The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 114

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 114

Sion had personally placed the helmet with the White Griffin horn into the box and locked it with his own hands.

And he had personally transported it from the ducal mansion all the way here to the academy.

But how could the phantom thief have attached a notice inside it? That would be impossible. Sion himself must surely think so too.

However…

His hand that had thrown open the box lid froze in midair.

One eye widened greatly, and his gaze became fixed on the inside of the box as if nailed there, unable to look away.

“…”

The auditorium became quiet without even the sound of breathing.

Could it be?

Shock began to spread among the people.

The Paleontology Academy Dean quickly approached and gasped in surprise as he lifted up the helmet.

“What on earth is this!”

The White Griffin’s horn that looked like transparent ice and seemed to contain sparkling starlight.

On the helmet with that mystical horn, a piece of paper was attached.

A very famous paper that most citizens of the Empire’s capital would recognize. The phantom thief’s crime notice.

“…!”

Look at those dazed expressions on Gremory Editor-in-Chief and the journalists’ faces.

‘Does the president really have something to rely on to act like that?’

‘No! That villainess is thoughtless! We’re ruined!’

It seemed the latter thought was somewhat more dominant. Their faces were telling me so.

I primly opened my fan and said.

“Pull yourselves together. We just broke a huge scoop. Thanks to this president’s bold gamble.”

I was reciting such shameless lines, but…

Actually, when Sion opened the box lid earlier, I was a bit nervous too.

Then I spotted a whitish aurora-colored haze seeping out from the gap between the lid and body, and only then did I feel relieved.

That was the mystical energy I had seen when I was sitting alone in the subterranean Master Guild headquarters beneath the chapel.

‘Ruellian must have left a mark. To show he had definitely handled what he promised to do.’

Thanks to that, our newspaper company broke a scoop that would turn the capital upside down today.

“Let me see that.”

I said as I took the helmet with the notice attached from the dean’s arms.

“But what should we do? The phantom thief has lost his mind and reached for our family’s belongings again! I should bring the Holy Knights like last time to teach him a lesson! But I’m busy preparing for the Founding Festival, so I might not be able to come here tomorrow night. To target such a time…”

I was acting cheeky and laying the groundwork like that, but somehow the atmosphere was strange.

Everyone’s eyes were wide as they stared only at the helmet in my hands.

More precisely, at the notice attached to it.

“…?”

I put the helmet back in its original position and tore off the notice to read it.

Now I saw that the content written there was different from usual.

I was shocked.

What? Right at this moment?

“What kind of ridiculous trick is this…!”

Sion burst into anger and reached his hand toward the helmet.

But then.

“Gasp!”

The Paleontology Academy Dean, who had been staring intently at the helmet, cried out in confusion.

“Wh-what is that!”

As everyone knows, there’s empty space inside a helmet. The space corresponding to a person’s head.

From that very space, pitch-black darkness suddenly began pouring out in clumps like ink dissolved in water.

And then…

With a sharp cry, something fluttered and popped out.

“It’s a bird! A bird!”

“It’s a crow!”

Everyone was startled.

When a large bird suddenly pops out and swoops toward you, it’s natural to be shocked even if you don’t have a phobia of birds.

Especially if that bird has a bizarre form as if molded from ink-like darkness.

But I was even more shocked than the others.

‘That’s… isn’t that the crow?’

Crows might all look similar, but the way it cried out long and flapped its wings felt somehow familiar.

The crow that had come looking for Eunice, got caught and caged, became a living surveillance camera, then died at Sion’s hands.

Its movements and appearance closely resembled that very crow.

I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

“…?”

Sion was also looking with a stunned face.

Forgetting that he had just been trying to snatch the helmet in anger.

The crow stared intently at Sion with eyes that glowed bright red.

It really is that crow, isn’t it?

He never would have dreamed he’d see it again.

Sion had killed that crow without a second’s hesitation. He must have thought something like that was fine to just kill.

But there’s no living creature in this world that’s fine to just kill.

Having experienced death once, I knew very well.

What it feels like when you want to breathe more but can’t. What it’s like to open your eyes in a body that’s grown cold.

‘People who kill lives don’t know that.’

The things you thought you could trample and discard sometimes come back.

Just like this Aristina.

Seeing the giant crow flapping its wings and crying as if to inform him of that fact, I felt a thrilling exhilaration in a corner of my heart.

