How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 128

Once she realized this place was under her brother’s control, she developed a certain belief that they wouldn’t attack her.

As long as she stayed right next to Blake, he would be safe, too.

At her words of complete trust, he took a step toward the monsters with her.

Thud. Boom!

“Keeeeek!”

“Grrrraang!”

The monsters became more frantic, warning them not to come closer, but they still didn’t attack. Rather, they retreated further as the two approached.

When the monsters waved their arms, a fragrant flower scent rushed in.

“Roses.”

Angelina recognized the scent.

“Can Your Grace smell it too?”

But he frowned slightly and shook his head.

“It seems like there’s a rose scent coming from inside there…”

“It could be an illusion created by the fog.”

That was possible. But Angelina didn’t think it was because of the fog.

“Your Grace. How about we run on the count of three?”

“…Alright.”

They gripped each other’s hands tighter.

“One.”

“Two.”

Just as they tensed their legs, ready to count…

“Three…”

Crash! Rumble. Boom!

Suddenly, lightning struck from the sky. It poured down like rain all around them, except where the two stood.

Blake instinctively held Angelina tightly in his arms, and Pudding embraced them all.

The lightning created fires as it hit dry trees and the ground.

The monsters struck by lightning died with death cries, and the survivors fled hurriedly in all directions.

Angelina frowned as she looked at the surroundings that had become a sea of fire in an instant.

Anyone could see that someone was desperately trying to prevent the two from going beyond the fog.

“Let’s go, Your Grace. It’s good that the monsters are gone.”

That made Angelina all the more determined to go there.

As she walked steadily toward the flames, lightning struck right in front of her.

Crash!

“…!”

Though startled for a moment, she calmed herself by gripping Blake’s hand tightly and continued walking.

The same thing happened several times. But Angelina’s steps didn’t stop.

And finally…

Bang!

A figure fell from the sky with a loud explosion.

The dust storm that rose simultaneously contained such strong magical power that it extinguished the surrounding fires in one breath.

As the dust settled, the figure revealed was indeed Magic Tower Master Aesi.

Angelina narrowed her eyes at his appearance.

Though he was wearing a mask, it was a very clean design, and he had silver hair.

Not a different style of silver hair like before, but the same style as when he was Ante Flaubert.

“Even after all this, can’t you just turn a blind eye?”

He spoke with an exasperated sigh. His voice was filled with resentment.

But Angelina answered firmly.

“Because you’re going this far, I can’t ignore it.”

“You win. I’ll grant you one wish. So please go back.”

“Step aside. My wish is to see beyond the fog.”

“You know I mean anything but that.”

“There’s nothing else I want.”

“Even with this?”

As Aesi snapped his fingers, several light arrows formed around the two.

All were aimed at Blake.

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s a request.”

It didn’t look like a request at all.

Blake’s sword energy formed a barrier, rippling to block the arrows at any moment.

But if the two began to clash in earnest, Blake would inevitably be at a disadvantage since the Dark Forest was the Magic Tower Master’s domain.

“Miss Flaubert, I don’t mind, so let’s go.”

“Ha, playing the hero, are we?”

Aesi sneered, pushing the arrows closer.

Crack-! Crunch.

Just as the surrounding air began to grow heavy with Blake’s sword energy and Aesi’s magic power pressing against each other…

White light shot from Angelina’s fingertips.

Flash! Rumble.

A thin veil that sharply penetrated between the two energies. This power, neither magic nor sword energy nor holy power, spread out with a flash! from the veil as its center.

Then it instantly erased Blake’s barrier and Aesi’s light arrows.

“…!”

“…?!”

As their respective powers vanished without even a moment to resist, both were shocked.

“Grr?”

Pudding’s body grew even larger as the Sun’s power suddenly permeated his body.

“Ugh.”

Angelina staggered, pressing her temple.

“Miss Flaubert!”

“Li…!”

Blake held her firmly, and Aesi reached out in alarm. He did well to stop himself from blurting out more.

“Are you alright?”

“Haah… I still can’t use it recklessly, it seems.”

Angelina took out medicine from her pocket, constantly groaning from the splitting headache.

She swallowed the pill with water handed by Blake.

“It would be better to refrain from using that power. It doesn’t seem good for your body.”

“I think so too. But it seems like this is the only way right now.”

She glared at Aesi while being supported by Blake.

Gone was his threatening demeanor from moments ago; now Aesi was swallowing dry with a pale face.

Even with his mask on, it was painfully obvious that he wanted to come closer but couldn’t, making him fidget anxiously.

“Shall we see who collapses first? Or will you step aside?”

Angelina spoke as she raised her hand. White light began to gather at her fingertips again.

As the Sun’s power activated, her head felt like it was splitting again. Perhaps because of her drastic use earlier, her vision blurred as she tried to use it more.

But Angelina endured.

“…This place is off-limits.”

But Aesi was quite stubborn, too.

He had considered casting a sleep spell on her or creating a barrier to prevent her from crossing.

However, now that he knew her Sun power could instantly neutralize all his magic, he couldn’t use any of that.

Whatever he did would only hurt her more.

But he didn’t want to push her until she collapsed either.

He had already driven her that way once, which had backfired by causing her to regain some of her lost memories, throwing him into anxiety.

He feared the same thing would happen again.

It wasn’t just because of the headache. It was dangerous for her to continue using that power.

“I think it might be similar to holy sickness. It seems the young lady’s body cannot handle the Sun’s power.”

It was because of what Haley and Laura had said when they urgently sought him out a few days ago.

That had shocked him more than the report that Blake had “kidnapped” Angelina.

Above all, Angelina had started using that power after collapsing in the basement due to his actions.

It seemed like she gained the ability to use the power as her memories returned.

Then her holy sickness and those headaches were all because of him.

Ante was drowning in guilt and self-loathing, thinking everything was his responsibility.

And now she had come here.

Of all places, here.

A few days ago, after receiving the report from Laura and Haley, he immediately sent a pursuit team.

He made sure requests reached all branches of the Mercenary Guild and mobilized the Mage Guild as well.

But Blake and Angelina had come all the way here, avoiding all eyes.

Since he couldn’t guess where Angelina wanted to go so badly that she even staged a “kidnapping,” he couldn’t determine the direction for the search.

He hadn’t thought at all that the Dark Forest might be their destination, so for days he had been searching in all the wrong places.

Contrary to what Blake and Angelina thought, the Magic Tower Master wasn’t constantly overseeing the entire Dark Forest.

Rather than controlling and manipulating it, it was more accurate to say that the Dark Forest’s consciousness was connected to his subconscious.

Because his subconscious was focused on ‘protecting Angelina’ and ‘hiding this area,’ they had strongly felt that throughout their time here.

The reason Blake’s group had been driven to extremes last time was because Ante’s thoughts of ‘I want to kill them but I can’t…’ had reached his subconscious.

So Ante couldn’t immediately know they were in the Dark Forest just because they were there.

But this place was different.

Since this was a place he deliberately hid, they touched his layered magic the moment they entered a certain distance.

The Sun’s power flowing from Angelina’s body had unconsciously broken through his magic, allowing them to easily approach the fog barrier, and thanks to that, Ante was able to know they were here.

So he rushed over immediately. As Angelina guessed, he had indeed come in a hurry.

He was so desperate not to have this place discovered that he hadn’t even properly changed his appearance.

The reason he immediately cast magic to block the path was because he had no time to think deeply.

“I’ll give you anything you want. Just not here.”