How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 48
“Catch them! Don’t let them escape!”
“Damn it, they really were spies sent by the Magic Tower!”
It was that priest from earlier, the bald holy knight, and several other holy knights. Their holy power engulfed the teleportation formation, but…
Whoosh-!
“Ugh!”
It wasn’t enough to break through Haley’s powerful magic. To overcome Haley, who was rumored to be the next Magic Tower Master, they would have needed at least five or six high-ranking priests.
When the blinding, powerful light disappeared, only a desolate silence remained.
“Damn it. They couldn’t have gone far! Find them!”
“Issue a lockdown order for Solamor! Don’t let them escape!”
The bald holy knight led the knights as they rushed out. The remaining priest grabbed Catherine.
“What did those bastards say? Tell me everything if you don’t want to suffer!”
It was a fierce interrogation.
Normally, Catherine would have been intimidated and given up, but now it was different. Her eyes sparkled like stars.
A moment later, the corners of her mouth curved upward.
“I found out the location of the sacred object.”
***
“Haaah…”
Mason, who had managed to escape by a hair’s breadth, felt his legs give out. He became one with the floor, exhaling as if the ground would sink.
“I’m sure I followed the young lady to avoid causing trouble, but why does it feel like we’ve caused an even bigger one?”
He spoke while trying to calm his pounding heart.
However, Angelina, the actual culprit behind the incident, calmly removed her hood and checked outside the window.
The scenery outside was not Solamor.
“It doesn’t matter since our faces weren’t seen, right?”
“No, it’s not that simple… Um… Is it? Is it really okay because our faces weren’t seen?”
Mason, who was about to protest, seemed to be convinced otherwise and scratched his head.
“Anyway, it’s better if we stay here for tonight. They probably won’t expect us to have come this far.”
They were in a small village at the foot of a mountain, far from Solamor. It was a place where not many people frequented.
Angelina, who had calculated that they would be discovered, had instructed Haley to teleport them not to their inn in Solamor, but outside the city walls.
That’s how they were able to escape before the lockdown order was issued.
Angelina didn’t stop there. She quickly moved to an even more distant location, resulting in them arriving at this inn in a village that people didn’t know well.
Unbeknownst to Angelina, the ‘Shadows’ in the city were also helping by distracting the holy knights and buying time.
“Haley, are you okay?”
“Yes… But I think I need to rest a bit…”
Even for someone like Haley, using that much magical power in the Grand Temple filled with holy power was bound to have an effect.
Haley lay down on the bed.
“Your sightseeing… is quite spectacular, my lady.”
Mason muttered beside her, as if horrified.
“If I ask for an explanation of what just happened… would you give it to me?”
He raised his head and asked Angelina. But his voice sounded resigned, as if he already knew the answer.
Even his superior, Blake, often did incomprehensible things, and when asked for reasons or explanations, he would only be told to follow along first.
So this time, he didn’t expect much.
But contrary to expectations, Angelina, leaning against the chair, tapped the desk. Realizing it meant for him to sit on the opposite side, Mason quickly moved his bottom.
“You two sit down too. You must have a lot of questions.”
Angelina also gestured to Laura.
Sure enough, Haley, who had been lying down, suddenly got up and quickly sat next to Angelina. Laura also stared at the empty chair for a while with a rather complicated expression before joining them.
“Where should we start?”
As Angelina opened her mouth to take questions, she saw Mason’s mouth open quickly and raised her hand.
“Ah, before we start, one thing.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“Don’t ask about the source of my information.”
“….”
An awkward tension flowed over the table.
“Other than that, I’ll try to cooperate as much as possible. Now, the first question.”
Angelina pointed to Mason, who had opened his mouth first earlier.
Mason opened his mouth as if he had been waiting. But he closed it again without saying anything.
He seemed to be reconsidering the question he was about to ask.
“I’ll go first.”
Laura interjected in that gap.
As the three gazes fell on her, Laura pointed at Mason.
“Why is this person here?”
“Huh…? No, why are you suddenly picking on me?”
Mason protested in bewilderment.
