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

<Episode 26>

 

“We’re now even, right? Thank you. Thanks to you, I was finally released.”

The one who spoke calmly just looked like a living human being.

After staring at that face blankly, I came to my senses and looked back.

The Vine Chimera’s presence had long since disappeared, as if it had been washed away by water.

I took a deep breath and looked back at the boy.

‘Tell me your name. Tell me, and I’ll remove all that ice.’

A strange boy who strangled me as he made unintelligible demands.

[I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. From awhile ago, the only people here were me, Edith, and you.]

Like a midday dream, I saw it clearly with my own eyes and even had a conversation with it, but the Naiad denied it, saying she didn’t see it*…

[TL: For those who forgot she is constantly mentioning the boy as an it, because at this point she thinks he is a monster of some sort.]

“…What on earth are you?”

It didn’t seem like he had any intention of harming me right now.

I swallowed, suppressed my trembling, and asked.

Was it an evil spirit or a monster?

⋯⋯⋯It’s really unexpected, but was there a possibility that it was a dragon?

I thought so hard and barely asked.

“…Until now, I used the crown prince, servants, and the pendant to open the door. Not only did the emperor make up his mind and cast a spell to prevent the summoning of spirits, but he also used a relic that had lost its owner and imprisoned me here very tightly. Meals were only provided once a day. That’s why I’ve been stuck here for almost a month.”

He didn’t even answer my question and just kept saying what he wanted to say.

‘…What are you talking about?’

I distorted my face as I looked at the boy who was telling me something I couldn’t understand.

“…Your reaction is not entertaining. Then how about this? You couldn’t summon a spirit on the way here, right?”

“…Yes, of course. There was a spell preventing the summoning of spirits.”

I spoke carefully.

Then the boy smiled and said as if he was happy.

“What brought you here was all done by me summoning a spirit.”

……….what?

I tapped my ear as I listened to his voice chattering alone, and after a while of pending I cried out in confusion.

“What… Are you a human? No, rather, summoning a spirit. No one other than the royal family can summon spirits…”

At that moment, I stared at the boy blankly, a dull realization pounding in my head.

As if reading my thoughts, he smiled sweetly and whispered.

“I am a member of the royal family.”

[TL: Boy is doing all of that for his own entertainment LoL]

I looked at the boy talking happily with shaking pupils.

“Can’t you believe I’m human? Then shall I show you?”

Then the boy opened his eyes wide and spoke, then suddenly cut his arm with a sharp ice spear that appeared in his hand.

“W-what are you doing!”

Red blood bloomed dropping on the ice-covered floor.

The boy said, retracting the ice spear without even blinking.

“Now, look at this. I am a human being with the same blood as you and warm skin.”

“……!”

I bit my lip.

“Okay, so stop, please.”

This boy was a human.

⋯⋯⋯The setting of a being that can change into human form did not appear in the original work, so he was probably a human.

But if he was really a human.

“……Wouldn’t it be clear if you look closely? Well, if you approve it.”

To prove that he was human, he can casually cut his own body and show those wounds to others so indifferently, without even a single sign of pain, even with drops of blood flowing down… Was that even possible?

Was it really possible for a child of only about ten years old to do that?

“Anyway, since the misunderstanding has been resolved, let me ask you a favor.”

I looked away from the boy’s arms as much as I could and stared into his eerie blue eyes.

“From now on, whenever I call you, please come back here as soon instantly.”

And once again, I was immersed in doubts about whether what I heard was really true and whether this situation was really real.

“The emperor is keeping an eye on me, and even if I am released like I am now, I can’t go anywhere else besides this castle. I don’t have the energy to play around for a while. But… it’s so frustrating to be stuck here forever. .”

The boy laughed viciously, as he talked about the Emperor of Roshan.

“So I need you. When I call you, I will open a path like the one you walked today. Walk that path and come to me.”

I listened to the boy blankly.

“Why should I do that?”

After he finished speaking, he asked:

“No?”

At that moment, the beautiful face with a gentle smile was filled with murderous intent.

The boy asked, his blue eyes shining brightly.

⋯⋯⋯If I said no, it felt like he would stab me in the neck with the ice spear he had just stabbed in his arm.

“…Okay. I will do that.”

As I was unable to summon the spirits for the time being, I felt very resentful and unfair, but I had no choice but to follow the boy’s will.

“good.”

When I agreed, the boy completely erased any signs of murderous intent he had shown.

Then he turned his gaze to the sky and muttered lowly.

“Now go.”

“……uh?”

“Hurry, I don’t have time.”

…….hey? What are you doing after bringing me here?

As the fear subsided, cursing rose up to the top of my throat, but I suppressed it with all my might.

“Go! If you don’t want to get caught.”

The boy pulled my arm and suddenly pushed me hard on the back.

This bastard is for real!

“Damn…huh?”

I couldn’t suppress my anger for a moment and turned my face away while swearing.

The person I had been face to face with just moments ago had disappeared somewhere.

“…The rose garden?”

I muttered absentmindedly.

Before I knew it, I was back in the garden from before.

……When on earth? At what moment?

“Oh my, Your Highness the Crown Prince! What’s going on! Come to your senses!”

