MVS 18

Chapter: 18

In the original story, several pendants had shattered uncontrollably due to Rosciate’s overwhelming magical power, but the pendants themselves… as far as Sieta knew, weren’t single-use items.

That is to say:

“Use it quickly, and put it back in its original place before Rosciate notices anything strange!”

Sieta herself knew how absurd that thought was.

But…

“There’s no other way.”

If Sieta wanted to survive, it was crucial for her to grow her own influence.

However…

The temple was tightly controlled by her father, Vicente.

The royal palace?

Needless to say, it was Rosciate’s domain.

Either way, it wasn’t a situation where Sieta could dare reach out and meddle.

Above all, Sieta didn’t even know the exact circumstances under which the “original” version of herself would die.

In other words:

She didn’t even know precisely when or why she would die.

All she knew was Rosciate’s eventual downfall…

“Even that downfall happens long after the original Sieta dies.”

If she didn’t survive, she couldn’t even plan for the future.

She didn’t know how much life she had left, so she couldn’t afford to waste any time.

For Sieta, tomorrow could very well be her last day.

She was that desperate.

At that very moment, Rosciate had suddenly approached Sieta, who hadn’t had any trouble for six years, and had come outside without permission from the royal edict.

He had given her an absurd command to hunt a tiger, even though she was just six years old, essentially putting her life at risk.

The reason Sieta was still alive amid all that chaos could, strictly speaking, be called:

“Sheer luck.”

But she couldn’t rely on luck continuing indefinitely.

Rosciate had even purged all the servants originally stationed in Sieta’s palace.

Under those circumstances, even though Sieta was his daughter, there was no reason to think he would treat her differently from any other potential threat.

“Besides, he didn’t seem to care much for me anyway.”

Rosciate had clearly drawn a line between Vicente and himself—though he had fathered Sieta with Vicente, he insisted that Sieta was “my daughter,” not “our daughter.”

In other words:

“I don’t know when I’ll die.”

Rosciate was not the type to hesitate over killing a child, which made Sieta even more desperate.

In that situation, purely by chance, meeting Rashita at the temple for the first time was nothing short of incredible luck.

Even more so, it seemed the priests had deliberately not announced Rashita’s presence in the temple, trying to exclude him.

Which meant:

Right now, the only ally Sieta could rely on was Rashita himself.

And Sieta had done her best to treat Rashita well, hadn’t she?

If she just took a little risk, a card that was already useful could be upgraded to an even more valuable one.

“How can I hold back? I need to unleash this right now.”

She desperately needed Rashita’s sacred power.

Even if she were on the verge of death, Rashita’s strength—the very same man who had been the male lead in the original story—was incredible.

He could save someone whose life was literally about to end in the next second without any side effects.

Couldn’t her father Vicente use sacred power?

He was her father, yes, but he was also the head of the temple. In an emergency, he couldn’t react instantly to Sieta’s danger.

So:

“If I don’t want to die, I need to get close to Rashita.”

To minimize the risk of assassination, she had to do as much as possible to earn Rashita’s favor.

If the shackles that suppressed sacred power outside the temple remained in place, bringing Rashita along would have been meaningless.

Sieta steeled herself and focused on the day Rosciate would meet the citizens of the Shikan Empire.

“Unlike last time, he’s not meeting outside guests—he’s meeting the people.”

This time, she wouldn’t run into Rosciate directly.

It would take some time, she expected.

So Sieta prepared to infiltrate Rosciate’s secret study faster and differently than anyone else…

But when she saw the traces scattered inside the secret study, things she hadn’t seen before, her pupils shook.

“What… is this?”

Previously, it had been clean, but now there was a strange magic circle drawn on the floor.

A chaotic magic circle, drawn in red ingredients.

Skull-shaped candleholders lit here and there… and magical tomes piled up in disarray.

The difference from the previously tidy state made Sieta feel, for some reason, a chill run down her spine.

She instinctively wanted to step back but forced herself to think.

Even for Rosciate, praised as the empire’s greatest mage in both the original story and this reality, there were very few spells that required such cumbersome preparation.

Based on the original story, the likely candidate was:

“…Dark magic?”

Yes. Excluding obvious curses, there was nothing else.

To scatter traces of dark magic, which was strictly forbidden in the empire, so carelessly before leaving…

If meticulous Rosciate had done this, he must have been very busy.

Otherwise:

“Could it be… he was here until recently?”

Sieta quickly erased the negative thought from her mind.

Once she was here, there was no turning back.

Keeping her thoughts about Rosciate at a distance, she hurriedly searched for the pendant.

And that was when it happened.

As if waiting for Sieta to let her guard down, a familiar cold voice came from over her shoulder:

“Well, well. My daughter, I didn’t expect to find you here.”

Her shoulder stiffened.

Sieta slowly turned around.

There was Rosciate, with a serpentine aura… smiling.

His calm eyes regarded Sieta, who couldn’t even formulate an excuse, with serene composure.

Sieta bit her lip, desperately trying to think.

I’m…

right in front of…

“What was I even looking at?”

She glanced at the books scattered around her and the geometrically chaotic magic circle drawn in red on the floor…

And her brain froze.

She, Sieta, had been caught by her mother, Rosciate.

…There was no denying it.

The evidence of dark magic he had performed… she had seen with her own eyes.

It didn’t matter whether it was her intention or not.

The important thing was that Sieta had peeked into Rosciate’s secrets.

“…And.”

In a world where sacred power still existed, dark magic was considered a severe heresy.

Rosciate von Ariace, having been completely exposed in dark magic and the use of poisons harming others…

Would the final boss of the original story…

spare the young daughter who had unintentionally witnessed all his shameful deeds?

“Our dear daughter seems to have been up to some interesting schemes here all along.”

At those words, Sieta’s face went pale.

…In other words, from the beginning:

“He knew I had secretly stolen the Blue Nightmare, and pretended not to know.”

To deliver a more decisive blow.

Rosciate had deliberately set a trap, ensuring Sieta couldn’t even make an excuse.

Thinking back, even if the previous Sieta had been caught stealing the Blue Nightmare, Rosciate didn’t need to punish her immediately.

Why?

To Rosciate, the Blue Nightmare wasn’t particularly important.

Instead of questioning her then and there, he had chosen to wait until the fruit ripened.

In other words:

“By catching me now… it benefits Rosciate even more, doesn’t it?”

He had been waiting for the right moment.

Sieta, unaware, had walked right into his trap.

Before she could even regain her senses, Rosciate’s stern voice cut through:

“Choose. Will you obey me, or…”

He deliberately drew out his words, smiling faintly. Then:

“…disappear from this place right here.”

The coercive force disguised as a choice.

“I’m curious about your choice, my dear daughter.”

The expression on his face, smiling with satisfaction, clearly demanded an answer from Sieta.