How the Villainous Consort Avoids His Death Ending - Chapter 120.1
“B–but it is difficult to find people right now, Your Highness. All the villagers have been quarantined far away, and……”
“I shall depart right now. I will go and see.”
“There is no way if you go, Your Highness. His Excellency would not want that either.”
“Guide me at once!”
“Yes, yes. Your Highness……”
Valerian bowed his waist with a flustered and frightened face. Then, he nodded his head quickly.
“This way. The road is long, Your Highness. You must prepare a lantern, as we must go through a narrow forest path.”
I quickly threw on my coat and followed Valerian with hurried steps.
The half-waned crescent moon was hidden by dark clouds, casting blurred shadows into the void. The muddy streets were filled with a fishy smell. Every time I took a step, I felt the sensation of something being crushed under my feet. Each time that happened, my whole body stiffened with tension.
“It is here.”
Finally, Valerian stopped in front of a worn-down, shabby warehouse.
Stepping under the collapsing roof, the stench of parched hay and the musty odor of rotting rat carcasses pierced my nostrils strongly. Old mold bloomed fully on every pillar, and black, spreading traces remained here and there on the damp walls.
Hay that clumped together with lumps of dust was kicked by my toes at every step.
Squeak, squeak……
A faint but sharp sound echoed from somewhere in the darkness. A black shadow darted past my feet with a rustle.
What had sped past before my eyes was, without a doubt, a black rat. It was much larger than an ordinary field mouse or sewer rat, and I felt a chill at the damp luster of the black fur covering its back and its pitch-black, gleaming pupils.
I stepped back one pace and cried out in a trembling voice.
“Tristan…… where is Tristan? Where is the basement?”
“This way, Your Highness.”
Valerian quickly stepped forward and led me toward the inside of the warehouse.
As we cleared away a pile of old straw, a flimsy cover made of thick wooden planks appeared. It seemed to be a door blocking the entrance to the basement. A rusted padlock hanging on one corner appeared half-open.
Old ladders and roughly twisted ropes were scattered around the entrance. Whether it had not been touched by anyone’s hand for a long time, the ropes were stained black with grime, and grayish-white dust had settled on the ladder in layers.
I approached the cover carefully, knelt half-way on the floor, and leaned my body forward.
“This is strange.”
As I muttered lowly, I heard Valerian’s presence behind my back. I continued my words calmly.
“The door is not locked. I remember it being said that the locking mechanism was broken and Tristan was trapped below?”
The moment the words fell, the breathing behind my back changed. Just as I was about to turn around, Valerian’s voice sank stickily.
“That is so…… You are sharp, Your Highness.”
I stiffened, remaining in the sitting position. I barely managed to turn my head to look up at him.
The shadow that had been cast over Valerian’s face slowly lifted as it received the dim moonlight.
The corners of his slightly parted, moist lips curved roundly and pulled taut. Something akin to madness was pooled in his gray pupils, which gleamed with a greenish light.
An expression layered with mockery, contempt, and satisfaction.
Valerian, who had always appeared soft and fragile, treating people with kindness and gentleness, and at times appearing weak and timid, was nowhere to be found.
A smile that had felt ominous from the very beginning rose coldly on his face.
“But it does not matter. Because His Excellency the Grand Duke will soon be trapped as well.”
Valerian’s hand thrust forward and shoved my back.
“Argh!”
As my body reeled and my balance collapsed, I fell into the pitch-black hole that was gaping wide in the distance.
❖ ❖ ❖
The moment the Grand Consort fell below into the basement, a desperate scream tore through the darkness and rang throughout the warehouse.
A moment later, Valerian peered over the entrance. Down in the pitch-black pit, Ruellin was fumbling against the floor, barely managing to raise his body.
Scritch-scratch…… Scritch……
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