A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 151
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 151
* * *
Let me rewind time a bit to the day of the Hunting Competition that year.
The Spirit had awakened after 1,200 years of slumber and witnessed their descendants. Perhaps that’s why memories of the time when I first fell asleep in this pond came flooding back.
【Eli, Ed! Why won’t you two kiss? You clearly like each other!】
“Well… we’re not even dating…”
【Then just start dating and kiss.】
“That’s… well…”
Back then, I was so furious that Eli and Ed wouldn’t kiss. They seemed to understand each other, yet they hesitated and fumbled in front of me. It made no sense that Ed wouldn’t live past fifty years anyway, and Eli refused to accept him, claiming she had only about a year left to live. I couldn’t understand it.
So I threw a tantrum and cried out before falling asleep.
【I won’t wake up until you two start dating! Hmph!】
But when I awoke because of their descendants, I felt oddly lonely.
Eli and Ed never ended up together. According to their descendant, humans might not want to kiss in front of others, no matter how much they love each other—though perhaps they kissed in secret.
【…It’s still sad that Eli and Ed died. I shouldn’t have sulked about the kiss and fallen asleep. I should have just spent that one year with them.】
But now, looking back, I realized that perhaps it was I, the Spirit, who hid away out of fear.
I had grown too attached to Eli and Ed, who wouldn’t live long by my standards, and I was terrified of watching them die. I was so lonely at the thought of being left alone.
But since I would be alone anyway, I regretted not staying to witness even their deaths before sleeping. So as I returned to the pond, I pretended to speak to their descendants.
【Life is shorter than you think, descendants of Eli and Ed.】
Tears were threatening to spill.
【Live without any regrets. Don’t leave behind any regrets about missing chances to love. So I hope Ed and Eli kissed in secret, just for me.】
I spoke dejectedly and lay down in the deep waters. Their descendants didn’t even look back and left. Their footsteps grew distant rapidly.
【What. They’re leaving so quickly.】
I wagged my tail dejectedly and muttered to myself.
【But this is right… Getting attached to humans only brings loneliness.】
With nothing else to do, I decided to sleep again and curled up my body.
【I’ve already given them all the information they need anyway. I’ve done all I can for Eli and Ed’s descendant.】
In the quiet pond, I closed my eyes and released all tension from my body.
【Besides, they’re not even Ed and Eli… I won’t respond even if called again from now on.】
Just as I was drifting off to sleep, a voice suddenly came from above the water.
“Excuse me.”
This time it was a woman’s voice. That small woman with pink hair who had a scent similar to Eli.
What? They came back?
“Could we meet again for a moment?”
So they did feel unsatisfied about leaving so quickly. Well, having summoned a Spirit for the first time in 1,200 years, they probably didn’t want to let me go so easily.
Without even opening my eyes, I lay down irritably. As I had resolved just moments ago, I absolutely would not respond to anything they said now. After all, if I just closed my ears and fell asleep, they would leave on their own…
I remained silent, my head buried, giving no response.
Then, after a brief moment passed.
“Hmm…”
This time it was a man’s voice. The man whispered to the woman, “Let me try,” and then asked very politely and gently toward the deep pond.
“Would you like to see us kiss?”
【Huh!】
The Spirit’s eyes snapped open wide, and it swam upward with all its might, thrashing its tail frantically.
* * *
Seventeen years ago, in Arun.
“Ahahahahaha! I’m leaving, Hyde!”
Young Hyde rushed toward the stone slab, crying out “Kiki! No!” As he dug a tunnel and disappeared, Roki, who had secured the scroll, laughed with delight.
“How delightful it is that the heir of the revered Prelai dies living among the Tribesmen!”
The final heart fragment containing Roki’s soul gazed upon that spectacle with satisfaction, watching it again and again. With Otson’s desire and Roki’s soul combined, it had somehow acquired what could be called consciousness.
