I’m the Strong Youngest Daughter Here to Save My Family from Darkness - Chapter 3

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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 3
* * *
The next morning.
Six days until we leave for Monster Island.
“If I’m going to be a sacrifice soon, I can’t just keep getting ready forever!”
[Tuntuni’s Grand Adventure to Find Her Family, Now Preparing!]
The hope she’d felt at the words floating in the air lasted only a moment.
She waved her hands forward, swung her feet back, and tried it again and again, but nothing changed.
‘I won’t cry, Tuntuni!’
So Arienna resolved to stop relying on the power the divine lord had given her and to move on her own instead.
Arienna had grown a little, just a teeny, tiny bit closer to Bel, the brawny servant of the Count’s residence who brought her bread.
Bel, who claimed to be raising a five-year-old daughter, seemed to pity Arienna, who was thoroughly ignored by the other attendants.
When she asked Bel about Monster Island, his expression darkened at once.
Then he came back carrying a picture book titled .
Arienna had just covered her eyes with a peek-through gap, frightened by the illustrations of all manner of monsters, when he spoke.
“Monster Island is the last home of the monsters that remain, the only place they still live since peace came to this land after the long-ago war with the Demon Beasts ended.”
“Um, but why am I going there as a sacrifice?”
He bit his lip as if troubled, shut his eyes, and then opened them again.
“It’s because of the youngest prince, the son of the Emperor.”
“……?”
“His Special Ability is ice that freezes the world in a terrifying way. They say he may be the strongest person in this world.”
“Eek, h-huh……!”
The strongest person… that’s a little scary!
Then Bel lowered his voice and whispered.
“But… even though he’s so strong, they say he’s on the verge of a Rampage.”
What’s a Rampage?
As Arienna tilted her head in confusion, Bel let out a sigh and added,
“Ugh, what good is a strong Special Ability if he can’t control it? He’s like a ticking time bomb. …And you know what else?”
When Arienna shook her head side to side, Bel went on.
“Ordinary people’s hearts stop right there, the moment they lay eyes on the prince’s powerful Special Ability. Their minds go hazy and their hearts give out first.”
“Huh, …so the prince is sick too?”
“Yes. He can’t endure his own power.”
“Then if someone heals him, he’ll get better…”
Bel said nothing for a moment in response to her innocent question.
“It’s not as simple as that. It’s not only the prince; everyone in the Empire who has a Special Ability suffers because of it and is constantly at risk of going on a Rampage.”
“Can’t the healers do anything?”
“Sadly, no. To heal someone, the healer must not be consumed by fear until the treatment is finished. It’s hard to face their power and not be terrified. Even the healers who went to treat the prince… never came back alive.”
“Hwaeok…”
“Since no one could heal the prince at the verge of a Rampage, they had no choice but to send him off to Monster Island, as if to quarantine him. Understand?”
The next thing Bel mumbled hesitantly hit Arienna a little hard.
“…And then there’s the reason you were adopted.”
“Mm-hm…”
“The prince’s fiancée is none other than Lady Melissa Leinfeld. Since their betrothal can’t be put off any longer, the Rheinfeld Count’s House has ended up in a situation where they have to send their daughter to Monster Island, where the prince is.”
But the Countess Rhinefeld couldn’t bear to send her precious daughter to a prince who was about to go on a Rampage.
That was why they adopted Arienna.
“So you’re going to be offered up as a sacrifice in place of Lady Melissa Leinfeld, a bride in name only… That’s what I heard.”
…And apparently, only a handful of people know this, including Bel, the servant who looks after Arienna directly.
* * *
Three days until she’s cast out to Monster Island.
Arienna kept pestering Bel, trying to find her mother and father with the few clues she had.
“You want me to find the parents who named you Tuntuni before you were born?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Well… Tuntuni is the most common baby name in the Empire. It’s number one in the statistics.”
“……”
“Across the entire Empire, there are over tens of thousands of children who have the baby name Tuntuni.”
“Tongkye. Sumang myeong.”
Arienna repeated Bel’s words like a parrot, but she didn’t really understand them.
“So what I mean is, there are a whole lot, a whole, whole lot of Tuntunis in this world.”
Arienna stretched out her fingers and counted, one, two, three.
Then she said,
“Then Tuntuni is… more than ten people?”
“Far more than ten.”
“……!”
Bel scratched his head with a sheepish grin and added,
“For the record, my baby name was Tuntuni too. Tuntuni!”
No way…
In an instant, an image flashed through her mind: a muscle-bound servant even sturdier than Arienna, Bel, taking her place, beaming and saying, ‘Mom, Dad. It’s me, Tuntuni!’
“Kreel Nata-ah…”
Arienna trudged back to the attic and curled up on the floor.
The odds of never seeing Mom and Dad again before she was offered up as a sacrifice had just grown enormously.
How many times did she sink into despair in that mold-streaked room?
“Huh? A light!”
The pale ivory glow that had wrapped around Arienna yesterday floated again in the air, sparkling.
Then words drifted down right before Arienna’s eyes, *plop*.
Just like the time a few days ago when it had comforted her with, ‘Tuntuni, no despairing!’
[※ Adjusting for children (60/100)…]
Arienna’s eyes lit up.
‘Whoa, finally! Is Tuntuni’s ability going to pop out, ta-da?’
[※ Tuntuni, don’t worry, you can head to Monster Island.]
‘Why?’
[If you defeat the monsters with a special ability and conquer Monster Island, you can make a wish!]
‘…A wish?’
Then if she wished to find Mom and Dad…?
The thought was tempting for only a moment. The words, gentle in tone, seemed to lift her courage, but…
“How am I supposed to beat up a monster?!”
Flustered, Arienna clenched her fists tight and shook them in the air.
Her tightly clenched fists were small next to the size of her anger. Very, very small.
Then another line of text appeared in the Status Window.
[When you enter Monster Island,
an <ability> will unlock to make timid Tuntuni sturdy!]
“…?”
[Don’t worry!]
Arienna’s eyes went round in an instant.
The prince was frightening, the sacrifice was frightening, and monsters were even, even more frightening…
But if she could crush the monsters with that ability and make a true wish…
Then she could wish to be reunited with Mom and Dad!
Arienna balled both her fists with determination.
‘Tuntuni will crush every last bad monster!’
Her heart fluttered at the hope that had suddenly bloomed.
The courage that had been squashed by the fake Mom and Dad’s abuse came flooding back.
‘Okay, I’m going to Monster Island. But first I need paper and a quill!’
There was something she absolutely had to do before setting off for Monster Island!
From that day on, the future of being banished to Monster Island no longer frightened Arienna.
Instead, her chest swelled with anticipation at the thought that she might finally see Mom and Dad.
* * *
Then came the morning they were finally set to head for Monster Island.
In the attic, Arienna was spooning up bits of spoiled soup.
Just then, the attic door was yanked open roughly.
“Huh…!”
Startled by the sound, she jerked her hand, and the plate tipped over onto the floor.
Just as Arienna scrambled down on her belly to catch the soup plate before it was lost completely…
a mysterious woman appeared, exuding an air of enigma from behind a black veil.
“Is this the child? The sacrifice who will be passed off as Lady Melissa?”
Behind her appeared Countess Rhinefeld.
“Yes. Sorcerer, has it been confirmed?”
And then…
a girl dressed in a pretty dress fit for a princess also came into view.
Arienna looked up at them, as filthy and bedraggled as the soup plate sprawled on the floor.

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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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