I’m the Strong Youngest Daughter Here to Save My Family from Darkness - Chapter 4

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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 4
“Mom, is that her? The one who’s going to Monster Island instead of Melissa!”
“Yes. Melissa, you need to listen carefully to the curse-caster now. Give me your hand. It might bleed a little. Hold Mommy’s hand.”
“Okay, I got it!”
The woman in the veil pricked Melissa’s palm with a needle, just barely, with a soft tap.
The Countess Rhinefeld’s brow furrowed, as though the mere sight of her precious daughter being pricked by a needle tore her heart in two.
The curse-caster spoke in a dry tone.
“Shall I continue?”
“Continue. Melissa, you can bear it, can’t you?”
“Hmph, uuung…”
“Good girl.”
While the Countess coaxed and soothed her daughter, the curse-caster checked the drops of blood and promptly raised her hand.
“Now I shall imprint the seal upon this wench’s heart.”
What on earth is going on here?
Why would they draw blood from Melissa, and who is that woman in the veil?
Arienna, unable to make sense of any of it, was staring blankly at the two of them when it happened.
The woman in the veil’s sharp fingernails raked down Arienna’s neck all the way to her chest.
Looking at it one way, it was nothing more than a brief brush of contact, yet in that instant it felt as though her entire body had been set aflame.
“Gah… gkk……!”
Before long, Arienna was coughing up blood violently.
The curse-caster, who had been so cautious over a single drop of Melissa’s blood, did not stop even as Arienna spat blood.
Rather, as if pleased, the curse-caster’s hand probed deep into Arienna’s core, where she was writhing in the agony of having her heart split apart.
“Hic… hiik……”
Arienna collapsed onto the floor like a piece of trash that someone had discarded.
Meanwhile, the Countess clutched Melissa’s hand, which had long since stopped bleeding, and whispered coldly.
“Did the seal take well on the sacrifice?”
“Yes, it did. If it stays this way, she will be recognized as Lady Melissa Leinfeld for at least three days.”
“And did you also keep her from revealing with her own mouth that she is not Melissa?”
“Yes. That, too, will hold for three days. But since it’s only temporary, there’s a risk she could be found out after that, wouldn’t you say?”
“No, three days will be plenty.”
The Countess Rhinefeld stared fixedly at Arienna, as if calculating something.
Just then, Melissa, who had been gazing at Arienna with contempt, spoke up.
“Mom, look at that! That filthy thing is holding something!”
With those words, Melissa scurried over to Arienna where she lay on the floor, dragged Arienna’s hand toward herself, and forcibly pried the fingers wide open.
“She must have stolen something, the beggar… Huh?”
Inside the clenched hand was a crumpled scrap of paper.
It was less than Melissa had expected, and she pouted her lips as she unfolded the note.
[Please let Tuntuni be able to meet Mommy and Daddy, I will definitely make Mommy and Daddy smile]
Even though she was still crumpled on the floor, her heart torn apart by agony.
Arienna managed to stretch out her hand and murmured faintly.
“Please… give it back……”
That was certainly the case.
If you went to Monster Island, you could make a wish.
So Arienna picked up a quill lying around the mansion and poured her precious feelings into it, pressing hard as she wrote her wish on the paper.
No matter what happened, she would never, ever forget it.
But the moment she saw the note, Melissa burst out laughing, a loud “Pfft-ha-ha!”
“Ugh, what is this garbage? How stupid! Every single spelling is wrong, you’re so dumb!”
As if discarding trash, Melissa flung the note onto the floor.
Arienna stretched out her hand with all her might. She had to get the note back.
With her tiny, chubby little hand, Arienna grasped the paper and tried to smooth out the creases.
It hurt her far more to see the note, which held her precious feelings, crumpled than it did to feel her own body in pain.
Watching her, Melissa said with an air of contempt.
“Idiot, you don’t have a mom or dad, do you? Even if you did, they’d have died out on the street long ago. That’s why you ended up in the orphanage. You stupid orphan!”
Arienna held onto the note for a long while, then said in the faintest of voices.
“That’s not true.”
“What do you mean, that’s not true?”
“Tuntuni has a mom and dad too……”
At Arienna’s words, Melissa tilted her head.
