I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 176

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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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A dark alley shrouded in darkness.

The sound of hoofbeats echoed beneath the heavily falling rain.

It was a woman riding the horse, completely soaked.

Crash—!

Lightning struck the ground, and thunder shook the sky.

Still, the woman silently picked up speed.

The hood she had been wearing was blown off by the fierce wind, revealing brilliant golden hair fluttering in the air.

After riding for a long time, she finally stopped her horse at the most secretive back alley of the Commercial District.

It was in front of a general store that was falling apart.

With quick hands, the woman tied up her horse and opened the back door of the general store, stepping inside.

The old man at the counter recognized her and gestured with his eyes toward the left stairs leading underground.

The woman, Hemera, quickly walked down the stairs and opened the tightly closed side door.

“Hemera!”

Inside, a soft light was already lit.

Seeing Hemera enter completely drenched, Kione hurriedly brought a thick blanket.

“You…! Dry yourself with this, quickly.”

Hemera pushed the blanket away and shook her head.

“I’m fine. More importantly.”

And she walked quickly toward someone leaning against an old sofa.

“Sharlina, you…”

Her tense voice cracked at the end.

On the old leather sofa where her gaze was directed, a person sat blankly with their back against it.

It was Charlotte Irina, the Empress of Erbia.

“Are you okay? What happened? What could have happened so suddenly…”

Hemera asked urgently while taking something out of her pocket.

What she held in her hand was a small pebble-shaped magical device.

The magical device was constantly blinking with purple light.

After Jesper, the Former Emperor and dear friend, had died.

It was a summoning magical device she had kept in case a dangerous situation arose for Sharlina as well.

When the purple light flashed, the three of them were supposed to meet here, in this secret place unknown to anyone.

“Sharlina, what happened, I’m asking. Hm?”

When no answer came, Hemera’s eyes gradually sank with anxiety.

“…No, right? Did something happen to Rubel?”

Sharlina bit her lips tightly without answering. Soon a voice that seemed about to break echoed in the room.

“Rubel… left.”

Silence descended in the basement.

“I… I sent him away.”

Her eyes were empty and unfocused.

Kione, who had been standing blankly, hesitantly approached the sofa.

“What do you mean, Sharlina? Suddenly sending Rubel away? Where? No, why?”

“This afternoon… I saw his death.”

Sharlina weakly lowered her head.

“…I couldn’t keep him in the Imperial Palace. If I left him there, no matter what, I saw a future where he would die within five days.”

Kione held her breath. The candle placed on the table flickered precariously.

Hemera, who had been silent for a while, spoke in a calm voice.

“Did you send him somewhere safe?”

“I don’t know. Whether it’s safe or not… At least until the point I confirmed, he seemed to be doing well…”

Tears finally began to fall from Sharlina’s eyes.

Then Hemera approached and knelt on one knee in front of her, meeting her gaze.

“Again?”

“…”

“Is this Grace’s doing again?”

Sharlina gave no answer. Hemera’s face hardened.

“It wasn’t enough that she did that to Jesper!”

Uncontrollable rage rose in her ice-blue eyes.

“I can’t do this anymore, this won’t work! Whatever the predetermined future is, I’ll mobilize the military and stop that woman!”

Then Sharlina weakly shook her head. Then she whispered in a very small voice.

“Selene will die… Hemera.”

Hemera looked at Sharlina with a start. Her eyes were greatly dilated.

“…What did you say? Who will die?”

“Selene, your daughter will die.”

Hemera’s hands slowly fell down.

“That’s not all, Eria too…”

This time Kione’s complexion turned pale.

A silence sharp as a blade swept between them.

Sharlina spoke.

“After sending Rubel away, on my way here, I saw it. Ten years of the future.”

“…”

“I tried to think of ways to prevent it. Again and again… I tried until I could see a changed future…”

“…”

“It doesn’t change.”

Sharlina, who muttered like a sigh, buried her face between her knees that she was hugging.

“No matter what I do, it’s the same… There’s no way to protect our children. Now, I have no idea what to do…”

Her voice was endlessly broken. Kione couldn’t take her eyes off the old wooden floor with a shocked face.

Then Hemera’s voice echoed between them.

“That can’t be.”

“…”

“Why would the children die? What causes such a terrible thing to happen? Who the hell would do such a thing?!”

Sharlina looked at Hemera weakly.

Kione beside her muttered in a voice as if half her soul had left her body.

