How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 38
Seeing his understanding expression, Angelina said,
“This is just an old woman’s concern, but if you ever come to the magic tower to see your sibling, tell them not to do things like changing shifts to come down to the gateway. Strictly speaking, that’s a violation of the rules.”
She was trying to preemptively solve a problem that would occur later. It would be troublesome if the tower master and the male lead were to fall out over that incident.
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
Satisfied with the answer, Angelina felt proud
“Then, please go to His Grace first and tell him I’m sorry. Say that I’ll treat him to tea in a quieter place next time.”
“Yes, I’ll convey your message.”
Having made a promise for the future, she turned away happily.
A few steps away, Haley asked in a low voice.
“Was that why you asked if I sensed any magic power among them?”
At that question, Angelina recalled the conversation she had with Haley a few days ago.
“Haley. Are there any mages among them?”
“I sense a bit of magic power from that guy. But it’s not enough to make even one combat arrow. Oh? But that person…”
“What? What do you sense?”
“No. It’s just, I think I saw a mage who looked similar to that man when I was at the magic tower.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The more I look, the more he resembles him… Is it him? No, the tower doesn’t accept mages with such little potential.”
“Maybe he has a twin. Even if this guy has little magic power, talent could be found in his sibling.”
“Oh! I see, my lady. Magic power isn’t related to genetics after all.”
It was a question aimed at finding the ‘aide with a sibling in the magic tower’ that couldn’t be confirmed due to the novel’s vague explanation.
“I thought you were trying to gauge their capabilities.”
It seems Haley had understood it in a completely different way.
“That too.”
“As expected, I really can’t tell what you’re thinking, my lady. You had something in mind with that static electricity earlier too, right?”
“…Static electricity?”
“Yes.”
What thoughts could be put into static electricity?
Angelina was puzzled, but Haley had already seemed to come to her own conclusion, wearing a solemn expression.
“I really need to build up more inner strength.”
“…?”
It seemed Lora had said something similar before.
“Well, do as you like.”
Angelina just assumed it was a trendy saying among the maids these days and let it pass.
A moment later, they disappeared through another teleport guided by the mage.
And Blake’s aides who were left behind started to become unsettled.
“How does she know us so well?”
“She must have done a background check on us.”
“Did she know we’d meet her in the Dark Forest?”
“That’s impossible. His Grace moved so carefully.”
Angelina seemed to know too much.
As they were whispering, Sean and Mason’s gazes met.
Unlike the other aides who had gone up to their rooms during dinner at the gateway, Sean and Mason had heard the conversation between Blake and Angelina.
She had spoken to them specifically as if she knew that Mason and Sean had gained Blake’s trust among the aides.
Moreover, she knew things that would be difficult to know without a separate investigation.
She said it was because of the aura of the necklace, and because Haley had seen someone similar, but it fit too appropriately to be mere coincidence.
Mason fiddled with his necklace.
“Do you believe what she said?”
Sean asked, observing Mason’s behavior.
“Regardless of whether I believe it or not, there’s a sure way to check.”
As she said, he could just put the necklace somewhere out of sight and out of reach and live without it for a while.
If the holy power that had suddenly become problematic to use starts working well again like before, it would prove her words were correct.
“Are you going to try it?”
Sean asked.
But Mason didn’t answer right away. He seemed lost in thought, fiddling with the necklace for a while, and instead of answering, he posed a question.
“If I do that, does it mean I’m doubting her?”
It was an easy method, but Mason was reluctant. It felt like the very act of checking would be doubting the friend who gave him the gift.
“There’s no way she would have done such a thing to me.”
He didn’t want to doubt. She was a friend who had shared every moment of his childhood. Even when Mason luckily became a holy knight, she rejoiced with him…
“It’s not like I can go and ask her, right?”
After several incidents, their relationship soured and that friend disappeared.
“….”
Mason’s face was dark.
He felt responsible, believing those incidents were his fault.
At the time, he had his reasons for his actions, but he thought that from his friend’s perspective, it could have felt like a betrayal.
That’s why he still couldn’t let go of their friendship and memories from that time. He kept wearing the necklace, hoping that if they met again someday, they could reconcile.
“She might have given it without knowing.”
But now that expectation had turned into this twisted situation.
“…I guess so.”
At that time, Mason, feeling a great sense of responsibility beforehand, quit being a holy knight right away.
Around that time, his holy power also started to get out of his control, so there were multiple reasons to quit.
After quitting as a holy knight, he became a mercenary, moving from one monster subjugation team to another until he connected with Blake and came to his current position.
Knowing Mason’s past well, Sean could offer sincere advice.
“You might not want to hear this, but Lady Flaubert’s words aren’t wrong.”
Sean spoke to Mason, urging him to think rationally.
“Until now, we thought your holy power manifested when your emotions were intense. But if that necklace is a holy power suppression device, what we thought of as ‘intense emotions’ was actually a ‘holy power explosion beyond the device’s control’.”
“….”
“That’s not good for your body. No, it’s worse than that – it means your body has experienced dozens of holy power runaways.”
Just thinking about the number of times Mason had unleashed his holy power in the subjugation teams, his body must already be in a terrible state.
If this situation continued, he could permanently lose his holy power.
Sean, being a mage albeit a weak one, understood the severity well.
“Haa… I know that much.”
Mason let out a long sigh at Sean’s words and rubbed his face dry.
He had already said everything Sean was saying. He knew it all, but his heart wouldn’t follow
“But she was a woman I once promised a future with, how can I doubt her?”
That ‘friend’ occupied too large a part of Mason’s heart
“When she handed me this gift, her blushing face was so… Haa…”
“I’ll say it again, your friend might not have known either.”
For the struggling Mason, Sean presented a hopeful possibility that his friend might have given it without knowing.
“That must be it, right?”
And Mason quickly grasped onto this.
“There’s no need to jump to conclusions. Let’s first find out if Lady Flaubert’s words are true.”
Sean said, trying to comfort him, and turned his gaze towards the direction Angelina had disappeared.
“If it’s all true…”
If everything, including what she said about the magic tower master to his lord at the gateway, turned out to be true..
“We’ll have to figure out the lady’s intentions, even in place of His Grace.”
Discovering her purpose was an urgent task.
“His Grace seems to be opening his heart for some reason already, so we need to stay sharp.”
There’s no such thing as kindness without a price, after all.
“I know.”
Mason also let out a sigh-mixed response and looked in the direction Angelina had disappeared.
From the moment he first saw her in the back alley of the marquis’s territory, she was a person whose intentions he couldn’t understand at all. Moreover, she had the power to break down others’ defenses in unexpected places.
The current situation, which stimulated both suspicion and curiosity, was dangerous, whether in a good sense or not.
***
With the help of the mage, Angelina’s group quickly left the Dark Forest and soon arrived at the marquis’s territory.
Perhaps because it was a familiar path, it seemed to take less time than when they went.
Angelina chuckled as soon as she entered the main gate of the marquis’s mansion.
Ante was waiting for her at the main entrance, waving his hand with a bright face
As she got out of the carriage, Ante ran up in one breath and hugged her tightly.
“Lina!”
But before he could properly put strength into his arms around her, a fierce cry was heard from between them.
“Kyahak-!”
It was Pudding, who suddenly found himself squeezed between the two people, throwing a tantrum.
Angelina, startled, hurriedly detached Ante from her embrace, and Pudding, who had nearly been crushed, stood on her arm and vented his anger toward Ante.
“Kyu! Kyut-!”
He seemed very displeased, patting her arm with his small front paws. Of course, due to his fluffy appearance, he only looked cute.
