Surviving as a Terminally Ill Heiress - Chapter 74

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 74

* * *

“……The Helmutt Religion?”
There’s actually something like that?
I was stunned.
Of all things, a religion devoted to the Demon King.
I’d heard rumors of heretical religions for the past few years.
But in a country with the Grand Cathedral of the Goddess Nivellis, I’d assumed any heretical sect would amount to nothing more than some charlatan convincing naive villagers that he alone heard the Goddess’s voice.
Serious? Really?
“According to our investigation, it appears to be an organization formed when Demon King devotees—who existed in secret ages ago—formally united after the End of War. And…….”
Orka handed me a small scrap of paper.
Strange symbols were written on the yellowed note in an unknown script.
“What is this?”
“It’s supposedly a cipher that followers use to communicate with one another. We haven’t been able to decode it yet.”
I stared at it with profound unease, then set it down as though discarding something filthy.
And I asked why I’d sent Orka to the east in the first place, beyond this investigation.
“So, what did Count Olson have to say when you met him directly?”
“Following his predecessor’s wishes, the Count’s daughter will be treated as though she never existed.”
Of course.
Now I finally understood that rigid Count and Countess Olson’s choice to end their lives.
‘An only daughter devoted to the Demon King…….’
It was an entirely different matter from fathering illegitimate children by the dozen.
They had trembled with fear that their entire house might face ruin—might face complete family destruction.
At least they themselves had not been tainted by Olivia’s ideology.
“What’s happening to Baron Freeman, his former ally?”
“He’s already been arrested by the Holy Knight Order, so he’ll face swift judgment. His family will be interrogated as well.”
I pressed my palms against my forehead.
None of it still felt quite real.
The world is vast, and it contains all manner of people. I know this well.
But I cannot bring myself to accept that humans exist who serve the Demon King.
Humanity has waged endless war against the Demon Race, and only fourteen years ago did we finally achieve the End of War.
A life free from the torment of Demonic Beasts and the Demon Race—humanity sacrificed everything for it, and only now, at terrible cost, have we barely achieved it.
‘Their goal being to resurrect the Demon King……?’
These mad creatures. I want to reject that they are of the same species as I.
The newspapers made a spectacle of Olivia Olson’s suicide.
When it became known that she’d attempted to frame me, word spread only that she’d killed herself in prison.
The fact that she was a believer in the Helmutt Religion was not disclosed.
If such a thing became public knowledge, it would only create more gullible fools tempted by the ideology.
Moreover.
“Terion still hasn’t regained consciousness?”
“No. Physician Morgan has been attending him day and night, but…….”
His condition wasn’t improving.
In the midst of all this, Terion had collapsed.
The moment Olivia died, he’d gone limp like a marionette with its strings cut.
If he were to wake, I could at least interrogate him about whether he too was a Demon King devotee, or what exactly his connection was.
It was strange to dismiss it as merely a side effect of the Tasis.
If that were the case, he should have shown some violent reaction first. But Terion hadn’t regained consciousness at all.
All the physicians had examined him, yet none could determine the cause.
But there was one peculiar detail.
‘The wound on his finger still hasn’t healed,’ Morgan had murmured, tilting his head.
Morgan indicated the tip of Terion’s finger.
The wound from being cut with the Short Dagger during the Trial Assessment.
For some reason, despite having been sutured with fine thread, it showed no sign of closing or developing new flesh.
Even to my untrained eye, it seemed wrong.
Rather than living tissue, it looked almost as though a stuffed doll had been torn open…….
‘Since I’m thinking of it, I might as well take a look.’
Rising from my seat and leaving the room with Orka, I suddenly found my path blocked.
It was Scott.
“Ah, Miss……!”
Now that I thought about it, this was the first time he’d addressed me that way.
For years he’d done nothing but ignore me thoroughly, so I was struck anew by just how much contempt he’d shown.
But why was he still here?
When I questioned him with my eyes, Orka spoke with a slight smile.
“It seems your decision regarding him is needed.”
Begin as you end, I suppose. They want me to conclude this as well?
When I merely rolled my eyes to look at him, Scott cried out.
“I—I was deceived by that woman too!”
“I know.”
What can you do about stupidity?
I regarded him coolly.
At my indifferent response, his expression wavered between rage and desperate hope, and Scott crawled forward on his knees.
“Then, then you’ll forgive me—”
“Why would I?”
“Pardon……?”
Your being deceived doesn’t erase the fact that you tried to attack me. It doesn’t change anything.
I looked down at him coldly, watching confusion bloom across his face.
Truly a stupid man.
If only you’d kept quiet, paid your debts, and stayed in your place. We might have lived in peace.
‘And besides, you’re the one who retrieved Terion’s Tasis.’
That’s why Olivia involved you in her plot to dispose of me in the first place—to silence you, since you knew too much.
This man, foolish in so many ways and greedy to boot, should have fled when I spared him once before.
“I told you—there’s no second time.”
“That…….”
“Alec.”
Scott flinched violently.
Alec, who had been lurking in the darkness, stepped suddenly into view.
“Handle it.”
The Ambrose way.
After all, the Ambrose Residence exists outside the law.
I turned away from Alec’s broad smile, and a desperate scream erupted behind me.
A messy affair ended, and ties finally severed.

