Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 67

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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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67. Sibling Reunion

No matter how much they searched, Seraph was nowhere to be seen.

“Don’t tell me he fell while we were fighting? Ugh, that can’t be.”

Muffin’s face turned pale as she had been bravely swinging her corruption fists at the front line. Rihua, who had been supporting the party from behind, denied it.

“No. I was watching from behind, but no one fell.”

“Then don’t tell me he fell while we were chasing?”

What if the prince had already fallen from the sky and they had unknowingly continued chasing only the condor? Marine’s face turned pale at the possibility she raised. This time, even Rihua couldn’t deny it.

“We all saw Seraph being carried by the condor to the nest. He wouldn’t have fallen midway.”

“The branches here are tangled in a complex structure, so he might have fallen through somewhere.”

A bird’s nest should be comfortable, with branches as the foundation, small twigs filling the gaps, and soft down filling the interior.

However, the Labyrinth Condor’s nest was nothing more than logs haphazardly woven together at the cliff’s peak. The nest materials weren’t branches but logs, so while it was a fairly tightly woven nest for the large condor, from a human perspective, there were holes everywhere that one could fall through.

“There’s space below the nest!”

Ralph, who had been digging downward ignoring the scratches from branches on his body, shouted. Ralph’s discovery didn’t stop at just the space below the nest.

“There’s a treasure chest too!”

“A treasure chest?”

Olive, who had been helping Count Randy organize materials, looked up. She used her small frame to descend below the nest faster than anyone else.

“Yes! This is a chest that gives really good stuff! Better than the shiny chests!”

After hearing Olive’s delighted voice, unexpected words followed.

“Found the prince!”

The guide who had rushed off alone to open the treasure chest while others were looking for the prince had found him?

At this surprising news, everyone looked below the nest. Marine took her axe and cut wood to make a hole for easier descent.

Hazel went down first and helped Serena descend.

Rather than being flat or convex, the peak was slightly concave, making the space wider than expected.

Serena forced her trembling body upright and surveyed the surroundings. She wondered how they had found him, but she could tell the moment she saw.

The prince stood inside the treasure chest with a sullen expression.

“Wait, how did you even think to hide in a chest?”

“Shut up.”

“I thought the prince was the treasure for a moment. Because you’re so pretty.”

“How dare you try to insult me! Shut your mouth this instant!”

“Since when did being called pretty become an insult?”

“I told you to shut up, lowly creature!”

“Wow, a royal who actually talks like this really exists.”

Seraph glared at Olive with irritated eyes before stepping out of the treasure chest. When Olive extended her hand to help, he frowned and ignored her.

Platinum hair slightly darker than Richard’s and transparent amethyst-colored eyes. Despite his young age, wrinkles between his brows where irritation had settled, and dark circles under his eyes from an irregular and dissolute lifestyle.

Yet his beauty couldn’t be ignored.

Grand Duke Seraph Parkling Huaim was a beautiful boy that even the extreme Duke Oren faction couldn’t deny. Depending on taste, some would rank Seraph, not Philia, as Huji’s greatest beauty.

Seraph ignored Olive and spoke to Ralph, who was a knight.

“Did you catch that insolent bird?”

“Yes! We caught it!”

“Too slow. My legs almost cramped up.”

“I’m sorry!”

Seraph grumbled to Ralph with irritation written all over his face. Seeing people descending below the nest one by one, his expression soured even more.

These were people who had come to rescue him, yet no trace of joy or gratitude could be found on the prince’s face.

“Instead of wasting time gathering in a useless crowd, you should have worked harder to rescue me quickly. Incompetent fools.”

“Ah, really so rude. I want to hit him once.”

Olive gritted her teeth while pretending to hit Seraph from behind. Muffin, who had known Seraph the longest, stepped forward.

“Lord Seraph! Don’t you have something to say first?”

“Don’t tell me you want to hear thanks from me? If you idiots hadn’t said stupid things, I wouldn’t have been caught by that insolent monster bird.”

“Not that, but like an emotional reunion or something.”

Muffin subtly pushed Serena forward. The sister who had been there since Seraph came out of the treasure chest, but whom her brother had been pretending not to notice.

“What? What’s that. Don’t tell me.”

Seraph’s eyes, which had been ignoring Serena’s very existence, finally landed on her.

Was he pretending not to see her because he was afraid of being scolded? Or was he ignoring her because he was sulking about being rescued late?

Having watched him die seven times and now seeing her brother who had escaped the crisis of death, she wasn’t angry even at being ignored.

‘I had so much I wanted to say.’

The moment she saw him, she wanted to grab him by the collar and scold him for not taking care of himself and making people worry, but seeing his face, no words came to mind.

She felt like crying. If she cried here, it would ruin both her dignity as a princess and as an older sister. Serena controlled her breathing and held back tears. Watching this, Seraph was startled.

“Wait, are you Serena? You’re so dirty and ugly I didn’t recognize you.”

The tears instantly dried up.

“Olive. You can hit him once for me.”

“Yes! I love you, Princess!”

“Ridiculous! If you dare lay a hand on me, you’ll face extreme punishment!”

Olive approached the prince with a meaningful smile. Reading the sincerity mixed with the joke, the prince urgently requested protection.

“Stop her! You there, knight! Stop her! She’s a wicked traitor!”

When asking others for help, it’s better to designate a specific person rather than just shouting for help. Ralph, designated by Seraph, awkwardly positioned himself between Olive and the prince.

While Olive continued the mock battle, going easy on Ralph, Seraph got angry at the instigator of the assault.

“Serena!”

Serena silently raised her right hand. Then Seraph reflexively cowered and took a defensive stance.

