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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: A Desperate Lie
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Lellia slowly opened her eyes.
A sharp pain washed over her the moment she regained consciousness.
The nape of her neck ached as if she'd been struck.
“Ugh…”
“She’s awake.”
Lellia let out a pained groan and surveyed her surroundings.
In the dim room were the four men she had encountered earlier.
Lellia looked down at herself.
Her hands and feet were tied to a creaky chair.
‘Have I been kidnapped?’
But something was strange.
‘…What is this?’
Things that usually only appeared when she pressed the gem on her necklace were now visible.
The settings button in the bottom right, along with Craft, Inventory, Quest, and so on.
Small icons floated before her eyes.
*Ding, ding.*
Just then, the speech bubble that always appeared with her alchemy tools materialized, floating in mid-air.
[Optimized for Special Affinity UI Mode, Master! Proceed with the hidden quest to raise your Special Affinity! ٩(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و Complete the final quest to receive a special recipe as a reward!]
‘…What is this?’
Special Affinity UI Mode?
Ugh. My head hurt so much.
Lellia shook her head slightly, then looked up at the men glaring at her.
Then, she noticed something that hadn't been there before.
An image floating above their heads.
[!]
A sparkling golden exclamation mark hovered over each of the men’s heads. It was the kind of icon that appeared in games when a quest became available.
And below it, small text was written… looking closely, she saw it read [–999] for all of them.
*Screech.*
Just then, one of the men dragged an old chair over and plopped down in front of Lellia. It was Romeo.
“Your name is Lellia Auraria, isn’t it?”
“…”
Lellia slowly nodded.
Her heart pounded violently.
The reality she couldn't believe until just a moment ago began to sink in.
Her friends.
The very people who had given her a reason to live. The ones who had become her ultimate goal in life, more precious than anything else.
Her friends were right in front of her.
The moment she recognized this fact, her eyes instantly burned with tears.
She had never imagined they would reunite like this.
She had planned to find them after breaking the golden spell. She never thought she would see them again so soon…
“Are you crying because you don’t want to die?”
Romeo, sitting across from her, said mockingly.
His tone was just as sharp as it had been when they were children, and it felt like her tears evaporated.
No… but still…
‘Why on earth would they do this to me…?’
“That tower you were living in looked quite luxurious.”
The brown-haired man, Griffith, spoke.
It seemed these boys knew who she was.
She was confused, unable to understand the situation.
Perhaps sensing her confusion from her expression, Griffith let out a hollow laugh and spoke again.
“Before Crown Prince Leo died, he left us a message with your name.”
“…”
“And Leo was poisoned. He always warned us. That someone was trying to kill him, that his claim to the throne was threatened.”
No, wait a minute.
“Why did you kill Leo?”
“…”
Lellia’s expression went blank.
A moment ago, she thought she had misheard…
‘Are they…?’
Do they think I killed Leo? How? Why?
“Is there any reason to wait? She’ll talk soon enough if we start cutting off her fingers one by one.”
Oscar, standing in a corner, said in a cold voice. Lellia quickly averted her gaze.
That can't be Oscar…
“Did someone order you to kill Leo? Or was it simply your own greed, wanting to become emperor?”
Griffith bombarded her with questions.
Lellia finally spoke, her voice trembling.
“Um…”
“…”
Romeo sat opposite her, while Calix and Oscar watched from the corner with sharp, glittering eyes.
And Griffith, standing beside Romeo.
All their eyes turned to Lellia.
“I think… there’s been some kind of misunderstanding.”
The quest markers and the [-999] floating above their heads were distracting, but her first priority was to get these ropes off her hands and feet.
It seemed they hadn't realized she was Leo.
They knew her only by her true identity.
‘At this rate, I’ll lose my head, not just my fingers.’
Before their patience ran out, Lellia continued speaking.
“I didn’t kill Leo… my brother, Leo.”
Are they idiots? She was only ten at the time. How could a ten-year-old kill someone?
“Then why did Leo send a message with your name before he died?”
“That’s…”
That was… just in case…
She had thought that the perceptive ones, Romeo or Griffith, might figure out her true identity.
