🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 27
“Miss Payson!”
Elion hurriedly approached Rubiana.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Uh, th-there… a s-snake…!”
“A snake? Where?”
Rubiana pointed at the bushes with trembling hands. Elion immediately drew his sword and strode toward them.
Rummaging through the foliage, Elion looked up and asked,
“I don’t see any snake…”
“No, it was definitely here! I saw it clearly.”
Her shoulders tensed from the nervousness, her voice shaking.
Rubiana praised her own acting, fully immersing herself in her role. She thought to herself that watching her actress sister in her past life was finally paying off.
After carefully inspecting the spaces between the bushes, Elion finally sheathed his sword.
“Looks like it ran away. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you, Your Highness. I always seem to rely on your help.”
“This time, I really didn’t do anything, yet you’re thanking me again.”
“It’s reassuring because you came running, Your Highness.”
“….”
Feeling awkward at repeatedly receiving thanks for doing nothing, Elion avoided Rubiana’s gaze.
That was when something unusual caught his eye.
It didn’t fit with the secluded path overgrown with bushes.
“What… is this?”
Rubiana smiled triumphantly as she noticed Elion’s gaze fixated on the base of a tree.
‘Yes! You see it perfectly. That’s the very thing weakening the city’s barrier!’
Her heart thumped wildly with excitement.
“…What is it?”
Rubiana approached Elion with an innocent expression, pretending to know nothing. She looked at the base of the tree he was staring at.
Embedded there was a black magic stone as big as a child’s fist, surrounded by a geometric magical circle.
“Huh? There’s one here too!”
She pointed to another tree base and then inspected the nearby tree.
“Here too!”
There were five magical circles centered around the magic stones in total.
Elion examined them with a serious expression, lips pressed tightly together.
“What are these? Could it be… some sort of barrier?”
Rubiana deliberately emphasized the word “barrier” while asking, still wearing a completely innocent face.
One of Elion’s eyebrows twitched and rose dramatically.
“A barrier?”
Once again, Elion reacted to the word “barrier” just as Rubiana had hoped.
“A barrier… I don’t really know about that. Wait a moment.”
After walking about ten steps, Elion contacted Fred via communication.
Short instructions were exchanged, and the communication ended quickly.
Elion returned to Rubiana’s side, showing a slightly apologetic expression.
“I need to confirm what this is. My subordinates are bringing priests here now. So…”
“Yes, we can visit the circus another time. Right now, figuring out this strange magical circle is more important.”
Honestly, she hadn’t wanted to see the circus anyway. She had wanted to come here.
Hiding her true feelings, Rubiana nodded slowly.
“Thank you for understanding, Miss Payson. Then, would you like to wait here?”
“Ah…”
Rubiana hesitated for a moment. It wouldn’t be good for his subordinates or the priests to see them together.
‘But… I did this… It’s the first time I’ve done something as the heroine… I want to see it. I want to stay at the scene.’
After gathering her thoughts, Rubiana looked up at Elion and said,
“If it’s alright with Your Highness, I’d like to wait with you. After all, you’ll be coming to our estate anyway.”
“That may be, but it could be boring since we don’t know how long this will take. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Elion’s blue eyes scanned her face, silently asking, “Really sure?”
To immediately dispel his doubt, Rubiana decided to stir his sympathy.
“Actually, I think it’s safest to stay with Your Highness. So…”
“Ah…”
Once again realizing the shortcoming in his thoughts, Elion finally nodded.
“Alright. Do as you wish.”
“Yes.”
Thirty minutes later, Fred appeared, leading knights from the elite unit and priests responsible for managing the barriers.
The priests’ eyes widened as they saw the magic stones and magical circles at the tree bases.
One priest spoke:
“This magical circle has indeed been disturbing the city’s barrier.”
“So we’ve finally identified the cause beyond the barrier itself.”
Elion and the knights exhaled in relief.
Rubiana cheered silently inside.
‘Ah, I’m proud! Now I really… feel like the heroine! Well done, Rubiana! Great job, Rubiana!’
