How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 41
“Haa.”
My thoughts kept circling back to the same place.
The magic measurement I took when I was young.
If I could just overlook that one thing with blurry eyes, the equation ‘Brother = Tower Master’ would fit perfectly, but because of that one thing, I couldn’t be completely at ease.
“Anyway, it was certainly a failure.”
Whether the Tower Master was my brother himself or in a close cooperative relationship, my plan to make him my brother’s friend had fallen through.
Fortunately, I got Pudding, so it wasn’t a complete waste, but Pudding wasn’t enough.
‘I need another candidate…’
Angelina was lost in thought for a moment before moving her pen again.
[Candidate 2. Blake Kadenhart.]
She wrote down the name of the current ongoing target.
‘Considering the political aspects, it might be difficult to become close friends, but…’
At least, she intended to make sure they wouldn’t be on bad terms.
‘Seeing that brother went to the Black Land, it seems their contract went quite well, unlike in the original work. So, have I laid the groundwork for success?’
Angelina felt fortunate that she had been able to meet and talk with them before Blake made a deal with the Tower Master, and wrote another name below.
[Candidate 3. Catherine Sorovien.]
It was the name of the original female lead who would soon be revered as a saint.
“A saint…”
Angelina tapped her cheek with the hand supporting her chin, reviewing the original content.
The female lead was indeed a saint, but at the same time, she wasn’t.
She could use holy power and operate ‘God’s power’, but she wasn’t chosen by God; she was a fake created by the Sun God’s Order.
The ‘God’s power’ she used was actually the power of sacred objects, cleverly packaged by the Order.
But that didn’t mean she was a fraud. She, too, was a victim of the Order’s greed.
For over three hundred years, no saint or holy person had appeared in the Sun God’s Order. The number of monsters increased exponentially, while the number of holy power users only decreased.
Perhaps it was inevitable that ominous rumors about being abandoned by God began to circulate among the people.
The anxious Order took drastic measures.
They decided to create a fake.
They found sacred objects that only remained in literature and unsealed them one by one.
But unsealing alone wasn’t enough to use the power of the sacred objects.
Forcing it led to terrible side effects, and in severe cases, even death.
They researched ways to safely extract this power. It was then that children from the slums began to disappear one by one. The cruel reason was that children were easier to kidnap and handle than adults.
‘And the female lead was the one who met all these conditions.’
Angelina scribbled various things in her notebook, trying to recall as much of the novel’s content as possible.
Vague guesses like [Pure soul?], [Holy power user?] were listed. After all, the unhelpful original work never explained what those ‘suitable conditions’ were.
‘Anyway, I need to save the female lead from those insane people…’
Of course, Angelina knew that even if she did nothing, the female lead would be rescued somehow. More accurately, rather than being ‘rescued’, the female lead would escape on her own.
In any case, the male lead was supposed to help in this process, and this deal was the core narrative that entangled the female and male lead in the original work.
So even if she didn’t intervene, the situation would unfold on its own.
But Angelina was thinking of moving this forward a little.
She didn’t intend to twist the protagonists’ narrative. It wasn’t some heroic impulse to rescue the female lead quickly.
‘Thinking of brother, I need to get involved somehow.’
It was simply because she needed to establish Ante’s safety before she died.
For this, she wanted to interfere just a little.
Just a tiny bit.
‘Don’t get too deeply involved.’
Just like an extra in the background of the protagonists’ highlight scenes.
‘I can exit as an extra, but brother should at least be an important supporting character with distinguishable features.’
Then the female lead would realize that brother had the same intentions as her and reach out, and brother would understand that the female lead was a victim and separate her from the Sun God’s doctrine in his mind.
Building a friendly relationship with the male lead in the process was a bonus.
‘It’ll be nice to see the pretty female lead’s face too.’
Since she couldn’t step outside the Grand Temple before the original story began, this was the only way to see the female lead before dying.
It was a kill-three-birds-with-one-stone strategy.