But looking at Romeo’s and Griffith’s eyes now, she realized it had been a huge miscalculation.
‘Come to think of it, it is suspicious…’
It could have seemed like a dying message naming the culprit. She had been in too much of a hurry back then to even imagine that possibility.
“Lies. You killed Crown Prince Leo to claim the throne. You probably didn’t account for the rebellion, so you fled.”
“So my friend died an unjust death…”
Romeo muttered in response to Griffith’s words.
The two men across from her seemed to believe with absolute certainty that Lellia was the culprit.
And for good reason. In their eyes, Lellia was extremely suspicious.
Ever since the four of them had first reunited and speculated on the culprit, they had cemented Lellia as the killer in their minds.
A prejudice hardened over several years was not easily erased.
Lellia was at a loss for words, seeing Griffith and Romeo—the very ones she thought would be perceptive enough to figure it out—acting this way.
‘What do I do? I can’t tell them the truth…’
Lellia’s mind raced. To convince those eyes, so full of prejudice…
*Shing.*
Just then, Oscar, who had been watching silently from a distance, drew his sword again and slowly approached.
Lellia instinctively sensed his killing intent. He couldn’t hold back any longer and was finally going to kill her.
Desperate to live, Lellia shouted.
“I really didn’t kill him! The one who killed Crown Prince Leo was executed by the emperor himself back then! Count Hetter was the culprit!”
“How can we believe that?”
“But…”
The blade of Oscar’s sword neared the nape of Lellia’s neck. The magical energy radiating from the sword felt like it would drain her very soul.
“...!”
Suddenly, a way to escape this situation came to mind. A stinging pain spread across her neck where the blade touched.
Lellia yelled frantically.
“M-my birthday is the 27th of the month of Celes!”
“…”
The air around them froze.
Hearing those words, Griffith’s expression twisted more than anyone else’s.
The 26th, the day right before the date Lellia mentioned, was Griffith’s birthday.
And the 27th was the birthday of the person Leo had called ‘someone very precious,’ a day they had all celebrated together every year.
A long-ago conversation flashed through the four men’s minds.
“So, whose birthday is it anyway? Is it a secret girlfriend?”
“A girlfriend? Don’t be ridiculous! It’s just… a very precious friend.”
“More… than us?”
“Of course not… well. Maybe they are. We’ve known each other since we were very young. But you don’t need to feel bad. You’re a precious friend to me too, Oscar.”
Lellia quickly read their expressions.
The blade, which had seemed ready to slit her throat at any moment, was slowly lowered.
The silver-haired man looked confused.
As an excuse formed in her mind, Lellia spoke without a second thought.
“Y-you’re Brother Leo’s friends, right? I was very close with him. S-so I heard a lot about all of you.”
“…”
Griffith glared at Lellia with sharp eyes again. It was a look of utter disbelief.
“What about the fountain pen? Why do you have it?”
Romeo asked.
It pained her to have to lie to her friends again, but she had no choice right now.
‘I have to survive first.’
“Leo… my brother gave it to me before he died. A-along with the rabbit doll!”
“…”
At Lellia’s words, the expressions of Griffith, Romeo, and the silver-haired man became complicated.
Just then.
Calix, who had been in a corner and hard to see, strode forward.
He narrowed his eyes and glared at Lellia.
“…”
Lellia stared blankly at his entire face, then focused on Calix’s eyes.
‘So it happened after all.’
In the original story, Calix lost his eyes in a battle with the Mad Dragon. It was the same this time.
“Calix…”
When Lellia muttered his name in sorrow, surprise filled their expressions.
“How do you know my name?”
“…Well.”
Lellia held back the tears that threatened to burst forth and made an excuse.
“Leo… my brother told me. About his friends. After he returned from the temple, he talked about those days every single day.”
The real Lellia had never been able to tell anyone the truth.
But if she had had someone to talk to, she would have clung to them and spoken only of those days.
Like someone living their entire life on the memories of that time.
Lellia looked at their faces one by one and called out their names.
