The Abandoned Villainess Takes Everything This Time - Chapter 171

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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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171.
Iris pressed down ruthlessly with her heel.
“Ugh!”
“Now that I think about it, the Crown Prince got hurt because of my Black Lion, didn’t he?”
“……!”
“Heh. I saw it before coming here, you know? That man covered in blood!”
Iris’s lips curled upward in delight.
The fact that Lillian’s face had twisted with despair and devastation……!
This wasn’t Tillard family artifice—this was genuine fury!
“Why. Did that man die?”
“…….”
“Is that why you came back to the past? There’s another one too, isn’t there?”
Seeing Lillian’s drained face, Iris pressed down harder with her foot.
Blood began to seep from Lillian’s thigh.
“Oh, don’t tell me that one died too?”
“…….”
“Hmm, or did he get tired and abandon you?”
Iris laughed quietly to herself.
Ah, how pitiable Lillian was…….
She thought so highly of herself, yet she’d suffocate herself with such feelings.
“……Have you said all you wanted to say?”
“Wh—? Augh!”
Iris screamed and pulled her foot away.
Though Lillian appeared to have no weapon, something sharp had pierced Iris’s leg.
‘What—what did she use?’
Iris gasped, staring down at her ankle.
It was the sharpened tip of an earring.
‘Why won’t it come out?’
And it hurt even more as time passed.
But it was just an earring tip, wasn’t it?
Lillian rose unsteadily to her feet.
“I’ll compliment you this time—your imitation of someone else’s work is quite convincing.”
“Ugh……!”
“So convincing I might let you sell it under my name.”
Iris didn’t hear Lillian’s mockery.
Something was wrong.
Her body felt wrong.
It had been strange ever since falling here, bit by bit.
‘Why are there so many purple bruises showing up?’
Lillian’s voice followed, soft and deliberate toward the panicking Iris.
“Did you know how I fixed Ramio?”
“U-ugh—”
“I used my Control Ability to remove the traces the monsters left on him. Because of you.”
The smile faded from Lillian’s face, turning cold.
“Then in reverse, I can induce rapid monsterification. Can’t I?”
* * *
Lillian stared at Iris, who now gasped with fear.
Foolish, really—so why had I tolerated such foolishness?
Because coming close meant the attack wouldn’t be noticed, that’s why.
‘Even Ren suffered from Dark Magic’s side effects.’
If it did that to an S-class Ability User, then a weaker Controller’s body would inevitably face complications.
No matter how much Iris developed, she would inevitably make a mistake in the very precautions she should ‘obviously’ take.
“Ugh……! Aaaaah!”
When Iris finally collapsed in agony, her guards rushed toward her.
But several of them stopped halfway.
“M-My lady?”
“My lady’s skin……!”
Soft purple blotches were appearing across Iris’s skin.
Just like Markus.
This era was far more conservative and devout than Lillian’s original time.
A saint undergoing monsterification in such a situation?
‘There’s no way they’d accept such a being.’
Lillian grabbed Iris from behind.
And she spoke truly like a villain.
“Don’t come near.”
“You……!”
“Your saint is still your saint even if she monsterifies. Isn’t she?”
Lillian smirked at them as they wavered for a moment.
So shallow. If they’d truly had genuine affection, they would have attacked Lillian without hesitation.
“Or perhaps you should all just sleep.”
Lillian released the Butterflies.
* * *
Lillian dragged Iris toward the coffin.
Despite her pain, Iris resisted fiercely.
“Let—let go! Let go—!”
Crack! Crack!
Hands hardened from crafting artifacts struck Iris’s face twice in rapid succession.
“Ow!”
Your first time taking a physical blow, is it?
Iris stared up at Lillian with an expression of utter disbelief.
“How—dare you—”
“Why. Do you think I’d just stand here while you talk like that?”
Lillian had long since stopped feeling anger toward Iris.
Rather, Iris had become something almost amusing—pitiable in a way that wasn’t good.
But.
“You touched something you should never have touched.”
Even as family treated her like a fool, she continued to support them, even once dying in Iris’s place.
Lillian’s driving force had always been love.
‘In the beginning I thought I’d just live well alone, of all things.’
