Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 153

[Intrusion of a Special Trait Holder’s Ether Detected.]

[Identifying the Special Trait Holder… Contractor of . Identification complete.]

[The Special Trait Holder’s authority is low.]

[Requesting forced opening of the Special Trait Holder’s ■■■… Approved.]

[Defense system activated.]

[Activation rate decreases due to forced opening.]

Amidst the surging agony, letters flashed before my eyes, appearing and disappearing erratically.

A hot, intense energy surged from my chest, coursing through my heart before extending towards my left arm, which Ariel was holding.

As my vision began to clear, I saw Ariel’s surprised expression.

And then.

[Expulsion complete.]

[Counterattacking.]

“Cough…!”

Ariel coughed up blood.

As if burned, she released my wrist and stared at me as if she had seen a ghost.

“You, what the hell…? Ugh!”

Dark blood dripped from Ariel’s mouth and nose.

Ariel looked down at her body in disbelief.

Her wide eyes were filled with anger and an even greater fear.

Ariel gritted her teeth and tried to steady herself, but she couldn’t resist for long.

Her body collapsed, twitching violently.

“Ha, ugh, kuh…”

The red patterns covering her body became darker and more distinct.

As if in resistance.

‘What is this…’

Ariel seemed surprised, but I was even more astonished.

I looked at my left arm.

The power that had been flowing through it was gone, as if it had never been there.

‘What is this? It’s not like I was hiding a black dragon in my left arm…’

What is it, really?

It was then.

Suddenly.

Ariel’s convulsions stopped.

Now, the red patterns were visible even on her face.

“This power is…”

Ariel said, looking at me with a sunken gaze.

“You, could you possibly be one of the ancient—”

But she couldn’t finish the sentence.

The red patterns covering Ariel’s body began to turn black from the edges.

Ariel’s eyes shook violently as she saw this.

She frantically tried to stop the blackening patterns.

Chiiiiik—!

Instead, a burning sound echoed as the patterns on her hand began to darken.

The black tendrils spread faster and more aggressively.

“No, no! Nooooo!”

It was more like an animal’s howl than a human scream.

The sound sent a chill down my spine, making my bones crawl.

The red patterns turned completely black before scattering like ash.

And crimson smoke rose from Ariel’s body.

No, rather than smoke, it was as if it had a form—

‘…A snake?’

But before I could confirm it, the smoke scattered like mist and quickly disappeared through the cracks in the prison.

And letters appeared before my eyes.

[You have achieved a great accomplishment!]

[An achievement that no one has accomplished for centuries!]

[ is now watching you!]

[ is now watching you!]

[ is now watching you!]

[Each realm, which had only been aware of the Pioneer’s existence, has begun to pay attention to you.]

[The direction of this attention varies.]

[The clear fact is that you can no longer avoid their attention.]

[Whether this will be a boon or a bane depends on the Pioneer’s actions.]

[Fate rests solely in the hands of the Pioneer.]

‘What is all this?’

I had received notifications about the Celestial Realm, the Spirit Beast Realm, and the Demon Realm before.

When I saved Seed instead of listening to the devil.

‘It said that I had met a hidden condition and that the Celestial Realm, the Spirit Beast Realm, and the Demon Realm had become aware of my existence.’

Since then, there hadn’t been any particular changes in my life.

But now they’re watching me….

[The accumulated causality on the Reader decreases due to the aftereffects of forced opening.]

[Error!]

[The Pioneer is exempt from the influence of causality.]

[Causality cannot decrease.]

[Replaces it with the Reader’s influence.]

[The Reader’s influence decreases.]

“…?”

This influence, doesn’t it mean the degree of influence on people?

It went up when people admired what I did.

No one knows about what happened with Ariel just now, so how can my influence decrease?

‘Maybe that influence isn’t just about influence in society…’

It could be a broader meaning.

“Aish, this is complicated!”

Why does it get more confusing the more I know?

I shook my head, and then I saw Sophia collapsed on the ground.

“That’s right! Baby!”

I rushed to Sophia and checked her condition.

I could feel her warm breath.

At least she seemed fine on the outside.

“Phew…”

It was the moment I let out a sigh of relief.

Kwaang!

A deafening explosion echoed.

At the same time, the bars, iron door, and walls turned to dust in an instant.

“…?!”

In the midst of the shock, I hugged the baby to protect her, and a black aura began to form around me in a semi-circular shape.

The scattering dust was blocked by the aura and couldn’t reach me.

A fierce gust of wind blew away all the dust.

With a clear view, I could see a straight path where several walls had disappeared.

And in the middle, my family was standing.

‘No, why would you destroy the house…’

I stared at my family in disbelief.

“Luatia!”

Ixion rushed over with a desperate look and hugged me tightly, almost painfully.

But I couldn’t bring myself to say it hurt.

His hands holding me were trembling.

‘Come to think of it, Ixion’s mental state is fragile.’

When he was young, I was kidnapped right before his eyes, and then I collapsed while coughing up blood.

Having gone through such things, Count Kandor’s relatively normal Ixion was bound to have trauma.

“I’m okay.”

“You’re not okay.”

Ares said, checking me with a stiff face.

I don’t know how many years it’s been since I saw the smile disappear from Ares’ face.

My family was all so serious that I kept quiet for now.

‘But I’m really okay.’

