I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 144

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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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The figure of a woman with her hands clasped together in prayer.

Countless people surrounded her.

“It’s too late to eliminate the heretic’s vessel. Past failures have already firmly bound our ankles.”

Paul nodded his head.

The Order had already attempted to eliminate Seleneae Tigris once before.

But they had failed.

‘If I had known that woman was the heretic’s vessel, I would have removed her by any means necessary back then…’

They didn’t know at the time. So now it was too late.

Pector lightly flicked his hand that had been held in the air and spoke.

“Now there’s only one method left.”

The shape of the mist floating in the air changed.

The magnificent exterior of the Imperial Palace.

Fireworks burst in the sky, and hundreds of people were gathered in front of the palace.

“I’ll have to meet with the Empress soon.”

Pector smiled wickedly.

At the same time, the vision of the Imperial Palace floating in the air scattered like sand.

And the emblem of the Fratrer Church appeared in the center.

“Perhaps we’ve been buttoning wrong from the very first button. We shouldn’t have begged the Emperor to make the Fratrer Church the state religion from the beginning.”

Pector’s expression was relaxed.

As he clenched his fist, the black mist gathered into his hand and disappeared.

His distorted face drew a sinister smile.

“Now it’s time to change our course.”

“…”

“How about we turn the Erbia Empire into a theocratic state entirely? Then naturally the Order would be able to seize power, wouldn’t it?”

Paul’s eyes widened.

He stiffened rigidly before suddenly coming to his senses. Then he opened his mouth in a rambling manner.

“B-but, Your Holiness. The Order’s power is not what it used to be. And with Emperor Simon still alive, how could we…”

Pector looked at Paul with a hearty laugh and replied nonchalantly.

“Then we’ll have to do it like we did back then.”

Paul slowly closed his mouth. Pector leaned back against his chair and muttered.

“Don’t worry too much. Grace Belmart will do well this time too. Do you know the only reason I don’t regret putting that woman on the Empress’s throne?”

Paul shook his head with a confused expression.

“Grace is a woman with tremendous ambition, just like her father. She’ll do anything to achieve her goals.”

“…”

“Besides, now she even has a precious child she wouldn’t mind putting in her eyes. I guarantee this time, she’ll do it much faster and cleaner than ten years ago.”

Pector’s low laughter echoed through the dark library.

“…It’s over.”

I entered my room and flopped down on the bed without even taking off my thick cloak.

The certification ceremony had been completed perfectly. I had just seen off Father and Walter and was on my way back.

The farewell was the same as usual, but I could instinctively tell.

The atmosphere was subtly different from before.

A sigh escaped me.

“…Well.”

It would have been strange if Father had acted like nothing happened.

‘He must have noticed.’

I had subtly led people to believe that Anita’s revelation was something she had imagined.

Fortunately, many of the prospective students had been affected by Dearmant’s hallucinations.

Thanks to that, everyone seemed to believe my words.

But Father, Duke Tigris, was different.

‘He knows I’m hiding something, but he’s deliberately not asking about it.’

Perhaps he’s observing how much of what I said was true and how much was false.

I glared at the ceiling before sitting up. My head was complicated.

“…I should tell him the truth.”

The new information I had learned about Fluma and the holy relic was something I would have to reveal sooner or later anyway.

Also the fact that the abilities I had been using weren’t powers I had manifested myself, but borrowed from Adam and Amon.

I fidgeted with my fingernails for no reason.

“But my identity is…”

The heart was truly amusing.

When I was kidnapped by Dearmant and thought I was going to die helplessly, I had planned to run away from the manor first thing if I somehow managed to return alive.

However.

‘Things went much better than I thought.’

The things I had worried and been concerned about didn’t happen.

Instead, through Dearmant, I had obtained another clue to keep the temple in check, and I had even managed to clean up the mess Anita had caused.

I bit my lip and let out a short sigh while shaking my head.

After keeping my nerves on edge for days, my head felt foggy. I felt like I could collapse at any moment.

I resolved to rest a little first and was about to close my eyes for a moment when,

Knock knock—

I heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

I opened my eyes wide again and looked toward the door.

“Selene. Are you inside? It’s me, Estelin.”

“We know you’re in there, so open the door.”

It was Estelin and Rosette.

In awkward silence, we sat facing each other with the table between us.

Since there were only two chairs, only Estelin and I sat down.

Rosette firmly refused my suggestion to sit on the bed and stood with her arms crossed.

Estelin was the first to speak.

“Selene. About that holy relic…”

I looked up at the expected word.

“By any chance, is there something you want to tell us about that object…”

“What exactly is that holy relic?”

Before Estelin could finish speaking, Rosette interrupted.

She uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on the table, then stared at me with infinitely serious eyes.

“All the abilities you’ve shown so far, you used the holy relic for all of them, right?”

