How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

As she concentrated, a gentle golden light bloomed in her hand. Amazement mixed with admiration spread among the people watching.

 

‘Yeah, I’m amazed every time I see it too.’

 

Warm light seeps out from the palm of her hand and heals others. She tried it a few times, but it still felt amazing. When she took her hand away a moment later, the wound on the maid’s skin had disappeared as if it had been washed away.

 

“Oh my god… She really realized her sacred power.”

 

Everyone was surprised to see her using her real holy power, but there were also people who seemed convinced. They seemed to think that they had now discovered the cause, remembering Terence’s sudden affection for her in the past. Eve, who was stupid and violent, belatedly realized that she had the same sacred power as Sorel. They seemed to think that Terence had noticed all of this first and had come out and held her hand.

 

‘Well, I don’t think it’s completely wrong.’

 

Because she actually showed her precognitive abilities and cooperated with him.

 

After letting go of the maid’s hand, she turned to the ministers and said,

 

“I don’t know how it happened, but I gained powers similar to Sorel’s. Maybe it’s because we’re sisters, right?”

 

As she said that, she glanced back at the emperor. The emperor was looking at her with an eerily expressionless face. Then she caught his gaze and belatedly smiled.

 

“I see. I was worried about Eve because she didn’t have any sacred power, but I’m really glad that she is now aware of her abilities. I’m proud to be her father.”

 

How proud he was when he tried to kill her a few days ago. She got goosebumps every time the emperor smiles so kindly.

 

She said with a friendly smile, hiding her disgust for the other person.

 

“Isn’t it fascinating? After Sorel lost her status as a member of the royal family, I became aware of my sacred power.”

 

“I see. This must all be the will of the Heavenly God who blessed the royal family.”

 

The emperor said that and stood up.

 

“I’m not feeling well today, so I guess I’ll take a break. Everyone go away.”

 

She watched him quietly walk to the door. When the emperor was a few steps ahead of the entrance door, she quickly jumped in.

 

“Father, may I come with you?”

 

She reached out and tried to grab the emperor’s arm. The moment she tried to grab his body, the emperor flinched and slapped her hand away. 

 

A heavy silence fell in the office at the emperor’s sudden action. The servants also looked at him with surprised expressions, and even the ministers who were watching opened their eyes wide as if they were embarrassed. Everyone was surprised that the emperor slapped his daughter’s hand away so hard that it made a loud sound. The emperor himself seemed perplexed. He probably didn’t know that she would suddenly rush at him.

 

She apologized to him with a sorry face.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. father. I made a mistake because I still have some of the habits from when I was a princess.”

 

The emperor stared at her from a step away. A smile slowly spread on his face.

 

“I’m not feeling well today and I’m worried that I might pass the disease on to you. I will call you again later when I feel better.”

 

“Yes, please call me again.”

 

The emperor quickly walked out the door without even looking back. As if knowing her precognitive abilities wasn’t enough, he also noticed that touching the person in question was the medium.

 

‘I wanted to catch you and see the future, but it’s a shame.’

 

Although she failed to catch the emperor and see wisdom, there was nothing she could do. Instead, they had no choice but to look forward to the other side.

 

She turned around to see a small dot waving in the emperor’s shadow. As she came out, receiving greetings from the ministers, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

 

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”

 

She turned around and saw Mikhail chasing her.

 

“Mikhail. I wanted to meet you.”

 

It was her first time meeting Mikhail since their last dinner. She hadn’t been able to go outside since she was practicing her new abilities inside the mansion. Even if she could go out, she would have been careful about meeting Mikhail because of the public attention.

 

Mikhail must have been thinking the same thing, which was why he didn’t come to the mansion.

 

She headed to the small garden on the west side of the government building with Mikhail. The small garden was surrounded by a high wall. Mikhail took her next to a large zelkova tree next to the fence. After arriving at a deserted place, Mikhail bowed his head to her.

 

“Thank you so much for today.”

 

“No, it’s natural.”

