This Three-Year-Old Is A Villainess - Chapter 233
Anatoli pointed her finger at Erylotte and shouted.
“I tried to help you for General Daymond’s sake! And yet, how could you do something like this…!”
Anatoli gently placed her hand on Erylotte’s shoulder, as if trying to enlighten her.
“Apologize. If you beg for forgiveness, perhaps I can still help you somehow.”
“Pardon?”
Erylotte widened her eyes.
“How could you summon monsters even at the Festival of Abundance!”
Anatoli’s eyes brimmed with tears.
At this, the crowd began to murmur loudly.
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
Even the nobles of Astra Estate started whispering with bewildered expressions.
“Could it really be that Erylotte Astra summoned those monsters?”
“Come to think of it, isn’t Erylotte Astra’s blessing <Monster Taming>?”
As the altar grew chaotic with the noise, Erylotte’s expression turned icy.
“I didn’t do anything of the sort.”
“If not you, then who else could have done this? Do you think it’s possible for monsters to appear here without your blessing? Oh, how could you…!”
Anatoli staggered as if she were about to collapse.
The murmuring grew even louder.
At that moment, members of the Astra family arrived at the scene.
Erylotte frowned and spoke firmly.
“Former Princess, I truly didn’t do anything like that.”
“Stop lying!”
“Without investigating the situation, you’re trying to frame me. Shouldn’t I be the one demanding an apology instead?”
“What did you say?”
Anatoli scowled at Erylotte’s bold response.
‘This insolent girl…!’
Anatoli glared at Erylotte.
“If not you, then who else would do such a thing?”
“Well, wouldn’t Your Highness know better than anyone?”
“What did you say?”
Forgetting her original goal, Anatoli screamed furiously.
“It’s you! You summoned those monsters!”
“I truly didn’t summon any monsters. It’s absurd that you’re accusing me so suddenly.”
Erylotte tilted her head slightly and continued.
“Could it be that you’re targeting me because of Dad?”
Anatoli opened her mouth but couldn’t form a proper response.
Caught off guard, she was flustered and at a loss.
People are most vulnerable at times like these.
Erylotte blinked her eyes innocently and asked.
“Would you swear on it?”
“If it wasn’t you, I’ll give up my status as a member of the imperial family!”
At that moment, Erylotte’s eyes sparkled.
“Are you certain? Certain enough to stake something on it?”
“Yes, on the honor of the imperial family!”
As Anatoli shouted at the top of her lungs, a wide smile spread across Erylotte’s face.
She pulled back her sleeve, revealing a ruby bracelet on her wrist.
‘That bracelet…?’
It was a familiar design, one that many recognized instantly.
Erylotte walked gracefully to her grandfather’s side and stood next to him.
“Grandfather promised to let me go to the capital to clear my name. He trusts me. And to travel to the capital as a suspect, wouldn’t this be necessary?”
The people staring at the bracelet suddenly realized what it was and shouted.
“A Restriction Artifact!”
“It’s a Restriction Artifact!”
A magical tool that restrains blessings.
Without it, a person would be incapable of using their blessing.
It also meant she wouldn’t be able to summon monsters.
‘It’s a fake, of course.’
After wearing the Restriction Artifact for just a day, it nearly killed her, so she had it replaced with a fake.
‘But Grandfather made sure to falsify the records perfectly.’
This was the first time Erylotte had been truly stubborn with her grandfather.
“I’ll wear the Restriction Artifact.”
“That’s unacceptable.”
“But without it, there’s no way to prove my innocence in future incidents.”
“What do you mean?”
“This was all a scheme by Former Princess Anatoli. She must have done it to claim Dad for herself.”
“……”
“But she won’t achieve her goal. I won’t stand by and let it happen. And when her first scheme fails, she’ll try another one.”
“……”
“The second attempt will be easier. After all, the first scheme worked, even if just for a moment, and she got a taste of the sweet rewards.”
“…You’re right. I was thinking the same thing. But did you truly come to this conclusion on your own?”
“Huh? Oh, no! That is to say… Dad! Dad told me about it.”
“Looks like that punk Daymond knows how to use his head…”
However, Duke Astra did not permit his granddaughter to wear the Restriction Artifact.
“A Restriction Artifact isn’t something a child should wear. It forcibly distorts the body’s flow to suppress the generation of mana.”
“But…”
“It would be dangerous for a frail child to wear it, wouldn’t it? That’s why your father went to such lengths to stop it.”
“……”
“However, I can have it falsified to appear as if you’re wearing one.”
Viscount Debussy and Conrad, renowned masters of information manipulation, went to great lengths to fabricate the evidence.
Even Michelan, who had previously outmaneuvered the Empress Dowager, helped ensure not a single discrepancy could be uncovered.
There wasn’t the slightest chance of finding anything suspicious.
Anatoli’s face turned deathly pale, and she collapsed to her knees.
“Th-this can’t be. Then, how was she able to fly on that Steel Crow?”
“My blessing is limited to ‘taming’. Once an animal has already been tamed, I can control it freely without using any blessing.”
As Erylotte said this, a few of the bloodline members gasped aloud.
“Ah! Come to think of it, Erylotte interacted with monsters even on the night of the Red Moon!”
That foolish comment came from Geoffrey.
Despite always trailing after Erylotte to try to find faults, he proved useful at times like this.
Erylotte stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply as she approached Anatoli.
Then, leaning close, she whispered.
“Did you think you were buying information about me from a maid?”
“What?”
“Do you even know the maid’s name?”
“W-What are you talking about…?”
“Her name is Hilda. She’s one of my most loyal maids.”
Anatoli’s face twisted in disbelief, and she shouted,
“N-No, no…! That can’t be true! That’s impossible…!”
Erylotte smiled sweetly.
But in that very moment—
BEEEEEEP─!
A piercing ring resounded in her ears.
Erylotte covered her ears as her vision blurred and her heart pounded violently.
‘What?’
FLASH─!
The sky lit up, and the Steel Crow above was surrounded by a radiant light.
Thud, thud, thud!!
Something fell with a series of heavy thuds as the light faded.
Only then did Erylotte’s vision refocus.
And what appeared before her eyes was…