Angelina’s pen tip, which had been moving with a faint smile at her excellent plan, suddenly stopped.
‘But… why did brother start targeting the Sun God’s Order?’
The question she had been trying to ignore while focusing on future plans finally surfaced.
Angelina stared endlessly at the page with [Ante Flaubert] written on it. As if staring at it would provide an answer.
‘Is it because of uncle?’
After their parents passed away in an unfortunate accident, Uncle volunteered to be the guardian of Ante and Angelina. Then, using the excuse that they were still young, he tried to swallow up the Marquis family.
Not long after, Uncle also passed away in an accident, thwarting this scheme, but it was true that the attempt had been hard on Ante.
And that uncle had a close relationship with the Sun God’s Order.
‘But is resentment towards uncle enough to turn the entire empire into an enemy…?’
No matter how much I thought about it, that reason seemed too weak. In the original story, the Tower Master, in other words, my brother, staked everything on hunting down the Sun God’s Order.
「If he could destroy the damned Sun God’s Order, he was willing to do anything. He would gladly offer even his soul.」
While it’s true that he didn’t get along with Uncle, it wasn’t enough to become enemies with the empire.
‘Besides, our parents were close to the Order too.’
Angelina had few memories of her parents. But she vaguely remembered that they often left the mansion to meet the High Priest.
They were away quite often but… During those times, Ante showered her with boundless love and took care of her tenderly, which left deep emotional imprints in her heart.
‘What could it be…’
Could it be related to the Tower rather than the Flaubert Marquis family? But weren’t the Tower and the Order like cats and dogs?
“I really don’t know.”
Though curious, she couldn’t ask about it, so Angelina shook off her thoughts with a long sigh.
She decided to figure out the reason slowly and focus on Catherine’s rescue operation first. Just as she picked up her pen again to make more detailed plans—
Knock knock knock.
“My lady, it’s Haley.”
“Yes, come in.”
Angelina put away her notebook in the drawer as she let her in.
“What is it?”
Seeing Haley hesitate unusually after entering, she asked, and Haley opened her mouth with an apologetic expression.
“A guest has arrived.”
“A guest?”
There weren’t any appointments scheduled for today?
Surely brother wouldn’t have forgotten about a guest and gone on a business trip.
Who could it be?
Haley observed Angelina’s expression and added.
“His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”
Angelina’s eyes widened at the identity of the completely unexpected visitor.
***
Since she hadn’t expected any visitors, Angelina had been wearing comfortable clothes but quickly got ready. She hurried to the drawing room where the Crown Prince was waiting.
“Your Highness, the Lady has arrived.”
As Angelina entered the room, the man who had been looking out the window turned around. His flame-red hair swayed with his movement.
“I pay my respects to the Empire’s small sun.”
Angelina bowed her head in greeting.
Perhaps because he appeared frequently in the original work, he felt familiar despite this being their first meeting.
Wasn’t he known to dislike rude people?
‘He caused an uproar among readers when he told the chatty female lead that a saint should speak less to be attractive.’
Politely put, he was a proper leader who valued etiquette and manners; roughly speaking, he was an old-fashioned bore.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting.”
Angelina maintained utmost courtesy, seeing no need to create friction with him.
She thought if she just spoke minimally and responded well, like dealing with a stuffy superior, he would look upon her favorably.
“I’m the one who came unannounced, so you have nothing to apologize for.”
The Crown Prince waved his hand dismissively and strode toward her.
“I’d heard rumors of your beauty, but I didn’t know you were this stunning.”
Then he casually dropped what could have been an embarrassing compliment.
Aiden expected Angelina to blush shyly. Most women liked being called pretty, after all.
However, her reaction was flat.
“I was worried since I had to prepare in a hurry, but I’m glad you approve.”
She responded calmly and moved on.
“Would you like to sit? I recently acquired some rose tea with a lovely aroma. I’ll have it prepared.”
“…Very well.”
