Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 251

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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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251. Serious Talk During Bath (2)

The Princess stopped her eye massage. Muffin thought it was because of her slip of tongue and hurriedly corrected herself.

“I don’t mean he really hated you. Since he’s watched you since childhood, that kind of thinking… Like how I said I disliked my brother. I don’t dare consider Serena as family, but with that kind of familial familiarity…”

“Miss Muffin. I’m not angry, so calm down and speak.”

“Ugh. He didn’t really hate you, just slightly. He resented Serena a little.”

‘So he betrayed me because he resented me?’

While Serena was surprised by this unexpected truth, Muffin’s next words denied Serena’s assumption.

“Because my brother really treasured Lord Seraph.”

Resenting Serena and treasuring Seraph, yet turning to Richard’s side.

Serena doubted her ears and mind, wondering if she was hearing correctly.

“How is treasuring Seraph connected to resenting me?”

“What? Of course it’s connected. My brother cherished Lord Seraph more than me.”

Muffin bit her lower lip and clenched her fists in the hot spring water until they turned white.

“It was always like that. Like father, he only thought about and worried about Lord Seraph more than me. Rain or shine. Sleeping or waking, thinking about Lord Seraph. Worrying about Lord Seraph. He wouldn’t come home but stuck close to Lord Seraph’s side. Do you know what it was like when I was young? He would take away toys I was playing with well and give them to Lord Seraph.”

Muffin, who had been earnestly listing complaints about the deceased, hung her head.

“But I’m his sibling.”

Muffin seemed distressed, but Serena was also distressed by frustration.

“Miss Muffin. That doesn’t seem to be an answer to my question.”

“I’m sorry, Serena. Now for the main point. My brother, who cherished Lord Seraph so much, thought one day that Lord Seraph would become unhappy if he became king.”

If Seraph, who doesn’t strive to become king but still wants to be king, and Count Baker, who supports such a Seraph as Huji’s king, heard this, they would clutch the back of their necks and collapse.

“Whether someone suits the throne or not isn’t a thought for subjects like us to have. But my brother, not as the eldest son of Count Baker’s family or a royal knight, but as Stollen Baker, was truly worried about Lord Seraph. He used to secretly tell only me that he wished the traitor would quickly ascend to the throne instead.”

Serena also agreed that her sibling wasn’t king material.

In fact, what’s important for becoming king isn’t royal qualities but royal authority, succession laws, and the king’s will to pass on the throne.

In that sense, Seraph was unlucky.

Crown Prince Kipan, who should have been an excellent backing, was undermining royal authority himself, and due to succession laws, a fierce competitor had appeared. Moreover, the king’s will was clearly leaning toward the competitor.

At this rate, even if Seraph safely became king, he would either die young or spend his remaining years as a puppet king due to royal authority weakened over two generations.

“My brother also resented the late King and Crown Prince Kipan besides Serena. He resented His Majesty for not quickly confirming the heir, and His Highness the Crown Prince… he resented His Highness the Crown Prince. And Serena…”

Pink eyes as shocking yet lovely as hair color gazed at Huji’s Princess.

“He resented you for not pursuing the throne.”

Finally, the reason Stollen resented the Princess was revealed.

Nevertheless, Serena’s mind was still confused.

“Me pursuing the throne? I don’t understand the reason. I’m lower in succession order than Seraph.”

“Still, if Serena had pursued the throne, everyone would have agreed. Father probably would have welcomed it with both hands raised.”

“Because of my orange eyes? If these eyes are so important, you should support Richard.”

“You know it’s not for that reason.”

Muffin, who had been saying her brother resented Serena all along, looked at Serena with resentful eyes for the first time.

“Princess, you know the weight of the crown and can bear it, yet you dislike wearing the crown and passed it to the Prince. The Prince, unlike you, doesn’t know the weight and can’t bear it.”

Serena couldn’t say anything.

It was true that she didn’t want to become king and take responsibility for the country. Using the excuse of being lower in succession order than her sibling, using the excuse that Seraph wanted to be king, she passed everything to her sibling.

Had she ever asked Seraph if he really wanted to be king? No.

Had she ever asked if he truly knew the duties and responsibilities of a king? No. That was the role of teachers who taught imperial studies, not Serena’s role as his sister.

The reincarnated one, cured of protagonist syndrome, just wanted to escape from labor and responsibility to have fun. She wanted to indulge in luxury with inexhaustible wealth and travel the fantasy world comfortably.

She wanted to cleanly forget her corpse-like grandfather, drug-addicted father, insane mother, and sibling suffering from lack of affection, and travel the continent with the prettiest friend in the world.

She wanted to make a strategic marriage beneficial to the country as a duty of one who receives taxes, obtain an heir with intact limbs who doesn’t drink, do drugs, smoke, or gamble, then escape from all responsibilities and duties to have fun.

Was that so wrong?

Serena didn’t think so.

But as people have different opinions, Muffin seemed to think Serena was wrong.

“I kept thinking that way.”

The resentment disappeared from Muffin’s eyes, which had been looking at the Princess with resentment.

“But hearing what Lord Seraph said this time changed my mind a little.”

A new light filled Muffin’s pink eyes where resentment had disappeared. The name of that light was hope and expectation.

“Lord Seraph has now grown enough to admit he’s weak and lacking. It’s royal blasphemy, but I was really shocked.”

“It’s not blasphemy. I was shocked too.”

“Exactly. My brother always treated Lord Seraph like a sugar sculpture that would break with just a little moisture, so I thought the same way.”

Muffin carefully unclenched her fists that had been squeezed tight enough to cut off blood circulation.

“Lord Seraph is only 16 years old. He wasn’t weak, just immature.”