 

Mikhail gave her a gift containing a bomb and gave her a hint to be careful in advance. Since he went against the emperor’s will and took her side, she also had to protect Mikhail.

 

Mikhail asked her with a coy smile.

 

“Excuse me, but you have been aware of your sacred power for a long time, right?”

 

“What?”

 

When she thought about what this meant, Mikhail saw Bayan hiding in the shadows in the basement library and going out. He could easily have thought that he already had divine powers from then on.

 

“Yes, actually, I did.”

 

There was no need for her to deny it, so he agreed. Mikhail smiled bitterly and asked if that was the case, then gave one more piece of information.

 

“His Majesty the Emperor has been unwell for the past few days and has canceled all of his external activities. And he tripled the security of the emperor’s palace.”

 

She guessed he thought she was trying to hurt him.

 

She felt like blowing up the Emperor’s Palace right now. If only they could succeed so that no charges would be brought against her, Terence, and Arentine. However, there was still a mystery left to be solved. The identity of the shaman.

 

She was going to grab the emperor and take a look at it, but she never thought he would be so disgusted that he would kick her out. He said he was sick and seemed to be planning to stay indoors in the palace. Of course, with an enemy with precognitive abilities nearby, he thought he would hide in a safe place and plan a new strategy.

 

“Mikhail.”

 

She held Mikhail’s hand, giving him a calm, understanding look.

 

“You may have felt it after what happened last time, but the emperor has no intention of protecting you.”

 

A gloomy expression appeared on Mikhail’s neat face, as if fog had covered it.

 

“Yes, I know.”

 

“So let’s find together a way to live. Can you help us?”

 

Mikhail seemed to ponder for a moment. It seemed that betraying the emperor still felt painful to him.

 

“I will help in any way I can.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

At least that much was good for now. Actually, she wanted something else more than Mikhail’s help. Mikhail always stayed by the Emperor’s side. Could it be that Mikhail found some hints about witchcraft in the future? He focused his thoughts on that. As he had learned from Bayan, he tried to bring out foresight by gathering the sacred power in her heart in her head. Fortunately, a new scene immediately unfolded before her eyes. It felt good to be aware of her own sacred power.

 

Precognition comes out right away whenever you want it. Of course, it didn’t always come out. Unlike the healing power, which was 100% effective, the foresight power was still random. The probability of it coming out is just higher than before. Still, where were the odds? She thought so and looked around.

 

The place she was in was a dark underground hallway with black stone walls. She saw a silver-haired man ahead of her. It was Mikhail.

 

She followed him down the dark hallway. After walking for a while, they came across a prison with iron bars. The scene inside the prison was miserable. Blood stains and dust were scattered on the dirty floor, and straw bales and rag-like blankets were rolling around. In one corner, a person wearing tattered clothes was crouching.

 

Mikhail approached the bars and called the person.

 

“Princess…”

 

She was startled when she heard that name.

 

Princess…?

 

The woman in rags heard Mikhail’s voice and raised her head. Only then did she realize who that person was. Sorel was so thin and haggard that she was unrecognizable.

 

“Mikhail!”

 

Sorel rushed towards the iron bars to get closer to Mikhail. Even at first glance, Sorel’s condition seemed very serious. She was skinny and dirty, had cuts here and there, and her blood was caked on them. Her beautiful blonde hair had become as brittle as straw.

 

“Princess, this is… How did this happen?”

 

Tears flowed from Sorel’s eyes.

 

“I had no choice because His Majesty forced me.”

 

“What… What do you mean by that?”

 

Sorel cried endlessly while looking at Mikhail. Even though she didn’t like Sorel, seeing her was almost pitiful.

 

“The curse has already been placed and cannot be undone. I will die soon.”

 

“A curse?”

 

At those words, she looked at Sorel blankly.

 

Sorel said, nodding her head again.

 

“Eve… It was a spell to curse my sister.”

