She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 107

‘Sigmund collapsed?’

Whether Patrick had his hands clasped behind his back or not wasn’t important right now.

Idel’s eyes widened at Dante’s cry to ‘get ahold of yourself,’ and she quickly turned her head to look behind her.

Near Sigmund, who was lying on the floor with his eyes closed, Ivan and Dante, along with a few nobles, were gathered with serious expressions.

Idel reflexively started to run towards him but paused mid-step.

‘No, wait. The opponents are members of Nox.’

And that Nox is now confronting the Duke to get Melisa back.

‘Can I trust that statement?’

Although Dante’s panicked expression is visible, since Idel hasn’t checked herself, she can’t be sure about Sigmund’s condition yet.

Is it just some kind of trick to buy time?

‘But what if it’s not? Nox is not a group to be trifled with. There’s a high possibility they genuinely harmed Sigmund if necessary.’

To them, Sigmund is an important puppet, not someone to protect.

‘Besides, Patrick. What does Patrick really want?’

Too much commotion was happening all at once, giving her a headache.

Idel stared blankly at the rabbit dangling on Patrick’s wrist and briefly closed her eyes.

Melisa was cornered as planned, the explosion and commotion caused by Nox, the standoff surrounding Melisa, and now the collapsed Sigmund.

Recalling the events that had unfolded one by one, Idel quietly frowned.

‘…It’s not just Patrick. I should have considered that Nox could openly move within the ballroom.’

Of course, she never thought they would give up on Melisa. Melisa is a key figure who cast the brainwashing curse on Sigmund.

She had merely assumed that since they had always kept themselves hidden, any action they took would only be after Melisa had been detained.

‘So, I was thinking of making a plan to catch Nox again later…’

Things have gone wrong.

‘At any rate, I’ll reflect later.’

What she needed to do right now was interpret Patrick’s strange actions and make a choice.

‘Should I ignore Sigmund and finish Melisa as planned, or should I confirm Sigmund is safe and plan for the next opportunity, even knowing it’s their trick?’

With Nox involved, perfect success was unlikely right now, no matter which option she chose.

Putting the choices laid out before her aside, Idel calmly considered Patrick’s intention.

‘The reason Patrick is emphasizing the rabbit must be to remind me of the rabbit hole from that time.’

In other words, the rabbit hole they found in the abandoned orphanage back then wasn’t just a coincidence; it was a hint intentionally given by Patrick. Even the information about Nox that was inside it.

‘Miss, have you ever heard that a rabbit digs multiple burrows?’

Rabbit, a rabbit.

‘If the rabbit that digs multiple burrows is not Nox, but Patrick himself, or perhaps another third party…’

Idel slowly opened her eyes, recalling the words from that day that she had thought of many times.

The first things she saw were the Duke, who was weighing his options just like her, and Melisa, who was rag-doll limp and unconscious.

‘Honestly, I want to ignore all these complicated entanglements and just remove Melisa from my sight forever.’

She knew in her head that Melisa could no longer greatly affect her. Not only had she broken the curse, but she had also succeeded in deliberately damaging his body.

‘At least Vilred said it would be difficult for Melisa to return to his previous state.’

Of course, even if she knew in her head that Melisa’s danger level had decreased, he would always remain her ‘source of anxiety.’

‘Melisa is like the deep scar left on my body.’

Idel barely swallowed the bitter emotions, finally turned her gaze, and stared at Patrick’s back.

‘Even so, I will make a different choice.’

Because now, she had people she wanted to protect. Enough to willingly embrace the anxiety that Melisa represented.

‘If my thoughts related to Patrick are correct, it’s beneficial for us to act as he suggested now.’

It might not be the definite right answer, but it won’t be the wrong one.

‘And honestly, I want to check on Sigmund’s safety. It’s strange that he’s still collapsed.’

Idel made up her mind, took hold of the Duchess’s sleeve, and raised her head.

The Duke had not lowered his sword despite Patrick’s suggestion that it was his duty to prioritize Sigmund, who was of the Imperial Family.

It was as if he were intent on punishing them first, even setting aside his duty as a duke.

