The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 163

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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 163

I calmly put the note that Gremory Editor-in-Chief had handed me into my bag.

‘I should go home first.’

It seemed I needed to solve this mystery that was filling my head completely.

There would still be things to handle at the scene, but I always had someone I could rely on.

“Mr. Edwards! Benjamin Edwards!”

Seeing me leave to get some rest, journalists and other onlookers gathered around Benjamin instead.

Before leaving, Carnel Rosen took one last look at Sion.

“Sion, take care of yourself.”

“Yes. Please be careful too, Uncle and Aristina.”

After a brief farewell, he left to return to the labor camp.

Before anyone else could bother us with conversation, our group quickly left the arena.

With the 【Imperial Knight Tournament】 marking the end of the Imperial Tournament, carriage traffic had resumed.

When we took the pre-arranged carriage and arrived at the Ducal Mansion, the house was quite bustling.

Several guests were there, and upon seeing us, they immediately surrounded us.

“Congratulations! Duke! Young Lady!”

“The Rosen Duchy’s prestige was already tremendous, but with this joyous occasion, it’s like you’ve grown wings!”

News travels fast indeed. They must have heard about my engagement to the Crown Prince and already come to curry favor.

“Lord Kelleway! Baron Levain…”

The Duke roughly dealt with the guests while looking at me.

“Go inside first. I’ll station Holy Knights around the Manor, so don’t worry too much.”

“Yes.”

The reason the assassin could secretly infiltrate during my confinement was because there were gaps in the Ducal Mansion’s defenses.

Now was different from then.

Still, I couldn’t be completely at ease, so I should be cautious… but there was somewhere I absolutely had to go first.

‘Where can I go to confirm the truth?’

Thinking carefully and thoroughly searching through the storehouse of memories in my head, a certain place soon came to mind.

I told the Head Butler.

“If Father looks for me, tell him we all went to pray to the family spirits.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

With that, I headed to the ‘Hall of Reverence’ with my Advisors.

The ‘Hall of Reverence’ was like a sanctuary for the family.

A room where busts made to resemble the ancestors’ appearances in life were displayed in rows, and where we came to pray whenever important matters arose.

The people of the Rosen Duchy believed that the spirits of their ancestors always resided there.

“Young Lady, if you keep causing trouble like this, the ancestors will scold you!”

Since the Elders had frightened her like this from childhood, Aristina never even set foot in that direction.

I was the same.

Based on the knowledge stored in my head, I had classified the ‘Hall of Reverence’ as one of the places to avoid and never even thought of passing by that area.

After all, it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to pass the first checkpoint.

‘That thing right there.’

In front of the tightly closed door stood a pair of stone statues. Half-human, half-bird sculptures with bird heads and human torsos.

On the pedestals where they stood was carved:

‘Only true descendants of the Rosen Family may enter within.’

That’s right.

Long ago, a new wife who had secretly framed and driven out the Duke’s wife to take her place tried to enter this place and was thrown back, breaking her leg.

A son who lost all his share of the family fortune to gambling and was expelled from the family tried to enter this room to steal the treasure hidden inside, but was beaten senseless and collapsed unconscious…

There were many such legends about this place.

These weren’t simply made-up stories to frighten people.

Perhaps because I had gained protective power as the family’s heir.

Looking at the stone statues, I could feel the reddish energy characteristic of the Rosen Family blazing.

I had my Advisors wait behind me and approached them. Then I provoked them.

‘Look here. I’m a thief who stole the body of a descendant of this family.’

The stone statues’ eyes moved toward me as if they were alive. Red light poured out straight like lasers.

‘You should punish me, shouldn’t you? Come on, I’m a thief.’

With a trembling heart, I walked step by step and passed between the two stone statues.

But…

‘Hm?’

Nothing happened.

I safely passed between the stone statues.

Is this right? As I stood there bewildered, the door in front of me opened by itself. With my Advisors watching, I slowly entered inside.

Inside the hall, the ancestors’ busts were indeed lined up in rows.

As I stepped inside, I felt as if they all turned their heads to look at me.

I said in a trembling voice.

“Aristina, a descendant of the Rosen Family, comes to pay respects to the ancestors.”

While inwardly asking.

‘Am I really your descendant?’

Silence flowed.

Then…

All the busts in that place began to glow.

Shadows rose from behind the sculptures as if stretching. Those shadows glided over and surrounded me in a circle.

‘…?’

I was surprised.

