Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 253

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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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253. Do I Have the Qualifications to Become a God?

“Ying is suspicious.”

Serena raised one eyebrow. Count Randy had suddenly requested a private audience, and she had expected Philia’s name to come up, but instead an outsider woman’s name was mentioned.

If someone was going to accuse another person, they should present evidence. Serena waited for Count Randy to state his grounds while objectively evaluating Ying’s actions without personal bias.

‘Suspicious… is she? Isn’t she just an eccentric labyrinth adventurer?’

Though she had too many secrets and hid even more of her strength, the Taciturn Archer had always reliably guarded the rear of the party.

She didn’t pick fights with just anyone like Olive, nor had she ever made mistakes like party members unfamiliar with the labyrinth.

While Serena had frequently witnessed the Priest of Darkness exerting power through her regressions, others had never seen it even once. There weren’t any particularly suspicious points.

Count Randy squeezed his eyes shut and confessed his sin to the Princess.

“Actually, I eavesdropped on the conversation between Lady Serena and Ying at the mountain hut. I will gladly accept punishment for not immediately revealing that I was awake at that time. However, what I heard then was too strange. The truth is unclear, and if it’s fact, it’s not information that an ordinary labyrinth adventurer should know.”

‘So he was awake. I was too careless.’

Serena clicked her tongue inwardly. If he had heard that conversation, it was understandable that the Count would suddenly accuse Ying.

“Lady Serena. I’m more afraid of you not suspecting someone who knows suspicious information than I am of Ying herself. You haven’t been enchanted by sorcery, have you?”

Count Randy gazed directly at the Princess while trembling with fear. His eyes held the determination to somehow break any spell that might be clouding the Princess’s single eye.

It was fitting for an alchemist who explored and investigated ignorance and the unknown to covet knowledge and information.

To prove her sanity was intact, Serena focused her gaze and met the Count’s eyes. She also added a cheat-level explanation that could only be used in a world where gods actually existed.

“I swear by the Labyrinth God. I am perfectly fine. Ying has not cast any strange sorcery on me.”

Whew. Count Randy let out a sigh of relief.

“What a relief. I was constantly worried about what would happen if Lady Serena’s sharp mind became clouded. However, do you have a reason for not suspecting Ying?”

‘This is difficult to answer.’

Serena pondered what to say and eventually pulled out her cheat key again.

“Ying helping me is heaven’s will.”

The Count’s already serious face became even more grave. Count Randy anxiously looked around to confirm there were no listening ears.

“So Lady Serena judges everything Ying said at that time to be completely true.”

“Since there’s no reason to lie, it must be fact.”

“And the reason Ying helps Lady Serena is heaven’s will. Th-th-th-th-then!”

Count Randy’s face suddenly turned pale. The Count fidgeted restlessly, his hands trembling and even his speech stuttering.

Now Serena suspected whether the Count had been affected by some strange sorcery, but Count Randy lowered his voice and covered his mouth with his hand despite knowing no one else was around.

“C-c-could it be that Lady Serena can break the seals of the Sealed Doors because Lady Serena possesses the noble bloodline that the Sealed Doors require?”

‘What is he talking about?’

Serena raised both eyebrows at this information she was hearing for the first time.

‘Wasn’t it power given as a bonus for sacrificing one eyeball?’

Until now, Serena had thought that all the Sealed Doors she discovered opened at her touch thanks to the power granted by the Labyrinth God.

But when Count Randy mentioned bloodline, another hypothesis she had been secretly considering came to mind.

‘The divine blood of House Huaim is labyrinth bloodline.’

Seeing that Seraph, who shared the same bloodline, couldn’t open the Sealed Doors, it must be someone in whom the divine blood that had grown thin over long years manifested strongly.

In other words, only descendants who possessed orange eyes, the symbol of divine blood, could freely open the locked doors of the labyrinth.

Just like the crimson key that was legend among labyrinth adventurers.

‘Huh? I feel like I’m about to remember something.’

The crimson key that could unlock all seals in the labyrinth. Rumors spread among labyrinth adventurers and tomb robbers. A descendant of the Labyrinth God who could actually do the same thing as the crimson key.

