This Three Year Old Is a Villainess-Chapter 303
Dalia could not possibly have traveled from District 17’s ruined building to the Imperial Palace this quickly.
In other words, Grimie must have transported her here.
‘He brought Dalia to save the Emperor.’
How could powerless Dalia save the Emperor? The precious child could be harmed by that ancient monster.
Then...
‘Dalia must have gained a ward!’
With a ward, she could save the Emperor. Such an impact would once again make her the world’s protagonist!
‘I must stop her.’
“Minky!”
At my shout, the giant tarantula Minky barred Despair’s advance with its eight massive legs.
Dalia’s path was blocked, and I seized the chance to push through the crowd toward the Emperor.
“Your...!”
“No.”
Someone barred my way. I looked up and saw Duke Germo.
“Your Ladyship has already fought Despair. You may be infected by its poison and cannot approach His Majesty.”
I gritted my teeth. He was not wrong, and I could not argue.
“Then, allow me—!”
Dalia raised her hand quickly. The Emperor and the nobles turned to her.
“You...”
At the Emperor’s prompting, Dalia hurried toward him.
“I heard something terrible happened at the palace, so I came.”
“Shouldn’t you evacuate, then?”
“I have the power of healing. I believe I can protect Your Majesty from Despair’s poison!”
She moved even closer to the Emperor and noticed the White Knight beside him.
“Oh—your hand is injured...”
“It’s a wound from training.”
Dalia gently took his wrist and lightly stroked the injury.
“...!”
“...!!”
In an instant, the wound healed completely.
Dalia looked at the Emperor. “I can now use a little bit of warding power. Please let me aid Your Majesty!”
“...”
“I truly did not know about Crumatus, but even if I was ignorant, it’s still my fault this happened...”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she spoke.
Duke Germo turned to the Emperor. “Is it not a worthy deed? Let us relocate together.”
“...Very well.”
Dalia practically leapt for joy. “Thank you, Your Majesty! No matter what happens, I will protect you.”
Duke Germo smiled faintly, then glanced at me.
“Your Ladyship, stand down.”
“...”
“For His Majesty’s protection.”
“...Yes.”
I stepped back a few paces and stole a look at the Emperor. Dalia was pressed against him, beaming.
‘If she actually saves him from this crisis...’
Just in case, I activated my ward.
‘Fortunately, Han Jihyeok is still the protagonist—for now.’
Then.
“Aaaah!”
A soldier of the Left Wing screamed, his ankle caught by Despair and being dragged away. His skin turned pitch-black, as if about to melt.
Isez swiftly sliced off Despair’s arm, and Jowik grabbed the soldier’s collar and yanked him free.
“Stay alert!”
“Ugh—!”
“Anyone who’s been touched by Despair, fall back—”
In that instant, shriek—!
Several human arms burst from Despair’s body, using the absorbed people’s limbs as tendrils.
Isez, Jowik, Liam, and other soldiers were grabbed.
“No!”
Isez, Jowik, and Liam were certainly experts who had developed their wards to at least Tier Three—meaning they possessed tremendous magical and divine power. If they were absorbed, no Imperial troops could stop it.
‘Damn—it can’t be helped.’
“Awen, here!”
Awen, who had been holding Despair back from behind, dashed to me. Despair, straining to advance, lost its balance.
“Ah, uh—!”
“Ugh!”
Thud—!
Despair toppled forward. Some soldiers freed themselves, but Isez, Jowik, and Liam remained trapped.
I drew a dagger from a nearby soldier’s belt.
“Source of Flame!”
“Source of Flame!”
“Erilot!”
The soldiers and Han Jihyeok, ashen-faced, called to me—I was dashing toward Despair.
‘Let me strengthen my ward further.’
More.
More, more!
Stronger!
The narrative’s latest chapter expanded—the View now described the present in greater detail.
‘More... more... stronger...!!’
My head felt like it would burst. I had no idea what state of mind I was in. Every vein in my body thrummed tightly; the veins at my temples bulged as if about to burst, and pain rimmed the edges of my vision.
Madness. This narrative is disgusting as hell.
I plunged into Despair. “Source of Flame—!!”
Soldiers’ torn screams came from behind me, but I pressed deeper in.
“Ugh... ugh...”
It felt as though my body was burning, melting as if on a mountain of flame.
‘It hurts so much.’
I gritted my teeth and tore inward.
Fortunately, it had not yet matured fully, and its interior was soft. But as I pressed deeper...
“Save... me—.”
“Mother, mother, mother.”
“Don’t... go, don’t... go.”
“Help... me, help... me.”
“No... go—.”
“Don’t you leave, don’t you....”
People’s arms reached out and grasped me.
“Let... go. Let... me go.”
I slashed the arms like cutting vines, driving further inward.
Ahead I glimpsed something bright red—an orb-like mass, veins entwined.
‘The core!’
I gripped my blade and, staggering, drove it forward. The moment the tip grazed the core—
“I told you not to go—!”
Thud!
An eyeless old man’s face blocked my path. Startled, I dropped my blade.
‘This is bad!’
I have no offensive ward. Without my sword, I cannot destroy the core!
I crouched and clawed at the ground in panic. A child, huddled nearby, appeared before me.
“Are you looking for this? Kee-gig, kik, kik-kik.”
Beside him stood a middle-aged man.
“Kik, kik-kik-kik, kik-kik.”
A hunched grandmother was there too.
