A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 62

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Episode 62】

‘…Lishie rejected me?’

For a moment, my head went blank and my reaction was slow.

It was Nishe who stopped Lishie’s attempt to fall to her death from the second floor. More precisely, it was his ability.

Rumble!

“Ah damn! I wasted my ability for nothing!”

Earth that suddenly shot up from outside the castle filled the space in front of the balcony. The brown clump of dirt looked like both a small hill and a tree trunk.

Because of this, Lishie couldn’t fall and instead crashed into the wall made of earth and tumbled down.

The fall wouldn’t have killed her, but she would have been seriously injured. So I was about to praise him for doing well, but Nishe kept bursting with frustration.

“Right now I don’t even have enough land to make sugar cane!”

“…”

Praise canceled. Who else but a sugar pig would say that.

The ability Nishe possesses is the power to manipulate earth. Originally a divine power dwelling in a god’s body, he can declare territory over a certain range of land and manipulate it as he wishes.

It’s all thanks to that power that barren Belmayer can enjoy a diverse diet without proper diplomacy. I wondered why the number of desserts on the table kept increasing, and there was a mastermind behind it.

I only found out after returning from the Empire and interrogating him about it. With such an ability, I hadn’t noticed it in daily life.

“You should have caught her properly. What were you doing?”

He grumbled a lot, probably because it was painful to allocate his ability, which had limited range and duration, to something like this.

I glanced at Nishe like that.

“…I’m going to eat all the desserts that come up for dinner tonight, including your portion, Nishe.”

“What? Hey!”

I ignored the sound of him immediately getting angry.

Instead, I approached Lishie who was sitting slumped down. Perhaps because she was frustrated that she couldn’t jump down, the child was in a daze.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…Older Sister.”

“Yes. Then will you explain step by step? Let’s sit down somewhere, preferably with some warm milk.”

Looking at her current mental state, I thought I should let her rest, but I was so frustrated that I felt I had to hear something.

Lishie was still shedding tears as she muttered.

“I did wrong… I’m sorry. It’s because of me. Because I’m stupid, I ruined Older Sister’s life.”

“I’d like you to speak so I can understand at least a little.”

“There’s no time. Please kill me, Older Sister. I only know how to jump down. I can’t kill myself like this.”

Her face was pale with guilt and fear as she said this, so I couldn’t shout and scold her harshly, and instead thought with a sigh.

‘…What should I really do.’

Her condition wasn’t very good when I met her in the Empire either, but now after sleeping heavily, instead of getting better, she had gotten even worse.

Did she have a nightmare? I speculated as I crouched down in front of Lishie and took her hands. Then I asked as gently as possible.

“Why is there no time?”

“A demon… is inside me. It keeps calling me. Even now it keeps talking… It’s clinging to me and won’t let go.”

“A demon?”

“A voice… My head hurts so much…”

Lishie groaned and contorted her face.

I calculated magic to numb the pain, but even though it manifested normally, the pain didn’t seem to decrease.

While I was considering other methods, Davuer approached me with his characteristic ghost-like presence and assessed coldly.

“I didn’t know the Countess’s mental state would be this severe.”

“I didn’t know it would be this severe either… But it’s not completely unexpected.”

Recently, whenever I saw Lishie, she always made me feel like I was looking at a clock with misaligned gears.

And the intuition that I needed to dig into this led me to impatience at this moment.

Lishie muttered with her head down.

“Why… did you bring me here? Because of the sanctum? Because you need to purify that man’s magi?”

“…That’s right.”

“Then you shouldn’t have brought me. The sanctum I possess isn’t that kind of power.”

The sentence was unnaturally cut off.

“No, that’s right.”

The child suddenly raised her head the very next moment, and from both hands I was holding, a golden light bright enough to pierce the retina burst forth.

Flash!

“If you stay still like this, I’ll fix you.”

“Ugh!”

The skin touched by the sanctum was hot enough to burn. I reflexively let go of the child’s hands and covered my eyes.

After about a second of short time passed and I readjusted my vision, Lishie was standing upright as if she had never been sitting down, looking down at me.

“Because the sanctum is great.”

“…”

Artificial.

