How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

The moment the bricks were pushed in, the entire stone wall moved slowly, creating a passageway for one person to enter. After that, a small dark space was revealed. Without hesitation, she went inside. There was no light at all in the narrow, closed room, but she could dimly see what was inside. It was because of the white light seeping in from the ceiling. A soft light was leaking from the winding roots of trees embedded in the ceiling. Tree roots decorating the ceiling led to the opposite wall. The thick roots tangled together and tapered, ending in the middle of the wall. And at the end of it, there were water droplets emitting white light. This was exactly what she was looking for.

 

The divine tree sap.

 

It was a sap with powerful healing power flowing from the root of the sacred tree. It was written that even if the heart was pierced, if this sap was used immediately, it would be cured. You can only take this elixir at sunrise, 5 days before the feast of Rastana. It was said that once it was taken, it would take decades to make it again. The reason why she came to the Great Temple was because she wanted to escape from the imperial palace, but in fact, she also had a reason to want to save it.

 

If the Empress’ plan had been delayed for a few more days, she would have tried to sneak out of the imperial palace in the middle of the night. Fortunately, the Empress set the date just right.

 

‘In the original story, Sorel would discover this two years later.’

 

It was a divine elixir that remained only in legends, so no one knew of its existence. Sorel got this by accident. However, Sorel sold the potion to the merchants to make money later in the work. It was because she needed money to become self-reliant after leaving the imperial palace. Since Sorel herself had strong healing power, she had no reason to use it. However, it was a precious elixir that she had to take with her, as her life came and went. Eve felt sorry for Sorel, but she couldn’t help it because her life was at stake.

 

‘Sorry. I’ll pay you back with money later.’

 

There were jewels that Eve had, and there were a lot of jewels that she received as gifts. 

Promising to reward Sorel even more than the Merchant gave her, she pulled out a vial and took the elixir from the tip of the root. As soon as the bottle was touched, white sap that emits a gentle light flows into the small glass bottle. After sealing the glass bottle, she took it in her arms.

 

She got out of the room and put the door back the same way. When she passed the library and went out into the hallway, Mikhail was waiting for her at the door.

 

“Are you done?”

 

“Huh.”

 

Mikhail silently stepped aside and made way for her. Chloe was still expressionless, but Mikhail paused and looked towards the door.

 

She asked without losing sight of her eyes.

 

“Do you wonder what happened inside?”

 

Mikhail looked back at her with a calm expression.

 

“Will there be dangerous consequences because of what the princess did?”

 

“No.”

 

“Then I am not curious.”

 

Surprised by the calm answer, she looked at him blankly, and the answer came back.

 

“It is my duty to protect the princess. No matter what happens, as long as the princess is not in danger.”

 

“That’s a reasonable idea.”

 

Mikhail led the way and spoke quietly.

 

“The imperial palace… I know how complex and difficult it is.”

 

There was a hint of sympathy in his low voice. The words in the middle were so small that she couldn’t hear them well. Was it ‘power struggle’? ‘political strife’? Maybe something similar to that. From Mikhail’s point of view, she was now a 19-year-old princess who was about to get married. She almost got drugged by the Empress just two days ago, and even after running away to the temple, she went back to the library in the middle of the night and plotted something. It seemed that she was fed up with the fierce conspiracies of the imperial palace, but at the same time felt compassion for her situation. Well, in fact, right now, her real father threatened her life.

 

Looking at it objectively, it’s a pitiful situation.

 

“Thank you for understanding.”

 

“I am only doing my part.”

 

Did it mean that he would only fulfill his responsibility because he did not want to and couldn’t participate in complicated power struggles? Well, Mikhail was originally like that. A sincere person who couldn’t get involved in factional fights and only worked hard. The conversation ended there.

 

They walked down an empty hallway. Only the sound of small footsteps echoed in the dark hallway. After reaching the end of the corridor, she left the lowest floor where the library was and went upstairs. She broke the heavy silence as she climbed the stairs.

 

“It is said that Sorel has been put on probation in the imperial palace. Did you hear?”

 

She thought that if Sorel brought up her story that she had become sober, she would be surprised or taken aback, but Mikhail turned the question to her unexpectedly calmly.