The action of raising his arms to get hit less was too natural. The eyes filled with fear, anticipating the pain that would follow the hand-raising motion, were also natural.

It was sad that despite his noble status as second in line to the throne, he was accustomed to violence. Even more so since they had grown up being beaten together.

But what made Serena sadder was the slightly upturned corners of his mouth beneath the eyes filled with fear and terror. The terrible affection deficiency that considered even violence as attention.

She had used her whole body climbing the stairs and had no strength left to hit. Serena lowered her hand. Her brother felt both relief and disappointment.

“You fool.”

Serena hugged her brother, who was still shorter than her, and leaned her body against him.

“Ugh!”

Seraph was surprised because he never expected his sister to hug him and lean on him, so he flailed about before barely managing to maintain his balance.

Though the prince had been caught off guard, he blushed, perhaps embarrassed that he had barely managed to support his leaning sister.

“Idiot! What are you doing all of a sudden!”

“I used up all my strength climbing up here, so I have no energy.”

“But you have strength to talk? Hey, Serena. You smell rotten. Ugh. What have you been doing that you smell like. Urgh. Disgusting. Your body and clothes are sticky too. Hey, get away. If you have any conscience, get away!”

Seraph, who had died seven times, had no conscience. Serena silently tightened her arms around her brother.

As Seraph said, her body smelled sour and foul. Her brother, who seemed not to have suffered much, smelled good.

From the moment Seraph fell from the narrow path and died until now, she felt like she hadn’t been breathing properly.

Holding him close, touching his warm body, hearing his breathing, and feeling the heartbeat transmitted through their touching torsos, she finally felt the reality that her brother was alive.

“You fool. I was really worried.”

“I was… I was worried too.”

Many people smiled warmly at the sight of the siblings worrying about each other.

Count Randy and Muffin, who knew the siblings well, smiled awkwardly while waiting to see how long this unfamiliar scene would continue.

They hoped it would last as long as possible, but it seemed it couldn’t.

“But why didn’t you come to the 1st Floor?”

“Ah! Aah! Aaaah! Let go, won’t you? It hurts! Let go quickly!”

The prince, whose ear was being pinched by his sister, flailed his hands and grabbed the princess’s hair.

“Ah! Has he gone crazy? How dare you grab your sister’s hair?”

“Pinching your brother’s ear is okay? Let go quickly.”

“You let go first, and I’ll let go too.”

“I was going to let go anyway! Your hair is rotten too! It smells! Disgusting! Your hair is so greasy it’s clumped together!”

‘Says the one who died falling in dung!’

It was regrettable that she couldn’t attack with this since it had been undone. When Serena released his ear, Seraph ran backward and sneered. Serena countered her brother’s sneer with elegant sarcasm.

As always, Seraph lost the war of words but refused to admit defeat and screamed.

The reunion of the Huaim siblings was followed by loud shouting as always.

Didn’t they say you could die if you did something you’d never done before? Count Randy and Muffin felt relieved seeing the familiar scene.

***

A treasure chest even better than the one that contained the magic map. The item inside the dazzling treasure chest that was entirely gold-plated, not just the edges, was actually a subspace bag.

“A subspace bag appearing on the 3rd Layer!”

Olive was shocked.

‘So it wasn’t all disadvantages.’

As the difficulty increased, the treasure chest rewards had also improved.

The bag Seraph found had less capacity than Count Randy’s bag, but it was certainly a valuable item. Seraph naturally claimed ownership of the bag.

“It came from a treasure chest I discovered and opened first, so naturally it’s mine.”

“But you would have died if we hadn’t saved you, right? Right?”

“I don’t know what your background is, but everything you say is utterly foolish. Saving me is a natural duty.”

Olive pretended to be sick at Seraph’s arrogant statement. Seraph held out the subspace bag to Count Randy and commanded.

“Transfer the food and potions in there.”

“Pardon?”

“Do you mean it’s too precious to give to me?”

“What? Of course not. I was thinking it would be more convenient to carry the condor meat and materials from the nest in here when we go up. Hahaha.”

“Who said anything about going up? We’re going down, so pack the food.”

At the prince’s shocking statement, everyone’s gaze focused on Seraph. Seraph once again ordered them to pack the food. Instead of moving his hands, Count Randy looked at Serena.

Serena pressed her temple firmly with her thumb. The headache that had subsided after confirming her sibling’s survival showed signs of returning.

“Seraph. Don’t tell me you’re planning to conquer the labyrinth?”

‘Did this kid also encounter the Labyrinth God or something?’

Serena was about 90% convinced that the Labyrinth God was their ancestor. Wasn’t Seraph also a member of House Huaim? Even if not regression, he might have received some kind of revelation.

But her sibling reacted with displeasure.

“Conquer the labyrinth? Why would I do such a thing?”

“Have you ever met or sensed a god with crimson eyes?”

“A god? What nonsense are you suddenly spouting? Are you sick somewhere? Did you eat something wrong?”

‘Says the guy who died from eating poisonous mushrooms.’

The person who fell into a dung pond and ate the wrong mushrooms was both her sibling, but it was frustrating that she couldn’t confront him since those things never happened.

Anyway, Seraph seemed to know nothing about or have any inkling of the Labyrinth God. Serena became even more puzzled.

“Then why do you want to go down into the labyrinth?”

“Well, obviously.”

For the first time, something called determination appeared in the eyes of the prince who was always filled with irritation and resentment when sober, hazy when drunk, and filled with madness when gambling.

“Because I have to kill Richard.”

It was just unfortunate that the determination that finally emerged was murderous intent.

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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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