The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 123
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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 123
Moreover, there was an even more surprising fact.
Aristina was not alone. A small shadow was closely following behind her.
‘Why does that seem familiar?’
Duke Carnel and the elders thought this as they looked closely, then were shocked.
“Princess!”
Though she was quite dirty, it was indeed Princess Violet, the precious jewel of the imperial family.
Her appearance felt too real to be a hallucination.
Why on earth was the Princess inside this maze?
No one could even guess.
However…
Princess Violet, who had so despised Aristina, was now walking while tightly holding Aristina’s hand and relying on her.
It was clear that many things had happened between the two.
Duke Carnel felt his eyes growing warm.
“Aristina! Over here!”
He shouted with all his might, calling to his daughter.
But then a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
‘Isn’t there a trap here? Where the person you’re looking for appears in a form you cannot resist…’
Aristina was unaware of this fact.
The moment Duke Carnel’s voice calling “Aristina! Over here!” reached her ears, an illusion suddenly appeared.
It was the figures of Duke Carnel, Helmut, and several elders.
The illusions quickly ran over and welcomed Aristina.
“Oh! Aristina! You’ve returned safely! I thought I’d lost you forever and regretted it so much! Will you forgive this foolish father?”
“Young Lady! You don’t know how much I prayed that you would just be alive! We’re so sorry for everything!”
Aristina stood there blankly, looking at them. Her face showed both surprise and joy.
‘So this is what that child desperately wanted from us…’
Duke Carnel and the elders were momentarily stunned.
Taking advantage of that gap, the evil energy of dark magic struck at Aristina.
The Duke was horrified.
“Aristina!”
* * *
Princess Violet and I quickened our pace upon seeing the black energy rising.
“Aristina!”
Duke Carnel’s voice could be heard from beyond.
“Father?”
“Oh! Aristina!”
I could see people trapped in a space distorted by dark magic, unable to move forward or back.
It was Duke Carnel and the elders.
They were tearfully overjoyed to see that I had returned after finding the Windfairer.
“You’ve returned safely! I thought I’d lost you forever and regretted it so much! Will you forgive this foolish father?”
“Young Lady! You don’t know how much I prayed that you would just be alive! We’re so sorry for everything!”
Really?
My ears perked up.
I stopped abruptly and stared at them.
‘I guess people really do need to disappear once in a while. Now that I’ve gone missing, they finally recognize my worth.’
My triumphant mood was short-lived.
‘But… these aren’t the type of people to act like this.’
Wasn’t the Rosen Duchy full of people who wouldn’t bleed even if pricked with a needle?
Having been thoroughly trained by the family atmosphere, suspicion immediately raised its head.
“What are you?”
At that moment, evil energy struck at me.
“Aristina!”
The Duke Carnel and elders before my eyes suddenly vanished. Only then could I see the real Duke Carnel beyond them.
He hurried to save me but couldn’t do as he wished.
Since he was protecting himself and the elders with the family’s protective power, when he suddenly tried to break away, the energy became tangled and his knees buckled.
His frail body was already being pushed to its limits.
Then, someone lightning-fast left the safe zone and struck at the evil energy with their sword.
Sparks flew with a crackling sound.
Of course, the attack didn’t work.
Since this space’s strange power was combined with dark magic, it wasn’t something that could be easily eliminated.
The price for attempting the impossible was great.
Though he managed to exert some superhuman strength and succeeded in slightly pushing the evil energy away so it wouldn’t touch my body…
His sword bounced back from the recoil and ended up deeply piercing his own body.
“Ah!”
Everyone screamed.
The person who was stabbed by his own sword and collapsed with serious injuries was none other than old tiger Helmut.
“Helmut!”
Everyone was shocked and pulled him back into the safe zone.
Then they quickly took out emergency medicine to stop the bleeding and bandaged him.
I ran to him in surprise.
“Helmut! Why did you do that?”
“I don’t know either…”
Helmut shook his head.
“I just… when I saw Young Lady just now, you looked so pitiful…”
“No! I knew it was fake!”
“That’s exactly why you looked pitiful…”
He continued speaking with difficulty.
