The Abandoned Villainess Takes Everything This Time - Chapter 144

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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144.
Should she call him her future father-in-law now?
In any case, Lillian showed proper respect to the man who was holding back the World Collapse.
“I bow before you, Your Majesty. May the Creator God’s blessing be with you.”
“Thank you, Lillian.”
The Emperor offered a smile of impeccable beauty.
His condition, however…….
Regrettably, it still appeared far from well.
“May the Creator God’s blessing be upon you as well.”
“I am honored, Your Majesty. But if I may ask—where is this place?”
“The Space-Time Tower.”
Lillian followed the Emperor’s gaze as he turned to survey the walls.
Now that she looked closely, the memories of that ‘past life’ he had shown her were moving within the mosaic.
“To prevent the Distortion from the previous timeline from crossing over……I am holding it back here.”
“I see…….”
That ‘Distortion’—and yet it had appeared here as well.
While Lillian hesitated, searching for words, the Emperor spoke first.
“Lillian.”
“Yes.”
“Evren, who should not exist, has arrived in this timeline.”
“……!”
“Because you used Dark Magic to alter the time that was revived.”
At those words, her heart stung.
Even if she had made a wrong choice, she hated that Evren was being treated as foreign matter to be eliminated.
“And you’ve even Imprinted with him.”
“……Yes.”
“Sigh.”
The Emperor exhaled slowly.
At the end, she thought she heard something like, “I gave you warning, yet what have you been doing all this time?” But perhaps it was her imagination.
It didn’t seem as though he despised Lillian.
“Your Majesty. What should I do?”
She had weathered countless trials, and none had been easy.
But each time, there had been some confidence within her.
Information she’d known beforehand, or people who came to help her.
But this—this was beyond anything she could have imagined…….
“Lillian. The world cannot sustain more than one of the same person.”
The world’s capacity was simply not large enough, it seemed.
“So I shall continue my attempts to restore the number of people to what it should be.”
“You mean…….”
“You saw it too. The moment space-time began to Distort.”
Yes, she had. Evren had banished it briefly, but Lillian understood it was only a temporary measure.
“The longer Evren remains in this world, the more frequently the Distortion will manifest. Eventually, the world will……collapse.”
“Then I shall……k-……”
The word that should have followed was too terrible, so she trailed off awkwardly.
The Emperor shook his head quietly.
“It need not be that way.”
“Your Majesty?”
“As I said……it is because there are ‘two’ that the world cannot sustain them.”
A gaze beautiful yet cold as mineral fixed upon her.
It was a look that measured ‘utility.’
“Simply remove whichever of the two you love less.”
“……!”
“Since both are Imprinted upon you, it should not be difficult.”
Her heart lurched.
What did he mean by that?
“Ah, no……if Evren has you Imprinted upon him……then killing Ren would leave you without aftereffects.”
He spoke of his own son the way one might assess the unit price of merchandise—without a shred of sentiment.
‘His intentions seem harmless enough.’
After all, this man too was Tarandia without a heart.
“If you simply ask Ren to surrender his life, you might be able to force it through the power of Imprinting.”
“Your Majesty. I will be with Ren.”
Lillian shook her head.
The Emperor’s expression shifted to one of bewilderment.
“……Why? That child will not be able to break the Imprinting between you and Evren. What meaning is there in a bond that is not destiny?”
“Your Majesty. Is something I have chosen worth less than destiny?”
“…….”
“And even if the two of them l—lo—love me, I have no right to ask them to die for that.”
If she did, how would she be any different from the Tillard Family that had abandoned her?
Yet.
‘The silence grew long.’
“……A peculiar child indeed.”
Lillian kept her lips firmly sealed.
No, Your Majesty. It is Tarandia that is rather more exceptional.
‘Either way, I have to find another solution.’
Left as things were, collapse was inevitable.
The two men would clash fiercely if they met again. But she could not accept peace purchased with the life of one of them.
‘But wait……’
Lillian tilted her head.
“Your Majesty. How did I come to be in this place?”
“…….”
“Did you summon me, Your Majesty?”
“……No. You too were called here by the command of the one who summoned me to this place.”
The Emperor pointed upward toward the ceiling of the Tower.
When Lillian slowly lifted her gaze, a soft light descended.
“By the Creator God.”
“……!”
And Lillian’s eyes flew open with sudden urgency.
“Hah……exhale.”
Thank goodness.
Lillian was in her room in the Castle, safe and sound.
‘I must have dozed off.’
She gazed down at Ren, who had fallen asleep with his arm pillowing his own head.
‘Perhaps we really will be stuck in these sixty days forever.’
And each time, he would grow indignantly upset in that adorably trivial way of his.
‘But that’s fine. We’ll face it together.’
Lillian rose from the bed and made her way toward the chair where she’d placed her belongings.
Evren had pestered her to make the rings together, then wouldn’t let her properly see the finished one.
‘I engraved words inside it. If he sees it now, it’ll spoil the surprise.’
Not that it wasn’t damaging to dopamine levels or anything.
Lillian forced her lips into a slight pout.
Because she was sad, she wanted to reproach him intentionally.
She carefully withdrew what lay in the small pouch.
A silver ring emerged.
It was a solitaire ring, with a single jewel set cleanly at its center.
‘Honestly, it has no value as an artifact.’
To think, putting regulatory circuits into such a small ring?
Why would there be specialists then?
‘But this is just…….’
Something the two of them made because they wanted to.
Lillian examined the inner surface of the ring.
What could the words be that Evren had engraved with such care, breaking expensive tools again and again?

“…….”
Lillian gazed at the ring in silence for a long moment.
She too had engraved words into the ring she had made for him.
Words written while she was uncertain of his true nature.
‘He must have seen it by now.’
Lillian placed the ring back in her pouch.
* * *
The Distortion that occurred in Silverin did not persist long, yet it sent tremendous shockwaves.
When this report reached the Imperial Palace, people whispered with held breath.
“There is no more delaying it.”
It was time to determine who would become Crown Prince.
“Wasn’t it already decided, honestly?”
“The Crown Prince, after all…….”
“And Lillian is with him too.”
“The Second Prince coupled with that Iris Tillard.”
There was no way to see him as a worthy Crown Prince candidate.
“Ah, but the problem is…….”
The Emperor frequently absented himself from state affairs.
Even accounting for his absence to fulfill his divine mandate as one of Tarandia—
“The Empress’s efforts in managing the realm during those times have been considerable…….”
In the end, Kail had benefited from his mother, whom he had so despised.
“Since the Crown Prince’s faction will likely emerge victorious anyway—”
So people whispered among themselves.
The day the Crown Prince Selection Tournament would be held drew swiftly near.

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