“Kee-gig, kik, kik-kik.”
And another...
“Aan-nyeong!”
“Hello, young lady!”
“Hi. Your name is...?”
“Molly.”
“Oh, Molly, master of green grape pies.”
“You remember me? Oh, I’m so happy...!”
“Molly....”
“Miss... pies... I love them... Soon I’ll go up—I'll go buy grapes, I’ll be right back....”
“...”
“Miss... also loves green grape pies....”
“Enough.”
“Kee-gig, kik, kik—You killed me.”
“Stop!”
“Do you... hate this? Then what about... this?”
Molly’s face shifted into the old woman’s.
“What about... this?”
“Don’t.”
“Then how about this?”
Now a boy’s face.
They were all the faces of the servants in our manor.
“Don’t—!”
I clawed wildly, tearing through Despair’s interior.
“Miss... loves the village’s... food....”
“Granny, buy... buy apples. Miss said she likes... green apples. Moll—Molly... come... come on, let’s go.”
“Alright. B-but don’t... run... AAAGH—!”
“Tell... me. I don’t want to die! Kii-gig, kik, kik, kik!”
These were the memories of the absorbed.
‘They went out to buy things for me.’
They went to the market for provisions. So... so...
My hands began to tremble. My body froze and I could no longer move.
“Stop... please, stop...”
I clamped my hands over my ears and whimpered. My body felt like it would melt away, yet I was paralyzed.
Then.
“Erilot—!”
A familiar voice, and light ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ flooded behind me. Someone yanked me back hard. I looked up blankly.
“Alexis.”
He had slain Despair to reach me.
“You found her?!”
It was Han Jihyeok’s voice. ‘His voice slowed because he extended his ward.’
“Awen!”
At my call, dark tendrils shot in from outside. They dragged Alexis and me out of Despair’s maw.
“Source of Flame!”
“Lady Astra—!”
Dragged into midair, I cried out.
“I nicked the core! Despair must be pouring energy into core restoration! Now’s our chance!”
Awen, having leapt off Despair’s back, caught me and we fell to the ground. Alexis thrust the thrown tendril aside and charged back at Despair.
‘Physical strikes alone won’t do.’
If only we could imbue his blade with purification...
“Isez! Purify it!”
“My power won’t suffice—!”
“Do it! Quickly!”
“Damn—.”
Isez unfurled his ward. Alexis’s gaze turned to him. In that instant, the blade glowed with brilliant divine light.
The special ward <Sovereign’s Majesty>—which duplicates others’ wards and amplifies them manyfold—had activated.
Alexis plunged his sword into Despair, penetrating its outer layer. He was engulfed entirely, and moments later—
GRAAAAAAAH—!
Despair’s chilling scream filled the sky. People clamped their hands over their ears in agony; the Emperor too pressed his hands to his head, panting. Despair, thrashing wildly, flailed its grotesque arms in every direction.
“AAAAGH!”
A struck noble screamed. None could focus on protecting the Emperor.
‘No!’
Then, a limb shot toward the Emperor.
“Your Majesty!”
Dalia leapt to block him. A transparent barrier bloomed before her, shattering the limb at once.
‘She condensed her healing into a ward.’
The instant Despair’s limb hit it, it crumbled. Dalia covered her mouth and coughed; blood dripped from her palm.
“Dalia...”
“I’m f-fine. I just protected the Empire! Wow, I did great!”
“...”
“Come, Your Majesty. I’ll guard you with my life.”
The floating text of the View shimmered wildly.
‘In the end, Dalia becomes the protagonist again?’
I bit my lip.
But then...
Thud!
Despair collapsed. From its melting husk stepped a man.
At the same time, Salvatore approached the Emperor.
“We have lifted the wards at the Central Magic Tower. The Wardstones are now usable—please proceed to the secondary palace... Your Majesty?”
The Emperor was staring, speechless, at the man emerging from Despair’s remnants.
Salvatore turned to follow his gaze. Empress Ocelia’s pupils trembled.
“How—how...!”
The Empress Dowager, the nobles, even the soldiers regarded the man in shock.
I walked forward slowly toward my Alexis—my Alexis, whose cyan eyes, once still as a lake, now shone like the sun...!
“Alexis.”
“...Yes.”
“Alexis...”
“Mm.”
I took Alexis’s wrist and turned toward the Emperor. The Emperor, rigid, still stared at Alexis—more precisely, at those same radiant eyes.
“Your Majesty, there was a child.”
“...”
“A child born who fled the Imperials, unaware of why she lived.”
“...”
“She hid in sewers one day, trembled under a discarded wooden crate another.”
“...What are you saying?”
“But that child should have been born into blessing and grown into greatness.”
“...”
Duke Ishiron, standing behind the Emperor, shut his eyes tight.
I choked out, “He is Your Majesty’s son.”
“...”
“The firstborn of Your Majesty and Empress Anna Maria, stolen from the palace.”
I cried out as if in anguish:
“He is Prince Alexis Kalsoye.”
“...!”
“...!!”
Empress Ocelia’s face drained of blood; Salvatore’s expression went hard; the Emperor gazed at Alexis with trembling eyes.
I met Alexis’s eyes and continued:
“He is Prince Alexis, Your Majesty.”
Then, at last, the floating text shifted:
< SOVEREIGN’S MAJESTY >
Abandoned Prince Becomes Emperor!
Alexis pulled me into a fierce embrace.