Apparitions of elderly people I’d never seen before appeared in front of me. They reached out to stroke my head and pat my shoulders.

Multiple voices echoed in my head.

「Tsk tsk, you’re only coming to greet us properly now.」

「Asking if you’re really our descendant? Yes, you are. Haven’t we already acknowledged you? You once greatly disappointed us, but not anymore. We have no intention of disowning you from the family.」

「You’ve been punished enough. You’ve suffered, child. You’re truly admirable.」

What?

As I stood there dumbfounded, they smiled and said.

「You don’t seem to remember? Then shall we help you a little?」

A red light flashed in the air and touched my forehead.

At that moment, a scene appeared before my eyes.

It was the Duke’s Annex. Someone was collapsed in the darkness.

It was Aristina.

She hadn’t died yet. Her right hand was moving slightly, writing something on the floor.

I stared with wide eyes.

‘A dying message?’

I thought she might be writing the culprit’s name. But that wasn’t it.

What Aristina was drawing on the floor just before dying was some kind of magic circle.

‘Huh? But she didn’t know any magic?’

Looking at the shape of that magic circle, I somehow felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

It was as if a door that existed in my mind opened, revealing a new room.

A deeply buried memory suddenly surfaced.

The Duchess’s space, the ‘Contemplation Room’.

Carnel Rosen strictly forbade his daughter from entering that place.

But Aristina, out of rebelliousness, deliberately snuck in there secretly.

Though she normally wouldn’t even touch books, her contrarian nature kicked in and she opened drawers and pulled out random things to read. That’s when she discovered it.

A notebook with ‘To Aristina’ written on it.

“Look at this! There’s something left for me too!”

Young Aristina huffed indignantly and opened that notebook.

And….

‘What was there?’

I couldn’t remember.

When I raised my head, the spirits had disappeared without a trace.

I immediately turned around and left that place.

“Let’s go.”

I took my advisors with me and headed to the ‘Contemplation Room’.

Following the memory that had just surfaced, I searched through the drawer and found that notebook still there.

Though the cover had grown more worn with time, the words written on it were the same.

To Aristina.

If you ever find yourself in danger, draw this magic circle and ask for that person’s help.

-From Mother-

The notebook contained those words along with a magic circle drawn inside.

Just looking at its form, it flowed into my mind and I memorized it automatically.

Without realizing it, I traced its shape in the air with my finger, and at that moment, some being appeared before my eyes.

Just when I thought nothing could surprise me more, I was shocked once again.

“Mother of All Dragons?”

A small baby dragon was floating in the air.

But it wasn’t real—it was a vision. More precisely, it seemed to be an image from someone’s memory.

「Annelize. That was your name, wasn’t it?⌟

“You are… a dragon?”

A young lady, perhaps sixteen or seventeen, who hadn’t completely shed her girlish appearance, was looking up at the air in surprise while holding a book in her hands.

Aristina’s mother and the Mother of All Dragons.

They had met in the past.

To be precise, the three of them including Duke Carnel.

The Mother of All Dragons pointed to Duke Carnel lying on the sickbed and said.

「Don’t worry. You and that child will eventually overcome all hardships and find happiness. But the child born between you two will have a special relationship with my children.⌟

“A special relationship?”

「Your child will one day face a life-threatening crisis. Because she will see something she shouldn’t see. I read of that crisis in advance through my sword. I will save her then, so that child must save my children once in return.⌟

The Mother of All Dragons spoke with a serious expression.

「What do you say, will you make a promise with me?⌟

“….”

The Duchess nodded blankly. Then a magic circle appeared on the blank page of the notebook she was holding.

「When your daughter is born later, make sure to tell her about this.⌟

“I understand.”

Years passed.

The two really did overcome their enemies and get married.

But the Duchess had too little time left. She passed away before she could tell her daughter about the magic circle.

However, it was somehow passed down.

“No. I don’t want to die….”

When Aristina had been pierced in the chest by that strange sword called Windfairer, and her life force was draining away.

Suddenly, the Duchess’s voice echoed in her mind.

「Aristina! Snap out of it! Mother told you! You know what to do!⌟

That’s right….

Though she had already half-lost consciousness, Aristina moved her finger to draw the magic circle on the floor.

Because she didn’t want to die.

With only that single thought, even as her breath was fading, she drew it with all her remaining strength.

Light burst forth from the barely completed magic circle.

Over Aristina’s body, gasping in pain, the shadow of a massive, divine being fell.

「Oh my!⌟

It hurriedly embraced Aristina’s body.

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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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