How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 86
13. When the Sun Falls, She Became a Witch
While the fake Saint project was progressing smoothly, Angelina spent all day buried in the Central Grand Library.
Thanks to Haley obtaining a pass that allowed access to even the ancient books kept in the deepest part of the library, she could freely roam anywhere in the library.
Even so, she spent most of her time in the ‘Artifacts’ section.
‘I knew there wouldn’t be much, but I didn’t expect to find absolutely nothing…’
Angelina had spent several days here, going through over 60% of the artifact-related books.
But she hadn’t found anything about the Sun’s Tomb or the witch.
Even considering that explanations might be vague or written in metaphors, she couldn’t find anything even similar.
“Hmm…”
Angelina groaned as she looked at the tall stack of books on her table and the pile of books still marked on the shelves.
‘This is the only lead we have…’
She came here because in the original story, it was written that information about the other one was in the artifact records.
But she knew nothing about what it looked like, where it was sealed, or what it was called.
‘It must be somewhere…’
Until now, while the original story’s information might have been ambiguous or sometimes omitted important details, it had never been completely wrong.
So the artifact information had to be somewhere here.
‘If only it had specified where in this vast section it was.’
While internally cursing the unhelpful original story again, Angelina suddenly tried changing her perspective.
‘Maybe it’s not in the books?’
Wasn’t it also narrow-minded to assume that just because it was in the library, it had to be in a book?
‘But what else is there here besides books?’
Angelina sighed while looking around.
Given her findings so far, it seemed unlikely she’d find anything even if she checked all the remaining books.
“Haah…”
As she let out a long sigh of frustration, Haley, who had been standing a few steps away, approached.
“Young miss, isn’t your back hurting?”
“Huh?”
“You’ve been reading in the same position for three hours now…”
“I’m fine… ugh…”
When Angelina tried to prove she was fine by twisting her upper body, she finally felt the stiffness.
When she interlocked her fingers and stretched them above her head, her shoulders and sides all felt tight.
“Not fine after all. I should go for a walk.”
Her legs felt stiff, too, when she stood up. While stretching thoroughly, she headed towards the indoor garden.
As she approached the library door, her attention was caught by a librarian organizing books.
It looked precarious, watching them standing on tiptoes trying to put books on the high shelf.
“You’ll have the bookshelf falling on your head like that.”
“What? Ah!”
When she approached and spoke, the librarian was startled and dropped the book. Thankfully, thanks to Haley’s levitation magic, a disaster was avoided.
However, the librarian reached out in panic again.
“No! Magic is forbidden with ancient books because they might get damaged!”
Haley carefully returned the book to the librarian’s arms.
“I heard they usually use magical tools for organizing, but I guess that’s not possible with this one?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The librarian nodded while hugging the book tightly.
“What book is it that you’re being so careful with?”
At Angelina’s question, the librarian held out the book so its cover was visible.
“History Beyond History?”
“It’s about ancient ruins and treasures that predate the Empire’s history.”
“It’s thin?”
“Yes. Actually, it’s closer to folklore than historical records. So I take it out whenever I’m on duty. It’s my favorite book.”
“Folklore… Let me see it.”
Angelina didn’t think she would find what she was looking for in that book.
But since ‘witch’ stories were more likely to appear in children’s fairy tales than in artifact-related books, she was grasping at straws.
She quickly flipped through the book the librarian handed her. The paper seemed so old it might crumble, and letters were faded here and there.
That’s when something caught Angelina’s eye.
“Silver Dragon’s wing…?”
It was a story about an artifact.
A tale of two merchants arguing whether a round jewel-like object was a dragon’s heart or egg.
As the librarian said, it was closer to fiction than historical fact. But the mention of dragon wings caught Angelina’s attention.
“Would you like to borrow it?”
The librarian asked, seeing Angelina absorbed in the book as if enchanted, and she nodded.
“Yes.”
“Alright, I’ll record it. Please return it within a month.”
The librarian took out a pen and a lending slip from her chest pocket, quickly wrote the date, and handed it to Angelina.
Angelina tucked it between the pages and moved on.
“And when organizing books, if you can’t use magical tools, at least use a stepladder. You could get seriously hurt.”
“Yes!”
The librarian responded brightly.
Holding the old book, Angelina walked out to the indoor garden and strolled along the stream that flowed in from the outer garden.
Though it was an indoor garden, it was as spacious as the outer garden, and with the glass ceiling, it was sufficiently bright.
She sat on a flower swing hanging from vine-decorated iron bars. Gently swaying back and forth, she opened the book.
“Let’s see what we have here?”
“Young miss, if you’re just going to sit and read even in the garden, there’s no point in coming out for a walk…”
“Oh, is that so?”
At Haley’s comment, Angelina stood up.
“Then I’ll read while walking.”
“What?”
Haley wore a dumbfounded expression, but Angelina began reading while walking slowly.
As the librarian said, it read like a fairy tale, making it easy to enjoy with a light heart.
[‘What is this…?’ the argument began.]
Due to torn pages at the front, the story started from the middle.
The content wasn’t difficult. It was written simply enough for a child to understand.
The argument started because while its surface was rough like ore, its round shape looked exactly like a large egg.
[‘Given the massive amount of holy power emanating from it, it must be an egg containing new life.’]
This was one side’s claim.
[‘Can’t you feel this tremendous magical power? To accumulate this much, it must be a heart that’s thousands of years old!’]
This was the other’s argument.
Their disagreement couldn’t be resolved. Naturally so, as they were both right.
[The merchant brothers embarked on a long journey to discover the truth.]
What followed was the tale of their adventure.
A story of traveling everywhere to find the answer.
If it were a dragon’s heart, there should be places where other parts of the dragon remained, and if it was an egg, it would eventually hatch during their journey – each had their own plan.
However, both ultimately failed.
[What appeared before them was one who claimed to be the owner of the artifact.]
Because the object was taken from them.
[There was no way to defeat him. By his side were a million divine beasts protecting him.]
‘Divine beasts? A million of them?’
This was the part that confirmed the story was entirely fiction.
Divine beasts were things that only existed in novels and imagination.
‘Well, dragons are imaginary too.’
She had held unnecessary expectations because of the winged man she’d seen when smuggling out the Crimson Thorn artifact, but it was really impossible.
[‘What exactly is this object?’]
They asked before the one who recovered the item departed.
[The object shimmered in iridescent colors in his hands.]
The scene was described as having a pleasant energy, like a dog wagging its tail excitedly upon meeting its master after a long time.
The one who commanded a million divine beasts slowly began to speak.
[‘Zeplictus.’]
At the same time, they say enormous silver wings unfurled from his back. The sight was so wondrous and brilliant that the merchant brothers fell to their knees involuntarily.
[‘These are dragon’s wings.’]
After telling them that both brothers’ guesses were wrong.
[With a light as intense as if the sun had descended to earth, the man and his million divine beasts vanished without a trace.]
He disappeared.
The story ended with a sentence stating that this was the last time the artifact was ever seen.
“What is this……”
However, after finishing the story, Angelina reread the last part with deeply shocked eyes.
‘Zeplictus…?’
While the story described it as an incomprehensible word being uttered, it was a term Angelina knew well.
Though the paper had yellowed and the writing was smudged and faded making it difficult to read, no matter how many times she reread it, the name written there was ‘Zeplictus’.
‘Why is this name appearing here?’
