Chapter 99

“Is this the result that you said you would show us?”

Facing the worst outcome once again, Ophelia closed her eyes tightly.

“I’m really sorry. It is all my fault…”

Lying face down in front of the foundation, her body trembled like an aspen, and she constantly uttered words of apology.

Ophelia wanted Mia to be recognized by external renowned people for her outstanding healing skills at the Omicron academic conference.
However, this year’s Omicron conference did not happen.
Because of Princess Emmanuelle’s nonsense.

They were humiliated as a group in public, Princess Emmanuelle gave up on presenting her thesis altogether, and Omicron turned into a laughingstock.
In order to reduce the mockery and criticism from outside as much as possible, Philap proceeded by reducing the scale of the academic conference as he pleased.

The stage on which Mia was going to perform was ruined.

‘This is once again because of Princess Deborah! That damned woman!’

Ophelia clenched her fists so hard that there was blood in her palms.

“You took a lot of holy blood this time too. You’re using it without restraint as if it had been left to you.”

The insect-handling mysterious man muttered grimly, tapping the armrest with his pale hand.

“That person said they will no longer trust you and won’t give you another chance.”
“I apologize. I have committed a mortal sin, but please s-spare my l-life.”
“That’s not my business. Be sure to ask for that person’s mercy while reflecting in pain.”

François, a smooth-looking man sitting on the right side, gestured with his chin after speaking coldly.
The black-robed people that were in the darkness walked out and dragged Ophelia from the foundation.

As he heard the desperate scream that rang through the basement staircase, the mysterious man, who was supporting his chin, opened his bluish lips with a serious face.

“What will happen to Mia now? With Ophelia like that, the person in charge of her will disappear…”
“I was told to take over… I was also told that Princess Deborah is extremely unpleasant.”

François answered the man’s question.

‘I can’t believe I have to make a fool into a saint. While even dealing with the Princess of the Seymour family.’

Mia was less competent than François had expected.
Although she may be a little popular among the people thanks to the holy blood, her presence in the social world was mediocre.

However, the efforts they put in so far would be a waste, so she was a card they couldn’t throw away easily.
Above all, it seemed that the person they followed was still counting on Mia Vinoche.
To the fanatics, that person’s words were nothing short of the truth.

“Support her well. In the end, Mia Vinoche has to become a real saint. One that can decide who will sit on the throne.”
“I understand.”

After the group academic conferences.

I asked Margaret to make a list of useful information guilds in the capital.
After that, for today, I was relaxing and shaking the complicated thoughts off my head.
I had been working hard doing all sorts of things, and tomorrow was finally the weekend.

‘I’ve been too diligent because of the academic conference.’

After eating delicious dishes and desserts, I received a massage from the servants and flipped through the new novel books I had brought.

‘It feels like I’m living for the first time in a while.’

Although the catch was that this evil, relaxed life was a trial…

‘I can’t believe I gave everything just to not get married.’

Still, when Armand’s second store gets built in the west gate, it will have a guaranteed position and the sales will go as planned.

While making a meaningless pledge that I would accumulate 10 billion as quickly as possible, become the head of a household, and live as a jobless person, I went to the room where the holy beast was before going to bed.
To commune with the holy beast.

“Huh? Where is that child?!”

To my bewilderment, the only thing left from the holy beast egg, which I kept neatly in the last room at the end of the hallway, was its shell.
Seeing the empty shell of the holy beast egg, I stood there blankly for a moment, and then hurriedly searched around.

‘Don’t they usually wake up in front of their masters? I come every night; it should have waited a bit.’

I was ready to give a standing ovation and shed tears while watching the miracle of birth.

‘I think I’ve read too many novels.’

Fortunately, the room where the holy beast was kept was a place where the door was firmly locked, so it would not have been possible to escape far with a small body.

‘Ahh, this little turtle isn’t easy at all.’

While I was crawling around, feeling like I had become a turtle, and searching under the furniture, I held my breath as I heard a rustling sound from somewhere.

Crackle, crackle.

The low sound was coming from the top of the table.

‘What is this?’

A small, white turtle was licking the mana stone that was on the desk.

‘I’m a little flustered, but it’s okay if you’re cute.’

