The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 48

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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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“S-so that’s why… I… I can’t leave. I could get sick just like the adults do…”
Princess Melissa’s voice trembled with tears.
“Even the Doctor can’t cure it. Everyone says it’s because of the curse!”
“…”
I needed to comfort her.
I needed to say something—anything—to reassure Princess Melissa.
But shock had stolen my words.
“Princess Melissa…”
“H-hic… ugh, w-waaah… *hiccup*!”
Princess Melissa fought against her mounting sobs, her body wracked with hiccups.
‘Get a grip!’
I scolded myself harshly in my mind.
I had to stay calm now.
I cleared my throat and asked Princess Melissa carefully.
Though I couldn’t quite keep the tremor from my voice.
“What about the Grand Duke? Is he unwell too?”
“My brother…?”
Princess Melissa’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know about him. Even if he were sick, he’d tell me not to worry!”
She was right.
My thoughts spiraled.
The situation at Athos Fortress was dire—catastrophically so.
With winter limiting supply lines and the burden of holding back monsters already overwhelming, an unknown plague spreading through the ranks was the last thing they needed.
This was something the Northern Territory couldn’t handle alone.
‘If Grand Duke Cardicha had requested aid from the Imperial Court, word would have spread by now. But I haven’t heard anything.’
Perhaps, contrary to what Princess Melissa feared, they could still hold out.
Or perhaps they didn’t even have the resources to make such a request.
‘They gave communication artifacts to both me and Princess Melissa. They must have a way to contact the Imperial Court.’
Unless the request had been denied.
I swallowed hard.
‘…Cain. The request might have gone to Cain.’
After all, it was Cain who had sent Grand Duke Cardicha to Athos Fortress in the first place.
I suddenly recalled how dismissively he’d regarded the Grand Duke.
‘…I shouldn’t dwell on uncertainties.’
I steadied myself.
What mattered now was Princess Melissa.
Not Cain.
“You said everyone’s sick. How are they sick?”
Princess Melissa looked at me with eyes ready to burst into tears.
“They’re vomiting. Can’t eat anything. If it gets worse, no one can even recognize them…”
I had no idea.
The Doctor himself didn’t know, so there was no way I could have figured it out.
But.
‘Here it’s early spring, yet Athos Fortress should still be in winter weather… an epidemic?’
After spending years rolling around in the Finance Ministry, I’d encountered quite a few cases where unfamiliar regions across the Empire reported epidemics and requested emergency funds and personnel.
‘What epidemic spreads in the dead of winter? What I thought was an epidemic turned out to be diseases caused by poor diet—like scurvy or beriberi.’
So once an Imperial physician was dispatched and identified the cause, it was resolved quickly.
‘Perhaps….’
I opened my mouth toward Princess Melissa.
“Princess Melissa, listen carefully. I’m going to ask you an extremely important question. I’d like you to think hard and answer me.”
“Huh…?”
Princess Melissa looked bewildered but nodded.
“Is there any food you didn’t eat, but other people did?”
“I don’t know.”
Princess Melissa shook her head vigorously.
“I ate the same things! Every single day, Shuria made delicious food for me….”
“Really nothing?”
“Yes!”
This time Princess Melissa nodded her head firmly.
“I don’t lie. It’s true. Really… I ate everything Shuria made for me!”
I took a moment to breathe deeply.
‘Think. I need to think.’
If food wasn’t the cause.
I began organizing all the stories Princess Melissa had told me so far in my mind.
A successful monster hunt, the fortress people excited by the rare visit of the Grand Duke and his sister, Shuria and Jeto and the soldiers treating Princess Melissa kindly….
Especially Shuria.
‘The well water was contaminated. So I couldn’t drink it… and Shuria gave me something called birch sap! That tastes good.’
I blinked several times.
Perhaps.
This might be the answer.
“By the way, Princess Melissa, can you drink water fine now?”
Princess Melissa’s eyes widened.
“Water…? No, I drink tree water. Even when I’m sick, Jeto always gives me tree water….”
It seemed worth investigating at least.
“Do you know where the water that made you sick comes from?”
“The well.”
Princess Melissa answered immediately.
“In winter, water only comes from the well.”
It became increasingly certain.
An isolated mountainous region, limited water sources, an unexplained epidemic.
‘The water source is contaminated.’
I swallowed a groan that threatened to escape.
Even if I could guess the cause, my options for addressing it were severely limited.
‘I’m not sure if everyone will listen to Princess Melissa… and even if they do, is there actually a way to solve this problem?’
I blinked.
‘There was a similar incident. I definitely read about it.’
Now that I thought about it, there had been an incident in “The Black Massacre.”
The location was entirely different, but it occurred in similar terrain during a similar timeframe.
Even the symptoms were identical.
‘…There’s no need to verify it.’
Verification was something to do when there was time.
For now, the best course of action was to simply replicate the solution the female protagonist of the novel had employed.
“Listen carefully, Princess Melissa.”
I spoke to the child slowly.
“It’s not a disease. And it’s not a ghost either.”
“Then what is it?”
“Check the well. There must be a problem with the water source.”
The cause was monster slaughter.
More precisely, it was a problem created because Achilles had been far too efficient at killing monsters.
The dead monsters released miasma, and due to Athos Fortress’s terrain, all that miasma accumulated in the well.
This only occurred in extremely rare geographical conditions where a massive-scale monster massacre took place—something even a monster expert would see perhaps once in a lifetime, if at all.
“Water source…? What’s that? And I don’t know how to check it…”
Princess Melissa’s voice trembled.
“Make a filter out of charcoal.”
The words flowed out effortlessly.
In “The Black Massacre,” it had been resolved just that simply.
“Don’t let anyone drink water that hasn’t been filtered through charcoal, and especially use it first on the patients to show them it works. Then everyone will believe you.”
I recited everything the possessed Princess Melissa in the novel had done.
I was grateful that the female protagonist of the book had managed to save the patients so easily without receiving any outside support whatsoever.
But Princess Melissa only stared at me with a hardened expression.
“…”
Silence fell.
Then.
“I can’t do something like that… How could everyone possibly believe me? And the very idea of making charcoal… everyone will think I’m strange. Besides, there’s a shortage of wood here. Everyone uses it sparingly.”
“…”
For a moment, I had no words.
Not because Princess Melissa was frustrating, but because of my own foolishness.
The Princess Melissa in “The Black Massacre” had resolved all of this with ease.
Of course she had.
She was an adult armed with all manner of modern knowledge.
It wasn’t the knowledge of an ordinary adult either.
It was remarkable how extraordinarily erudite this ordinary Korean woman was—knowing things that defied comprehension.
Even I couldn’t accomplish what that ‘Princess Melissa’ did so effortlessly.
She created beauty soap for acne-prone skin and sold it like hotcakes, formulated harmless dyes without toxic compounds and amassed a fortune, all with such ease.
Saving the lives of those close to her was practically a recurring episode in her existence.
Ultimately, she rescued my brother, and in doing so, saved the entire Empire from being consumed by the flames of catastrophe.
How on earth does she manage all of this?

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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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