Bloodline is a Cheat Code - Chapter 36

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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 36
When did I start thinking like this?
Ha, I was going to suggest that since I’ve already started hiding things, I might as well hide them more thoroughly—but this is going in the complete opposite direction.
“I might make irrational judgments and poor decisions. It’s your job to advise me when that happens.”
Besides, I’m only seventeen. I don’t know anything yet.
If I hadn’t suddenly learned this enormous secret that The Empire could collapse, I would have just lived peacefully day by day.
Only knowing Serpina Rosena’s and Minabell’s secrets, thinking the world is strange—that’s all I would have done.
But I can’t undo what’s already happened.
Elian turned her head sharply, as if wondering if I’d seen something odd.
“There’s nothing, Miss.”
“Just a premonition. That Serpina Rosena will burst through that door soon.”
“Ah… How did you know that?”
Elian gazed at me intently.
“My spine went cold, and I felt like someone was watching me from somewhere. Does that help explain it?”
I can see she wants to ask, ‘Isn’t that usually not supposed to happen…?’ But I’ll hold back for her.
It’s been quite some time since I started accepting this eerie feeling as a form of love from Serpina Rosena and embracing it humbly. I never thought others would understand it anyway.
“But now I understand that the Young Countess—or rather, the Elder Miss—is a good person.”
“Hmm?”
“After the Ball ended that day, she came to find me separately and cast a healing spell on me, then cast a calming spell as well, saying the child must have been startled.”
I didn’t know that.
“She already knew the circumstances surrounding the child, but she promised she would never commit such a petty act of using an innocent life in this conflict.”
Elian smiled shyly, saying she now understood a little why I trusted Serpina Rosena so much.
Who wouldn’t feel good hearing their sister praised? I found myself smiling along, when I heard a knock.
“Tiae, can I come in for a moment? It’s me.”
Serpina Rosena had arrived. See? My instincts never fail.
Elian looked momentarily shocked, as if she couldn’t believe the person who had just praised Serpina Rosena was the same one now.
“Yeah, come in.”
Serpina Rosena entered without making a sound. She probably wanted to know what had happened at the Prince’s Palace.
“I heard you took a list of imperial consort candidates with you. Tiae, you’re not actually trying to arrange the prince’s marriage, are you?”
“Huh?”
Oh, right. That was the pretext I used when I went there.
So much had happened that I’d almost forgotten what excuse I’d originally given for going there.
Before I could even ask if Serpina Rosena already knew about this, her expression turned cold.
She seized my hand firmly and spoke in a serious voice.
“You’re not actually thinking of doing something like that, are you? I naturally assumed you went there with some flimsy pretext to ask about the necklace, but now the entire Empire is talking about nothing but imperial consort candidates.”
“Of course not. Serpina Rosena, why do you look like that?”
Even if Lucian Advein had taken that pretext seriously, there would be nothing wrong with him marrying someone Rosena had personally arranged.
Serpina Rosena looked angry about something.
“Why do I look like what?”
“Like you’re angry. Oh, of course I did bring up the imperial consort candidate topic before asking about the necklace. But I was rejected outright.”
“Regardless of what others might do, the Prince should refuse such a proposal from you. Don’t you remember what Minabell said?”
“What did Minabell say?”
If that girl had said only one or two things, I would have recalled it immediately.
Serpina Rosena replayed that day’s memory with an expression suggesting she found it irritating to even speak the sentence herself.
‘His Highness doesn’t seem to have taken a fancy to your face either, does he?’
I had completely forgotten about it.
That moment when I had rushed in without any plan whatsoever to find Lucian Advein suddenly came vividly back to mind.
“Back then, you said it couldn’t possibly be that way, so what nonsense is this!”
“I meant it was wrong for the Prince to dare make you his Princess Consort. Not that he couldn’t take a fancy to you! And then a Princess Consort? You? Who in this world could possibly have eyes for anyone but you?”
