The Abandoned Villainess Takes Everything This Time - Chapter 170

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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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170.
Thud!
Iris’s guard kicked Rowan Sinclair’s body without mercy.
“Please! Please, help me!”
“Ah, really persistent, aren’t you.”
“Duke Pavil!”
Rowan gritted his teeth and held firm.
“This makes no sense, you know that—! Offering up a Controller so that everyone can be saved—!”
“How dare you defy the Saint’s will?”
Caius Pavil laughed mockingly and leveled his blade.
His own family had a Controller too, but he and Rowan were different.
“Just leave, Rowan. Otherwise your neck—!”
But in that moment, he and the Saint’s guard all snapped to attention.
“……An enemy.”
A terrible surge of ability was bearing down on them.
“Alert the Temple! We must protect the Saint!”
Caius was an A-rank Toxic Poison Ability User.
At his signal, they all activated Artifacts designed to counter toxic poison.
Since these were special Artifacts made by Iris, they were safe even breathing air saturated with deadly toxin.
‘I’ll saturate the entire area with poison and trap them here……!’
The poison was so potent that trees and grass withered to a sickly yellow.
“Come out.”
Caius scanned the surroundings. Still no sign of anyone falling.
He released more poison, expanding its reach further.
More, more still…….
Gasp!
“C-Captain, s—”
But then, subordinates who ordinarily could endure this much began to stagger.
Some collapsed, convulsing as if dying.
‘What—!?’
Did the Saint’s Artifact malfunction?
‘That can’t be possible……!’
Then a smooth, feminine voice came from behind him.
“That’s what happens when you use a knockoff.”
“……!?”
“You should use the genuine article. Consider it a good lesson.”
She was far too close. Chills ran down his spine.
“Who are you—!”
When he turned, he saw silver hair and a man’s hand.
The moment that hand gripped his face, consciousness slipped away into darkness.
* * *
Lillian noticed when those men exited the Temple without incident.
‘So they’re Iris’s knights. They must have set up some kind of passage spell with free movement.’
‘……Then I’ll kidnap them and use them as a key to break into the Temple.’
Right.
So Lillian decided to abduct them and use them as a key to breach the Temple.
‘The passage spell is woven into the uniform coat.’
It was convenient not having to drag these fools around.
Just steal the coat and that’s that.
“The sleeves are too long for you. Let me roll them up.”
“Oh, you don’t need to fold them——”
While Evren was rolling up her sleeves, Duke Pavil—battered and stripped of his uniform—thrashed about.
“Are you that villainous Lillian—!?”
When did I become a villain?
“Let go of that! How dare you humiliate me!”
Lillian attacked without emotion.
“Idiot.”
“What?”
“You look exactly like Kail, and you’re just as irritating.”
“You dare speak to a member of a noble House like that!”
“Don’t you look stupid? What’s your ancestor thinking, backing Iris anyway.”
“How dare you speak falsehoods about her! I will never forgive you!”
“I don’t need your forgiveness.”
Lillian raised her hand.
To show the Marquess Ring on her finger.
Duke Pavil’s eyes trembled.
“……How…… The Duke of Tillard still has children——”
“I’m the future Duke of Tillard. I came from the same era as Iris.”
He worked his lips soundlessly.
That made sense—this ring couldn’t be worn without the permission of the heads of the noble Houses.
He had no choice but to accept that Lillian was a legitimate Duke, willingly or not.
“Tell me, Duke Pavil. Why exactly are you on Iris’s side?”
“……She is——!”
The Duke couldn’t finish, but Lillian thought she had a pretty good idea.
‘The House of Pavil is brilliant at securing their own interests.’
You could tell just by the fact that they didn’t blindly fawn over an S-rank Controller.
So this man taking on a leadership role suggested there was some special benefit in this situation.
“Did you perhaps ask Iris for a favor? Something about family, or sacrifices, for instance?”
“……!”
“You shouldn’t take her word at face value.”
Lillian turned her back.
“……That girl is your descendant’s ‘Fated Partner.’ Yet she’s ‘here,’ isn’t she?”
“…….”
“Think carefully about what that means.”
Iris didn’t understand love.
So she had no idea how much the House of Pavil clung to their bloodline.
You could overlook it with Kail, but if she’d seen Empress Robellia’s nature, she’d know.
