approached him. She wanted to know the exact cause of this unpleasant feeling, and she also had something she wanted to tell him.
“How long have you had it?”
“It’s a gift from a childhood friend. I’ve had it for… over 10 years.”
At the mention of a friend’s gift, Angelina was sure this necklace was what she was looking for.
So she spoke with certainty.
“If you want to use holy power properly, you’d better throw this away or bury it somewhere out of reach.”
At Angelina’s words, Mason’s hand holding the necklace flinched greatly.
“Did you know I was a user of holy power?”
“It’s not that I knew Mason was a user of holy power, but this thing is giving off such an unpleasant aura that I had to say something.”
Angelina said, pointing at the necklace that was starting to make her feel nauseous the longer she looked at it. And at the moment her index finger got close to the necklace.
Zap!
A small static electricity sparked.
“…!”
“Oh, are you alright?”
Mason was startled and quickly clenched his fist to hide the necklace.
Angelina also had a surprised look on her face. But her body was frozen and couldn’t move.
“I’ll be right back.”
Suddenly, along with a strange scene, a young child’s voice flashed through her mind.
It was too quick to properly recognize what the scene was. But the voice was undoubtedly a boy’s, and it was a voice she had never heard before.
“My lady? What’s wrong?”
“What did you do to her?
Angelina came to her senses at Haley’s whimpering voice and Lora’s chilling low tone.
Before she knew it, Haley was infusing all sorts of healing magic into her unharmed hand, and Zeke had drawn his sword and was pointing it at Mason’s neck.
“I didn’t do anything. It’s unfair, really!”
Mason showed both his hands with a tearful face. Behind him, the other aides were hesitating whether to draw their weapons or not, looking at us with eyes full of coldness.
The atmosphere among the surrounding mages, including Sobre, was also not normal.
“Everyone, calm down. It was just a bit of static electricity.”
“You’re saying static electricity made you zone out like that, my lady?”
“I guess I was surprised because it’s been a while. The color of the static was pretty, wasn’t it?”
At Angelina’s words to calm down, Zeke withdrew his sword and stepped back. Of course, the tension didn’t ease.
Angelina didn’t like this situation.
‘Trying to score points, I might end up losing more.’
She was at a loss as things were going differently from her plan.
Reluctantly, she decided to use another card.
“Anyway, if there’s no problem using your ability, it’s fine, but if you can’t control it properly, you might want to suspect that necklace. I’ve seen something similar before.”
Of course, she had never seen such a thing, but since she couldn’t say ‘I saw it in a novel’, she made it up vaguely.
“…Yes.”
After hearing Mason’s sullen response, Angelina turned her head to look at Sean. It was another opportunity to score points.
“And you.”
“Are you… talking to me?”
Sean asked, pointing at himself. He even checked to his left and right to make sure her finger was indeed pointing at him.
“A mage?”
At Angelina’s words, he flinched. But he wasn’t as wary as Mason.
He thought it wouldn’t be difficult for her to know he was a magic user since Haley was by her side.
No matter how skilled, a low-circle mage couldn’t hide their identity from a higher-circle one.
“My skills are too embarrassing to be called that.”
He said with a genuinely embarrassed smile.
Compared to Haley, who skillfully handled dozens of high-level spells at once, his skills were barely enough to light a campfire or dry laundry with wind.
“You have a younger sibling, right?”
“…!”
This time, unlike before, he showed signs of surprise.
“Haley said she saw someone who looked similar when she was at the magic tower.”
But at Angelina’s additional words, he let out the breath he was holding.
In a small society like the magic tower, it wasn’t strange for people to know each other.
Moreover, unlike him, his younger sibling was talented, so they could have had some interactions with a mage like Haley.