Watching her expression remain unchanged, I suddenly understood the sincerity behind my sister’s words and felt the urge to flee somewhere.
“Please, it’s not like that, so stop.”
In the end, I screamed at her to stop, my face burning crimson.
Elian laughed hollowly and began tidying up the room that had been left in disarray from Serpina Rosena’s intrusion, as if hearing nothing at all.
Despite my own discomfort, it was a peaceful everyday moment.
* * *
It took quite some time after that for me to clear up the misunderstanding caused by Serpina Rosena’s excessive excitement.
The problem was that she disapproved of the fact that I had actually selected candidates for the Prince’s Consort and brought them along. But documents could be stolen, so I couldn’t simply do nothing.
In the end, I couldn’t even explain the proper details before dinner time arrived.
“Flotie, I thought I heard screaming coming from your room.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Mother gave me a worried look during our family dinner.
Apparently, she had heard what seemed to be my voice screaming and was startled while reading with Father. Father nodded, confirming he had heard it too.
“So I tried to rush over immediately to see what was wrong, but Jasmia stopped me.”
Our mother, Jasmia, has a tender heart and startles easily at the slightest sound.
Especially regarding my frequent ailments, she tends to be quite sensitive, yet she had stopped Father.
“Well, if something had happened to you, Serpina would have rushed over before us. But I didn’t hear her hurrying over at all.”
Mother spoke in an utterly calm tone.
The only person who calls my sister, whom everyone else calls Pina, by the affectionate nickname Serpina, continued eating without any change in expression, though I noticed her ears had turned slightly red.
Was she embarrassed?
“Sister really does take such good care of me.”
On a whim, I let slip a comment, and her ears turned even redder. So she was indeed embarrassed.
Looking at it this way, my sister really does have many endearing qualities. It bothers me anew that the novel simply portrayed such a lovely person as a villainess.
She was the heroine from the start, yet they called her a villainess. Then who on earth was written as the good character?
I’m curious to see what that person looks like.
“Being able to share a meal like this with Serpina and Tiae is the most precious happiness in the world to me. I’m grateful that you all make time for this moment despite being so busy.”
Mother smiled anew with what seemed like genuine emotion.
In my previous life, there likely would have been almost no such moments, or none at all. Serpina Rosena’s true parentage would never have been revealed.
And my parents would have had their heads severed without ever knowing the truth, I would not have lived long before dying, and Rosena would have been recorded in history as a traitor.
Serpina Rosena had apparently removed whoever had cast the dark magic to prevent such things from happening in the first place and started everything anew.
“Tiae, what are you thinking about so intently?”
“It’s because I saw Mother smile. I felt I absolutely must protect this moment.”
I had answered with what I believed was firm resolve, but it seemed my parents merely found it an amusing display from their daughter.
Both of them couldn’t suppress their laughter, their shoulders shaking as they laughed for quite some time.
Had I really said something so funny? For some reason, I felt a little pout forming.
They had no idea that a seventeen-year-old daughter and a nineteen-year-old daughter on her second life were desperately working to prevent the Empire’s collapse.
So I finally have something I must hide.
“Of course, your father gave the title of minor duke to Cerie and transferred much of his authority to Tiae, but if you ever face difficulties, you must tell me anytime. Understood?”
“Yes, and I’m still a duke. A minor duke can hardly offer direct remonstrance to the Imperial Household, can he?”
If I’m being honest, I’m doing something far worse than that.
“Father, would you be able to have an audience with His Majesty the Emperor?”
Serpina Rosena suddenly looked up as though the thought had just occurred to her, gazing at Father.
At first she had called him “Your Grace the Duke” with formality, but now she called him Father. Her world had grown a little wider.
‘Protecting you alone is enough.’
The dark expression that had once been so resolute seemed to brighten gradually. Lately, when she speaks, I notice her words subtly shift—she now speaks of protecting “family.”
Yes, when the world changes, people must change too. How could anyone move forward with only a single goal?

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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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