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

<Episode 51>

 

***

Now that the situation had calmed down, it was time to find out what I was most curious about, the truth I should have known long ago.

I could no longer trust Count Juppes.

In terms of his individual character, it would not be wrong to call him the most ideal teacher, but in the end, he also could not go against the will of the Emperor and Grand Duke Heilian.

“Now, here’s the history book you asked for….It’s not just you, but even in the textbooks that teach history to children these days, information about the onset of the disaster and the great spirit history is extremely blocked.”

Ashamed spoke softly as he brought me a book containing the most accurate history in existence.

“The reason the Emperor gave me this book is probably…I guess he did it because he had nothing to worry about because it was clear that I would be imprisoned until the day I died.”

I stared at the thick book with the old cover and hardened my expression.

The problem of historical distortion led by the Emperor and Roderick was becoming increasingly serious.

… They had to be prevented from doing that somehow as soon as possible.

“Thank you, Ashamed.”

I swallowed my heavy heart and smiled brightly.

After Ashamed left, I quickly flipped through the huge book that was like three or four encyclopedias combined, looking for the part I wanted.

The founding story? I knew this much.

The rich history of the Heilian Archduchy? It’s not important.

What I need to know most now is…

“…found it!”

It was a record of the Great Spiritual Masters and information about what exactly the Great Spiritual Masters were.

So what I found was this.

[The great spirit masters were beings newly created by the spirit kings of the natural world to foresee that the dark spirit king and his descendants that will bring about disaster and destroy the future. The spirit king’s breath, which was considered to be the source of the spirit king, was cut into pieces and given to human souls. Thus making a special creation that was born with it.

There were only six people in long history who were born as great spirit masters, and the reason why they were chosen as great spirit masters will never be known to us who were born as mere humans….

They freely wielded a powerful amount of power that far exceeded the level of an ordinary spiritist.

However, these were not truly perfect beings either.

Because they could only use the power of the Spirit King who had given them the source, they were not allowed to have three attributes like the universal/genius Spiritists, as they could only have one attribute.

Instead, it was a clear truth that because they were beings that were very specialized in one attribute, their attributes were incomparably special and powerful compared to the universal elemental spiritist.

A regular Spiritualist, not a Great Spiritual master, can use half of the power of a single spirit at its maximum firepower, but they (great spirit masters)were able to use almost all of the power possessed by a single Spirit King of the natural world.]

“Wow……………. Then, those seniors too.”

Even though they were born as humans, were they able to wield power comparable to that of the Spirit King?

When we stayed together for a while, they seemed like ordinary grandparents to the point where I forgot that they were so strong.

I had no idea they were such great beings.

“…But why was my grandfather so strong?”

Therefore, the identity of the grandfather, who was said to have stood shoulder to shoulder with the great spirit masters who were revered as special and far beyond ordinary humans, was becoming questionable.

He was an ordinary human being who had not received any spirit blessings.

But…Well, was it really possible to have incredible strength?

When asked why he had never used this kind of power until now, he answered that he had no reason to use it before and he had not received any blessings…My grandfather said that as he got older, his body gradually became unable to withstand his strength, so he refrained from using it.

“The grandfather may not have been recognised, but….”

Wasn’t he also a great spirit master born from the spirit king’s breath?

Unlike the others, he was not recognised because he had no clear characteristics… Oh, it was a baseless delusion.

I shook my head and started reading the passages again.

[The names of the six great spirits are as follows.

Great Spirit master of Wind, Mekaila Euphorium.

Atara Hakkella, the Great Spirit master of Water.

Great Spirit of Earth, David Callan Terrasium.

The Great Spirit of the Forest, Sophea Dryad.

Great Spirit of Light, Ezekiel Jeremia Heilian.

Great Spirit of Electricity, Judith Sephemia -.]

“… The person who was said to be the Great Spirit of Water here… ”

I didn’t know it until now, but she was my grandfather’s wife who passed away shortly after giving birth to Mariette…she was my maternal grandmother.

“This character wasn’t even mentioned in the original novel…” ‎‫

For no reason, I felt uneasy.

“Then Mariette was truly born with a noble status.”

Her father and mother were both heroes who saved the world.

Perhaps the reason why Naiads exist in Mariette’s and my attributes is because our maternal grandmother was a water spirit master.

I muttered to myself while fiddling with the part where my grandmother’s name was written.

“And……huh?”

The moment I tried to shake off my fluttering emotions and lowered my gaze, I was startled and widened my eyes at the name that came into view.