“…It’s frozen hard. I guess I’ll have to bring in the fire spirit.”

From a distance, the noisy voices of the servants following the crown prince could be heard.

“…I am back, huh?”

I still couldn’t believe that I was standing with my feet in reality.

I muttered blankly and tilted my head back.

The night sky was still dark and the roses in full bloom were dark red.

However, compared to the eerie and cold moment that disappeared like a mirage, it felt completely normal.

 

***

 

What on earth was that guy?

As for the royal family… he was around the same age as the crown prince and the second prince.

Why did the emperor leave such a child confined alone in such a ruined castle?

No, was the premise that he was a member of the royal family true in the first place?

…No, if that was false, there was no way that guy could have used spirit power.

“The basic qualifications of a crown princess are… As the future empress is in a position of great responsibility, the first is to be considerate to protect the honor of the royal family, and the second is to be modest….”

The boring lessons of the Crown Princess did not reach my ears at all.

All day long, I thought about that boy again and again.

In my head, countless guesses, anxieties, relief and alternatives appeared and disappeared repeatedly.

“……Ugh it’s frustrating.”

Today is my first day officially at the imperial palace.

I was in a bad mood because of something.

I shook my head and put my cheek on top of the thick pile of books.

The cold surface of the book seemed to cool my heated face just a little.

I don’t know what he is, and I can’t summon a spirit.

I have no choice but to be dragged on one-sidedly.

“…..aaaaah”

…Should I just cancel the engagement and escape the imperial palace?

No, after saying all sorts of things to Roberick and even receiving this damn pendant, how can I already call off my engagement!

I buried my face in the book, stomped my feet, and shed tears.

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gotten engaged to the crown prince.

For the first time, I felt terrible regret about the choices I had made.

Should I just go to the emperor right now and confess the strange story I experienced last night?

I hesitated so many times, but…

I couldn’t bring myself to tell the story because I was afraid that the Emperor would be more angry than I imagined if he heared that I haf unsealed a being who I didn’t know whether he was a prince or not, whom he himself had imprisoned in an abandoned palace.

“Princess Edith, we will practice etiquette.”

A maid came to my side at a slow pace and announced the subject of the class.

I let out a very deep sigh and stood up.

 

***

 

That very night, the boy called me again

“………”

The way he created the path this time was by making a large hole in the wall of the room I was staying in.

….. What is this bastard, really?

Was there any spirit capable of creating a crack in space in this way?

“Whatever happens….”

Couldn’t I refuse it?

Why did he have to see me?

It was very unsettling that I had become entangled with a being imprisoned by the emperor, and I didn’t know if it was from the royal family or something, but I should stop getting involved.

“……Ah, Mr.”

I shook my head roughly.

Even if I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with any alternatives.

I had no choice but to act to get along with it as much as possible.

First, let’s hold a formal engagement ceremony with the crown prince and then inform the emperor of the truth.

At that time, I would be the Crown Prince’s official fiancée and a certified Heilian princess, so no matter how angry the Emperor was at the fact that I came face to face with the being he had imprisoned, he would not be able to impose any significant punishment.

“I have to endure it first.”

I forced myself down that path, thinking that when I came back, I would have to scrape up all the books on the types of spirits and read them all.

Unlike the exterior, which looked like a black wormhole, when I stepped into it, the sight that unfolded before my eyes was the same as yesterday.

Rose vines were wrapped around each other, and red roses were blooming everywhere I looked.

An arched passageway with a somewhat eerie and strange atmosphere.

“…It won’t pop out again.”

I looked around everywhere to see if yesterday’s vine chimera would pop up again, but fortunately nothing showed up.

The castle I arrived at was still in ruins.

“…Why is he trapped in a place like this?”

Swallowing back the doubts that arose again, I didn’t know what would happen today, I was very nervous and I was scared of ghosts, then I stepped into the hall of a castle that seemed like no one would live there.

The door to the room the boy was in was closed tightly, as if the vivid memories were still a lie

I didn’t remember closing it before leaving, so he must have closed it himself.

Oh, I was anxious. How did I get involved with this guy?

…Did this mean he had no intention of getting caught by the emperor?

I carefully raised my hand and knocked on the door.

“come in.”

A calm answer came back from the other side.

I sighed and inserted the pendant into the groove in the door just like yesterday.

There was still a resonance that was somewhat uncomfortable to listen to.

I closed my eyes tightly from the intense heat and opened them gently.

“I’m here?”

The sight of a boy lying comfortably on the floor covered in pure white ice caught my eye.

……Should I say that his posture seemed comfortable?

As I looked down at him in bewilderment, the boy patted the place next to him.

It seemed like a sign to sit next to him.

I sat down on the floor in a daze.

The boy looked up at me quietly and said.

“It’s not that cold. Lie down next to me.”

“what?”

Before I could answer, he grabbed my arm.

In the blink of an eye, I was lying down on the floor and immediately tried to fight back.

“When you lie down like this, it’s like you are looking at the sky outside.”

At that moment, I was speechless at the quiet, strangely innocent voice.

 

***

TL:

Hello my friends,

This chapter is also free because I am still happy about the holiday as well as an apology because I won’t be releasing chapter 27 today.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your reading ❤️