“Ca, Calypso. Shouldn’t we tell Calypso? Let’s tell Aleon too. If we mobilize the military first and stop Grace…”

“…Aleon and Calypso would just end up dying too.”

Kione closed her mouth helplessly.

She already knew well that the future Sharlina saw was more accurate than anything else.

“From the moment Jesper died, there was only one future where Aleon and Calypso survive.”

“…”

“When the two of them know absolutely nothing about this matter. Only in that one case do the two of them live.”

Hemera collapsed into her seat.

Above her head, Kione’s completely broken sobbing began to be heard.

The door rattled in the fierce wind.

When even the precariously flickering candle went out, pitch-black darkness completely swallowed them.

Only the purple light of the magical device Hemera had brought slowly blinked in the darkness.

“…Then what about us.”

It was Hemera’s voice. Her eyes were colder than ever.

“What is our end? At that moment when the children are in danger… what the hell are we doing? Don’t tell me we die too? Is that why?”

Sharlina pressed her lips together tightly before answering.

“Yes. In two months, I’ll be in the Inner Chamber of the Empress’s Palace. Officially, it will appear that I took my own life.”

“…”

“Not long after that, Kione will be cursed. It will be so clever that others won’t notice. Eventually, Kione will appear to have suddenly fallen ill and passed away.”

Kione, who had been swaying while sitting, completely collapsed to the floor.

Sharlina continued speaking.

“A few months after that.”

“….”

“The Tigris Estate gets attacked. That day… I see your death, Hemera.”

Hemera didn’t answer for a long while.

Then she slowly raised her gaze in the darkness to face Sharlina.

“Then what about Selene? Does Selene also get hurt that day?”

Sharlina shook her head.

“No. The children getting hurt happens much later after that.”

“….”

“After we all leave, 8 years later.”

“….”

“Selene poisons Eria, and gets executed for it. That’s….”

“….”

“The most likely future among the ones I’ve seen.”

The sound of wind shaking the door grew fierce.

Sharlina explained all the futures she had seen.

Selene’s execution, and the destruction of the Tigris Family.

Rubel, who had been hiding in the Cursed Land, coming to the Empire to meet Estelin, or not.

Various incidents and accidents that would befall the Empire, and the fates of countless people involved.

Even the children’s tragic futures.

By the time she finished speaking, her voice was completely hoarse.

But more than that, Sharlina was confused.

This was an ability she had honed and used countless times until now.

She no longer panicked at futures that appeared randomly like before. She could see the future at will.

Since the futures she saw changed when she altered the conditions, Sharlina had desperately tried.

To see a future where the children survived.

However, the end for Rubel, the child she loved most in the world, was always a miserable death.

The same was true for Estelin, Selene, and Eria.

It was only natural since both the Laurent and Tigris families were destined for destruction from the beginning.

It was a horrific future.

A future where everyone would eventually die, including herself and her friends.

Her body trembled with terrible despair.

Then, Hemera spoke.

“So in the end. Everything starts 8 years later when a temple priest brainwashes Selene.”

Her voice carried a cold chill.

“If we can just prevent that brainwashing, the future might change.”

Sharlina slowly raised her head.

At the same time, her pupils became distant before regaining focus.

For just a brief moment, a vision of Selene and Rubel smiling brightly flashed in her sight and disappeared.

She thought she also saw an afterimage of the Estelin sisters in Calypso’s arms.

Sharlina looked at Hemera frantically.

“That might… that might be possible. I think I just saw it. We can’t prevent the brainwashing itself, but if we break it….”

It seemed possible.

A future where the children don’t die.

Hemera nodded with sunken eyes and abruptly stood up from her seat.

The three women met again in the basement of the general store not long after.

All three had grown much thinner in the short time.

“I found a way. Since we can’t prevent the brainwashing itself, I looked for a way to break that ability later.”

Hemera placed the things she had brought on a large table she had prepared beforehand.

There were notes she had scribbled by hand, as well as papers torn from books.

“First, we need a strong shock that can break free from brainwashing. Along with a specific trigger that will help recover lost emotions.”

“….”

“In Selene’s case, it would be the will to live itself.”

Sharlina nodded.

The curse that Selene would suffer in the future was basically the kind that made one completely give up the thread of life.

Hemera thought about something for a while before slowly opening her mouth.

“Then perhaps, it might be possible with my ability.”

Sharlina and Kione raised their heads.

Hemera’s eyes sank seriously.

“If I plant a dream beforehand with my ability. Couldn’t I wake the child with that?”

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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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