Born as the Hidden Daughter of a Villainess and the Male Lead

<Episode 25>

 

I hesitated and stepped back.

The vine passageway that I had wanted to escape so badly until just a moment ago seemed like a better option.

[TL:Lol, I don’t why I found this so funny🤣]

The moment I turned around, thinking that.

“-Aaaahhh!”

I saw something in my field of vision, It scared me so much that I screamed.

A strange, wriggling, disgusting vine bundled up in the shape of a human was standing tall just a few steps away!

What, when did this come out again?

“Oh, don’t come! Don’t come!!”

Although it was described as having a human shape, it was literally a chimera, with no facial features, just vines bundled together into a human shape.

[TL: Alright, that turned into a horror movie pretty quickly.]

As my shout filled the place, it tilted its head and began to move towards me.

“Aaaah!”

I told you not to come!

I ran toward the castle, screaming like I was competing.

A castle that looked as if a ghost might pop out at any moment, or something else, seemed better than that monster.

I crossed the garden overflowing with weeds and jumped into the palace’s open hall, not sure if it was wide open or if the entrance had been torn off.

“……hmm!”

The interior, covered in pitch-black shadows and not even lit by candles, welcomed me.

My body was shaking for a while.

I took a deep breath and turned around.

“……what?”

However, there was no sign of the Vine Chimera.

I thought it would follow me… but it couldn’t be hiding around, right?

I quickly opened my eyes and looked into every nook and cranny of the dark hall, but I could not see even a single trace of the bizarre figure.

phew.

Thank god. That was the scariest thing I have ever seen.

I took a deep breath and looked inside the castle, which was filled with air so cold it made me freeze.

Looking at the golden pillars, whose shine had faded with dust and unidentifiable stains, and the width of the thousand sheets boasting an unusual height, it appeared to be a palace where a very high-ranking person had previously stayed.

However, there was a large spider web hanging all over the magnificent ceiling, and a frame containing the image of an unidentifiable woman with her face horribly torn and broken.

The furniture that was broken in some places and shaking in the wind with a rattling sound.

⋯⋯⋯It wouldn’t be strange even if a ghost came out right now.

What kind of sudden genre change is this…

[TL:I know right!!]

I walked inside, sobbing under my breath at this incredible situation.

It was obvious that the d*mn vine chimera was lurking outside, since it didn’t follow.

There was no escape route, so it seemed better to hide in these eerie ruins than to go out again.

⋯⋯⋯Even if I avoided it like this right now, what would I do later?

Oh, I wish this was all just a dream.

I walked carefully, pressing down on my heart that was tightening with anxiety.

“Ugh!”

I cursed under my breath and looked down at the floor.

My gosh*, I almost fell.

[TL: It was supposed to be a swear word, but I don’t like swearing so let’s just go with this.]

Why was the floor so slippery?

“……ice?”

I lowered my head, found an unexpected phenomenon, narrowed my eyes, and muttered.

By this time, it was dark and hard to see, but the floor was completely covered in pure white frost.

I slowly raised my head in the direction where the white trail continued.

A wide, desolate hallway continued.

At the end was a huge door.

“……..”

I don’t know why that memory came to my mind again at this moment.

Even though the sun shone so brightly from the sky, not a single ray of light was reflected.

With black hair that seemed to have been colored by pouring in pitch-black darkness.

Those cold blue eyes that gave me chills just by looking at them.

An inexplicable gloom felt in an appearance so strangely beautiful that one could immediately be captivated.

Just thinking about that appearance again was heart shaking! It felt like I was slowly being submerged in cold water.

The boy’s identity was unknown, but he seemed to be able to manipulate ice freely.

“This castle…”

It was covered with ice.

Also, with how very unusual the process of getting here was.

All of those facts pointed to one conclusion, to the point where it was blatant.

An abandoned castle appeared before me as if I was being told to enter this place, and a tightly locked room that prevented me from seeing inside.

The boy might be over there.

He might have called me here.

“……”

So what choice should I make?

I looked back.

The cold, quiet hall with no people was still the same, and the scenery outside would still be the same.

…There was no escape route.

It was a road there was no going back anyway.

I gathered my resolve and walked carefully so as not to fall again.

When I reached the tightly closed door, I slowly placed my hand on the doorknob.

“It’s cold.”

It was so cold as if I had touched the white hardened ice.

That was when I took a deep breath and raised my head.

“Can you open the door?”

A human voice was heard from the other side of the door.

“!”

I knew that might be the case, but I quickly withdrew my hand from the doorknob and stepped back.

Someone, a human voice.

The voice of a boy, about the same age as me.

…The moment I realized that it was the same voice I heard that day, goosebumps appeared all over my body.

“……it’s you.”

My prediction was correct.

Sitting in the room hidden by this large door was something that took the shape of the boy I had seen that day.

“You called me here, right?”

He was the main culprit of all the strange phenomena that occurred on the way here and the one who led me here.

I cauld no longer think of him as a human.

The frozen room of this gloomy castle.

It was not a place where a child who seemed to be at most a couple of years older than me could stay calmly, and the sights I saw on the way here most clearly refuted that fact.

Currently, the imperial palace has placed a spell preventing the summoning of spirits.

That’s why I was dragged in here without even being able to resist.

He could never be human.

“Yes, I called you.”

The unknown thing responded calmly.

There was even a hint of joy in that voice at first glance.

Thus, the eeriness multiplied.

“By the way, have you forgotten what I asked you to do?”

…..asked me?

I thought in confusion as I looked at the huge door that didn’t show even a single bit of what was inside.