“Mom, what is this filthy girl going on about? Who’s Tuntuni?”
The Countess answered coolly, her expression indifferent, as though she had no interest at all.
“Tuntuni? …Oh, that’s probably just some nickname, I suppose.”
Arienna mumbled softly that it was her own name, but the Countess’s voice rode right over hers.
“Putting on airs like a nobody orphan. Even the nickname is pathetically cheap.”
To Arienna, Tuntuni was a precious name. But to everyone else, it apparently sounded ridiculous.
Arienna’s shoulders slumped.
Tuntuni has a mommy and a daddy too.
Tuntuni does…
They said that when we meet again, Mommy and Daddy will hug me really tight.
So it’s all fine, and Tuntuni isn’t sad at all.
“Mommy, she’s crying.”
No, I’m not. Tuntuni isn’t crying.
I didn’t cry even when the mark was carved into my heart, so there’s no way I would be crying now.
Arienna sniffed, drawing in a wet breath through her nose.
Only then did she feel it: the corners of her eyes flushing red, the tip of her nose turning pink like a cat’s.
“Hey, stop crying. The way you’re acting, it makes me look like the bad one.”
A girl in a pretty dress fit for a princess, and Arienna in her worn-out rags.
Anyone could see the difference between the two children plainly.
Just then, a small whirlwind curled up around Arienna.
As though a wind were about to blow.
And right after a brief gust brushed past Arienna and Melissa, the two of them, something changed.
Arienna’s hair turned platinum blonde, and her eyes deepened into a rich gold.
She had become an exact copy of Melissa’s face.
Arienna’s eyes went wide as she stared at her own hands.
Melissa scoffed, as if to belittle her.
“Do you think this beggar can even imitate me properly, Mother?”
The Countess replied, sounding utterly indifferent.
“Well, we’ll just have to make sure she does.”
Melissa stuck out the tip of her tongue at Arienna, blowing a playful raspberry.
“Anyway, thanks for being the Demon Prince’s sacrifice in my place! Bye-bye!”
Her face, beaming and carefree as she swayed, held not a trace of malice.
Just then, word came that the attendant who would take Arienna to Monster Island had arrived.
Now, truly, it was time for her to be offered up as the Demon Prince’s bride in Melissa’s place.
3. The Island of Monsters That Grant Wishes
At the same hour, in a mansion on the outskirts of the capital, where darkness hung heavy.
Overgrown with thick weeds, its gates locked tight, the mansion held not a trace of human warmth.
The villagers often whispered that a ghost haunted the place.
At first, rumors had claimed that some distinguished figures had come to recuperate here, but by now it had long been buried under grim and ominous ghost stories.
The master of that very mansion.
He had once been an extraordinarily gentlemanly beauty, but now his face was gloomy and his air decadent.
Grand Duke Veipran pushed back his silver hair, which had grown so unkempt it brushed the nape of his neck, as he read the Emperor’s decree.
[The monsters of Monster Island have reached a level that can no longer be left alone. We earnestly hope you will annihilate those monsters. There is no one in the Empire but you, who possesses the greatest strength, who can accomplish this task.]
Monster Island.
An unknown island that generations of Emperors had commissioned countless mercenaries and knights to conquer, yet never once had it been subdued.
Even an Emperor had no one in the Empire who could force such an unreasonable decree upon him.
So he didn’t have to go, and it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t.
What held the man’s gaze, however, was not the Emperor’s decree but a letter sent by an information broker.
[Once all the monsters of Monster Island are slain, an altar will open, and it is said that wishes made there will come true.
There have been cases where those who heard the rumor have sought out Monster Island to fulfill their wishes, and mages have vouched that this is no baseless tale.]
The corner of the man’s mouth, which had been clamping a cigar, slanted upward.
A sinister smile spread across his decadent face.
“A wish that can be granted, eh…?”
[It is said that only one person, the one who slays the strongest monster on Monster Island, may make a wish.
They say that once a wish is made, it will certainly be fulfilled in some way.
And as you have been saying all along, it is also said that it is possible to bring back the dead.]
Gazing at those lines, the man smoked a single cigar for a very long time.
By the time the tip of the cigar had burned down to white ash and dropped away, he had reached his conclusion.

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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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