Serena unconsciously felt and examined her body, checking if there were any body parts that appeared crimson.

She didn’t have red hair like Sesi, nor red eyes like Priest Rihua. There were no crimson parts on Serena’s body.

‘Is this excessive delusion? Let me focus on what the Count is saying.’

“The Sealed Doors requiring noble bloodline. What do you mean by that?”

“Huh? You don’t know? This is something that any royalty and high nobility from nations possessing labyrinths would know—”

Count Randy widened his eyes and asked back, then realized his mistake and bowed his head.

“I apologize. Heuji didn’t have a labyrinth. Lady Serena is so wise and knowledgeable that I naturally thought you would know.”

The nobleman from a labyrinth-possessing nation reflected and reported the research findings of the Empire’s Grand Mage. Upon hearing the report, Serena held her forehead.

‘So they told everyone this important information except me?’

To think that one of the conditions for breaking the seals of Sealed Doors was the same for all of them. Moreover, the interpretation as “one who inherits noble bloodline” was already complete. The Princess held her head and groaned.

‘Then am I a descendant of the labyrinth, so the seals are released? No. There’s still the possibility it’s due to abilities received from the god. I mustn’t let my thinking become rigid. I need to be able to think flexibly.’

The next time she met the Labyrinth God, she had something to ask besides whether he liked games.

‘I should ask if he’s my ancestor.’

If he really was an ancestor, why on earth would he give such trials to his descendants? Serena openly let out a sigh.

Count Randy thought the Princess was sighing because of him and hunched his shoulders.

“I kept guessing it was power given by the Labyrinth God, but I’m not sure if Huaim blood satisfies the conditions of the Sealed Doors either.”

Serena answered honestly anyway. Then Count Randy started stuttering again.

“Th-th-th-then! As expected, Lady Serena has especially noble bloodline!”

Where did the seriousness from when he came to accuse Ying go? No, he was equally serious, but the Princess frowned because the Count seemed so shocked he might faint.

‘Why is he like this? Is this really that surprising? Why is he emphasizing “especially”?’

“L-Lady Serena possesses the qualifications to ascend to heaven!”

She corrected herself. The Count had good reason to be shocked enough to faint. Serena would have been just as surprised if she heard that Count Randy or Philia had the qualifications to become gods.

“Shh. Count. Don’t carelessly speak such dangerous words.”

Serena was also shocked, her heart pounding. She quickly covered the Count’s mouth and organized her thoughts.

‘I have the qualifications to become a god? Isn’t that too extreme a thought?’

The Princess recalled the conversation they had at the mountain hut on that snowy night, wondering if there was anything the Count could have misunderstood.

‘He only heard about why heretics can exist. Why does the story leap to me being able to become a god?’

How nice it would be to have good memory like Neet. Serena, who had been racking her poor brain, soon realized.

‘Huh?’

The new information from Count Randy, plus the conversation with the Archer that day, and even the cheat key excuse she used to reassure the Count who suspected the Servant of Darkness.

‘Wait? Isn’t this a leap?’

Thinking about it one by one, it was perfect for Count Randy to have such a misunderstanding.

As the person involved, Serena didn’t dare harbor such possibilities, but the grounds for establishing a hypothesis were already in place.

‘I have the qualifications for ascension?’

Reincarnation was random luck, so she was happy to be born as a princess with a diamond spoon, but divinity was added on top of that?

‘What’s more expensive than diamonds?’

In her previous life, she would have simply searched the internet. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible in this life.

“I didn’t know why the Labyrinth God gave Lady Serena trials. Now I think I understand. To accept Lady Serena, who overcame the trials, as a member of heaven, he tearfully gave you trials.”

Count Randy wasn’t Ralph, but perhaps he learned from Ralph as he presented hopeful and optimistic possibilities. Serena couldn’t refute the Count’s hypothesis.

Just standing and talking made her heart pound so much that even breathing felt overwhelming.

‘This won’t do! I need to be certain!’

The two of them talking alone wouldn’t reach a conclusion. The Princess summoned the Servant of Darkness, who was the source of all this trouble.

The archer with elegant features like an ancient sculpture heard the whole story. Ying wasn’t surprised even by the news that Count Randy had heard their conversation at the time.