‘Well, I’ve made good use of my access card.’
Lillian turned her attention elsewhere.
A blonde knight with a sturdy frame.
“Thank you for saving us. I am Rowan Sinclair.”
Rowan Sinclair, the knight.
Could he be Noah’s ancestor……?
“This way, Miss. And…… you too, knight.”
“Thanks.”
“Oh, no, not at all.”
Even now, with such deep faith, that true bloodline flowing through him.
But then Evren stared intently at Lillian.
“What is it?”
“…….”
“……?”
Why was he sighing at the sight of her and turning away?
“We should hurry.”
Lord Rowan spoke with urgency.
“The Sacrificial Ritual will begin soon. If we don’t act, innocent people will——!”
“How many are there, and where are they being held?”
“A thousand people in this Temple alone. All confined underground.”
A thousand?
He wasn’t misspoke—he really meant a thousand and not a hundred?
‘To evacuate that many people quickly, we’ll need time.’
Lillian looked up at Evren.
“Your Highness, we need to discuss our strategy.”
“Running short on time?”
“I’m afraid so. A thousand people is a lot. We’ll need to organize them properly——”
While Lillian and Evren were hastily conferring,
Bang!
The moment the deafening sound erupted, the person she’d been speaking with vanished.
“……!”
Lillian stood frozen.
A barrier far more powerful than the one she’d seen outside the Temple materialized in an instant around her.
And she alone had been summoned inside it.
“Welcome, Lillian. I’ve been waiting.”
“…….”
Lillian’s eyes narrowed as she glanced over her shoulder.
A truly persistent curse, this connection between them.
“Hello, Iris.”
“Oh my, hello to you too, Lillian.”
Iris smiled more brightly than ever before.
Mimicking Lillian’s gestures and expressions so unsettlingly that it raised her skin.
* * *
“You must have anticipated my coming.”
“Oh my. If I’ve suffered it this many times, shouldn’t I have learned by now?”
Iris cradled one cheek and tilted her head inquisitively.
“Did you really think I’d surrender so meekly?”
Lillian let out a scoff.
Iris shook her head.
“Lillian, I’ll give you this—I admit it.”
Even if it burned inside.
“I can’t defeat you with Control.”
Ah, how she hated that.
But Iris had now learned one definite weakness of Lillian’s.
Snap!
When Iris snapped her fingers, one wall of the chamber revealed itself.
Lillian’s eyes widened.
The leaders of the Five Families in this era.
No—all except Pavil, locked in coffins made of pale blue Control Stone.
Control Stone. Tillard’s secret art for controlling Ability Users.
“Beautifully made, isn’t it? I locked it with my Control, so only I can open it. Kill me, and—well……”
“Iris, you——!”
“Now, now. Be careful. I might accidentally destabilize my Control.”
Iris laughed wickedly.
The most important trophy of all was young Tarandia.
“She’s adorable, isn’t she?”
“Ha……”
“I was worried about Tarandia without a heart causing a rampage, but a child is a child, right? The moment I heard that fixing her rampages would help, I believed it at once.”
Iris giggled at Lillian’s stunned expression.
If she’d been an adult, even Iris would have had trouble!
But as her laughter faded, her expression shifted entirely.
“What do you think will happen to the man you love if I kill her?”
“……!”
“Can the Crown Prince even exist if you go back?”
It wasn’t just Tarandia.
Iris gestured meaningfully at the other coffins, tapping them one by one.
Duke Baltazar, whose limbs had gone stiff from the Earth Ability.
Duke Boliver and others, scarred by the Fire Ability.
“You care for the future Baltazar, and you forgave my little brother. You’re close with the Boliver side now too, aren’t you?”
“Ha……”
“What do you think will happen if any one of them dies here?”
Naturally, even if Lillian returned to her original world, there was no guarantee those people would still be intact there.
“So you’ll never see me kill these people, will you?”
“…….”
“Kneel, Lillian. And you’ll be the first sacrifice.”
Lillian slowly lowered her hands.
Iris, catching this movement, issued her command.
Among the Holy Knights, there was one with the power to suppress strength.
“Use your Nullification Ability on this wicked witch.”
“Yes, Iris!”
“……Sigh.”
Finally.
Lillian has knelt before me!
Iris approached Lillian.
And she brought her heel down hard on Lillian’s thigh.

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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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