But she’d grown attached to House Baltazar.
Someone loved Lillian, and Lillian loved him—and that’s how she came this far.
How could she stand idle when that driving force was being disrespected?
Lillian dragged the weakened Iris’s hand and pressed it against the Control Stone Coffin.
As she forced power into it, four coffin lids opened in sequence.
Lillian looked down at the woman from House Baltazar’s side, the man from House Boliver, and the human from House Tillard.
If I’d had more time, I would have marveled more at these faces.
‘Even though it’s so long ago, I can see the similarities.’
Heredity truly was terrifying.
Even though they were complete strangers, seeing them made me yearn for that person.
And…….
Lillian brushed the forehead of the five-year-old Prince Tarandia.
His silver hair was so soft it looked like a tiny lamb’s wool.
“Don’t hurt anymore.”
“Ugh…….”
“When you come to, you need to escape from here quickly, yes?”
I have to meet your descendants later, after all.
But then the ground trembled.
“……!”
The sky beyond the windows began to darken further.
And ominous red light began to envelope the Temple Surroundings.
“……Heh.”
Iris, bruised and battered, let out a girlish laugh.
“Looks like they’ve already started the Sacrificial Ritual?”
“……Hah.”
“Why, shouldn’t you go stop it?”
Iris smiled wickedly even as blood dripped from her nose.
“That’s your specialty, isn’t it? Pretending to be good and ruining my plans.”
“Oh, really? But what can I do?”
Lillian set Iris down on the ground with an audible thud and laughed.
“You didn’t think I’d have someone come pick me up separately?”
Despite trembling, Iris’s eyes burned fiercely with fear.
“……Surely not.”
“Surely is always indeed.”
Lillian smiled wickedly.
“I really am grateful, Iris. For loving me so much.”
“……!”
“Thanks to you, I saved the people in the Underground. Wasn’t having my thigh stepped on worth it?”
Evren could come save her whenever he chose.
‘Since he’s already entered the Temple!’
But while Lillian drew all attention here toward herself and Iris, it would be more efficient for him to do something else.
‘There are a thousand people. Getting them all to escape in an orderly fashion will be difficult.’
‘So? Are you offering to be bait?’
‘Even if I didn’t want to, Iris would probably take me anyway.’
‘Ever since your legs got better, have you been doing everything like this?’
‘…….’
She felt a Rift tear open behind her back.
A familiar scent reached her.
The way he wrapped his arms around Lillian’s waist was familiar too.
Iris’s face twisted beautifully with rage.
“……Lillian!”
Then, for the first time, Iris’s Control Ability took concrete form.
Once called the ‘Flower of Tillard,’ it now resembled an insect with countless legs.
But the power was vast enough to block the Rift.
S-class Control Ability mixed with Dark Magic created something grotesquely powerful.
Evren exhaled softly near Lillian’s ear.
“She’s completely shattered.”
“My Lord, the Temple—!”
The pillars supporting the building trembled under that power.
At this rate the Temple would collapse!
“My Lord, the people—!?”
“That Rowan continues to support their escape. But a bit more time is needed.”
“Ah……!”
“Just a little longer.”
This building had to hold out longer.
But the growing massive Control Ability insects shook the building even more violently.
If she used Annihilation to destroy them, one wrong move and the building would become even more precarious.
Lillian gnashed her teeth.
“Really.”
How does she know I hate insects, and conjure exactly those things?
“Iris.”
Lillian drew out a weapon she’d believed would have no use in this era.
A Torch was the answer instead of insecticide.
“Try surviving 1,600 degrees!”
“Ah……!”
Iris shielded her face with both hands.
The grotesque insects vanished in the process—
“My Lord, is that enough!? Everyone escape—!”
“Yes……!”
The Rift opened again.
And as they were pulled through, Iris’s anguished scream echoed after them.
* * *
“Ta…….”
Escape from the Temple was successful.
Outside, the Controllers who’d been in the Temple Underground were fleeing in desperate panic.
But…….
‘Creator God, is this enough now?’
Lillian glanced anxiously around.
I’ve saved those in danger as you wished.
‘Then is Ren’s body now restored?’
Shouldn’t it all be over now?

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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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