She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 87

Idel furrowed her brows lightly at Sigmund’s question. She didn’t quite understand what he meant.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Why are you going this far?”

Repeating the same question, he slightly squinted his eyes and added,

“Isn’t your mouth a mess right now? Doesn’t it hurt every time you speak?”

“…”

“Do you think I couldn’t smell the blood coming from you?”

Sigmund, standing at an angle, took a step closer to Idel. His red eyes shone brightly as they met hers up close, as if he could see through everything she wasn’t saying.

“Up until now, I’ll give you that you pulled me in because it was necessary for your work. But this time, you didn’t need to get involved. Right?”

“…”

“To put it bluntly, whether I get brainwashed or not, what does it have to do with you? The contract to break the curse wasn’t with me, but with the master, right? Since we even wrote a contract, the master will do as much as he can…”

As he folded his fingers and listed reasons why they were unrelated, he shrugged his shoulders.

“Isn’t it worth asking? Why are you chewing on your mouth and handing me an obviously expensive ring necklace while worrying about me?”

With a hint of suspicion in his gaze, Idel raised an eyebrow.

‘No, after helping him, why is he asking for an explanation?’

If he was helped, he should just say thank you…!

Her emotions flared up momentarily, but it was brief. Sigmund’s question was essentially in the same vein as her own subconscious inquiry about why she was involved with him.

‘In the end, the lack of words to explain our relationship is the cause.’

It was like one side, feeling fondly, couldn’t hold back and asked, “But what are we?”

‘Saying it this way makes it sound really sweet and cute…’

Blinking her eyes, Idel checked Sigmund’s gaze and shook her head with a wry smile.

‘Look at those eyes, stained with vigilance and suspicion. Is that the gaze of someone who allows sweetness?’

Idel pushed aside her useless thoughts and looked straight at Sigmund.

Tilting her head slightly with a clear expression, she crossed her arms lightly.

“Hey, do you know how to hunt a big beast?”

“…What?”

“Oh, you might not know since you’re a magician?”

Nodding as if that made sense, Idel opened her mouth with a generous expression.

“Usually, when hunting big beasts, you do it in groups. One person lures the beast, another drives it, while someone else aims their bow.”

That way, the chances of a successful hunt increase.

With a bright voice, Idel stated the obvious and tilted her chin up, snickering.

“What does that have to do with you and me? Are you stupid? Look closely at who our enemy is.”

“…”

Melisa was very interested in casting the brainwashing curse on Sigmund.

She had been openly satisfied when she heard that the prince was her daughter’s friend.

“You and I have the same enemy. Our situations are similar. Isn’t it strange to help each other as much as we can, to hunt the same prey?”

“…”

Suddenly, Sigmund realized that he had experienced something similar before. The gaze that clearly looked at him was already in his memories.

‘…When was it?’

Narrowing his eyes, he rifled through his memories.

‘When we rummaged through the orphanage with Idel, when we chased the dark magician, when we searched through books together…’

As he recalled each event, starting from the most recent, he shook his head inwardly.

No, that wasn’t it.

The experience he had that was similar to this one was, yes, back then.

The first day he met Idel.

‘You’re saying that since you’re an amazing magic user, if we hold hands, you can suppress the curse with your strength? Where’s a clearer explanation than this?’

Suddenly, the words she had said back then stirred in Sigmund’s mind. The hand she had confidently extended and his reaction to those words.

‘Even back then, I couldn’t say anything and just extended my hand as Idel asked.’

He felt a mess of emotions, as if he had lost to someone his age, but he was also fascinated by her honest and confident gaze.

‘But I see that gaze again now.’

Feeling a strange sensation creeping up his back, Sigmund tightly shut his mouth.

Idel, misunderstanding his silence, scrunched her nose and spoke again.

“So, to put it another way, you and I are comrades. We’re on the same side fighting together.”

“Comrades.”

“Doesn’t that resonate with you? Then…”

“No, that’s enough.”

Sigmund interrupted Idel with a concise demeanor.

“I roughly understand what you want to say.”

“Did your question get answered?”

“Yeah.”

Sufficiently.

His eyes, facing Idel, had somehow cleared up. It was as if he had solved a complicated problem.

Idel, gazing at him blankly, nodded as if she understood and subtly shifted her eyes.

‘What’s this? Seeing him like this, it feels like the dog that used to be wary is now letting its guard down…’

Though she hadn’t consciously noticed it, she thought that the nickname ‘mad dog’ she had gotten from the crow’s den might actually fit quite well.

‘Anyway, that’s a relief!’

For both him and her.

With Sigmund’s question as a catalyst, Idel clarified their relationship and smiled brightly, as if relieved. It was a smile as bright as the day she first met Sigmund.

Just then, as a tingling sensation spread through his body, Sigmund flinched.

Idel, still smiling, let out a long breath and casually said, “I’m glad you accepted it so quickly.”

“…What?”

“No, hey. Honestly, who else can I talk to openly like this?”

Her casual remark, seemingly trivial, stirred an inexplicable ripple in Sigmund’s heart.

‘…Damn.’

At this rate, he had no retort even if he was called a fool.

Facing Idel, who confidently expressed her thoughts, he couldn’t even manage to open his mouth in response.

Even he found his own state laughable. Just as a faint sense of self-loathing stirred within him, a voice mixed with a sigh split between the two.

“Are you done with your friendship quarrel? Can we return to the important matter now?”

“Ah…”

At Vilred’s pointed remark, both Sigmund and Idel gasped in unison.

Unlike when he first pressed Sigmund, Vilred’s expression was now heavily marked by fatigue.

Raising his hand to wipe his face, he let out another deep sigh while gazing at the two.

“To get straight to the point, Nox already knows Sigmund’s identity and has succeeded in casting the brainwashing curse, right?”

“Not succeeded. I ended up dominating the curse instead.”

“Right… I was referring to the visible outcome.”

Vilred nodded in agreement with his disciple’s words and squatted down on the ground with a sound that seemed meaningless.

“Ah…”

The sudden sight of him sitting down and starting to mess with his hair made the two exchange glances for a moment.

“Master?”

“Vilred?”

“You two really…”

There were countless admonitions he wanted to give, but the words wouldn’t easily come out. This was because the things the two had uncovered were surprisingly close to the truth.

‘Really… Where on earth did they get this information…?’

Pressing his throbbing head with his hand, he slowly began to speak.

“You said all of this happened because of me, right? If you wanted to keep me from acting on my own, you shouldn’t have hidden things.”

“That’s…”

“Right, fine. Now that we’re here, what good does it do to hide the truth? I’m scared of what you two might do if I don’t tell you. I’ll tell you everything.”

He was sincere.

Looking at the innocent, sparkling eyes of the two, he felt a knot in his stomach, worried about what they might do next.

Raising his gray hair and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, he fell silent before finally speaking with difficulty.

“Do you know what Nox is?”

“No. We only found the name and the list.”

“Where on earth did you find that… No, never mind.”

Vilred quickly gave up on getting an answer. He felt that hearing it would genuinely make his stomach churn.

“To return to the question, Nox is a group of people walking the path of truth.”

At first, that was the case.