Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 287
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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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287. Waste of Talent
Seraph locked the padlock, then unlocked it in an instant.
‘What was that just now?’
His hands moved so fast that Serena couldn’t even see them.
‘He just touched the lock and it opened?’
“Did you see that? This is the latest technique.”
“I missed it because I wasn’t paying attention! Do it again!”
“Hmph. Are you slow at watching too? Look closely!”
Seraph locked the padlock and unlocked it again. Krom’s eyes widened. It was a bit scary when an undead widened their eyes.
“The method is, well, different indeed.”
“Just a little? To your eyes, which boast of outdated techniques, does this clear difference look like just a little? Pathetic!”
“I don’t understand anything at all! Please show me again!”
“Hmph!”
At Hana’s request, Seraph moved his hands again. Serena watched intently three times but still couldn’t follow her sibling’s finger movements.
“Oh, the Prince’s hand movements are quite something.”
Olive, who had been observing Seraph’s hands with sharp eyes, was genuinely impressed. Olive was deeply admiring.
“Wow. That talent comes from the royal family. This is a real waste of talent.”
“Ugh.”
Serena suffered from shame like Muffin, unable to bear it.
‘This is strange. Our ancestor was a hero who fought and defeated monsters, so why is father a drug addict and my sibling a genius thief?’
Even the actual direct descendant cousin was a patricide who killed grandfather with his own hands.
‘Nothing lasts forever in this world, so the hero’s blood could have been diluted. But why are they all criminals!’
One might say it would be fine if Serena herself was decent, but Serena was a reincarnated one, so she should be considered an exception.
While Serena was suffering without even having the leisure to manage her expression, she heard light laughter. It wasn’t mocking laughter.
Looking in the direction the sound came from, she saw the Taciturn Archer with the corners of his mouth raised. For some unknown reason, he seemed a little pleased.
Ying, who noticed the Princess’s gaze, rarely spoke first.
“You’re alike.”
Seraph was Serena’s sibling. Since they were siblings, it was natural that they resembled each other.
‘I’m dying of embarrassment as the older sister, but why is Ying happy? And why does he say we’re alike after seeing something like that? It’s annoying.’
Seeing a prince pure to his soul showing off thieving skills and saying they were alike was very unpleasant for Serena, who had worked hard to live like a princess after reincarnating.
‘Even if I can’t call animals with songs, I’ve worked so hard. Does he think maintaining presence next to Philia is easy?’
She looked shabby from rolling around in the labyrinth, but Serena was a princess who wouldn’t be outdone anywhere on the continent. It just didn’t show because she happened to have a sibling whose face shone even when rolling around in the labyrinth.
Serena, who had been grinding her teeth, soon remembered that there were things more important than appearance.
‘Hmm. Ying isn’t someone who judges based on appearance alone. Could it be that he meant we’re alike in some other aspect, not appearance?’
Serena looked at Seraph, who was picking the lock slowly so people could see his hand movements.
For Ying to say they were alike after seeing that scene, he must have seen thieving aspects in Serena before.
‘Where would you find a princess as diligent as me to think of a thief… Wait a minute.’
Serena had done something similar to thieving before. Hadn’t she enthusiastically picked safes on the 7th floor?
She didn’t just pick them, but cracked safes while giggling with the Count, saying “Don’t we have talent for this?”
‘Ying didn’t go to the 7th floor then, but he must have heard that we were good at cracking safes. Is that why?’
In the deep, dark eyes of the faithful servant of darkness, emotions rarely surfaced. Ying looked at Seraph with narrowed eyes, as if recalling very nostalgic and pleasant memories.
Seraph triumphantly pulled out a lock that looked like a craft piece and thrust it at Krom.
“Behold! This is a lock made with Huji’s latest technology! It’s armed with new technology that lowly criminals like you could never break through!”
“Ugh. Why did they make the lock so complicated?”
“Those who cannot open this have no qualification to learn lock-picking techniques!”
Perhaps Krom’s known techniques were indeed outdated as Seraph said, because Krom couldn’t get a grasp on the new-style lock.