“Calix, Romeo, Griffith, and…”
“…”
“Um… you’re not… Sir Oscar, are you?”
Lellia asked cautiously.
The silver-haired man stared at her without a word, then stormed out of the room.
*Slam!*
Lellia flinched at the sound of the old door slamming shut.
Griffith scoffed at her and muttered.
“She could have heard the names anywhere. They’re famous enough now.”
“True… but more importantly, why on earth did Leo send your name in a letter?”
Romeo asked, still deeply suspicious. Lellia struggled to come up with an excuse.
“…Maybe it was his way of asking you to take care of me?”
The truth was, she had trusted Griffith and Romeo…
Lellia continued.
“Leo… my brother said that even when he was at the temple, he always celebrated my birthday with his friends. That’s how much he cared for me…”
Lellia’s words had a ring of truth to them. The furrowed brows of Romeo and Griffith twitched slightly.
The fact that they celebrated that birthday together every year was a secret known only to the five friends.
There was no way she could know unless Leo had told her.
Lellia glanced over at Calix.
‘It seems his sight isn’t completely gone yet.’
Calix closed his eyes and then slowly opened them as if in pain. He seemed to be struggling with a sudden bout of agony in his eyes.
“How can we trust you? Then tell us. Why did he die? Who killed him, and why? Where is the culprit now?”
Calix, having barely pushed through the pain, spoke with a clenched jaw.
Lellia slowly searched her memory. She had to stick to the facts as much as possible.
She recalled the story she had belatedly heard from her grandfather and uncle and spoke.
“Count Hetter… held a grudge against Emperor Raidios. So he poisoned Crown Prince Leo, and when Emperor Raidios found out, he brutally slaughtered the count. The rebellion broke out right after that.”
“…Poor bastard.”
Calix covered his face with his palm, as if in agony.
Seeing him like that made Lellia’s heart ache.
“I still can’t believe you.”
Romeo said, his eyes narrowing. Lellia’s mind raced again.
What could she say to make them believe her?
“…Brother Leo told me everything about his time at the temple. About almost being killed by wolves in the mountains, about learning to swim together, and about how everyone called him their leader.”
“…”
The suspicion that had been so firmly set in their minds began to crack.
Even Oscar, who had slumped down outside the door to listen, was affected.
“…He told you what happened in the mountains?”
Calix asked.
“…Yes. That the Emperor of the Ascad Empire was the one who sent the wolves. And that you all agreed to keep it a secret.”
The incident in the mountains, the day they were nearly killed by wolves.
What happened that day was a secret known only to the five of them.
“Why would Leo tell you something like that?”
“…Because Brother Leo and I were very close, and we were precious cousins to each other.”
Of course, that was a lie.
In reality, whenever Leo saw Lellia, he would rush at her, claiming he needed to practice his kicks.
But the lie was effective.
They now seemed to believe Lellia’s words to some extent.
“So when he wrote your name and sent it, it was really to ask us to take care of you?”
Griffith still seemed doubtful.
Lellia nodded reluctantly.
“Probably…”
“…You’re sure you didn’t use some trick to find out Leo’s secrets and then kill him?”
“…”
“Count Hetter, you say. The fact that we haven't found his name in all our investigations suggests you’re lying, doesn’t it?”
Lellia let out a deep sigh.
“Only a few high-ranking nobles would know about Count Hetter. There was an unspoken gag order on everything that happened while Raidios was emperor, so everyone would have avoided talking about it.”
What Lellia said was true. Even after arriving in Auraria, the four of them had been unable to uncover the exact details of what happened back then.
Furthermore, Emperor Perseus had mercilessly killed all of Raidios’s people at the time.
It was safe to say that almost no one was left who knew the specifics of that time.
“…Then what are the chances that Emperor Perseus was the one who killed Leo?”
Griffith asked.
“…That’s unlikely. Count Hetter wasn’t one of Emperor Perseus’s men at all. It was because of a grudge against the former emperor, Raidios.”
Everything Lellia was saying was the truth.
It was the story she had heard from her grandfather.
Perhaps her words were convincing enough. Before long, the ropes binding her hands and feet were untied.