“Hailian?!”¹Finally, I was waiting for this(⁠ﾉ⁠≧⁠∇⁠≦⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠ ⁠ﾐ⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻.

Why did this name appear here?

I opened my mouth and read the name of the person recorded as the Great Spirit master of Light over and over again.

And there was a person that came to mind,

“Grandpa Ezekiel….”

It was Grandpa Ezekiel, who had graying, almost platinum-blond hair that hung down to his feet, and always smiled gently during the day.

My God, he was from the Heilian Archduchy!

“I didn’t feel like he resembled Roberick for no reason. He….”

Come to think of it, Roberick’s main attribute was also light.

Oh my goodness, this connection existed and I didn’t even notice.

But it was also Roberick’s fault.

He was so obsessed with me because I was his only blood relative and biological child.

So, I thought that the only blood relatives left in the Heilian Archduchy in this world were me and Roberick.

“I guess he is from a collateral of the family… right?”

If he was a direct descendant, there was no way he would have left the Roshan Empire to live outside.

… Still, how should I say it?

It made me very happy to know that there were other family members in my paternal lineage other than Roberick.²Yeah, a non trashy character in the Archduky, how rare!!

“I’ll definitely have to go out and have fun next time.”

I mumbled happily and looked down.

“Judith Sephemia… hmm? What….”

But there was something strange.

I frowned and read that part again.

Sephemia may be a last name, but the last part of the name was….oh my.

“It seems like the original record has been erased…………….”

I tried rubbing the dull blur a few times, but it never revealed the completely erased area.

…What is it?

“My view of the world is always so full of mystery…”

I closed the bookshelf, mumbling something lamentable.

I confirmed all records regarding the Great Spirit masters.

And…

“The onset of the disaster was a more important event in this worldview than I thought.”

In the original work, settings such as the Great Spirit masters, the Beginning of Disaster, and the Spirit King of Darkness did not even appear.

It was just a story centered around the fresh and sad love between Chastia and Roberick and the sabotage of the evil girl Mariette.

After learning about things in the past that I didn’t know about, I realized how much the original novel wasted their alternative worldview.‫

“…Arkane.”

As a result, my thoughts turned back to that day, when I encountered a forest so dark that I couldn’t see an inch in front of me…

We headed towards Arkane, the spirit king of darkness, who took on a human body and revealed his true nature to us for the first time.

‘My beloved younger brother. You were here.‘

He called Ashamed his brother.

‘Now I finally found you. You can’t even begin to imagine how desperately I’ve searched for you all these years. Why on earth are you blaming the faults of such an insignificant being on yourself? You are not some lowly creature….’

His actions as he spoke affectionately to Ashamed in a trembling voice, filled with incomprehensible emotions.

‘How can you stop me every time on every step I take?’

[It is not your time yet.]

The meaningless grudges and indifferent answers exchanged between Ilipia and Arkane.

‘I will not give up on you.’

‘Even if everything is destroyed, you will never be lost again.’

And the last words Arkane left were…well.

“What is it? What does it mean?…..”

I scratched my head and groaned.

What’s going on?

“Should I ask Ashamed?…No, how would he know why the Spirit King of Darkness calls him brother?”

Ashamed also looked at Arkane as if he didn’t know what crazy things he was talking about.

“Illipia…”

Since they were both Spirit Kings, it was possible for some kind of relationship to exist between them, but something made me fell uneasy.

“Now that I think about it, I wanted to go to Litera because I wanted to know about the Spirit King of Wisdom….”

I had completely forgotten about it because of the series of situations that had swirled around me so far.

…Should I go again?

“Okay, I can go. There should be no danger this time….” ‎‫

Let’s find out about this one thing for sure.

I got up from my seat, burning with determination to visit Litera again.

 

***

 

“I can’t allow it, Edith.”

“…What? Why?”

However, there was an unexpected ambush.

It was Roberick.

“A kidnapping like this one could happen at any time. I will never allow you to go outside the Roshan Empire, at least until you become proficient in using the power of the spirits.”

No, the previous kidnapping was due to an unexpected stalker named Riat…

“It’s because there’s a book I really want to find, so it’ll be okay if I go with my grandfather and his friends!”

I urgently shouted to Roberick to persuade him, but his expression became even more determined than before.

“It can not be done. I can’t allow it.”

“Why?”

I’m asking for the people who are more trustworthy than you to accompany me, but why are you saying you can’t allow it?

“You are my daughter. I cannot leave you again in the hands of those who are nothing more than a past glory.”³So, you trust the ability of your loosy self who has neither past or present glory than those heros. This is arrogance at its peak(⁠●⁠_⁠_⁠●⁠).