Her sibling was as happy as a fish in water. Muffin continued to suffer.
“Ugh, Lord Seraph. It’s embarrassing. You used to act like this sometimes when gambling too.”
The Prince of Huji had a habit of looking down on others in areas where he excelled.
At the mention that he acted like this when gambling too, Serena finally held her forehead. Her entire head was throbbing.
“Then please teach us, Your Highness!”
At Hana’s cheerful request, Serena looked up. Naturally enough, Seraph lit twin flames in his eyes and got angry.
“Are you now daring to request lessons from me! You have no such qualification!”
The Prince’s stern rebuke fell, but Hana didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
“What? They said studying is good! It’s bad to ignore someone who wants to learn!”
“Ha! How absurd. How much must you have underestimated me! Guards! Take this vagrant away immediately!”
And nothing happened. As Seraph was about to get angrier, Hana pressed closer.
“Don’t be petty and just teach us!”
“What?”
“We want to study, so why won’t you teach us! You’re being petty!”
“P-petty?”
Seraph was born as 2nd in line for Huji’s throne succession and raised like a single orchid in the royal palace. At words and reactions he was hearing for the first time in his life, Seraph couldn’t collect himself.
“Woof!”
“The Princess said we need to cooperate to get out of the labyrinth!”
The siblings also came out to support Hana. Seraph, who had been flustered, quickly came to his senses and brought his hand to his sword hilt.
“Are you now daring to mock me!”
According to the Number Siblings’ survival method, she should prostrate herself here. But Hana didn’t put her forehead to the floor and took a step closer to the Prince.
“Go ahead and cut me! Then teach me as compensation!”
Ooh!
People were surprised and impressed by Hana’s spirit. Ralph was moved by her spirit and supported Hana.
“Your Highness, we all need to cooperate to get out of the labyrinth! Please pass on your skills to Miss Hana! I beg you!”
“If it’s not a technique prohibited from being taken out, I would also like to request it.”
Not only Ralph but Count Alpha also bowed his head to the Prince. Low scratched his bald head vigorously.
“Th-this happened because I was lacking. I also beg you.”
The priests also took Hana’s side. High Priest Hazel and Knight Marin, who had been lying down to rest, raised their upper bodies and asked the Prince.
“Your Highness, please show mercy.”
“They say people learn while teaching. I too learn and realize much while spreading the teachings of gentle fire. Especially four years ago-.”
“Hehe. The reason Your Highness honed your skills wasn’t merely to show off. Wouldn’t it be more enjoyable to pass on the skills?”
The smile disappeared from the face of the Bald Man who had been grinning.
“And as Bindo knows well from direct experience, these kids are very persistent. It’s better to give up and teach them rather than continue to be tormented.”
The High Priest of Effort recommended giving up, another domain that effort governed. Sesi’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“So why don’t you give us allowance?”
“See? These are kids who might receive Bindo’s allowance in the future.”
Perhaps because he had seen three people mercilessly chasing the tired bald man, Seraph wrinkled his pretty face and clicked his tongue.
“Tch. If you don’t understand after I explain three times, the lesson ends.”
“Yes! We did it!”
Hana jumped up and down in place, doing somersaults in joy. Seeing this, Olive crossed her arms and shook her head.
“If she understood after I explained three times, I would have kept teaching. It’ll be noisy when the Prince gets angry, so I should go exercise. Radish! Want to come with me?”
“Exercise sounds good!”
The Guide lured the Hunter and escaped to the gym in advance.
As the Guide prophesied, Hana didn’t understand even after hearing it three times. When Seraph tried to end the lesson as he had declared, Hana grabbed the Prince’s pant leg and clung to him.
“Don’t be like that and teach me!”
“Let go! I don’t teach idiots!”
“How can a person memorize something after hearing it only three times! Only Neet can do that!”
“I said let go!”
Seraph, who had his pants grabbed for the first time in his life, pretended to kick at Hana. Hana wasn’t scared and widened her eyes.
