How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 95

“What?”

“….”

“I can’t remember how I ended up there, why I was alone, or even how I escaped. All I remember is a very brief moment of hiding from monsters.”

“T-that…”

“….”

“Yansen said it earlier, didn’t he? About hiding by digging into the ground. That’s what I did.”

She couldn’t tell if the blood soaking her body was hers or the monster’s, and everything hurt so much she couldn’t distinguish which parts were hurting where.

“My inner self was screaming in pain, but I couldn’t make even a breath sound outside, and though my whole body was consumed by fear, I couldn’t lose consciousness as I tried to hold onto my fading life…”

Angelina described the emotions of that time as if telling someone else’s story, completely detached.

“But maybe Yansen was different from me… Unlike me, who had nothing to hold onto, that child had something to protect.”

“How can you say you had nothing to protect? You had the Marquis!”

When Haley spoke with a whimper, questioning why she would think that way, Angelina gave a small laugh.

“I thought about just dying countless times. It felt like there was no reason to endure.”

“Miss…!”

“But I couldn’t do it. Do you know why?”

Haley kept sniffling, upset at the mere thought that Angelina had such thoughts.

Feeling a bit sorry for making her hear such a painful story, Angelina gently wiped Haley’s tears as she whispered.

“Because I was waiting for something.”

“Waiting, sniff, for what?”

“Yes.”

“Sniff, what was it?”

Haley asked while wiping her remaining tears with the handkerchief Laura had handed her.

“I don’t know either.”

“What?”

“I can’t remember what it was.”

“…What?”

“Funny, isn’t it? There was definitely something keeping me from dying, but I just can’t remember what it was.”

Angelina let out a hollow laugh and turned her gaze back to the water dipper.

Finding her neither-here-nor-there expression reflected there, both amusing and unpleasant, she tapped the calm water surface, creating ripples.

“Those events still visit me as nightmares at random times. But what I was so desperately waiting for has never once come back to me.”

To the point where the nightmares became annoying.

“Miss, then… when you said you wanted to go to the Magic Tower back then, despite having such nightmares…?”

“That’s why brother assigned so many people to accompany me.”

“I just thought the Marquis was being protective as always…”

Angelina chuckled at Haley’s naive thought.

“He was being protective, yes. Just with some additional meaning beyond simple worry.”

That’s why Angelina quietly complied with his excessive measures. Because she knew it would put his mind at ease.

“Since brother seemed to always worry about that incident, I tried to forget about it too. And I hadn’t had those nightmares for the past few years.”

“….”

“So I forgot about it. That I was waiting for something back then. Hmm… Or maybe I concluded it was brother I was waiting for, so I didn’t think about it deeper.”

Actually, since she started thinking that way, even in her nightmares, the feeling of waiting for brother was reflected, so it was good for deceiving herself.

“Honestly, what else could I have been waiting for besides brother?”

It couldn’t have been waiting to be eaten by monsters.

At seven years old, it was after her parents had passed away so she couldn’t have been waiting for them, and she was never close with her uncle.

That only leaves her brother.

“Since it was brother who actually came to save me in the end, that was the most logical conclusion.”

“The Marquis saved you?”

“That’s what they say. That brother found me collapsed at the edge of the Dark Forest.”

Although Angelina said that for justification, now she thought it was a lie.

Before she knew her brother was the Tower Master, she thought that the place remaining in her memory might have been the edge of the Dark Forest.

Because there was no way she could have escaped alone.

But now it seemed she was right about being deep in the forest, and her brother was right about coming to save her there.

With the qualities of a Tower Master, the Dark Forest would be nothing more than a walking path to him.

“So I naturally lived thinking I was waiting for brother…”

Since she couldn’t remember how she escaped, she just lived believing that was the truth.

But today, for the first time, that belief was shaken.

‘Kindness is something you’re born with. I’m not.’

Angelina thought her brother had told her that story. But he hadn’t.

Why was that unidentified child’s voice telling her such things?

‘Perhaps…’

‘I’ll be back soon.’

‘What I was waiting for back then might not have been brother…’

Angelina thought. The voice she kept hearing might not be glimpses of the Duke’s memories… but her own memories.

It was a much more plausible hypothesis than seeing someone else’s memories.

‘I want to hear more.’

She wanted to find out more.

If these really were her memories, who the owner of that voice was.

She had someone in mind, but she wanted to confirm if it was right.

If it was correct, why he existed in her memories, and why those memories were erased.

If so, then Catherine’s ‘Lina’ might be…

‘Everything is contained in those voices.’

She was certain.

“Miss?”

Angelina, who had been lost in her thoughts, came to her senses at Haley’s careful call.

“You said you thought you were waiting for the Marquis… but you didn’t finish what you were saying.”

“Ah.”

She must have been worried when the conversation stopped midway.

Angelina smiled slightly and shook her head.

“I was just saying that’s why I was so surprised earlier. That’s why I brought up this story.”

She didn’t voice her suspicions out loud.

“Since everything had its reasons, don’t be surprised. Shall we get ready and go eat dinner? Everyone must be waiting.”

Angelina somewhat artificially ended the conversation and changed the subject.

Haley and Laura glanced at each other, seemingly concerned about the awkward ending, but couldn’t ask more.

***

After finishing a light dinner made from hunted game, while Haley helped the villagers with odd jobs, Laura helped prepare Angelina for bed.

Since they had come in a hurry after hearing about Kuns Village without any preparation, Angelina had to borrow clothes from the local people.

“It’s lighter than it looks. And cool too.”

Having worn all the expensive fabrics in the world due to Ante’s influence, this was Angelina’s first time wearing such clothes.

Surprisingly pleased with them, she stood in front of the mirror, turning this way and that.

“If anything’s uncomfortable, please let me know.”

“So you can fix it?”

“With Haley here, most things should be possible.”

Though she said it meaning what’s the point of mentioning it here where they had nothing, Laura had pointed out something Angelina couldn’t argue with.

“Alright. Thank you, Laura.”

Angelina smiled slightly and stepped outside. It was still too early for bed, so she planned to look around the village.

Outside, children were gathered in small groups, playing with soap bubbles.

“Sun~ oh Sun~ Red Sun~ In the burning red sun~ Love overflows~”

Some children were playing tag while humming the song that was now familiar to Angelina, while others were drawing on the ground.

There were also children with swords at their waists and quivers on their backs, using small daggers to carve toys from wood.

It was so calm and peaceful, it was hard to believe this place had been swept by misfortune.

Was it because they were young?

No, their siblings and parents must have been taken away. Moreover, with all the adults gone from the village, how was order maintained?

As she stood there, unable to take her eyes off the children, feeling both amazed and heartbroken, Blake approached her.

“They say that if you can protect the ‘story’ from a young age, any trial is nothing more than a passing wind.”

“Do they grow up with a sense of mission?”

“Rather than a sense of mission, they say it’s like breathing, creating stories and letting emotions flow into them… To be honest, I don’t really understand what this means either.”

“Without living their lives, it’s probably impossible to fully understand.”

“Perhaps the Order thought leaving only children in the village would lead to their self-destruction.”

“That would make sense.”

Who would have imagined things could be maintained so perfectly with just children?

“Maybe Kuns Village was preparing for something like this to happen someday.”

“That’s a difficult fate as well.”

“They might not feel it’s difficult.”