“I, I was also at the scene with you, were you planning to have this conversation excluding only me? People have loyalty…”
“That’s not it. I’m asking why you brought him along from the beginning.”
“Well…”
Mason couldn’t answer. The reason why Angelina had brought him along was also a point of curiosity for him.
“The necklace…”
Mason offered a plausible answer, but Laura frowned. Then, glancing disapprovingly at the necklace on the table, she spoke.
“The plan was all set regardless of the necklace, wasn’t it? When you first set foot in Solamor, my lady, you didn’t have the necklace.”
The plan was originally made on the premise that there was no necklace. Mason’s unexpected appearance and the existence of the necklace made the situation a little easier, but it wasn’t something that couldn’t be done without it.
“So I want to confirm first why you specifically brought this person along.”
Angelina’s actions today were completely beyond Laura and Haley’s calculations.
It was quite surprising when she talked about the Sun God’s Order and the Magic Tower Master to Duke Kadenhart, whom they met by chance on the way to the Magic Tower.
But that was within the range that could be reported to Ante, so it could be covered up without any problems.
However, today’s events far exceeded the level where they could simply follow along because she was their lady.
She was openly turning against the Order, and they were confused about whether it was right to help her.
“Do you trust this man?”
“….”
It wasn’t Angelina who tensed at Laura’s question, but Mason. The sound of him swallowing his saliva was particularly loud in the quiet room.
“How much do you think I know about Lord Mason to trust him?”
“Ah…”
Mason let out a disappointed sigh at Angelina’s answer. His shoulders slumped, as if he had been hoping for something a little different.
But Angelina’s answer wasn’t complete yet.
“I don’t trust him. I trust the man he follows.”
“You mean… Duke Kadenhart?”
Angelina nodded slightly at Laura’s question for confirmation.
At that answer, Laura’s brow furrowed slightly, while Haley and Mason’s eyes widened.
“B-but if we’re counting encounters, I’ve met you more times than His Grace has. So why…”
As Mason asked, unable to understand, Angelina chuckled.
“Isn’t time measured by quality, not quantity?”
Her confident posture as she rested her chin on her hand showed that she had not a shred of doubt in her decision to trust Duke Kadenhart.
“But… trust often works both ways.”
Laura pointed out that there was no guarantee he would keep their secret.
“I know. But I’m not trusting that the Duke will help me.”
However, Angelina’s voice still overflowed with composure.
“I’m trusting the Duke’s innate nature.”
Once he learns the truth about the Order, he will act on his own. He wasn’t the type of person who could turn a blind eye to such injustice and absurdity.
That’s why he helped the female protagonist in the original story, even though he found her annoying.
Even if circumstances prevent him from getting directly involved, he won’t stop or hinder Angelina from trying to ‘do the right thing’.
“…If you say so, my lady, I won’t question it further.”
Laura stepped back, thinking that pressing the issue any further would be undermining Angelina’s judgment.
Of course, she only said that, her wariness towards Mason hadn’t decreased at all.
Mason, who had been looking around nervously under her sharp gaze, carefully asked.
“Then… is it okay to understand that I can relay everything that happened today and all the conversations to His Grace?”
“Go ahead.”
Angelina nodded lightly.
‘That was the purpose from the beginning, wasn’t it?’
The one she was trying to draw in wasn’t Mason, but Blake who was behind him.
She had been wondering how to involve the male lead in the process of rescuing the female lead, and Mason’s appearance in Solamor made that part easier.
Angelina briefly thought that perhaps the world setting had a hand in entangling the male and female lead. But she didn’t dwell on it too deeply. It wasn’t a question she could get an answer to anyway.
“Next question?”
In response to Angelina’s prompt, Laura was the first to react again.
“What is this?”
She took out the handkerchief she had been holding onto.
“This embroidery… you did it yourself, didn’t you, my lady? But why did that priest react to it?”
After formulating the plan, Angelina had immediately set out for Solamor. But the journey wasn’t entirely leisurely either.
She had hurriedly searched for a white handkerchief and quickly embroidered this design while in the moving carriage.
Although it was a bit crooked due to being made in the carriage, it was convincing enough if not examined closely.
“What is the Sun Star?”