“I’m stupid and incompetent, so I’m in trouble! Duri is a bear, Sesi tames magical beasts, and Neet can even make corpses spring up, but I’m just Compass! I need to know how to do at least this!”
“That’s your problem! I said let go!”
She seemed thoughtless, but it appeared Hana had been thinking a lot while watching her siblings’ activities.
“Argh!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Seraph really tried to kick Hana. Hana pressed her round face against the prince’s foot that was aiming for her back.
It was the forgiveness technique that Olive had shown. Serena felt conflicted seeing how Hana had learned the Guide’s action after watching it just once.
‘She learns well after seeing it once?’
It wasn’t that her head was bad, so why did she suddenly become stupid when lessons took on a formal structure?
Seraph’s foot wandered through the air unable to find its destination, eventually settling on the ground. Seraph tensed the veins in his neck and declared.
“I’ll repeat it just 3 more times!”
“Thank you!”
If Hana had understood after hearing it 6 times, Olive wouldn’t have given up. What felt like dozens of minutes passed and the same thing repeated.
“Ugh!”
“Please, I beg you!”
“Cough. I’m sorry. If only I had dexterity, I could remember and help you. Cough.”
This time Hana’s siblings also grabbed Seraph’s pants together. Neet blamed her own fingers for being unable to reproduce the technique despite remembering all of the prince’s words.
When the child wrapped in bandages stained with blood and pus all over her body blamed herself, even the great Seraph had no choice but to endure it. The prince sat down.
“I’ll show you just 3 more times.”
“Yes!”
Seraph was also getting used to it, so he didn’t get up even after exceeding 3 times. Instead, he raised his voice and scolded Hana.
“Why don’t you understand? Why on earth!”
“That’s too much! Even Your Highness wasn’t good from the beginning!”
“I taught myself by looking at lock blueprints without anyone teaching me!”
“Isn’t that a lie? You must have learned from Heuji’s best lockpicking technician!”
What kingdom in the world would teach lockpicking techniques to an heir to the throne? Hearing Hana’s words to his face, Seraph grabbed the back of his neck.
“Ask Serena!”
“It’s true. There are no lockpicking classes in imperial studies.”
Instead, the children of Huaim had a tradition of learning trap and dungeon design from the adults of their family. But since all the adults who could teach were dead, the siblings taught themselves using dungeon and trap blueprints, records, and books.
Serena quit because she had many other things to do, but Seraph expanded his hobby to include lockpicking as well.
Krom, who had been looking at the vending machine out of curiosity about the facilities that had increased in the lobby, stuck out his tongue.
“Wow. Was Your Highness a genius?”
“I’m jealous! A prince and a lockpicking genius! But you won’t be able to see this!”
Hana reached out her claws toward Seraph. Seraph moved very slightly to counter Hana’s claws that had been acknowledged by the Guide.
Hana’s eyes widened so much her pupils seemed ready to pop out.
“H-how did you see through it?”
“Hmph. I can tell this level of trickery after seeing it a few times. You’re slower than gamblers.”
For Duke Parkling, an involuntary sponsor of Heuji’s card sharks, blocking pre-announced sleight of hand was easier than breathing while lying down.
Hana gently hit the floor in frustration.
“You’re good at picking locks! Are you good at sleight of hand too? But Your Highness? That’s unfair! That’s mean!”
“Be quiet. Since your status and talent are both lowly, at least try to learn diligently.”
“But you wouldn’t have known this!”
Hana, who had collapsed on the floor in frustration, lifted her tearless face and threw and caught a golden glittering dagger. Seeing the sparkling dagger, Seraph was surprised and searched his clothes, grinding his teeth.
“When on earth did you take that out?”
“Hehe. I’ll show you 3 times.”
Serena pressed her forehead. The prince’s lockpicking lesson had transformed into Hana’s pickpocketing lesson.
‘If this were a game, she would have put all her skill points into thief skills and couldn’t put any into lord skills.’
How fortunate it was reality where you could learn through effort even without skill points.
Serena watched her sibling growing into an excellent thief day by day and adjusted her collar and fastened the buttons in her pocket.
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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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