Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 73

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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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#73.

One of the people sorting through my Sister’s belongings frowned as they looked at me.
“How grotesque. A chimera?”
I lowered my posture to show I was a good dog and wagged my tail as I approached them.
“It looks like a dog?”
“Team Leader. It looks like a test dog scheduled for disposal. What should we do?”
The person being questioned scanned my body with fur beginning to grow back, my collar, and the cushion with toys scattered on it.
“It’s the companion dog of someone who saved tens of thousands of lives and made the ultimate sacrifice. I’ll take it with me.”
Sacrifice. I understood the meaning of that word.
It was my reason for existence—to die for the sake of people.
I quickly pressed the communication bell with my front paws.

-Sister
-Where are you going?

The woman who said she would take me noticed my question about where my Sister was and her expression grew sad.
“An intelligent test dog, then.”
The woman bent down and stroked me while explaining.
“Your Sister sealed off the Radioactive Zone and prevented a massive Nuclear Power Plant explosion.”
-Where are you going?
-It hurts

I asked if my Sister was in pain.
That was the saddest thing I knew.

-Sister
-It hurts
-I hate it
-Help me

No matter how many times I pressed the communication bell, the woman did not answer.

-I love you

I didn’t understand the meaning, but I could only watch with pitiful eyes as my Sister—who rarely smiled—pressed down on that word she had spoken to me.
“Let’s go to our home. I’ll take care of you.”
I ended up following her, but my Sister was nowhere to be found.
I knew how dead friends were disposed of.
My Sister was not in the Cemetery.
She was not inside a metal box or small ceramic urn.
‘Radioactive Zone, explosion, Nuclear Power Plant.’
I understood that my Sister was alone there.
So I slipped away in secret and rode in the Accident Investigation Team’s vehicle to where the Nuclear Power Plant was located.
“Recovery of the body will be impossible. The radiation levels are far too high.”
“No matter how high radiation immunity is, this is… I don’t know how she managed to endure and enter. It must have been incredibly painful.”
People in white hazmat suits completely sealed the room marked as the Valve Room where my Sister was.
This can’t be right—if they seal it like this, my Sister can’t get out.
I climbed through the narrow pipes toward the Valve Room.
My body ached with the stench of death seeping into it, and my eyes grew heavy, but I couldn’t leave my Sister alone.
My Sister was the one who gave me a name for the first time, and she was the one who taught me what it meant to live as a Dog rather than an experimental subject.
“Whimper…”
But I couldn’t reach that place.
How did my Sister make it that far? It hurts so much.
‘I should have protected you. I’m sorry.’
Only as a foolish Dog, on the brink of death, did I finally understand the meaning of sacrifice.
It meant that if it could save my Sister, I would accept painful injections, or even go to Heaven in her place, and it would be fine.

When I opened my eyes again, I breathed in the scent of real grass, trees, and flowers—not the artificial nature created by humans.
Children dressed in white garments played together with friends who had departed after receiving Heaven’s injection.
My hideous form had transformed into something beautiful: soft brown fur, plump paws, and ears that fluttered gently in the breeze.
“How adorable, how adorable.”
Those unknowable beings—wearing human appearances but bearing no human scent—told me I was cute.
Heaven was a warm and peaceful place, yet I found no happiness there.
My Sister was not here.
‘…Sister?’
Then, beyond the windswept Hillside, I caught my Sister’s scent.
Following the scent, I ran with all my might and saw a woman.
Though she appeared completely different, I knew without doubt that she was my Sister.
“Woof, woof!”
My Sister did not recognize me, but I eagerly became her guide.
Following my Sister as she held the Young Boy’s hand and turned back, I ran toward the light at the end of the Tunnel.
“Poor child, why do you wish to follow into a world filled with suffering? You will never return to this place again.”
I heard someone’s sorrowful voice, but I felt no fear.
It mattered not whether my Sister went to Hell or a dead City—I would follow.

“Now, Samsik is my only family.”

I recalled my Sister’s smiling face and the scent of her joy.
I did not wish to lose that warm scent forever.
‘Call my name again.’
‘This time, tell me my Sister’s name.’

***

When Samsik first returned to the Outside World, she realized that people could not see her.
Octavia was the same.
No matter how much she barked or pawed at them, they would only look around in confusion.
Only the Young Prince, who possessed the ability to befriend animals, and Kelsedny Admiral could perceive the Dog.

“Do you want to stay here? I can make that happen. Hmm… that’s strange? I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

The Young Prince used his ability to allow Samsik to remain in the Outside World, but strangely, they could not communicate.