“You’re not surprised.”

“I knew. People who are awake breathe differently.”

Serena narrowed her brow.

“You said it was dangerous information if others knew, yet you let the Count listen?”

Ying maintained her characteristic expressionless face and leaned toward the alchemist.

“Will you betray the Princess?”

“I would never betray Lady Serena!”

“So she says.”

When the Count answered indignantly, the archer shrugged her broad shoulders that had been trained through archery. Serena pressed her narrowed brow with her fingers and stated the main point.

“If I ask why you know such information.”

“….”

“Right. You won’t answer. Just answer this one thing. Do I possess the qualifications for ascension?”

The Loyal Servant of Darkness answered immediately.

“No.”

At that short, firm word, the Princess’s heart, which had been beating as if it would burst, regained stability. As Serena let out a longer sigh of relief than ever before, the alchemist protested.

“That can’t be! Isn’t Ying mistaken?”

“The Princess does not have the qualifications for ascension.”

The excited Count dared to push the lord he served forward in front of the Archer.

“Look closely! Are you saying our Lady Serena lacks the qualifications?”

The Archer immediately answered as soon as he looked at Serena’s orange single eye with his dark, deep black eyes.

“She does not.”

“That can’t be!”

“Count. That’s enough. I’m glad I don’t have to bear a burden I cannot handle.”

The qualifications to become a deity? It would obviously be heavier than the weight of the crown Muffin spoke of. She had been secretly worried, so it was a relief to hear a definitive answer that she didn’t have them.

Count Randy frowned as if he felt wronged.

“Then why did you say such dangerous words that would confuse people?”

“The Princess asked how heretics could exist. I answered.”

“Not that, but about the particularly noble bloodline! Don’t confuse people!”

“The descendants of deities are noble. Those with qualifications for ascension are particularly more noble. Is there a problem?”

“Ugh.”

Count Randy groaned and let his shoulders drop. Serena forgave the Count’s rudeness and comforted him.

“The terminology happened to overlap, so it was understandable that the Count would misunderstand. Don’t be too disheartened.”

It wasn’t as if she herself was ascending. Though she didn’t know why he was disappointed when his lord lacked the qualifications for ascension, Serena offered warm words to her disheartened retainer.

Regaining his spirits from this, Count Randy asked Ying about another one of his hypotheses.

“Ying. Please answer just one more thing. Does the Labyrinth perhaps provide special privileges to particularly noble bloodlines? Does the common unsealing condition for the Sealed Door, ‘one who inherits noble blood,’ include bloodlines from the Heavens other than the Labyrinth?”

To the two who were waiting for a clear answer, whether Yes or No, the Archer frowned his elegant eyebrows.

“I am not qualified to answer that question.”

Ying pointed at Serena with his unbandaged hand.

“Ask the Labyrinth’s beloved about matters concerning the Labyrinth.”

Even though she was called the Labyrinth’s beloved, Serena knew nothing about the Labyrinth. She didn’t even know that the Labyrinth’s parents were time and space.

Though she was currently imitating a priest of the Labyrinth, she wasn’t a real priest. To be a priest, one must hear the deity’s voice while alive, but Serena, who only conversed with the deity when dying, lacked the qualifications to be a priest.

‘I’ll remember this.’

She had one more thing to ask when she died. Serena postponed her answer to Count Randy, who was looking at her with expectant eyes.

“When an answer is given to me, I’ll let you know then.”

“Yes! I’ll wait.”

“And Ying. Among those you’ve seen here, does anyone possess the qualifications for ascension?”

The Loyal Servant of Darkness shook his head. It seemed he had no intention of kindly opening his mouth to answer anymore.

‘Thank goodness.’

Her heart had been racing with worry about what would happen if Richard, Seraph, or Philia suddenly had qualifications for ascension, but fortunately that wouldn’t be the case.

‘Great ones who dwell in the Heavens. I’m already struggling just to save the citizens. Please don’t expand the scale.’

Serena distanced herself from Count Randy and returned to the lobby, unable to contain her curiosity as she quietly asked Ying.

“You told me to keep the copper coin the Effort Priest gave me safe. What’s the reason?”

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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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