The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 124
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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 124
Perhaps it was because I joined with Windfairer while Duke Carnel was defending with all his might.
The darkness blocking the exit could no longer advance forward and was quietly rippling in place.
I walked forward with my sword held straight.
Then the darkness parted to both sides, opening a path.
“Good. Let’s go together!”
As Duke Carnel said this and stepped forward, suddenly a pitch-black wave rose up and covered the path.
It blocked his way and pushed him back forcefully. The Duke’s body staggered.
“It seems only I can enter.”
I took another step forward and looked back.
“Princess, I’ll wake up my brothers and open the exit. Then please protect the people and get them out safely. Understood?”
“Understood.”
The Princess nodded.
That young child is going to protect us? Everyone looked back and forth between us with bewildered eyes.
They would soon learn that my words were not wrong.
“Then I’ll try to rescue His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Second Prince.”
With Duke Carnel and the Princess, the family elders and the severely injured Helmut watching, I entered the darkness holding Windfairer.
After walking a few steps along the path that opened in the center, the fog that had covered my vision cleared away.
The scenery had changed.
This place was no longer a maze distorted by the power of black magic.
Under the round arched ceiling, chandeliers that sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight hung in rows. The radiance entering through large windows reflected off the mirror-like polished corridor, dazzling the eyes.
Above it, noblewomen and noble gentlemen were walking busily.
‘The Imperial Palace?’
Suddenly I realized.
I could see the waists of people passing by, not their faces. My line of sight was too low.
As if I had suddenly become smaller.
“…?”
I looked down.
Between the pink dress with lace trim, round-toed shoes peeked out adorably.
These were children’s clothes.
I had somehow become a young child.
‘What?’
Bewildered, I looked around.
The moment my gaze stopped on the area ahead, I finally realized.
‘Ah, I understand.’
I saw two boys sitting on the corridor windowsill.
One had blonde hair and blue eyes. The other had red hair and golden eyes.
The taller boy was neatly dressed in a pure white uniform, while the smaller boy wore exotic clothing with elaborate embroidery.
Aldensis, and Zikren.
The two brothers sat side by side, chattering away as they cut paper to make a large bird.
I had seen this scene before. It was the scene I had witnessed through the maze opened by the ‘Mother of All Dragons’ at the Imperial Palace Cemetery.
‘I’ve entered those brothers’ nightmare again.’
I didn’t understand it then, but now it seemed to make sense.
This world was a barrier created when Windfairer was broken due to people’s sins.
In other words, it was a space filled with Windfairer’s trauma.
Therefore, people who entered this place would also be strongly caught by their own trauma.
“….”
As I stood there analyzing this while watching them, Aldensis and Zikren also noticed me.
Zikren pointed at me and jumped up.
“What? Isn’t that Aristina?”
Instead of answering, I turned my gaze beyond them.
At the very end of the corridor stretching behind the two, I could see a form rippling wickedly like a black hole.
It was a space symbolizing the Empress’s death.
‘This time I must properly stop it. I must prevent them from encountering the seed of nightmares. I need to take them away from here before that happens.’
Thinking this, I walked toward the brothers. When I reached them, I grabbed my skirt hem and curtsied.
“I greet His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Second Prince.”
“I heard you were quite ill, but it seems you’ve recovered? That’s fortunate.”
Aldensis spoke politely in a childish voice.
As befitting a child, his eyes were larger than now and his cheeks were plump. His golden hair was neatly combed and stuck to his forehead.
The perfect Crown Prince that I had loved so much.
Oh wait, did I just say ‘I’? I meant Aristina.
My head felt dizzy as I stared at Aldensis for a moment, and he frowned slightly.
“But if you’re visiting the Imperial Palace after so long, shouldn’t you greet His Majesty first? Why are you wandering around alone?”
“Ah….”
I lifted my head.
My reflection in the glass window was that of a proud little lady who had just begun to become accustomed to etiquette.
“Of course I greeted him first. Isn’t that obvious?”
“You went to see His Majesty?”
Zikren asked with wide eyes.
