The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 51

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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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“…Thus, our casualty count stands at ninety-four. Of these, twenty-two have fallen, while the wounded are receiving treatment.”
Ninety-four. A staggering seventy percent of the Fortress garrison.
The bitter taste of medicine lingered persistently on my tongue.
‘Had this been a true battlefield, we would have already lost.’
The Grand Duke—that wretched man—lay bedridden and useless, accomplishing nothing.
Deprived of their commander and vanguard, the knights had been helpless against the assault. The lack of a proper command structure, coupled with their reliance solely on me, had proven catastrophic.
Fortunately, the plague victims who had endured their fevers one by one had prevented the Fortress from falling. I myself had regained consciousness faster than anticipated.
‘Perhaps it was merely a fever that would have passed naturally.’
Though a dull ache remained, the absence of serious aftereffects was something for which I should have been grateful to the heavens.
‘I’ve grown weak.’
I mocked myself silently.
Grateful to the heavens?
I had no heavens to trust, no divine refuge to lean upon.
“The City Walls have also been repaired. We should be able to hold until reinforcements arrive.”
“Fortunate indeed.”
I answered curtly and rose from my seat, striding purposefully from the room.
“W-where are you going, sir?”
The startled Adjutant hurried after me.
“The Infirmary.”
Upon entering the Infirmary, dozens of pairs of eyes immediately fixed upon me.
“Your Highness!”
I stopped one of them from attempting to rise and stand at attention, instead examining each wounded knight individually.
Those unconscious, I straightened their curled bodies into proper positions; those clutching bandages soaked with discharge, I ordered to have their wounds treated anew.
Before the knight who had lost half his face, I stood in prolonged silence, our gazes meeting wordlessly.
I understood that no words of comfort would suffice.
Yet the mere fact that my attention lingered upon them seemed to ease the soldiers’ shoulders, if only slightly.
‘Good that I came.’
A commander’s personal inspection of the wounded was enough to lift morale.
This decision had not sprung from genuine compassion or altruism.
My cold calculation weighed gains and losses even now, producing only decisions that maximized results with minimal effort.
The Military Physician I met shortly after bore a face brightened by hope for the first time in ages.
“At this rate, they will all recover without incident. With no new infections for two days now, this can only be called a miracle.”
A miracle.
Such things did not exist.
My eyes narrowed sharply.
“Do you truly believe it a miracle?”
“It defies natural explanation, so miracle is the only word. Unless the disease itself has vanished entirely… but I cannot identify any clear cause.”
“It’s the environment.”
As the fever subsided and clarity returned to my mind, a sharp insight crystallized.
In an isolated setting where an unidentified illness spread, we had naturally assumed it to be contagious.
But what if it wasn’t a disease, but rather a form of contamination?
He turned toward the Adjutant and issued his orders.
“Investigate the water source, the ventilation shafts, and the food storage. Report anything that differs from normal conditions.”
Understanding dawned across the Adjutant’s face.
“We’ve been looking at the cause all wrong.”
“Yes. We need to know now. Only then can we prevent it from happening again.”
Achilles clicked his tongue. Despite being preoccupied with the monsters, it was inexcusable that so many people had overlooked the most fundamental cause.
‘It’s fortunate it resolved naturally… but that means it could happen again at any time.’
He had to find the source quickly to prevent that.
That evening, the Adjutant appeared before him, his face drained of all color.
“Your Highness, in the Well… these were discovered.”
“…”
Achilles found himself at a rare loss for words.
Bracelets, necklaces, tiaras, pendants…
All the sort of jewelry a young noble girl might wear.
Except they were magical artifacts.
The magical artifacts, still dripping with water, emitted a faint blue glow.
He immediately recognized the intricate decorative patterns etched into the metal frames.
They bore the craftsman’s trademark—one I had personally selected.
My blood ran cold.
They were all magical artifacts I had given to Princess Melissa.
* * *
Thump.
Thump.
The diamond hairpin my brother said was pretty and fastened to my hair.
The amethyst necklace he told me to wear around my neck wherever I went.
The bracelet he said to throw without hesitation in emergencies.
‘…I liked all of it.’
All of it disappeared into the black, murky water.
I trembled as I dropped each magical artifact one by one.
The black water rippled as though it might rise up and swallow me at any moment.
The pounding of my heart echoed to the tips of my ears.
‘I… I have to do this to save my brother!’
There’s no way to make charcoal. I don’t have the confidence to convince others.
Then, suddenly, my brother’s words came back to me—what he’d said when he put the magical artifact around my neck.
“This will protect you from the monsters. Even if you can’t see them right away, the land where they swarm is all contaminated. Without this, you could get sick… you must wear it always.”
Back then, I’d only thought my brother worried too much, as he always did.
‘If it can fix contaminated land, then it can fix contaminated water too!’
I wanted to ask Tessa what she thought, but communications had been cut off for a long time.
I had to think and act for myself.
‘Frightening, but… no, I’m not scared. Just as my brother protected me, now I’ll protect him with these.’
Princess Melissa steeled her resolve and pushed all the remaining magical artifacts into the Well.
Thunk.
My heart sank at the unusually loud sound.
“Who goes there!”
It was the Sentinel’s cry—he was making his rounds on guard duty.
Princess Melissa quickly pressed her cloak down and tried to flee.
Her body swayed, the sky spun violently, and she tumbled into the Well…
“…!”
It was a dream.
A cold, high stone ceiling came into focus.
Princess Melissa stared blankly at the afterimage of candlelight flickering against the wall.
When she unclenched her fist, her palm was covered in nail marks.
Dropping the magical artifacts into the water instead of charcoal had been real—but that was days ago.
The Sentinel had never caught her.
Only the servants who drew water for meal preparation and laundry ever visited the Well.
‘It was all… something I did alone.’
I couldn’t describe how terrified I’d been of being discovered.
If everyone knew I’d dropped the precious magical artifacts my brother gave me into the Well, they would all try to stop me.
Even if I told them it was the only way to save my brother, they wouldn’t listen to the ravings of a ‘half-witted young lady.’
“Miss? Are you still sleeping?”
Princess Melissa sat up abruptly.
Shuria’s beaming face came into view.
“A-are you all better now?”
“Of course, Miss.”
The plate in Shuria’s hands was piled high with apple pie that wafted a delicious aroma.
“I thought you might be missing my apple pie, so I baked plenty.”

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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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