My mouth closed.

I had been expecting for days that Estelin and Rosette had noticed the truth.

‘It wouldn’t make sense for the girls who noticed that Anita stole my holy relic to not know about the relic’s effects.’

But I didn’t expect them to come ask so directly.

I was dazed for a moment before I paused, realizing something inside.

Come to think of it…

‘Did they wait until now even though they knew everything?’

Rosette and Estelin might have been waiting for me to speak up first.

Since the three of us had plenty of opportunities to talk until now.

As if noticing my feelings, Estelin said.

“Um, Rosette. Selene might not want to talk about it…”

“If she doesn’t want to talk about it, well. How long are we supposed to pretend we don’t know?”

Rosette looked straight at me.

“I realized clearly this time. Selene, you’re someone we can’t leave alone to do things by yourself.”

Estelin looked flustered and closed her mouth.

“Seleneae Tigris. You almost died! Do you realize that?!”

Estelin looked back and forth between us restlessly.

I remained silent and met Rosette’s gaze.

“How long were you planning to hide it? You can’t do anything without a relic, so what made you think you could be so reckless?!”

Her voice grew louder and louder.

Estelin, who had turned pale, grabbed Rosette’s arm as if trying to calm her down. But Rosette didn’t stop.

“You acted so high and mighty, but do you need something really bad to happen before you come to your senses?! If you were planning to hide everything from us, why did you even join our group!”

An awkward silence followed beyond her heavy breathing.

I remained frozen, biting my lips. I had nothing else I could say.

There wasn’t a single thing wrong with what Rosette said.

I had been deceiving Estelin and Rosette all this time. I had been desperate to hide and conceal everything.

It was only natural for Rosette to be this angry.

Still…

I finally managed to open my mouth after a long while.

“…What you’re thinking, it wasn’t exactly… like that.”

Rosette held her breath. Estelin turned her head to look at me.

“I was going to tell you. It’s not like I enjoyed hiding and concealing things…”

A very small voice flowed out. It felt like my throat was completely blocked.

I could feel both of their gazes completely. I clenched my fists and lowered my head.

‘No, why do I keep tearing up…’

It was strange.

I had been more anxious than anyone about being caught for having fake abilities.

But seeing these two people’s reactions right now made me think differently.

“I just…”

I was quick to pick up on these kinds of things.

I had already seen countless people who hated me.

So reading those kinds of expressions and looks in their eyes shouldn’t be difficult.

Besides, Rosette and Estelin were people I knew very well.

Perhaps that’s why I could see it even more clearly.

What kind of emotions were contained in these girls’ eyes right now.

Rosette wasn’t angry at me now because I had been deceiving them about my abilities.

It wasn’t because she was looking down on or underestimating me for being a non-manifester either.

“I just thought you two would…”

…They were worried about me.

I could feel it so deeply that it was bewildering, making my nose tingle.

When I raised my gaze, I could see the eyes of the two people still looking at me.

I muttered in a voice that sounded like I was about to cry.

“Yes. Not telling you beforehand… I’m sorry.”

Rosette frowned.

Estelin looked back and forth between me and Rosette with teary eyes.

I added with a devastated heart.

“But it was too complicated a story from the beginning. I thought even if I explained it, it wouldn’t be something you could easily believe…”

“You still should have.”

Rosette cut me off. Her voice was still blunt, but her expression was more relaxed than before.

“If we had known your abilities came from a relic, we would have kept a close eye on your relic too. We could have prevented that gloomy Anita Solb from touching your belongings.”

There was no room for excuses. I nodded.

Rosette sighed. Then she placed her hand on my shoulder.

“There’s only one thing I’m angry about!”

“…”

“Why do you push yourself so hard like that? Asking for help isn’t that difficult.”

“…”

“And we’re close enough that…!”

Rosette averted her gaze and bit her lip.

“…Couldn’t we share secrets and things like that a bit more comfortably?”

I stared at Rosette with blank eyes.

Estelin, who had been hesitating beside us, spoke carefully.

“Th-that’s right, Selene… It must have been complicated for you too, Selene, and I understand why you couldn’t easily open up about the situation…”

“…”

“But if you had told us about the situation, you wouldn’t have been left alone in the forest, and you wouldn’t have been attacked by Dearmant.”

I bit my lips tightly.

Estelin only mentioned the things that had happened to me.

She didn’t mention Rosette getting hurt or her own mana depletion.

Even though she could have blamed me for those things too.

“I…”

A small breath flowed between my lips.

At this point, I had no choice anymore.

I hesitated, then lightly clenched my fist.

I decided that putting up walls with these two would be meaningless anymore.

The situation had already flowed to a point of no return.

I raised my head. Then after taking a short breath, I spoke.

“…With that relic, I can communicate with ancient souls.”

Estelin and Rosette’s mouths fell open in bewilderment.

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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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