The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 118
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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 118
“Oh my, sister was startled. Why don’t you hold her hand? Take this opportunity to score some points.”
At Sion’s words, Aldensis, Zikren, and Ruellian responded as if they were dumbfounded.
“Does this look like a joke to you?”
“We’re in the middle of carrying out an important mission!”
“Now isn’t the time for such nonsense, is it?”
But when the unidentified figure swept past me again, the three of them blocked my path without hesitation.
“What is it?”
“Reveal yourself!”
It was reassuring, but didn’t the three of them just bump into each other?
“Hehe… Calm down, everyone. I’m not one to be frightened by something like this and neglect my duties.”
I opened my fan and laughed calmly, but inside I was breaking out in a cold sweat.
“What the hell are these things?”
Duke Carnel shouted.
Helmut, who was protecting him from the side, drew his sword and reflected their forms on the blade.
“They’re ghosts.”
“What? Ghosts?”
Everyone stirred.
“That’s right. They’re ghosts.”
Sion pointed at those figures and said.
“Look carefully. They’re in human form.”
As their speed gradually slowed, the forms that had been nothing but pitch black began to become more clearly visible.
Sion was right.
Knights, soldiers, noblewomen in dresses, officials, artists wearing hats… They were all in human form.
Duke Carnel muttered as if incredulous.
“What the hell is all this?”
“These are people who lost their lives to Windfairer.”
Sion answered.
“That sword contains powerful energy, so it can kill people without leaving any trace on their bodies. That’s why it was sometimes used for very secretive murders.”
“Perfect crimes, you mean.”
When I said that, Sion looked at me.
“Correct. However, they weren’t truly perfect crimes. The eye sees everything. I’m talking about the jewel that decorates the center of Windfairer’s hilt. The appearance of the victims who lost their lives is engraved in that jewel and cannot be erased, so the crimes are inevitably discovered.”
And he smiled brightly as he looked around at everyone.
“As you all know, Theseus Marquis is a Sword Master, someone who has reached the ultimate level that humans can achieve. But even such a person couldn’t find Windfairer’s eye. Because he didn’t know one important secret.”
Ruellian glared at Sion and asked.
“What’s that?”
“To obtain the eye, you must find the ghost of the victim who was last stabbed to death by that sword. The eye is right there.”
Sion answered calmly.
Duke Carnel looked at his nephew with unfamiliar eyes.
“How on earth did you learn such things?”
“Because I worked very hard.”
A strange heat rose in one of Sion’s eyes.
“I’m really working hard. Even on things others couldn’t imagine. So Uncle, shouldn’t I be the one to become the family’s heir?”
His gaze turned to Duke Carnel, then swept over the elders standing beside the Duke.
“You lords should also watch properly. I’ll prove it to you from now on.”
The moment Sion made that declaration.
Suddenly I felt the ground beneath my feet cave in. Since I was already extremely tense, I was startled.
“Ah…!”
“Aristina!”
Aldensis, Zikren, and Ruellian, who had been on guard beside me, hurriedly reached out their hands.
I raised my head.
“I’m fine…”
The words I was about to say disappeared in my mouth.
Because there was no one there.
Neither Ruellian, nor Aldensis, nor Zikren, nor Duke Carnel, nor Helmut and the various elders were visible. They had definitely been beside me just moments ago.
There were no living people there.
Only ghosts floating around.
「People killed by that sword.」
Multiple voices whispered in my head.
“No!”
I shook my head.
“Those aren’t ghosts. Ghosts of people stabbed to death appear bleeding.”
「That sword is different. Because it has powerful energy, it can kill people without leaving any wounds. Then it scatters into pieces and disappears into the barrier it created.」
Perfect crime…
I felt unbearably chilled.
‘I want to get out of here!’
I was about to run forward blindly, but I barely regained my senses and stopped.
This is a maze. I mustn’t move carelessly. I’ll get lost.
‘I need to remember the location well.’
I looked around and memorized the structure of the maze in my head. Then I searched through my belongings for something to draw on the walls with.
But…
The ghosts that had been passing by began to stop one by one and look at me.
Was it because I was standing alone? The number of ghosts stopping and staring at me increased one by one.
‘I need to mark the path quickly…!’
As I was searching through my belongings with trembling hands.
“…!”
Someone grabbed me and dragged me away. I was taken without even being able to scream, and I looked at him.
A man wearing a strange mask as if thin leather was turned inside out over his face.
It was Ruellian.
“Ah…”
Only then did my tension ease.
He spread his cloak wide to hide my appearance and led me out of there.
“Wait. This is a maze, so we need to mark the path somehow…”
“It’s okay.”
Ruellian briefly pointed to the floor. Following the path we were taking, thin rays of light were being carved into the corridor floor.
Phew.
Only then did I feel relieved.
Ruellian walked quickly and said.
“I don’t know why, but those ghosts seem to dislike you. It would be better to go somewhere without those things and make a plan.”
“Right.”
I looked at his profile and asked.
“But how did you appear again by yourself so quickly? Everyone else disappeared.”
“Everyone didn’t disappear. You disappeared.”
Ruellian corrected my words.
“Everyone was surprised and searched for you. They all spotted a woman with blonde hair and red eyes among the ghosts and quickly chased after her, but for some reason she kept vanishing mysteriously…”
“But how did you?”
He continued to survey ahead as he replied.
“I didn’t follow your appearance but followed your voice. I heard you calling.”
I was surprised.
“I called out?”
Instead of answering, Ruellian glanced at the fan in my hand.
He did say that using this would immediately send him a signal.
But I didn’t use it, did I?
Come to think of it, when the ground suddenly gave way beneath my feet, I was startled and screamed. Did I unconsciously call for help at that moment?
“….”
I was speechless.
To think that in that brief moment, I unconsciously sought his help.
I once thought he was the most dangerous murder suspect. I suspected his every move. Yet somehow he had earned this much trust in my heart.
As expected of someone who freely roams from building to building in the darkness, his infiltration skills were remarkable.
“Be careful. Don’t make eye contact with those things.”
Watching him confidently forge a path while clearly marking the route, I could confirm that I had called the right guide.
But somehow I felt strange.
‘Is it okay for me to trust someone like this? Is it really okay?’
The memory of lying cold and stiff in that morgue preservation chamber was still vivid.
Could someone who had been murdered by an unknown culprit dare to have faith?
‘What if I get stabbed in the back? What if I’m betrayed?’
Of course, I knew well that Ruellian was no longer a suspect.
And that we were now pursuing the same target called Sion together.
But I couldn’t shake off a certain fear that couldn’t be explained by logical reasons.
I unconsciously stopped walking.
“…?”
Ruellian looked at me. Then he spoke.
“It’s okay.”
He hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took my hand. It was a gesture that had become much more natural now.
“God will be with us.”
A warm feeling of divine power was transmitted through his large, firm hand.
“There’s nothing to fear, Aristina.”
He said that and chuckled softly.
“It’s really funny. You spend money like there’s no tomorrow, and no matter how hopeless the gamble, you boldly push forward saying ‘I’m a villainess!’ Yet you’re so afraid of ghosts.”
He looked at me with a smile on his lips. Those violet eyes that had glared so coldly at criminals and blasphemers were now sparkling like amethysts.
‘…Right.’
A small sigh escaped between my lips.
I didn’t know why, but when I woke up from that nightmare, he had been genuinely delighted that I was alive and not dead. That was unmistakably sincere.
‘He won’t hurt me. Never.’
Something very warm slowly rose from deep within my heart.
It became a small teardrop that formed at the corner of my eye.
Ruellian was surprised.
“Aristina?”
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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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