 

“But Her Highness, the Grand Duchess, has done nothing…”

 

Mikhail seemed confused, but Sorel cut him off and answered.

 

“It will take effect soon. There isn’t much left.”

 

Sorel cupped Mikhail’s hand as she held on to the bars.

 

“Thank you for coming to see me, Mikhail. I’m sorry for calling you here. Please leave safely.”

 

‘Is Sorel trapped here?’

 

According to Sorel’s story, she was imprisoned here and forced to cast a spell.

 

‘Where on earth are we? When will this happen?’

 

That was when she had that question. At that moment, her vision went dark again. When she opened her eyes, there was Mikhail standing in front of me with a sad expression.

 

“I don’t know what kind of work you have in mind, but if it’s for Your Highness’s safety, I’d like to help.”

 

Mikhail seemed genuinely worried about her.

 

“Yes…”

 

But she didn’t have time to be moved by those words right now. This was because the premonition she just saw was so shocking.

 

‘The person who put the curse on me was Sorrel.’

 

Sorel said it was because of the emperor’s coercion. She said she was going to die because of that. She said that in order to harm an opponent with a spell, the sorcerer must use enough life force to the point of losing his or her life.

 

Vitality.

 

At that time, Bayan said so. Because shamans do not have innate powers like holy power. She’s using her own life force instead. He said that even if he used up all the shaman’s life force, it would not be easy for him to curse the saint. But what if he could summon up a force strong enough to curse the saint? What if that is another saint’s holy power and vitality?

 

She remembered the words written in my diary.

 

[To prevent the curse, you must be alone.]

 

[…Kill him.]

 

Could it be that the letter was not for the word shaman… but for ‘sister’?

 

Kill her sister? Since only the daughters of the Albion royal family became saints, the sisters of the saints were the same saints. If she did not have any sisters, she becomes the only saint in her generation. In reality, you may have an aunt or great-aunt. When Princess Enclid, the owner of the diary, lived, there were no other princesses other than her younger sister.

 

‘And she said that her sister died around the same time as Princess Enclid.’

 

Putting it all together like that makes it feel like it’s connected in its own way. It’s still all just speculation on her part.

 

‘But how does Sorel know such magic?’

 

She looked up at Mikhail and quickly asked.

 

“Do you know where Sorel is?”

 

“I heard she is in the princess’s palace, but I’m not sure. I’ve never met her either.”

 

“I see. Okay.”

 

As she gathered my thoughts, she let go of Mikhail’s hand. There was only one way to solve this question.

 

She needed to meet Sorel. Right Now.

 

* * *

 

Sorel spread her hands and raised her holy power once again. All the remaining strength in her body was scraped away. Even though she squeezed out every drop of holy power left in her heart, the holy power in her hands was less than a handful.

 

‘No, that can’t be possible.’

 

Sorel, who was sitting in front of the dressing table, threw the glass bottle he caught in her hand at the mirror.

 

Clink!

 

The glass bottle shattered with a sharp noise, and the perfume inside spread everywhere. The mirror had cracks like spiderwebs. The scene in the room was reflected in the cracked mirror. The room was already a mess. This was because, over the past few days, Sorel herself had been checking her sacred power and throwing out her anger.

 

Sorel trembled with anger, held her head, and lowered her head. She had already checked it several times, but she still couldn’t believe it. Almost all of her holy power was gone. What was left of her was a power even weaker than her original natural holy power.

 

‘Why? Why did it disappear so suddenly?’

 

Her missing holy power was the power of Eve, taken from her by Sorell herself when she was young. Could it be that the spell she used back then was broken? Sorel was a young girl at the time. Although she imitated her mother’s magic, she couldn’t do it right. Still, she was relieved because it worked. Anyway, her spell worked, and her mother died in return.

 

‘Because it’s not a proper spell… Did you wake up this late?’

 

Maybe that’s the case. So, with her spell broken, did Eve also regain her sacred powers? She couldn’t check because she couldn’t get out of here.

 

At that time, the door burst open without her permission.

 

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