“Why do you keep following me?”

Kelsedny Admiral was equally difficult to communicate with.
Since he carried Octavia’s scent all over him, Samsik followed him around without hesitation.

“Only until today. Stop coming to find me after this.”

The Admiral was a taciturn man, but he showed kindness just as my sister had—taking me for walks, playing fetch, and other tender gestures.
Then one day, he carried a completely different scent.
The smell of countless people’s blood, the scent of sorrow, the reek of rage.
He was closer to the Grim Reaper than to any human.

“Did you come to see your sister?”

Though the scent was terrifying enough to freeze my body, his voice and expression were gentler than ever.

“Woof. (Do you know me?)”
“Yeah, you’re Dusik.”

Moreover, he understood my words.

“Woof! (I’m Samsik!)”
“Same difference.”
“Woof woof! (Help me so my sister can see me!)”
“I’ll help you with that. However, I cannot tell you who you are. Right now, you are a chaotic existence.”

With the Admiral’s help—kindness wrapped in an icy chill—the puppy became fully manifested and could meet my sister again.
Of course, Octavia did not recognize me, but I could understand.
The self she knew was a pathetic little dog.
If I could simply be with her like this, that was enough.

Lost in reminiscence, I gazed at Kelsedny Admiral, who was staring intently at Octavia.
He was no longer the Admiral I knew—he was the other entity that sustained my physical form.
He lifted his head and smiled faintly.
“You just want to be together, don’t you?”
He continued with that same smile on his face.
“It’s easy for others, but why was it so difficult for us?”

***

The blackened, withered trees and grass reclaimed the colors of the seasons.
The birds that had fallen resumed their flight around the mountainside, and squirrels scampered up the trunks.
The people who had collapsed stirred and regained consciousness.
“Huh? What happened? Where are we?”
“We were just passing through the Tunnel…”
At that moment, as everyone stood bewildered, a high-ranking ability user capable of detecting mana widened their eyes and stared at Logan.
“The Duke’s position-reversal ability saved us!”
“No. Some mysterious ability user helped us.”
Logan shook his head, recalling Octavia’s warning never to speak of what she did.
I didn’t know the exact structure of how she activated the Alchemy Circle, but it seemed she would be in trouble if her abilities were exposed.
For reasons I couldn’t fathom, she seemed intent on remaining a powerless villainess, so I had no choice but to cooperate.

Meanwhile, Chloe stood in a daze, now realizing that Octavia’s words about preventing catastrophe were true.
The entity within Octavia had truly accomplished it.
Was Mother’s words merely a lie to give me hope?
I had believed I could reach adulthood.
The hope that sustained me through those arduous years was made real by forbidden technology after all.
I have lived dreaming with my eyes wide open.
Now it was time to return to my place, masked in resignation disguised as acceptance.
But why does she appear with the face of a Savior only to give me despair?
Why is she a demon only to me?
Lost in thought, Chloe realized one crucial fact.
As if reading her mind, it was Octavia who had thwarted all her plans.
The attempt to win the Princess’s favor using Mother’s belongings, the chance to save Prince Jeriel—she had seized them all.
If I had built influence gradually from the start rather than aiming for the position of Queen Consort…
Had that sinister existence stolen my opportunities?
Was this catastrophe also her blocking my path under the guise of salvation?
Why? If I am nothing, there would be no reason for her to do this.
As she rubbed her cold fingertips, she suddenly felt a chill and looked up.
Strange winds rustled the branches, and the ground trembled faintly.
Kurrrrr—
The shape of the Gate summoning circle twisted and transformed.

⊕

Her eyes widened at the sight of the circular shape with crosshairs drawn through it.

“Mother, what does this shape mean?”
“This is the star of the dead, child.”

My Mother had once told me.

“It is a Gate that imprisons life in a dimension long since destroyed by Chaos, inflicting the trials of death upon them. It manifests through disordered entities as its medium.”

One tier below the Gate that had nearly been summoned initially, yet still a lethal territorial erosion Gate.
In the next instant, a thunderous crack split the air as four sections divided in a cross pattern tore open.
“Damn it, another one of these beasts.”
Logan, who understood territorial erosion Gates just as Chloe did, muttered a curse under his breath.
Since the life equivalent exchange had failed, were they now attempting to annihilate every human here to summon a supreme-tier Gate?
“Is it possible we cannot escape from here?”
At Ewain’s question, Logan nodded grimly.
“Either we endure the randomly appearing disasters and destroy that thing, or no one leaves until every human in this territory is dead.”
A cascade of variables—a calamity itself.

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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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