“I asked you to open this door.”

……..oh.

I recalled the voice I had just forgotten.

okay. It had been unilaterally asking me to open the door to the room it was in earlier.

why?

You could just open it yourself and come out……..

The moment I thought that, a realization suddenly came to my mind.

Ah, that thing is trapped now.

It was trapped beyond this door by someone unknown.

I stared at the door in confusion and bit my dry lips.

…But why should I open this door?

I didn’t know what that thing is.

But it clearly tried to harm the crown prince, and it did so several times.

So many times that even people outside the imperial palace knew about it and feared it.

After all those attempts, he was imprisoned.

Since it couldn’t escape on its own, it was clear that it had called me here after hearing my name last time.

If that’s the case, I shouldn’t open it ever.

What would happen to me if I opened this door?

How terrible would this be!

“……”

I held my trembling hands tightly, suppressed a sound, and slowly stepped back.

“To where?”

As if it had recognized it like a ghost, the voice said.

I let out a sigh of relief and thought of a solution to get out of my current predicament.

“…Then, I have no choice.”

The voice was heard again from the other side of the door.

The voice sounded somewhat angry.

Tadadadadak-

At that moment, I was overcome by fear.

In the hallway behind me, I heard footsteps.

It was a sound too light to be considered human.

I turned around.

“Hmph!”

And in a rush of shock, I suppressed my screams and pressed my body against the ice-cold door, momentarily forgetting what existed beyond it.

The strangely shaped pile of vines I had seen outside the castle earlier had reappeared and was coming towards me!

It was true that that strange creature was also created by the entity beyond this door!

Oh my god, what on earth was it going to do to me?

Crack, crack-

The vine chimera came closer to me with its unnatural steps.all. It was a moment of dilemma where there was no way to escape.

As it was also approaching the door, a neutral voice spoke again from right behind me.

“Do you want to get caught by him? If not, open this door.”

…Ah, at this stage, I did my best.

“I’ll open it, I’ll open it!”

I closed my eyes tightly and shouted in exasperation.

I immediately pulled hard on the door handle.

Rattling-

“uh?”

But actually, the door didn’t budge.

“…It doesn’t open?”

I asked, genuinely confused.

A low laugh was heard.

“It won’t open just like that. You have the pendant you received from the emperor, right?”

That… it was there.

A pendant with a phoenix engraved on it, which I received from the emperor today.

“…That..how do you know that?”

But how did it know that?

I asked, frozen as ice and forgetting to even breathe.

“If you look closely at the door, you will see a groove identical to the phoenix engraved on the pendant. Place the pendant there and press firmly.”

However, the other person did not answer my question and continued talking.

“……”

I hesitated for the last time.

A pendant given by the emperor, a door that can only be opened with that pendant.

…Then, did the emperor imprison it here?

Are you saying that I can release something like that with my own hands? This is crazy.

Is it a monster or an evil spirit?

If that unknown thing is a dangerous being sealed by the imperial family… what should I do after releasing its seal?

No, will there ever be a life after that for me?

“Are you thinking about it now?”

Aaaah-!

At that moment, the vine chimera that had stopped started running quickly.

It was several times faster than before.

“Aaaah!!”

Damn you, I gritted my teeth and held the pendant against the door with trembling hands.

Kiiiiing-

My eardrums vibrated and a strange resonance rang out.

Shapeless flames spewed out around the pendant.

“Ugh-!”

I groaned from the overwhelming heat and closed my eyes tightly.

The solid door I was pushing with all my might slipped away from my hands.

Kugung-

Ah, it finally opened…….

I didn’t know what would happen to me in the future, so I couldn’t even open my eyes.

For a moment, sadness came over me.

⋯⋯⋯⋯I was living well with my grandfather, but suddenly an uncle came to visit me and said that uncle was my father.

That d*mn Perion bastard had no intention of following the orders, and he was also talking nonsense.

I ran away to avoid their bullying, but Roberick chased after me and threatened my grandfather.

To protect my grandfather, and to return all this shame to Roberick, she decided to become a princess.

Then, unexpectedly, I found out that I was a spiritist, and the woman I met when I came to the Grand Duke’s residence, Allea, the daughter of that woman, was extremely powerful.

…In order to achieve my goal as safely as possible, I entered the imperial palace holding the emperor’s outstretched hand, but what was this?

I even got targeted by some strange being.

From all things I could do, I was able to free with my own hands a being that was clearly imprisoned by the emperor himself.

Then? My miserable life ends here and like this..

It was so unfair that I couldn’t even cry.

Why was my life such a mess?

“Open your eyes.”

When I imagined myself being impaled by a spear made of cold ice, or an even more terrible end.

A very strange voice came into my ears and I slowly opened my closed eyelids.

The boy who had once disappeared without a trace like a midday dream was once again standing before my eyes.

“Long time no see.”

The strange and beautiful boy greeted me with a quiet smile.

 

***

 

TL:

This chapter was extremely long.

Hope you enjoyed it as I did.

If you want to support me, please leave a comment with a compliment, of course, or donate on my kofi page.

I have made my mind that if anyone decided to donate om my page, there always gonna be a reward for them as I am not comfortable enough to take money without doing anything in return, so if anyone wants to do it on the future you should choose from this and write it in the comments:

-Unlocking chapters, it will depend on the amount, 1 ch.=1$

-suggesting a series for me to translate as earl as possible, that will depend on how I feel about it, if I really don’t like it, you will have to go with something else.

-releasing faster update that day or any day you want.

Sorry for the long note.