The turtle clinging to the mana stone looked at me with innocent eyes, and I shut my mouth as I felt like a shriek would burst out.
From finding the artifact to hatching. Although the whole process wasn’t easy, I felt like I had been rewarded for all the hardships with just that cute one.

As described in the novel, it was a cute turtle with a white body and a white shell.
Its size was no bigger than three fingers, its mouth was tightly closed, and its sapphire-colored eyes were bright, giving off a feeling of cleverness.

The brilliant eyes were greedily glancing at the mana stone. Like it wanted to eat it.

‘Come to think of it, I’m sure there were two mana stones that I stole from the magic training room, but one is missing.’

Did it eat it already?

Surprisingly, as the turtle put its tongue on the mana stone again, it was getting smaller and smaller.

“Kyuu?!”

After finishing the meal, it looked at me while making a cute sound and let out a small burp.

“Hi.”
“Kyu!”

As we made close eye contact, my mouth, which had been tightly closed, opened wide.

It rubbed its head lightly on my fingers as if it was happy because it was full.
I had heard that if you often talked to an egg that was about to hatch, the holy beast would think of the person who took care of the egg as its owner and react to them, and it seemed to be true.

“Do you remember my voice?”

As I gently petted its round head, the turtle blinked its big eyes several times and suddenly crawled up on the palm of my hand.
I was surprised by its fast pace as it was only a newborn.
As expected, it was not just a turtle, but a mix with a spirit.

“Your name is Purple.”
“Kyu?”
“What do you think? Do you like it? How good is this name? I’m Deborah, and ‘bora’ is purple in English…”
(T/N: (bora) means purple in Korean and is also part of Deborah’s name.)

The reaction was lukewarm, so I added an excuse-like explanation.

The little turtle tilted its head once every time I finished speaking, as if reacting to my voice.
It was too much cuteness.

I almost shrieked again, but I managed to calm down and petted Purple’s head carefully.

“Good boy.”
“?”
“I’ll buy you a lot of delicious things.”
“Kyu!!”

‘Oh?’

… At that moment, there was a clearly different reaction than when I was speaking.
Surprisingly, the holy beast was very clear about what it liked and disliked, even though it was newly born.

“Do you like delicious things?”
“Kyu!”

It gave an enthusiastic response to delicious things, and even the mana stone seems to suit its taste.

‘Though mana stones are more expensive than Korean beef sirloin…’

How on earth did Mia grow this holy beast, which is the worst at fuel efficiency?

When I carefully patted its shell while feeling suspicious, Purple slowly blinked its big eyes before falling asleep.

‘I have a lot of money, and this child is cute, so it turned out well.’

Perhaps it was having a good dream; the corners of Purple’s mouth rose subtly.

‘Ah, really, why is it so cute.’

It was so cute that it was hard to suppress a smile.

‘I have to protect my dignity as a villainess. This is a problem.’

After clearing my throat lightly, I picked up the turtle carefully and returned to my room, putting it down on the top-quality cushions.

‘I will raise you very lavishly, worthy of the pet companion of the Princess of the Seymour family.’

Feeling good, I admired the holy beast that I had met after a long effort for a while before falling asleep.

The next day.

I was trying to oversleep for the first time in a while because it was the weekend, but I opened my eyes sluggishly to the sensation of something biting my fingers.

The little baby turtle, which was previously no bigger than three fingers, quickly grew to the size of a fist and became a child turtle.

“Kyu!”

‘Cute things have to grow up eventually.’

“Do you want breakfast?”

Purple’s eyes glowed brightly, and it bit my fingers again.

As I tried to give it some bread just in case, it spat it out with an innocent and cute face.
At least it seemed that figs suited its taste, seeing that it was munching them in its mouth, but it looked somewhat gloomy.

‘I see you’re a picky eater.’

“Alright, I lost.”

When I gave it the high-quality mana stone I was saving, a pale glow appeared on Purple’s cheeks.
Thanks to that, I felt like I had become a capable head of a household.

“Eat a lot.”
“Kyu!”

Purple, who had eaten half of the mana stone in an instant, suddenly jumped to the back of my hand with an elated face and climbed up my arm eagerly.

“What is it?”

The creature that was staring at me suddenly turned into a big clump of light and slowly began to seep into the skin on my forearm.

——