This Three-Year-Old Is A Villainess - Chapter 104
As we talked and walked, we quickly arrived at the new wing.
The doors to our rooms were colored differently.
Balzac’s door was red, Joshua’s was blue, and mine was black.
“Kiddo, if you’re scared to sleep alone, you can come to my room─”
I darted into my room like a shooting star.
“……”
“Idiot.”
I thought I heard Joshua’s voice behind me.
Soon, the sound of them opening their assigned room doors followed.
Entering my room, I exclaimed,
“Wow….”
Furniture aged well with time in dignified colors.
Wallpaper in an antique pattern.
A chandelier that looked like gold skewers haphazardly clumped together.
‘Just like the description in the novel.’
This was the room where Erylotte from <Grandvill> stayed.
The reason why Erylotte, who was powerless, desperately tried to maintain her 4th place.
Wandering around the room, I discovered a terrace.
‘Wow, there─!’
I had read about this in the novel too.
I opened the door and stepped onto the terrace.
Only from this room, the shadow of the crescent moon was floating on the lake.
‘It really feels like drinking the moon’s tea.’
Was this the one gift the world gave to her, abandoned by the gods?
I felt a strange emotion.
A mix of heartache and fondness…
After gazing at the moon’s tea for a while, I inhaled sharply.
‘This isn’t the time.’
Another reason why Erylotte fought not to lose this room.
I must find it.
I rushed to the dressing room.
‘Hmm, it should be the third from the left…’
I hurriedly walked to the third shelf from the left.
Upon opening the door and groping around the floor, my fingertips caught on something.
Pressing it, the back wall of the wardrobe slid open with a rattle.
‘It’s here, it really is!’
Worried someone might discover it, I carefully closed the wardrobe door and entered the hidden space.
This shrine used by the third generation was converted from the previous Duke’s ‘experimentation chamber.’
The previous Duke was obsessed with blessings.
He created this massive laboratory and conducted all sorts of horrific experiments.
As soon as Grandfather became Duke, he immediately demolished this dreadful laboratory.
‘I wonder if Grandfather also…’
The thought made my spine tingle, so I shook my head vigorously.
The distinctive musty smell of the basement filled the air. I cautiously descended the dusty stairs of the laboratory.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I groped along a wall that was too dark to see anything.
Touching something, the basement lit up, revealing its contents.
“Amashing─!”
(T/N: Erylotte says ‘Daebak—!’ here, so cuuute)
I covered my mouth with both hands.
This basement was the material storage for the experimental chamber.
It was filled with all sorts of ancient artifacts and solidified blessing stones.
I grasped my cheeks in awe, silently screaming in delight.
‘Victory!’
The blessing stone of <Barrier>.
The blessing stone of <Beastification>.
The blessing stone of <Rapid Plant Growth>.
The variety was incredibly vast.
‘If he intended to collect all these…’
Blessing stones are produced when a person dies.
It’s possible to extract blessings from a living person, but that also requires the blessing of <Crystallization>.
Even if one went through the trouble of extracting a blessing stone, it couldn’t be used indefinitely.
There’s a limited number of uses, and unlike a cellphone, there’s no battery level to indicate when it will run out – it just becomes unusable at some point.
I went through the blessing stones, checking their color.
‘Green, a green diamond shape… found it!’
I rubbed the palm-sized blessing stone against my cheek.
‘Ah, such a precious blessing stone was suffering in such a dingy place.’
Now, I’ll put it to good use.
As I was about to stand up, something clattered against my foot.
‘A goblet?’
The gilding was mostly peeled off, leaving it in a terrible state.
Touching it felt like it might rust my hand as well.
‘Was this also in the basement storage?’
I tilted my head in wonder.
‘Well, it’s possible.’
Not everything here was described in the novel.
With the green blessing stone in hand, I cheerfully left the basement storage.
* * *
At night, I secretly called Han Jihyuk.
Before leaving for the dominion, we had made one promise.
“So you’re saying, if the owl statue on the first floor’s cabinet is halfway turned, I should come to your room?”
“Yeah!”
Jihyuk entered the room.
His eyes were half-closed, looking utterly exhausted.
“Wewe you powishing awmow again?” (Were you polishing armor again?)
Jihyuk shook his head vigorously.
“No. But this place is even worse than that.”
“Why?”
“The employees don’t talk at all. Then, if someone makes a mistake, they just stare. But you think they’ll let it slide? No! It all gets reported to the butler, and they dock your pay!”
Jihyuk was already distressed over losing 20 silvers.
The Duke’s castle was notoriously terrifying.
If someone spotted another’s mistake and reported it to the butler, they would get an incentive for it.
Half of the deducted amount from the mistake-maker went to the reporter.
Thus, everyone was on high alert, doing their jobs while also watching for others’ mistakes.
Some even deliberately set others up to fail.
“You’we not akshuwy pwanning to wise up in wangs hewe, awe you?” (You’re not actually planning to rise up in ranks here, are you?)
“I mean, no I’m not, but still! 20 silvers!”
“You’we seffewa miwwion gowd wich thouw.” (You’re several million gold rich though.)
“Ah… right. I forgot I became wealthy preparing for exile after living so frugally.”
“…”
Maybe it’s still a good idea to switch my right-hand man now.
