Chapter 22
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How to Survive as the Villain's Younger Sister
Episode 22
Alexis was someone who remained unshaken even when storms raged around her.
This was the first time I had ever seen her so startled.
Even when she beheld the Night Spirit Stone, it was nothing like this.
It was not because of a single gust of wind.
Threads of suspicion, woven strand by strand, were now shaking her to her core.
I sensed it instinctively.
'Alexis suspects me.'
Suddenly my small hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
'I only meant to help Alexis and live quietly, then leave once I came of age.'
I had already abandoned any hope of growing close to her.
I knew all too well it was a dream that could never come true.
'But if I'm suspected, if I'm held in check....'
I despised the thought of becoming like the original relationship.
I pressed my back firmly against the desk, trembling.
Seeing me like this, Alexis herself seemed flustered.
Uncharacteristically, Alexis hesitated, her lips parting uncertainly.
But ultimately, true to her nature, she spoke without restraint.
"Did you forge the documents? How did you know about Jamie Rolleng?"
"Ah, no... I just couldn't sleep, so I came out because I was bored, and I saw so many papers, so I looked at them."
"That's impossible. You couldn't have gotten lost like an ordinary child and happened to wander into my office."
"!"
Alexis's blue eyes gleamed with a chill as if they had swallowed the entire dawn.
"You couldn't have coincidentally set fire to a forged suicide note, coincidentally revealed the list of conspirators, and coincidentally found the 'Night Spirit Stone.'"
"...."
"Even when you were younger, I noticed you deliberately answered incorrectly on your tutor's exams. It was to avoid drawing attention."
How far had Alexis's suspicions extended?
"To appear like a foolish child, to avoid being checked, to live safely."
It felt as though all the blood in my body was draining away.
"Still, it's impressive that you've deceived me all this time. I'm not someone who's easily fooled."
In Alexis's expression, I felt the sharpness of a soul that had lived through a previous life.
'Is it all over?'
In that moment of despair.
Alexis's lips curved upward at an angle.
It was a cynical smile, yet strangely beautiful.
Like witnessing an illusion.
And then she spoke.
"I'll give you a chance to atone. Once."
"...."
"Compensate me for deceiving me with your abilities."
"!"
I doubted my own ears.
'She's giving me a chance?'
Not watching me warily and pushing me away?
Alexis believes it.
'That I'll kill her someday.'
Yet despite my suspicious behavior, she was offering me a chance?
I couldn't comprehend it.
Reading my expression, Alexis drew closer and spoke.
"For me to have an easier time, it seems I need your abilities after all."
"...."
"We're both suspicious of each other anyway, and working separately is inefficient."
"!"
"So, what do you say? Will you seize this chance?"
Alexis asked.
I stared blankly upward for a moment, then nodded urgently.
At that, Alexis let out a soft laugh.
And then—
pinch.
She grabbed and pulled my soft cheek.
"Ow?"
"I wanted to try touching it once."
Alexis quickly brushed off her hand, as if embarrassed by her own action.
'That actually hurt quite a bit.'
I cupped my cheek with my hand and looked up at her with an aggrieved expression.
Alexis averted her gaze and cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Then first, explain this document to me."
* * *
"When I was little, Mother told me that a man named Jamie Rolleng might come find us someday and scold Cyrilia. He's an uncle who cares deeply for her."
"...."
"So I thought if I used his name to buy the land, my sister would believe it. I'm sorry...."
Cyrilia chirped earnestly with her small, round mouth.
Like a sparrow.
Alexis felt something strange.
It was like watching a baby sparrow fluttering desperately to survive.
'But this strange feeling is still strange.'
"Who did you have conduct the transaction?"
She had to press for answers.
That was Alexis's nature.
Cyrilia trembled slightly and answered with a shudder.
"I-I gave money to a wandering old man...."
"How did you know there was a spirit stone of night beneath the Wasteland?"
"Th-that was really just a coincidence! No matter how hard I tried, nothing would grow from the soil, so I thought there must be something strange underneath. If it was garbage, I was going to dig it up to clean it, but there was a spirit stone! So I thought the Archbishop's land might have one too, and I wanted to give it to you, sister...."