“Yes. You don’t know what I said to His Majesty there, do you? You’ll both probably be quite surprised.”
This was Aristina, who had been turning the Imperial Palace upside down since her childhood.
The brothers flinched at her spirit, which was not inferior to adults at all.
At this time, outsiders often believed Aristina’s lies quite readily.
“Let’s go see right away!”
The two immediately jumped down from the windowsill.
That simple?
That thought lasted only briefly.
“No. First, it’s more important to finish this and take it to Mother.”
“Right. We just need to finish it now.”
They said this and picked up the bird again.
“Brother! Will this bird really carry Mother’s illness on its wings and fly far, far away?”
“How many times are you going to ask? There, it’s finished, so let’s show it to Mother.”
I heard the exact same conversation I had heard in the nightmare.
It seemed they were determined to run toward that black hole-like darkness after all.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
I quickly reached out and snatched the scissors that Zikren was about to pick up.
Zikren’s eyebrows furrowed as he had already been watching me warily from the corner of his eye.
“Won’t you give that back?”
“No.”
“It’s fine, Zikren. This is enough. Let’s just take it as is.”
“Wait a moment!”
I grabbed Aldensis who was about to turn around.
According to Duke Carnel, I had one more method available.
Namely, acting pitiful.
“Don’t go to the Empress. I’m worried about you.”
When I blinked, a teardrop formed in the corner of my eye. It was the result of my acting skills honed over time.
“….”
Aldensis and Zikren looked at me for a moment.
It’s working, right?
My relief was short-lived.
“Princess, what exactly do you want from me?”
“You cry so easily in front of your brother?”
The two turned around, creating a cold wind as they did.
Acting pitiful. That seemed to be a completely ineffective method at this point. Since their consciousness was stuck about ten years in the past.
Then what should I do?
I hurriedly chased after them.
“Wait!”
When they heard my voice, they picked up their pace even more.
“Just wait!”
As I shouted desperately, I suddenly felt the sword hilt in my hand.
Though I couldn’t see the sword with my eyes in this illusion.
Suddenly, strength filled my legs.
I instantly overtook Aldensis and Zikren and reached the end of the corridor.
Thinking I’d rather lock myself inside to keep them from entering, I threw open the door to the room where the Empress was and went in.
At that moment.
“…”
My mind went completely blank.
I froze in place like a statue.
A scene I could never have imagined unfolded before my eyes.
Someone in white clothes with long hair hanging down was tied to the tall column of the bed.
With both feet suspended in the air.
“Your Majesty!”
The maids were wailing as they lowered that person’s body down.
Everyone seemed so shocked out of their minds that they didn’t even notice the door had opened.
‘My God…’
I too couldn’t come to my senses.
‘She didn’t pass away from illness?’
In the shock that felt like being hit hard in the head, I heard the sound of two children’s footsteps running up.
Only then did I snap back to reality and hurriedly closed the door.
But it was useless.
“Mother!”
Aldensis and Zikren shouted as they threw the door wide open.
The next moment.
Both their faces turned deathly pale.
The scene inside the room was reflected completely in their widened eyes.
The maids were all too frantic to even realize that Aldensis and Zikren had witnessed this scene.
In that moment, the two children fell into deep shock.
‘…So that’s how it was.’
Now I could understand. Why this incident had left such a huge wound in both their hearts.
To witness their beloved mother choosing to leave the world by her own hand. There could be no more terrible seed of nightmare than this.
It was so horrific that they seemed to have completely erased it from their memories, but when they tried to uncover the truth related to their mother’s death, that memory revealed itself before them once again.
“…”
Black energy began rising from Aldensis and Zikren’s bodies.
The world began shaking violently. In that chaos, I barely managed to remember what Duke Carnel had told me.
“No! That’s not it!”
I shouted while grabbing both children’s hands.
“She said she loved you!”
There was a reaction. Both children’s vacant eyes turned toward me.
I shouted with all my strength once more.
“Your mother said so! That she truly loved both of you! That this alone was the truth! She asked me to tell you this!”
Before I knew it, tears were flowing down my cheeks.
Not the forced tears from before, but real tears.
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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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