How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 60
“How about this as payment for the questions?”
Blake took out a wooden token from his chest.
“This is what I gave to the Duke……”
It was the wooden token of the Flaubert Marquis family.
“Now that I think about it, it’s embarrassing. I dared to give something like a wooden token without even knowing you were a Duke.”
“Not at all. It was an honor.”
“But what do you mean this is payment for the questions?”
Angelina looked up at him.
“This wooden token was a means to prove that Artoas was an item of the Kadenhart Duchy, right?”
“That’s right. But the Duke can visit the Flaubert Marquis family anytime without the wooden token……”
She was grateful for returning it, but it was difficult to connect this with ‘payment for questions’.
Then he explained.
“I won’t make that proof.”
“What……?”
Angelina felt as if she’d been hit on the back of the head.
“Wait a moment, Your Grace. What do you mean you won’t make the proof? Are you not going to find Artoas?”
It’s a family heirloom, isn’t it?
“I’m not saying I’ll abandon the family heirloom.”
“Then what?”
“Simply proving it to take it back doesn’t seem right no matter how I think about it. It was Miss Flaubert who purchased Artoas at the auction that day. So Miss Flaubert has the right to take it.”
“I don’t have a hobby of taking other people’s family heirlooms.”
“It’s not taking. Since you obtained it through legitimate means, you have the right to own it.”
“Your Grace. Artoas is the Duchy’s family heirloom.”
You haven’t forgotten that, have you?
Angelina, dumbfounded, stated the obvious fact again. However, Blake just smiled.
“I know. That’s why I’ll make sure to retrieve it through other means, not unfair ones.”
No, why is that an unfair method?
Angelina couldn’t understand.
But Blake looked relieved.
Even more incomprehensibly.
“I think Artoas as collateral is quite appropriate as payment for questions. What do you think?”
It’s not okay. It’s not appropriate. I won’t accept such a thing!
Angelina wanted to throw that sword back into his arms and run away right now.
She shouldn’t have gone out that day. She should have ignored the request for help and gone home!
But it was all in the past now.
It was frustrating and infuriating at the time, but.
‘Let’s think positively.’
Thanks to that, she could say she’s come this far.
The task of hunting the Sun God’s Order to protect her brother, and finding her brother’s friend, all seemed to be flowing in a not-so-bad direction as a result of getting entangled with the male lead that day.
“Even if that wasn’t the case, I was willing to answer questions.”
Although it was a bit unsettling to have someone else’s family heirloom, the male lead wasn’t irresponsible, so he would probably take care of it properly someday.
It was a waste of time to deeply worry about problems that couldn’t be solved immediately.
“Actually, I thought you would come here to verify the truth, whether you helped with this matter or not. So I was mentally prepared.”
“You believed my ‘innate nature’ would do that?”
“That’s right.”
Blake felt somewhat at a loss as she said she believed in his ‘innate nature’ that even he didn’t understand well.
If he knew what the expectations were, he could at least try not to disappoint, but he didn’t know.
“Does Marquis Flaubert know about this?”
Angelina’s steps halted at the piercing question.
Brother? He knows.
But officially, he shouldn’t know.
In fact, the conversation Angelina had with ‘Ante’ didn’t contain any of this story. As if they knew nothing about it.
But she shared everything with ‘Aesi’. Including all future plans.
So…… he doesn’t know, but he knows.
This contradictory answer couldn’t be honestly conveyed. Any answer would seem like a lie.
So Angelina just smiled.
Blake didn’t ask twice at her awkward smile.
“What’s the plan from here?”
Blake wanted to ask more details about what the Order had done.
But it seemed better to share that more leisurely in a safer place, away from this situation.
“For now, we wait for the sun to find its place.”
Saying this, Angelina stopped at one spot.
The rest following her also stopped.
“……Isn’t this too close?”
Blake asked, surveying the surroundings warily.
Where they stopped was a ridge so close to the enemies that their position could be discovered at any moment.