That was the first thought that came to mind.

The current Lishie, the three people who became unresponsive as if time had stopped after the sanctum flashed, and the sudden silence that descended – all of it.

I didn’t think any longer and moved my body.

Before the sanctum could reach Davuer.

Crash!

I tripped Lishie’s legs to knock her down, then climbed on top of her and firmly grasped her wrists. The sanctum still glowing in Lishie’s hands burned my skin, but I didn’t care.

“Who are you?”

This is not Lishie.

The same atmosphere as when she was doing volunteer work. I didn’t think it was another ego or personality.

It was something fundamentally different altogether.

“What are you talking about, Older Sister.”

Something more eerie and ominous.

“Don’t lie.”

In the golden eyes staring at me intently, a woman with black hair hanging down like a ghost was reflected.

And ‘Lishie’s’ emotions toward that woman too.

“Lishie would never look at me like this.”

An emotion so intense it felt suffocating to look at. The deepest and most viscous thing I’d ever encountered in my life… hatred.

“…Ah, so what?”

She smiled brightly.

Pulling up the corners of her mouth, softly folding her eyes, with that expression from the moment the child looked happy.

It was an overly ‘efficient’ smile. As if someone had dissected every facial muscle used when humans smile and perfectly imitated it.

A face I absolutely couldn’t think of as human. A woman made entirely of unease muttered.

“I hate you terribly.”

The tone was too flat for words spoken with a smiling face. And above all.

The voice was as chilling as fingernails scraping a blackboard.

“I hate you so much I can’t bear it.”

“…”

“You’ve ruined all of my story again. Yes… If it’s come to this, it would be better to rewrite it from the beginning.”

Rustle!

Suddenly the sound of pages turning struck my ears.

The sensation of dozens, hundreds, thousands of book pages unfolding from all directions. The smell of paper and ink lingered at the tip of my nose.

“So I invite you. To my…”

The thing wearing Lishie’s mask instantly erased its smile. Then my reflection in its eyes disappeared, and instead a book unfolded within them.

Rustle!

“Apocalyptic Library.”

* * *

How much time had passed.

It felt like eons had passed, yet conversely, it also seemed like an instant comparable to the speed of light.

Like floating above the clouds, yet suffocating as if buried in a trench…

My sense of time and space was completely jumbled and chaotic.

“Shit. What’s this, my head’s ringing like crazy.”

“Ugh, my head… Is it just me?”

When I heard familiar voices, I finally realized I had been keeping my eyes closed all this time. My vision and breathing suddenly cleared wide open.

“…Huh!”

The scene spread before my eyes was pure white and vast.

‘A library…?’

Bookshelves packed densely with books surrounded us on all sides like maze walls, and in the very center was a spiral staircase made of bookshelves.

The ceiling was so high it couldn’t be measured, making it impossible to see the end of the staircase. Books not placed on shelves floated chaotically through the air.

“…Irene! Are you okay?”

While I was observing the space, Ally approached with an unusually stern expression and examined me. Behind her was Nishe, brutishly hitting his own head.

My thoughts moved dizzily.

The sound of pages turning rapidly.

Her words about inviting us to the ‘library.’

‘Everyone who was in the room… were we all moved here?’

But if that were the case, I couldn’t see the two people who had been with us. I asked without knowing who I was addressing.

“…Where’s Davuer? And where is Lishie then.”

It was then that text suddenly appeared floating in the air.

[‘Nishe’ raises his sword and aims it at ‘Irene’s’ throat.]

Handwriting that looked scrawled in golden ink.

As soon as the letters were inscribed, Nishe moved without hesitation and pointed the sword he drew at me, just as the text directed.

Swish

“…!”

Clang!

Just before Nishe’s blade touched my throat, Ally wrapped around me, pulled me behind her, deflected it with her sword, and shouted.

“Nishe! Are you cra—”

As if waiting for this moment, new text appeared.

[‘Alice Mia’ immediately reverses her grip on the sword and slashes ‘Irene’s’ chest.]

Slash!

“…Huh?”

A long horizontal wound was instantly carved from my collarbone to my chest. There was no time to dodge or feel pain.

Blood gushed out.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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