Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 61

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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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61. Seraph (4)

Why do ominous premonitions never miss their mark?

She hurried as much as possible, but the bridge was already cut off from the other side. With no choice but to take the long way around. Serena ignored Olive’s forced rest declaration.

“Princess. Don’t be stubborn for no reason.”

“Olive is right. The cave is dangerous, but if your legs give out while walking on bridges or narrow paths, it’s truly dangerous. It can’t be undone.”

That’s other people’s story – Serena can undo it. So she’ll push forward.

Perhaps Serena’s resolute determination got through, as the party stopped trying to dissuade her. Walking the narrow path while feeling bitter about having half the vision of others, Ying, who had been staying in the back, suddenly spoke.

“Found them.”

“What’s there? It’s too dark to see that far.”

Olive looked up at the sky first upon hearing about a discovery. This was because all monsters appearing on this layer were flying types. The evening night sky was just dark without stars or moon, as befitting the Labyrinth.

“Not the sky, the cliff.”

“Did the formidable enemy the Princess mentioned appear?”

Olive and the other companions all tensed up looking for the giant chamois. Even in the dark, if something as massive as a formidable enemy moved, they should be able to make it out, but nothing was visible.

“Huh? That couldn’t be?”

“Too slow.”

Ying told the guide that the discovery was late. She didn’t seem to intend any reproach or mockery, but the listening guide would feel bad about it.

“It’s amazing that you spotted that in this darkness at this distance.”

The guide, who was actually feeling bad, grumbled. Serena wondered what they were looking at and squinted her one eye, examining the cliff on the other side that was even harder to see due to shadows cast over the already dark area.

“I cannot find anything – is there something there?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Princess, over there. Follow my finger and look at that cliff over there!”

Following Olive’s finger in a straight line. Looking carefully at the cliff of a peak quite far away, something was moving attached to the wall.

Serena blinked several times to focus and succeeded in catching a glinting light.

It was light made by magic. Relying on that light, five people were carefully moving along a narrow path carved into the cliff.

Gold glinted from the middle of the procession. It was undoubtedly Serena’s younger brother, Grand Prince Seraph Parkling Huaim.

“Seraph!”

Her younger brother is alive!

Though the distance was too far for her voice to be heard, Serena unconsciously called out to her brother.

“Well, we’re one thing, but they’re also dangerously forcing a night march. Did the prince over there also say to go~”

“Is that person Prince Seraph? He seems to be safe!”

“I don’t know who the other people are, but it seems they were exploring the Labyrinth in cooperation. That’s fortunate.”

The distance was far and it was dark, so confirming how many people there were was the most they could do. Being able to recognize Seraph immediately was thanks to the pull of blood relations.

“Well, it’s fortunate that he seems safe.”

When Serena let out a sigh of relief, Count Randy smiled warmly.

“Ah.”

Ying, who rarely opened her mouth, made a surprised sound that was small but audible to all party members.

“Why? What’s wrong now?”

If the silent archer was surprised enough to make a sound, it wasn’t ordinary. Just as Olive anxiously urged for an explanation and Serena was about to join in.

A swarm of bats took flight from the crevices of the cliff where Seraph’s party was walking the narrow path. Seraph’s party, who had been walking the narrow path without safety equipment, were startled by the bat swarm or pushed by them and fell down the cliff.

“Ah. Aah. Aaaaaaaaaaah.”

“Gasp! Wh-what about the Prince!”

“Hup. Wh-what should we do. Lady Serena. Lady Serena?”

The party was too shocked and flustered to speak properly. Setting aside the death of the prince they hadn’t met, they were at a loss for how to comfort the princess who had suddenly witnessed her brother’s death.

Serena blinked, unable to believe the scene she had just witnessed. She had been happy that her dead brother was alive, but he fell so futilely and died again.

There was no way to survive a fall from this height, so her brother was dead. He died at a young age before even becoming an adult.