A willow tree on a hill east of the ‘Witch’s Tomb’. Behind was a dense forest, but between the willow tree and the tomb was a grass field without a single shrub or bush.
“No. They would have placed all their guards inside and in front of the circular building, and underground. They think they only need to guard the ‘tomb’.”
Angelina looked up at the sky.
The slow moon was getting closer to the even slower sun.
“Your Grace.”
Angelina, who had been watching this with a frown, faced Blake.
“Would you like to try raiding a holy site with me?”
It was time to make the final decision.
***
Let’s try raiding a holy site.
Blake suddenly felt like laughing.
She could have asked if he wanted to try saving innocent people, or if he would help try to stop malicious deeds.
But of all the words she could have chosen, she picked ‘raid a holy site’.
Was she full of mischief, or was she being cautious, thinking it was a bad thing to have the Sun God’s Order as an enemy?
[Your Grace. Can you hear me?]
He wiped the smile off his face at Sean’s voice echoing in his head. When he turned his head, he saw Haley and Mason.
They were also receiving the same voice, so when Blake nodded, this time Haley’s voice was heard.
[Yes~ He says he can hear~]
It was telepathy magic.
It was magic that transmitted voices by implanting one’s magical power into the other person. The process was unnecessarily complicated and could only be maintained for a certain time within a certain distance, so it was famous for being the worst magic in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Still, it was optimal for this infiltration.
[We’ve safely entered the place the young lady mentioned and completed the disguise.]
Blake changed into a holy knight’s uniform, Haley into a maid’s, and Mason into a priest’s. Except for Haley, it was convenient as the outfits could hide their faces with hoods and helmets.
[The young lady says good job. Also, she asks if you’ve found Catherine.]
Haley and Sean were playing the role of communicators.
[We haven’t found Catherine yet, but we’ve confirmed the High Priest’s location. As the young lady said, he’s not moving from beside the central tree.]
At Haley’s words, Blake peered inside the building through a hole in the ceiling. They were hiding in the floor space between the 2nd and 3rd floors.
The building had a unique structure.
The center was open from the basement to the ceiling. The ceiling was covered with glass to block the weather, but sunlight came in well.
The rest of the floors had round railings installed to look down on this.
At first glance, it looked like a circular prison.
The tree planted on the basement floor was majestic, growing large enough to reach the 2nd floor, but the tombstone placed in front of it was old, having absorbed time.
As he glared at the top of the High Priest’s head who was staring intently at this, someone approached behind the High Priest.
“The preparations are complete. Now we just have to wait for the sun.”
“Finally.”
The High Priest took a deep breath at the High Priest’s report.
“Finally, we can get our hands on the crimson thorn.”
He nodded, speaking in a satisfied voice.
Perhaps due to the building’s design, Blake could hear it well too.
“But High Priest. Do you really…… believe what those guys said?”
The high priest asked as if he found it quite untrustworthy.
“Weren’t they sent by the Tower Master? It’s clearly a trap.”
“A trap?”
He snorted.
“Yes. It must be a trap. But the method to find the sacred object must be real.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Why haven’t we been able to get our hands on the crimson thorn until now?”
“Isn’t it because we believed only a saint’s holy power could break the seal of the sacred object?”
“Yes. So we thought we couldn’t get our hands on the sacred object unless a saint appeared. We believed we could do it if we made even a half-baked saint, but we failed.”
A few years ago, the High Priest who got his hands on the blue rose used it to implant the power of a saint in Catherine. And he came here to try to break the seal.
But the barrier didn’t budge at all.
So even though they knew where the crimson thorn was, they couldn’t retrieve it and focused on finding the lake.
They thought if Catherine absorbed the power of the lake as well, they could reclaim the thorn.
“But that wasn’t it, we just needed to input that amount of holy power.”
Through the magic tower people, it was revealed that it would work just by having all the priests gather and pour in their holy power.