 

“Are you going to see Sorel?”

 

“I would love to, but…”

 

She wanted to be friends with Sorel. Sorel was the heroine of the original work, and she was a saint with a powerful healing power, and in the future both Michael and Terence would fall in love with her.

 

‘But considering Eve’s actions, it would be virtually impossible to improve her relationship with Sorel.’

 

She was glad she didn’t make a worse impression here.

 

She sighed heartily.

 

“I don’t even deserve that. There were so many things I felt sorry for Sorel.”

 

Mikhail looked at her and seemed to be contemplating something for a while.

 

“If you’ll allow me to ask rude questions.”

 

“I will allow you.”

 

“With Princess Sorel… May I ask what caused you to hate Sorel so much?”

 

“Huh?”

 

She looked back and saw calm blue eyes looking at her.

 

“The princess seems very different from what I’ve heard.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Yeah, you don’t seem like someone who would treat someone badly for no reason.”

 

That’s because she was not the real Eve. Well, Mikhail in the original work had few opportunities to see Eve up close. Most likely you have heard of Eve’s notoriety through others. He must have heard about it while exchanging letters with Sorel. He must have been curious because it was different from what he had heard in real life.

 

She pondered his question. The reason why Eve hated Sorel. And the reason was very simple.

 

“I think I was envious of her. I was so envious of meeting someone who had everything I wanted.”

 

Eve envied Sorel. Her beautiful appearance and strong holy power. Love and attention from people. Of course, Eve was a princess born of the former Empress, and she had a sufficiently beautiful appearance and her real brother, who was the crown prince, but everyone wanted something they didn’t have. Because she lost her holy power from a young age, she was ridiculed as a false saint, so she must have envied and hated Sorel for her powerful holy power.

 

“I’m so envious, but I know I can’t be like that. I was angry and said I hated her. It’s so bad.”

 

It was common for envy to become jealous and envy to hate. Sometimes, like Eve, there were times when she was envious and jealous of others. Mainly, she felt envious when she saw someone who had a happy family that she did not have. Of course, like Eve, she didn’t hate people who were better than her. Because hating others also requires passion. She hated the ugly feelings she had even more. So she just chose to avoid it.

 

A calm voice came from the side.

 

“Princess Sorel suffered a lot.”

 

“…I know. It’s all my fault.”

 

Of course it wasn’t her fault, it was Eve’s fault, but she pretended to feel guilty and sighed and kept her mouth shut. If Mikhail went to Sorel later and told her that Eve was very remorseful, maybe things would improve? But there was no answer coming back.

 

Mikhail took the lead and walked without a word. In the meantime, they came up the long stairs to the ground. Outside, the day was bright and white. The moon, which had been hanging in the blue sky, disappeared in the dawn light. Even the garden, which had been immersed in the shade of the night, was illuminated by clear sunlight. It was when she got out of the building with the library and entered the garden path toward the inn.

 

“I know how you feel.”

 

Mikhail, who had been silent until then, suddenly opened his mouth.

 

“It’s hard to have a brother who excels in every way.”

 

When she heard that, she looked away in amazement. Could it be that Michael knew that Terence was his half-brother? There was no such thing in the original. In the original story, Terrence was the only person who knew about their relationship. When Terrence was nearing completion, he revealed the secret only to Mikhail. Others didn’t know until the end that the two were half brothers.

 

‘What, why is it different from the original?’

 

I hid my embarrassment and looked at Mikhail, but he was only looking straight ahead with complicated eyes.

 

“…Do you have any brothers?”

 

“Yes. We are not siblings.”

 

After that, Michael stopped talking. He seemed unwilling to explain further. How did he know? Contrary to the original, did he hear from his mother? She wondered what the hell was that.

 

‘Did you know that the Grand Duke is your half-brother? How did you know?’ 

 

It was impossible to ask outright. The relationship between the two was not a very important setting, so it was not dealt with in detail in the original work. Truth be told, it didn’t really change anything. Although the relationship between the two softened a little, it was on the verge of consummation, so they ended up living their own lives. She wasn’t in the mood to ask any more, so she decided to pretend she didn’t know. Looking at him again, she felt a strange feeling.

 

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Translator Note: Sorry for any mistake during the migration ^^,