The Villainess Returns with a System-Chapter 102: Plague (2)
Chapter 102: Plague (2)
The initial test of the power plant’s capacity to supply green energy to the heavy machinery factory was a resounding success. Project Power demonstrated that the future can move away from fossil fuel dependency and toward green energy in a groundbreaking shift of history.
The news sent a jolt of excitement through the family; House Moore was finally stepping out from the shadow of House Grayson’s oppressive coal trade practices and the archaic restrictions of the Schism. While the Royal Family remained oblivious to the groundbreaking energy project—or perhaps naively underestimated its potential—Count Moore wasted no time in making his presence known at the power plant and its accompanying factory.
While the power of coal cannot be completely discarded, as 99% of the machinery was still powered by it, this electrical 1% was about to make a wide leap in the coming couple of days, as Lord Julian signed the decision to replace as many machines as possible and acquire many facilities to build more power plants.
Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, just as the wind at sea blows contrary to what ships desire. Thus, on many occasions, the wind would slow down and cause the power plant’s productivity to deteriorate, but it was still manageable as is, and the project members started working on other forms of generators that require fossil fuels for emergencies.
Vivian could finally take a hands-off approach regarding the project and could finally return to her usual R&D scouting and funding. But while everyone was celebrating the great success, she remained alone in the head office watching the river and drinking her tea in silence.
She couldn’t take those messages she saw off her mind and even if she did, she still had one annoying reminder right at her face.
The System had a name for it, the Blackthorn Event.
It is as if she is in some sort of a predetermined game. Now, there is a scripted event that she must survive.
The "Survive" quest has never reacted like that before, despite Vivian knowing that every SP she earned from killing a foe was due to this quest. It had always been that ominous quest, leaving her with a chilling sense of foreboding.
But what weighed her mind wasn’t just that. The name "Blackthorn" is akin to saying Satan in this world.
It is a legendary figure, a demon from all the tales of old. In the national myth of Elgard, it is the same Demon that turned the son of Saint Arthur, Mordred, against his own father, causing the demise of the First Empire of Elgard, the destruction of Camelot, and the departure of Arthur.
Blackthorn wasn’t just an enemy to Arthur, he was an enemy to all the Saints from the early ages of chaos when the world was overrun by enemies. It brought disaster to Albion but as the saints united, they rendered Blackthorn to a shadow of its former self as it can never be killed. Eventually, it remained as the darkness that spoils good things, the whisper that insinuates evil in the hearts of men and women, and the curse that would swallow the land if evil was left unchecked.
So... what does this Blackthorn devil have to do with this strange rash on the thug’s skin?
For now, it remains a mystery.
Vivian asked the physician all sorts of questions after that and everyone could notice her sudden interest in the strange disease. Vivian wasn’t interested in medicine or pharmaceutical research but she had a suspicion growing in her and an hour later, she was able to confirm it.
"Vivian, why do you appear so somber?" The voice of the man sitting opposite her sounded with a hollow echo in her mind.
She was still unable to focus but just as the man called her once and twice, she looked at him right in the eye.
"Vivian, what has gotten to you, are you feeling..."
As the man spoke, Vivian cut his words right away.
"Father, didn’t Sir Morris speak about a mole you were hiding under your hair last night?"
Upon the mention of that, Count Julian, who was sitting with Vivian in the two seats at the corner of her office, frowned for a bit as he rested his head on his hand as if trying to check the mole without being noticed.
"It was audacious of him to mention something like that. It is just something that happens when people age up." He replied with a bit of insecurity about a mole then tried to divert the subject, "It is my first time in your office and the first thing you ask about is my mole?"
But, Vivian had been consumed by anxiety since the morning and promptly steered the conversation back on track.
"May I see it?" She boldly demanded.
The lord frowned and slowly backed away in his seat instinctively replying:
"I don’t think it is proper to..."
"Please." However, Vivian firmly said, "It is important."
The count perceived the anxiety in his daughter’s eyes and found it impossible to disregard. Meeting her fervent gaze, he raked a hand through his hair.
And there it was, a black spot on the left side of his forehead crossing his aging lines. Just the sight of how black it looked made Vivian shudder as she gripped the engraved wooden armrest of her seat and pushed herself to her father.
"As you can see, it is nothing but old age even though I have no white hair yet."
The Lord insisted on his narrative and seemed to resting his hair back to cover the mole but his daughter immediately held his head and pushed the hair off his forehead again, taking a closer look at the mole.
"Vivian, what in God’s name are you doing?"
He was surely taken aback, but just as he was about to take her hand off his face, he heard her let out a long breath, sighing in relief.
"It is just... a mole."
She said as she stood away and walked a couple of steps opposite to her father, holding her head, before resting the opposite hand on the desk to lean on it.
It seemed that she had suspected something terrible but unlike her prior assessment, there was nothing to fear.
"You seem relieved." He said as he watched her frantic actions.
"Yes. Thank the Lord!" She replied and seemed to be returning to her cheerful self, albeit on the verge of tears.