Idel, meeting the Duke’s gaze across the members of Nox, calmly spoke.

“Let’s go see Sigmund.”

“…”

“The future is more important than the past.”

Reading the sincerity in Idel’s words, he bit his lower lip for a moment and then dropped his fighting stance.

Confirming the change in atmosphere from the Duke and Count Bright, Patrick turned his head and smiled at Idel.

“The future is more important than the past… That is wise foresight, young lady.”

“Why don’t you just take what you need and disappear? I doubt it’s doing you much good to reveal yourselves like this.”

“As expected, our young lady is smart! That’s why I was trying to sneak him away as Sir Patrick, Hing!“

“…”

“Unfortunately, we’ll have to hide ourselves away again for a while. It’s obvious the Duke and the Count will be scouring for us with fire in their eyes, isn’t it? The Imperial Family might even get involved. Oh dear, how scary!”

As Patrick dramatically feigned fear, holding his clasped hands to his mouth, one of the men attending to Melisa beside him coldly cut him off.

“Patrick, stop the unnecessary chatter.”

“Unnecessary? This is a declaration that they won’t catch us!”

“If you accidentally drop a clue… Ha, fine. Let’s go.”

“Right! Let’s go quickly! My money is draining away even now!”

“Alright. Then, young lady, take care, and, um… please look after our young master, too?”

With Patrick’s unnecessary farewell as the last word, Nox, along with Melisa, disappeared.

Idel intently stared at the space that had instantly emptied out and replayed Patrick’s parting words.

‘He’ll hide them for a while…’

That, too, must be a kind of clue he gave.

‘I still don’t know who Patrick is or what he wants, though.’

While Idel was pondering Patrick’s identity, the two people who had been confronting Nox approached Idel.

Vivian, who knew better than anyone that it wasn’t an easy decision, spoke to her first.

“Young lady, are you alright?”

It was a short sentence but held a lot of meaning. Idel, having read both the comfort and the concern about Nox aimed at her, calmly nodded.

“Yes.”

“Good. You must have a reason for deciding to let them go, but we’ll hear about that a bit later. First, shall we go check on His Highness’s condition? Ah, if you need time to talk, I can go first—”

“No, I’m fine. I think I should check if Sigmund is safe first.”

At Idel’s firm voice, Vivian subtly observed the expressions of the Duke and the Duchess.

The two wore somewhat complicated and cautious expressions, but they didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping Idel’s choice.

‘Hmm, I shouldn’t interfere with matters between parents and their child.’

Besides, despite trying to appear composed, Idel really seemed worried about Sigmund.

Even though she would know from Vilred being quiet that it wasn’t a major cause for concern.

‘Well, when it concerns someone dear, the heart sometimes acts before the head.’

If the one who was hurt was Ivan, Vivian was sure she would be less composed than this young lady.

‘So cute, honestly.’

Smiling faintly as she saw Idel unknowingly wringing her hands, she nodded and spoke.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes. Uh, the two of you…”

“Count Bright will go check on His Highness, and we must go look at the area where the explosion occurred.”

“Ah.”

“We’ll talk about the rest a bit later. Understood?”

“…Um, yes.”

Leaving Idel, who nodded, the Duke and the Duchess walked away first.

Idel watched the two immediately give instructions to someone else and quickly headed to where Sigmund was.

“Sigmund!”

“Ah, Idel!”

“Dante, what happened? Is Sigmund alright?”

At Idel’s question, Dante shook his head with a troubled expression.

“Well… we haven’t figured out why Sigmund collapsed yet.”

“Haven’t figured out why? Where is the doctor?”

It was a woman, not Dante, who answered the serious-faced Idel.

“I—I’ve been studying medicine, so I was checking on His Highness first… No matter how much I examine him, it doesn’t seem to be a medical issue. I was wondering if we should move him to the temple to be checked…”

“Miss…”

“Oh, I apologize. I was in a hurry and introduced myself late, didn’t I? I’m Amelia Lewis. I’m about to graduate from the Department of Medicine at the Academy.”