The purple-haired lady took control of Serena’s mind. She managed to drive the lady from her head, but felt suffocated inside.

It felt different from when she discovered the corpse that died from eating poisonous mushrooms. This time it felt real.

“Lady Serena! You must breathe!”

Count Randy, who had been walking ahead, kept making noise and rudely pinched the back of her hand – apparently Serena had been unable to breathe the whole time.

“Keh-hek!”

“Yes! That’s it! Breathe out, breathe in!”

“Princess, it’s dangerous here, so let’s go into the cave. Let’s sit down somewhere first.”

Seraph. Serena’s younger brother, two years her junior, was the child among her reincarnated new family who felt most like real family.

A drug-addicted father, a mother whose mind wasn’t sound unless it was a day with lightning, a grandfather too busy missing dead family members.

Thanks to the indifference of guardians who wouldn’t be out of place in a trashy drama, Seraph grew up as a stubborn, selfish, and arrogant boy. His affection deficiency was at an innate level.

A prince who grew up without receiving even the essential affection that would have been taken for granted like air if he had been born into an ordinary family.

Serena felt sorry for such a brother, and simultaneously burdened by him, sometimes drawing close and sometimes keeping distance.

She had wondered what kind of adult that little brat would grow up to be. She never imagined he would die in the Labyrinth before becoming an adult.

‘Seraph dies again? So absurdly like this?’

Being royalty, there was always the danger of assassination. There were many times he almost ate poison, and assassins had come. He almost died because of his drug-addicted father, and even.

‘Mother.’

Everyone around was saying something to Serena, but as if she had dived underwater, she couldn’t hear any sound. Instead, the sound of lightning was loud. The Labyrinth’s night sky was clear without a single star, but strangely Serena heard thunder in her ears.

The mother of siblings Serena and Seraph would return to her right mind on days with thunder and lightning. Her brother, who craved their mother’s affection, would never leave their mother’s side on days with lightning.

Serena, who had nearly died several times at the crown princess’s hands, ordered that her brother and mother should never be left alone together, but her brother, who wanted to monopolize their sane mother, sent people away and…

Her throat felt tight. She couldn’t breathe. Serena let go of the wall she had been holding and scratched at her throat.

That time, Serena arrived not too late, and her brother lived.

But this time, Serena was late. She had hurried but was still late. Her brother died. He fell from an endless chasm and was smashed to pieces.

“Death by falling is really the worst.”

Serena ignored Count Randy’s hand trying to grab her and threw herself down the cliff.

***

After the terrible pain of her entire body breaking, she saw crimson eyes.

Saving her brother was one thing, and meeting with the god was another. Serena barely managed to recall the question she had wanted to ask.

Her whole body hurt so much she almost forgot what it was.

“What does it mean that I die when Richard reaches the end of the Labyrinth?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.”

“The end of the Labyrinth means he conquered the Labyrinth, right? But why must I die?”

“Because that is the child’s wish.”

‘Did he hate me that much?’

Her cousin brother who was desperate to pretend they were close – his wish was Serena’s death? If he wanted to kill her that badly, he could just kill her directly, so what was the point of conquering the Labyrinth?

“I don’t understand what you mean at all. But more than that, a wish.”

Those who reach the final floor of the Labyrinth have their wish granted by the god.

Serena recalled what Ying had said. Fellow Labyrinth explorer Olive had dismissed it as nonsense, but the Labyrinth God mentioned wishes.

She was about to ask more details about wishes, but when she blinked, Serena was standing in front of the statue.

“Honey, take care of yourself. Please take care of Lady Serena.”

“You be careful too, dear. I will definitely protect Lady Serena.”

The Count Randy couple exchanged touching farewell greetings.

‘My whole body hurts.’

Her mind was dizzy and her whole body ached as if beaten. It wasn’t just surface pain – it throbbed all the way to her bones.