Her past struggles flashed through her mind like a slideshow.
She had lied about wanting to see the circus just to walk this path with Elion, saying it might lift her spirits.
She had temporarily set aside her pride as the heroine to plead with the dark duke, passionately.
She had even faked urgency to make the carriage stop at this location.
She had performed a humiliating scene of a beautiful noblewoman dashing through bushes because of a supposed urgent matter.
‘Sacrificing a pawn for the greater good was definitely the right choice.’
As everyone’s eyes lit up looking at the magical circles, Fred whispered to Elion and Rubiana with a grin.
“Do you know how surprised I was to hear that the person who said they were going to the palace suddenly canceled and went to the circus instead?”
“Oh?”
“….”
Rubiana, remembering Elion had said he had no other schedule, felt various questions arise in her mind.
Elion’s face, on the other hand, stiffened awkwardly.
“And yet, discovering something so significant on the way to the circus! If you had gone to the palace instead, you wouldn’t have found these magical circles, would you?”
“….”
Fred, babbling seriously, didn’t notice Elion’s sharply glaring eyes.
“Really… what is life? Sometimes should we take side paths instead of the main road?”
“….”
“Sometimes is it okay to do other things? Of course effort is important, but luck is crucial too, isn’t it?”
Finally unable to bear it, Elion growled lowly.
“Could you shut that mouth of yours?”
“Eh? Ah… yes.”
Seeing his tense jaw, Fred shrank his shoulders and immediately fell silent.
This time, Rubiana began teasing instead.
Her red eyes sparkled with playful mischief.
“Your Highness, you had to go to the palace, right? Then why did you tell me there were no other plans? Could it be that you also really wanted to see the circus performance…?”
“…Let’s just say yes.”
Rubiana silently laughed at Elion’s face as he roughly brushed aside his reluctant expression.
Fortunately for him, the priest spoke again.
“It is unusual for the magical circles to be in isolated places rather than around the city’s barrier.”
“That’s why discovery was delayed. The enemy was clever.”
“Yes. Embarrassingly, their understanding of barriers seems higher than ours. We will conduct a detailed study of this incident.”
“Please do.”
Rubiana found it hard to contain her excitement listening to Elion and the priests.
Clearly, the priests knew the nature of the magical circles but didn’t know about the location.
Biting her lips at the serious priests, Rubiana thought:
‘You see, this area is the only place where all barriers in the city overlap.’
Only Rubiana, possessed by someone who read the original novel, knew this.
Ah, and those who placed these magical circles here too.
‘No need to tell them. They’ll figure it out eventually.’
It would be suspicious if she pretended to know.
A possessed person must always be careful with words and actions.
Act as if you don’t know when you do, act as if you know when you don’t.
While Rubiana pretended ignorance, a priest who had finished communication approached Elion and reported.
“The Councilor and the Saint have decided to come here in person after receiving the situation report.”
Since this directly concerned the safety of the city, the top decision-makers were coming to inspect personally.
“That’s a relief. Then can this be fully dealt with today?”
“Yes. With the Councilor and the Saint coming, neutralizing the five discovered magical circles will be completed quickly.”
“Understood.”
Rubiana’s heart sank at the news that the Councilor and the Saint were coming.
‘I don’t want to meet the Saint.’
Although she had finally fulfilled her role as the heroine today, Rubiana’s life was still at risk. She could collapse, coughing up blood, at any time.
Saint Florencia, on the other hand, was different.
She was proceeding with her actions according to the original story.
She had tampered with the barriers, and even went to Omar to prepare the magical stabilizer for Elion.
Moreover, Florencia’s obsession with Elion was fanatical.
Just being alone with Elion made her a potential target.
‘It would be terrible to run into her now.’
Determined, Rubiana looked up at Elion with a troubled expression.
“Your Highness, I think I should go in first. Since this is an important task with the Councilor and the Saint joining, I don’t want to be an unnecessary guest.”
“Unnecessary guest? That’s not true.”
“But…”
“…Alright.”
Surprisingly, Elion nodded without further questions, and Rubiana felt relieved.