“Did the phantom thief send it? Catch it! Quickly!”

“It won’t be caught!”

Sion, who had been stunned, came to his senses at the people’s voices.

But it was already too late. When the crow cried out long and spread its wings wide, pitch-black darkness covered all our eyes.

The next moment.

Everything suddenly disappeared.

The crow too.

The helmet with the White Griffin horn too.

People were shocked.

“It disappeared! The helmet disappeared!”

“The treasure was stolen!”

“What happened! Could it be black magic?”

At someone’s sharp voice, Sion’s hand flinched. I didn’t miss that small movement.

‘Someone’s talking about you? Does it sting terribly?’

Until now, whenever something happened, Sion would have simply resolved it using those evil techniques.

But this time he couldn’t do that.

No matter how brazen he was, he couldn’t use black magic in front of all these watching people.

So he helplessly had the precious helmet stolen. A purification item that was absolutely essential to him.

‘This was Ruellian’s plan. He used the fixed notion that the phantom thief always steals treasures the day after the notice is posted.’

And quite spectacularly at that.

With the crime employing special effects never seen before, the scene became even more tumultuous than during the Ice Crown incident last time.

“Was the phantom thief a mage? One who uses black magic at that?”

“No. What just happened wasn’t black magic. I can assert that on the name of the Magic Academy Dean.”

“Then what was it? Strange. Why did he suddenly use such strange power to steal the treasure? And why did he suddenly break the pattern of giving notice one day before the crime?”

“And how did 【Justice Daily】 know about this fact first?”

The journalists who were on site all rushed over and surrounded my newspaper’s editorial staff in a circle.

Who would have thought I’d see journalists interviewing journalists.

They must have been subtly ignoring us all this time, thinking we were a failing newspaper company.

【Justice Daily】 had suddenly become the newspaper company receiving the hottest attention.

“Editor-in-Chief Gremory! What happened? You got a scoop because of the president’s bold gamble? What does that mean?”

When someone pressed about my earlier statement, the editor-in-chief glanced up his monocle and looked at me.

“Exactly as it sounds. The president was our informant.”

Then the journalists all rushed toward me.

“Young Lady! Is this true?”

“How did you find out that the thief was targeting this helmet?”

I flicked my golden hair as if I’d been waiting for this and said.

“Isn’t it obvious? As you all know, during the Ice Crown incident last time, that bastard was so afraid of me that he left some pathetic excuse and ran away. Something about ‘Even if I steal the crown, I cannot steal your hair.’ And so on.”

“Yes, he definitely left that note and disappeared.”

“Anyone who knows even a little about criminology couldn’t miss that it was a hint about the next crime.”

I acted confidently knowledgeable.

“As you all know, the thief has very strong pride, right? He couldn’t leave a record of failing to steal a treasure, so he had to steal from our Rosen Family once more to restore his honor. Preferably a treasure as similar to the crown as possible.”

I pointed to the box that had contained the helmet.

“When Sion presented that helmet to Father, I was already on alert. It seemed perfect for the thief to target. Sure enough. My secret agents spread throughout the capital brought me information. Enough information to deduce what was happening beneath the surface.”

How’s that? Pretty plausible, right?

While talking just enough to avoid Sion’s suspicion, I clasped my hands together and looked at him.

“But I never expected that bastard to break his usual pattern and steal the helmet this way. I thought there would be about a day’s leeway as always. So I thought you could defend it with your power… I was trying to secure my own benefit in the meantime.”

“…”

“You know our Rosen Family hasn’t entered the media industry yet. I thought if I acquired 【Justice Daily】 in crisis and broke a scoop like this right away, we could take a great first step. That’s why I broke the exclusive story without telling Father or you anything…”

Making an apologetic expression with my whole face, I continued.

“Who would have thought that precious gift would be stolen like this without even getting to use it… I’m really sorry, Sion.”

“That’s not something you need to apologize for.”

A cold voice echoed from the auditorium entrance. Everyone turned around.

“You really have no father when money’s involved, do you? Excellent! Excellent!”

Duke Carnel was walking in. He seemed to be in a good mood, wearing a broad smile, but something was fluttering from his head.

It was a white bandage. The kind that elderly characters in classical period dramas wear tightly bound around their foreheads after collapsing in a rage.

‘Oh no…’

I felt a pang of guilt inside.

‘Even though he didn’t show it, he must have really liked that helmet.’

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