The only regret was that Roki’s already sickly body died so quickly. And finding a new host body so full of inferiority and desire was impossible in the land of Arun. The Tribesmen were too busy surviving day to day to harbor such desires.
‘Someone mad with desire, willing to sell even their own soul, should come to Arun….’
Without a body, it was difficult to intervene in reality anyway. So the heart fragment remained in Arun, dwelling only in the happiest moments of the past. Thus, Roki’s soul—the heart fragment—spent its time.
Then one day.
‘Wait.’
A faint resonance came from the translucent heart fragment remaining in reality.
‘This is….’
Whether the heart fragment had moved or another vile human had come to Arun, in any case, there was a human nearby suitable to become a host.
‘Let’s go.’
Roki’s soul, now thoroughly consumed by dark magic, ended its long wait and responded to that desire.
‘I’ll seize that body and be reborn as the dark sorcerer of old.’
Roki’s soul, Otson’s power, and the new body to serve as its host—the heart fragment leaped across time and rushed urgently to the present.
* * *
I blinked as I watched the Spirit rush out at Edmund’s single word. No, this Spirit really….
【Wow.】
Even Piyak managed to speak a word.
【This Spirit is really strange.】
And the Spirit, upon seeing us, furrowed its brow.
【What, you guys came from a different time period?】
Just as Elika Prelai had said, the Spirit could indeed recognize people who had come from different time periods.
“Yes, we’ve come from the future. And just like 1,200 years ago, we need your help.”
I smiled, meeting the Spirit’s gaze.
“Can you help us completely destroy Otson’s final heart fragment?”
【Huh?】
An expression of annoyance already appeared on the Spirit’s face. Then, without answering, it yawned and said something else.
【But aren’t you going to kiss me?】
…Right, that was why it had come up in the first place. Thinking that if I didn’t do it, it would keep pestering me about kissing, I decided I should just do it quickly and then negotiate again.
Edmund asked with a leisurely smile.
“Is it perhaps difficult for you to move like you did back then now?”
【How could that be difficult. But you see,】
The Spirit bristled, its pride wounded, and answered, then added while lashing the water with its tail.
【That heart fragment can’t be destroyed unless you directly suffer from dark magic. Only a victim can shatter it.】
“That means it won’t be difficult. Thank you.”
From my perspective, the Spirit seemed to have expressed a clear refusal, but Edmund smiled with the cunning of a seasoned schemer.
“Then, if you would just grant me that small, not-so-difficult favor….”
He spoke to the Spirit in a tempting manner.
“I will truly show you a kiss.”
【Huh? Not now? I thought you were showing me now, which is why I came up?】
“Of course I can. We are lovers, after all.”
Edmund pulled me close by the shoulders as if to prove it. Yet he continued speaking while letting out an artificial sigh.
“However, right now my concern over that heart fragment weighs too heavily, so even if we tried, we wouldn’t be able to focus on each other, and the intensity wouldn’t be very high.”
And at the word “intensity,” the Spirit snorted.
【So what do I need to do?】
The situation was so absurd that I whispered to Piyak.
“It seems Edmund is one step ahead of me when it comes to handling the Spirit.”
And Piyak whispered back.
【It’s not just the Spirit—Edmund is a hundred steps ahead of Kiana when it comes to handling people in general.】
Before long, the Spirit was nestled in Edmund’s arms, shouting “Let’s go!” Yet Edmund himself looked displeased, apparently repulsed by the fishy smell emanating from the Spirit’s slick body.
【Let’s go! Wherever, whenever!】
The Spirit cried out excitedly, and after exchanging a knowing smile with Edmund, I spoke.
“Then, Spirit, we shall venture into the future for a moment.”
Piyak also puffed out his cheeks fully and fluttered his wings to transport me, the Spirit, and Edmund together.
“We’ve set a trap to lure the final heart fragment that is currently wandering through the past in Arun.”
And at the same time, my vision turned white. Piyak was beginning to transport us back to the present.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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