Her rosy cheeks trembled adorably with each word she spoke.
I wanted to press them.
I wanted to pinch them.
They looked so soft.
Damn it.
Alexis cursed herself for getting distracted at such a critical moment.
"Sister?"
Cyrilia called out to me with wide, round eyes.
Even amid her fear and tension, her expression showed concern for me.
'She really does look like an innocent, clueless child.'
I still couldn't believe it.
That Cyrilia had done all of this.
Was that why?
I should have pressed further, yet Alexis found herself asking something else instead.
"Do you believe in past lives?"
"Huh?"
Cyrilia tilted her head, her silver eyes sparkling like the moon.
"No, never mind. Forget it."
I had spoken nonsense.
'If Cyrilia had regressed like me, she would have tried to kill me more thoroughly.'
If something had changed, then perhaps....
Alexis recalled the dream she had wandered through hours ago.
The life immediately before.
The final moment of her second life.
"Alexis Parkision. You are stronger than any human I have ever encountered."
Before my eyes stood Ikellos, the King of Demons.
The ruler of the Black Nightmare Valley.
One day, the valley's barrier had been broken.
And demons poured forth across the entire continent.
Humans could not stand against them.
Even the Emperor's elite forces, said to be the continent's greatest military power, were annihilated.
In the end, only Alexis remained.
The surroundings were a hellscape of flames spewed by demons.
And the corpses of my comrades lay strewn about.
"But it is unfortunate."
Ikellos pitied Alexis.
Alexis knew that her end had come.
No—she had already ended long ago.
Ever since Cyrilia died.
'For some reason, I felt as though my story had concluded right there.'
Until then, I had seemed like the protagonist of the world.
I truly had been.
As the protagonist, I had overcome adversity, regressed through time, and killed my villainous younger sister.
The story had ended, but my life continued.
And the world crumbled, the territory was destroyed, and death drew near.
'If my life were a novel, no one would read this far. It would have been a happy ending when Cyrilia died.'
"You cannot defeat me alone."
Ikellos spoke.
"I know."
Alexis replied.
"Then are you giving up?"
"No. I won't give up."
Alexis gripped her sword and charged toward Ikellos.
Even knowing she would die.
And indeed, her throat was slashed by Ikellos's claws, and she fell.
Warm blood poured forth.
'I am dying.'
Then why had I lived so fiercely?
Why had I lived gazing only at revenge?
Why....
"Sister...I'm scared. Am I dying? I was wrong. I'm sorry...I'm sorry, I was wrong. Forgive me. I, the blood, there's so much blood...give me a chance...just one chance and I'll do better...."
Should I have killed that child so cruelly?
Ikellos gazed down at Alexis, dying full of regret.
And opening its enormous mouth, it murmured something.
I could not hear it.
I could not hear it, and yet....
"If you do not give up, there is a chance. If you, too, give someone a chance."
For the first time in a dream today, I heard what Ikellos had said.
Alexis, awakening from the dream, rushed to the Office as if possessed.
As though someone were guiding her.
And there I met Cyrilia.
Standing on her tiptoes, grunting softly, inserting an envelope between towering stacks of letters—small, tiny Cyrilia.
Cyrilia, still alive, not yet having been avenged upon by me.
And I thought.
If this were the chance given to me.
'Perhaps it wouldn't be wrong to give even that untrustworthy, suspicious child a chance, just once.'
* * *
"So that's how you intended to use the Night Spirit Stone. If your plan succeeds, Roel and Jenin are in for quite the spectacle."
At my affirmative response, a radiant smile blossomed across Cyrilia's fair complexion.
It was the kind of smile that resembled a delicate spring blossom unfurling its soft pink petals with gentle grace.
Ignoring the ticklish flutter in my chest, Alexis posed the question.
"With a mind as sharp as yours, why did you always score half-marks on exams since childhood?"
Bewilderment flickered across Cyrilia's previously cheerful face.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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