She wanted to soak her body in warm water and drink cool lemonade. The fact that she died and returned was erased, but the princess wanted to bathe.

She would gladly die ten more times if she could soak and laze in hot water.

The hot spring she saw in the shop window took over her mind. Though she knew it cost only 1 coin but took up too much space to install, she wanted it so badly.

‘Get it together, Serena!’

Not knowing when or how her brother might die, and she’s thinking about hot springs? She needed to think sensible thoughts!

Serena shook her head vigorously and spread out the magic map to shorten the already shortened time even more.

***

The previous mistake was expecting the bridge to be intact if they arrived early. This time, she planned the route assuming the bridge would already be broken.

Thanks to this, they approached their destination much faster. This time, she didn’t get hit by any dung either.

‘Right. This is how it should be.’

Reflecting the Princess’s anxious heart, the party moved quietly but swiftly. Upon reaching their destination, Serena encountered a scream she had heard before.

Aaaaak!

Something like a human scream carried on the wind. The group, having been warned by Serena about the formidable enemy’s peculiar cry, wasn’t surprised.

“That cry is really annoying.”

“It sounds exactly like a human voice. If the Princess hadn’t warned us, we would have been fooled.”

“There’s still distance so it’s fine, but since it has a weakening effect, we should be careful going forward.”

Aaaaak!

“It really cries non-stop, so loudly.”

“I wonder if its throat doesn’t hurt.”

“Actually, in areas where chamois live, they catch them on sight because of that unpleasant crying and crop damage.”

Uaaak!

“Oh, this one’s a bit different.”

“That one really sounded like a human scream.”

“You’re right. It sounded similar to someone I know’s voice, so I was startled.”

“That last one wasn’t a chamois cry. Count Randy is right.”

Serena ran ahead of the Guide and went outside the cave.

Just as the Labyrinth Deer had done to Serena, it was blocking the cave and confronting people. Among the confronting people, Serena spotted her sibling.

“Seraph!”

“Is that the Prince? We must help quickly!”

“Uaaak! Uaaaak! Quickly get rid of this monster! Quickly!”

Serena’s sibling was making a fuss, screaming loudly enough to overpower the Labyrinth Deer’s cries, when.

“Huh.”

He was crushed between the interlocking teeth inside the Labyrinth Deer’s maw.

Serena could only blink, unable to believe the sight of her sibling being eaten to death by the chamois.

“Huh. Huh. Huh.”

“The Prince…!”

“Se, Serena, please calm down. You all go help those people. Quickly.”

Count Randy, restless, sent Olive, Ying, and Ralph to save the remaining people. Count Randy stayed by Serena’s side and led the Princess deeper into the cave.

“Lady Serena, steady your breathing…”

Inhale, exhale.

“Yes, that’s it. Once more, take a deep breath in and out…”

Inhale, exhale.

Every time Serena took a deep breath, the disgusting smell of blood entered through her nose and stabbed her brain. Since there was distance to where the chamois was, this bloody smell was an illusion.

Thanks to the bloody illusion, Serena faced the harsh reality.

‘Does this make sense?’

She tried to save her sibling who ate poisonous mushrooms, but he died absurdly from falling. She died trying to save her sibling who fell absurdly, and this time he was eaten by a chamois.

Again before her eyes, he died again. If she had come just a little faster, she could have saved him, but she failed to save him this time too.

‘Either come faster, or catch that chamois bastard beforehand.’

Seraph was someone who couldn’t control his temper and would burst out yelling at the drop of a hat. She should have considered the possibility that if they didn’t draw aggro from this side, the other side would have attracted the formidable enemy’s attention, but she failed to do so.

Fortunately, Serena had a chance to undo this mistake. Serena escaped from Count Randy’s embrace as he desperately tried to calm her and threw herself off the cliff.

‘I really hate falling to death!’

Of course, she thought it was better than being chewed to death by a chamois.

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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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