* * *

After sending Orka on his way, I’d just thrown open the door to Terion’s room.
Something felt off, and looking down, I noticed—
“Shasha?”
When had she followed me so quietly?
I was halfway through opening the door when I moved to scoop her up quickly.
“No, there’s a patient here…….”
“Meow.”
“Shasha!”
This disobedient little beast.
The moment she slipped through the partially open door, I hurried after her.
Morgan must have stepped out briefly—only Terion lay on the white bed.
He looked like a doll, as always.
The kind of doll that makes you want to place a finger under his nose to check if he’s breathing.
And beside that boy, a white cat sprang onto the bed and stared at him intently.
That shameless creature was clearly lingering just because Terion was handsome.
I clicked my tongue in disapproval.
Our youngest truly lived up to her name—she had no restraint when it came to attractive things.
I walked quickly to grab her, but as Shasha tilted her head, she began to sniff.
Then she brought her nose down to Terion’s motionless finger.
If she bit him on top of a wound that won’t heal……!
As I rushed over, Shasha mercifully did not bite his finger.
She simply licked it gently with her pink tongue.
“Phew…….”
I scooped Shasha up and exhaled in relief.
Then I looked down at Terion, still sleeping peacefully.
No improvement, as I’d heard——.
‘Wait.’
There it was again.
A sense of déjà vu.
Just as when I’d encountered him at that tea party, he seemed subtly different from his usual self.
Then it had been his hair color.
His hair was the same quiet honey-brown as Ambrose Duke’s, the kind that would probably gleam golden in direct sunlight.
‘But for a moment it seemed to darken abruptly…….’
That’s what had struck me as odd. I’d dismissed it as a trick of the light.
But could this be just a trick of the light too?
Between flickering eyelids, his iris appeared.
Not just the familiar crimson.
‘Green…….’
A deep green, just like Olivia’s.
The two colors swirled like oil and water, incompatible and unresting, but when he blinked once, they returned to their original state.
I met his gaze.
A boy who resembled Ambrose Duke.
No—a boy who looked uncannily identical to him.
Raised by a woman who worshipped strange powers.
Perhaps even created by her.
So much so that he showed no will to choose anything for himself.
‘A doll-like child.’
And yet, from time to time he had looked at me and drawn near.
Small though it was, it was something vast.
The emotion contained in those glances was unmistakable.
“Would you like my help?”
“…….”
“I’m sorry for asking so late. Would you like my help?”
Terion blinked slowly.
With a single tear, the opaque veil that had wrapped around him seemed, at last, to peel away by one layer.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————