It was just that the comparison subjects were bad since his sister happened to be a reincarnated one and his competitor a labyrinth-limited regressor. Muffin said Seraph wasn’t lacking.

While thinking her sibling was pathetic for receiving such evaluation from someone his age, Serena also agreed with Muffin’s words.

‘Without Richard, he would have become a decent king.’

Without competitors to suffer jealousy and inferiority complex, people become much better. In that aspect, Serena wasn’t in a position to mock her sibling either.

‘I get anxious if I don’t hold the initiative anywhere, anytime.’

“Exactly.”

Serena, who had been smiling bitterly and looking down at her wrinkled fingers like her insides, raised her head at Muffin’s continuing words. Muffin carefully requested.

“I know Serena is having a hard time too. But please cherish Lord Seraph just a little more. I beg you.”

Muffin made a groaning sound like when she complained to Corruption.

“No matter how much attention and affection we give, the person Lord Seraph wants is Serena.”

Serena said nothing. Muffin, restless at the Princess’s silence, left the hot spring first.

Left alone in the hot spring, Serena stared at the purple and orange mixed mass reflected on the surface like Muffin had done.

The mass reflected on the surface resembled a noblewoman with purple hair.

Serena deliberately created ripples to erase her reflection on the surface. Since her face would reflect again when the surface became calm, she kept repeating this.

‘Me wear the crown? What nonsense. I’m not qualified.’

Serena wasn’t qualified to wear Huji’s crown. She wasn’t talking about succession order.

‘Even though I lived reincarnated as a princess, half of me is still an otherworld commoner. Seraph, who is a perfect Huaim in both soul and body, is better than a strange reincarnated one.’

There was one more thing Muffin was wrong about.

‘What Seraph wants… isn’t me.’

Serena kept disturbing the water reflecting the purple mass, then finally buried her face in her hands.

Thinking of her sibling who didn’t run away in front of abnormal parents who considered even violence as attention made her heart infinitely heavy. Her body seemed to follow her mind, as if she would drown and die in the water.

‘Even so, I’ll just regress.’

Serena bit her lips and rose from the hot water.

In the end, she couldn’t learn the reason for Stollen’s betrayal and only received a request from Muffin. The loss was enormous.

Serena vigorously left the hot spring, dried off, and put on clothes. Flinging her wet hair, she spread both arms. Muffin, who had left the hot spring first, widened her eyes.

“The time has come! The Minotaur God shall grant us a wider space!”

“Kyaaah! Serena is divine! Hehe, I was the fastest.”

The Princess closed her eyes, listened to people’s cheers, and excitedly pressed the lobby expansion button.

‘Shopping is the best when you’re depressed!’

This is a fact proven by capitalism, identical to the definition that refined carbohydrates equal happiness.

Serena currently possessed 20 shop coins.

Click click.

Serena pressed the lobby expansion button twice. Using a total of 9 shop coins, the lobby became noticeably wider.

“Woo! Mmph!”

The Fire Knight opened his mouth to express this amazing sight in 5,500 characters but was silenced by the Priest of Corruption. Muffin spoke ominously into Knight Marin’s ear.

“Knight Marin. If you speak again, I’ll give you cavities in all your teeth.”

The Fire Knight never yields to threats, but Corruption’s terrifying miracle reminded him of the virtue of silence.

His pristine white teeth without a single cavity were the knight’s pride. Knight Marin clenched his teeth to avoid mistakes.

“Though it’s regrettable it’s not kitchen facilities, expanding the lobby for us. The Minotaur God’s mercy is truly great.”

Prince Willow, who couldn’t leave the lobby, smiled brightly seeing the expanded lobby. Then he actively expressed his opinions on facility placement.

“Your Highness Serena. Please gather the restrooms over here, and place the campfire over there.”

Since the Prince stayed in the lobby the longest, Serena accepted all his opinions.

“Yes. Since this space is wide, capsule beds here. Huh? What’s wrong?”

When the Princess, who had been moving the bread trees, fountains, and campfires as he requested, suddenly stopped moving, Prince Willow became frightened and began checking his own words and attitude.

Serena noticed the Prince’s misunderstanding and immediately waved her hand.

“It’s nothing serious. The Labyrinth God also gave us exercise equipment, but there wasn’t enough space to install everything.”

That’s right. Serena had not only expanded the lobby twice, but had even spent 2 shop coins to purchase a comprehensive exercise equipment set. Stress shopping was truly terrifying.

Serena first installed the purchased labyrinth exercise equipment set in the empty spaces. The gaps between the equipment were too narrow to exercise, but she had a plan for everything.

“Count Alpha. Could you move the exercise equipment outside the lobby?”

“Yes, understood.”

Unlike the trees, fountains, and toilets, the exercise equipment wasn’t rooted(?) to the floor, so people could carry them and adjust their positions.

By storing some near the lobby or in the Spatial Storage Chest, and installing some in the lobby, Prince Willow and everyone else would be able to use them.

‘I’ll need to regularly change the equipment placed in the lobby for the Prince. Grey and Count Alpha will handle this well.’

Indeed they did.

Count Alpha carefully examined the instruction manuals for both familiar and unfamiliar equipment, then selected the piece of equipment most needed by the Prince at present.

“Your Highness the Grand Princess. Would it be alright to leave only this equipment and the dumbbells in the lobby, and store the rest in nearby stone chambers to rotate them regularly?”

“Of course. Since Count Alpha is the expert, I’ll leave it entirely to you.”

“Oh, is this the exercise equipment you chose, Sirius? It looks just like small stairs.”

The StepMill. The so-called Stairway to Heaven was the first piece of exercise equipment Count Alpha had chosen for his beloved Prince.

The Prince, unaware of the gray future that awaited him, was simply delighted as he looked at the otherworldly exercise equipment.

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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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