It was a bit of a scare but it seemed that she was too worried for nothing. After all, that disease she saw in the morning was not contagious, as clearly stated by the physician.
"Seeing you worry like that over my health..." Her father spoke before pausing for a while, "... I didn’t feel such care for a while. A man sometimes forgets."
The Lord also seemed to be having a moment of reminiscence and regret, knowing how he acted after the disappearance of his first wife, Catelyn. He grew callous and cold, distant and aloof, driving away a son and almost losing a daughter.
"It is alright, Father. This is the world we live in." Vivian said and walked back to her seat, picking up a cup of water along the way.
"Seeing you worrying like that doesn’t make sense when I heard you were killing those who attacked you down in the city." He said looking at her as if he was about to poke a beehive.
"I am a daughter of House Moore, no Moore gets attacked without dropping an attacker or two." Vivian replied shamelessly, fully proud of her kills.
"Like I said, we are not a family of knights, for crying out loud. From where do you keep coming up with that nonsense?" The count felt too tired to deal with Vivian’s shenanigans but he still pursued the matter, "This is the third time you are involved in an attack and a shooting."
"Third?" Vivian frowned, as she could count more than three events by now.
"The night at the auction, that’s the first, the time when you went to expose Natasha Ivanov on your own, the second, and now you are going around making arrests on the streets." The Count recounted the three events he was aware of.
On the other hand, Vivian averted her eyes, as she could count more than three events. It is painful to deal with her family’s constant surveillance but she still had that fight at the Black Market and the one where she ambushed a Blackguard convey.
"Well, Father. As you are fully aware, we can’t run a business without waging some wars." Vivian tried to explain herself.
"Vivian, I know I can’t hold you back from running into trouble forever but listen to me well, never go looking for a fight. I want you to promise me that." He said, holding her hand which was resting on the armrest.
Vivian felt a growing affection from her father but as she is well aware, she is in no position to make such a promise. Moreover, she hated promises and she never made one in her life.
"What if trouble finds me?" She asked.
"Then you have my permission to shoot it away. God knows that’s why I allowed you to wield guns in the first place." He said.
Seeing as he was positive about her despite what she had done, she was truly grateful to have a father such as him despite his flaws. Still...
"I can’t make such a promise."
"Vivian..."
"Dad, you already asked me to break the rules of the Schism. You told me to find a way to get the royal family’s shackles off our wings and let the hawks fly free. I did just that, and if you look at it, that’s basically going around and looking for a fight, Isn’t it so?"
"True." He nodded with a tired sigh then stayed silent for a while before turning to her, "You are as bold as your mother."
"Bold?"
"Foolhardy and stubborn, she was." He said with a smile, "Almost like a force of nature, always finding trouble with others wherever she went. James too, he maybe more of the silent type but he’s always tried to prove himself by picking up the biggest fight."
"Classic James." Vivian said had a smile of the warm remembrance of her faraway brother, "I miss him."
"I too."
"You never told him that."
"I am planning to. If he can find forgiveness in his heart for how it went between us last we spoke, that is."
"Knowing him, he must have forgiven you a minute after he stormed out that day."
"I don’t know. We said... I said hurtful things. He got mixed up with the wrong people and they convinced him with wrong ideas."
The Count had a lot to talk about but as most men do, he keeps his demons to himself.
"It’s alright. I will all be okay."
"I hope so."
The two remained silent and didn’t speak after it for a couple of minutes each with a lot to think about but as two successful business owners, even their time to relax had to come to an end. The Lord didn’t want to stop talking with his daughter though, so he found himself an excuse to revisit an earlier subject.
"You worried me just now with that thing about the mole." He said as he was readying himself to stand and leave.
"Forgive me, Father." Vivian smiled and looked away, knowing that she might have given him a scare as well and so she explained herself, "I met a man this morning who coughed the same way you did last night. I was just checking if the symptoms were similar."
"Worry not. I had both training and work that day, I shouldn’t have stayed late with Morris." He replied and held his knees to push himself up, "Either way, I hope swift recovery for that gentleman you speak of."
"Oh, he was no gentleman, just one of the two thugs we caught. He had that terrifying jigged black spotting on his skin that turned out to be a parasite of some sort. His friend told us that it was way smaller just a few hours earlier. We promised the man access to the best doctors as soon as he spills the beans on who hired him to attack the workers."
"A bit devious, I would say." Count Julian said but he shrugged his shoulders in the end, "How was that skin spotting like? Black and jigged, you said?"
"Black and jigged, yes. Seemed like something that had grown under the skin. The area around it was paler than the rest of the body though. The doctor suspects that it is a parasite that is feeding off the host."
"Jigged and black, surrounded by paleness?"
"Indeed."
The count’s expressions twitched for a second but before Vivian could notice the change of expressions on his face, he raised his hand and put two fingers through his shirt’s collar before pulling it down, forcing his cravat loose. Then, he asked the question that gave Vivian the shock of her life.
"Like... this?"
As soon as her eyes landed on him, specifically on his neck, Vivian could only utter one word.
"Fuck!"
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