“I hoped that someday when a day like this came, I would be able to make this choice myself… I’m glad it turned out this way.”
Then his head dropped with a thud.
I was startled.
“Helmut!”
“He just fainted for a moment. Fortunately, it’s not a fatal wound. In the Northern Region, he’s overcome injuries worse than this several times.”
The elders informed me.
It was a relief that it was a treatable injury, but my heart was still pounding.
I turned my gaze to look at Duke Carnel.
“Are you alright, Father?”
“Yes.”
As if the tangled energy had been resolved, he shrugged his shoulders with color returned to his face.
“This damn body… it’s never helpful when it’s crucial. It’s fortunate that Helmut stepped in.”
“He was really like lightning.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Once the situation was roughly settled, everyone’s gaze gathered in one place as if promised.
Right behind me.
‘Oh right, I was late with explanations.’
Duke Carnel asked.
“Princess? Are you really the Princess?”
“Come, it’s safe now, so come forward.”
I pulled Princess Violet forward.
Though Violet had bravely made it this far, seeing Helmut get hurt and the commotion that followed seemed to frighten her again as she hesitated.
“Princess. Come, it’s alright now.”
When Duke Carnel offered a clean handkerchief, Violet took it and began to sniffle.
“No. It’s not okay. It’s all my fault. I’ve been scolded many times already, but I still wanted to help Sion again… I used my own little scheme to sneak in secretly…”
The princess cried “Waah!” and grabbed onto my clothes.
“Lady Aristina saved me. Sion suddenly used black magic…”
“What?”
Duke Carnel was so startled that he dropped the second handkerchief he was taking out.
“You’re saying Sion was the one who used the black magic that twisted this space? It didn’t just happen naturally?”
The princess nodded.
“That’s right. I saw it clearly with my own two eyes.”
“But when did Sion learn black magic? That shouldn’t be possible… Do any of you have any idea?”
At the Duke’s question, the elders shook their heads.
“It’s truly unbelievable.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to me again. Their eyes were curious, wondering if I knew something about this matter.
‘I know plenty.’
I thought while keeping my mouth shut.
It wouldn’t be advisable for the fact that Sion broke the taboo to come out of my mouth first.
Since we two are competing, it would easily look like I was slandering him.
I had hoped it would be exposed through a third party if possible.
Unexpectedly, Princess Violet got involved in this situation, and it ended up being revealed through the princess’s own mouth first.
At least the start didn’t seem bad. I just cautiously added a word or two.
“From what I could see, what Her Highness said seemed to be the truth. I was also very shocked.”
“…”
The princess’s face darkened as if recalling what had happened earlier.
I wrapped my arm around the child’s shoulder and pointed with my other hand toward the darkness blocking the exit.
“By the way, what is that?”
“Ah.”
Duke Carnel quickly emerged from his thoughts and spoke.
“His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Second Prince are inside there.”
“My brothers?”
Princess Violet was startled.
“Why are my brothers in there?”
“They ended up like that while searching for Lady Aristina.”
The Duke explained.
“When you suddenly disappeared, everyone was alarmed and went out searching. His Majesty said he had a hunch and went somewhere, while the two Highnesses and we searched the nearby areas… Your illusion appeared like before and they ended up being dragged inside.”
What? Two Transcendents were defeated so helplessly? I can’t believe it.
I was about to ask that, but I closed my mouth at the words that followed.
“You saw the illusion of us joyfully welcoming you just now, right? The two of them saw an illusion of you crying sadly. Then without hesitation, they rushed over immediately. Even after realizing they’d been deceived, they left to protect us at the end. Telling us to be careful, if only for your sake.”
“…”
I was speechless.
I had worked hard all this time to make myself useful to Aldensis and Zikren.
But I didn’t know they would act like this in an emergency.
If I were just a useful tool, they would only need to make sure I didn’t break and operated safely.
There was no need to rush over just because I was sad, or to take care of family and household members.
‘I didn’t expect that.’
I once thought those two had no hearts. When did they change like this?
A corner of my heart warmed with gratitude.
Looking at the space shrouded in darkness, I thought.
‘I guess it’s my turn to repay them.’
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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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