If anything, wasn’t I the one who beat her up?

Ariel screamed and turned into smoke.

Besides, Sophia was collapsed beneath me, covered in the blood she had coughed up earlier.

‘Hmm, this won’t do.’

I had to quickly resolve the situation and take Sophia to a doctor.

I waved my arms and legs around to show that I was healthy.

“Look. I’m fine! That scream wasn’t me!”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“There’s no way that pig-slaughtering sound came from my youngest.”

Ah, I see….

‘But then, even though you knew the scream wasn’t me, you still destroyed the house…?’

I was dumbfounded.

* * *

The red mist that had escaped from the mansion repeatedly gathered and scattered, taking the shape of a snake.

The red snake hurriedly flew in one direction.

As time passed, the snake’s form gradually shrank and became unsightly as the mist scattered like scales falling off.

“Oh my?”

Eventually, when the snake arrived in front of a girl wearing a robe, it had become a thin, thread-like snake.

“Ariel, what on earth happened to you? It’s like you’ve gone back to when I first met you.”

The girl wrapped her hand around the shimmering, thread-like snake.

“Poor thing.”

The snake, made of smoke, coiled around the girl’s hand and acted affectionately.

The girl watched for a moment before opening her mouth.

“But who made you like this? There shouldn’t be any humans left who can wield the power of exorcism.”

The snake trembled without answering.

Its body had been dead for a long time, so it didn’t have any scales to bristle, but its old habits remained.

Seeing this, the girl exclaimed, “Ah.”

A clear, bright light burst from the girl’s hand, enveloping the red snake.

“Now, can you talk?”

[Th, thank you, Your Highness!]

“Who made you like this?”

The girl’s eyes were strange as she looked at the snake.

Ariel flinched and quickly replied.

[The Paeraton Princess.]

Pause.

The girl’s breath momentarily stopped and then resumed.

“Really? That child?”

The child’s large eyes narrowed.

“You’re a very naughty child. I thought you were just a prankster who was interfering with my plans.”

[….]

“To possess the power of exorcism….”

Crack!

Strength entered the girl’s hand.

Even though the snake was made of intangible smoke, the girl held it tightly as if it were a real snake.

Ariel struggled and twisted, but she couldn’t escape from that small hand.

[Aah! I, I couldn’t help it, Your Highness! She wasn’t an ordinary child! The power of exorcism, I couldn’t handle it without recovering my power—]

“Yes. I understand that this failure is not your fault.”

Ariel’s expression brightened at those words.

“But.”

The girl looked at Ariel with a loving and gentle gaze.

“I know for sure that you are useless.”

[…!]

“I thought I was being generous enough.”

[Your Highness…!]

“I can’t share my power with something useless.”

[Ju, just one more chance, just one more chance, Yo—]

Before she could finish her sentence, Ariel completely scattered.

The atomized snake was absorbed into the girl.

The girl closed her eyes for a moment and felt the power.

“Hmph, just this much power. Even an ancient mythical beast is nothing special.”

“It was defeated by an ancient and barely maintained its life without a body for thousands of years. Its once mighty power had been whittled away to almost nothing,” said a figure wearing a robe, walking out from behind a screen, just like the girl.

“The power of exorcism is troubling.”

The girl who muttered, narrowed her eyes.

“That dirty, annoying, and unpleasant power still exists. I thought I had killed it completely.”

“It’s not that easy to kill it.”

“…I’ll cut off its breath completely this time.”

* * *

The girl’s eyes shone cruelly within the robe.

Sophia was fortunately safe.

I was worried because Ariel made her cough up blood, but it seemed that it was the process of getting rid of the bad energy.

Not only that.

“The mana circuits in her body have all been opened. It seems to be because she had an otherworldly being inside her body.”

She also gained the qualifications to become a great mage.

‘I don’t know if that’s a good thing, though.’

Right now, Sophia needed an ordinary life more than special talents.

“T, t, to meet the Princess, I, I’m really honored.”

The seven-year-old baby, blushing red, was really cute.

“Thank you so much, Princess.”

Mrs. Hewen knelt down and bowed her head to me.

“I may not be able to be of help to the Princess, but I will risk my life to help with anything.”

“No, not to the point of risking your life…”

I was a little awkward.

“And…”

At Mrs. Hewen’s gesture, a soldier placed a wooden box on the table.

“What’s this?”

“It’s the elixir that Ariel prepared. She was planning to use it at the Princess’s presentation.”

“Ah, she was going to ruin my presentation and use this if someone got hurt?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, it would have been a good advertisement.”

“And when you go home, there’s a large mirror in the left room. Ariel used it to communicate with a veiled woman.”

I nodded.

‘Is the mirror still there?’

Anyway, I should have the twins check the elixir.

“I didn’t know you would say this now.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to hide it…”

“Were you going to bet this and trade with me when your daughter’s life was in danger?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Mrs. Hewen seemed to be a smart person in her own way.

‘Well, even if all the elixirs she made were fake, it’s true that she pleased the picky Mrs. Sherwin.’

“So now?”

“Yes?”

“Are you still seeing me as a trading partner?”

“Of course not. You are the benefactor who saved Sophia. I am prepared to give up my life. Of course… my life is nothing to the Princess.”

I said to Mrs. Hewen.

“I will punish you and Sophia.”

“I will gladly accept any punishment. But Sophia really didn’t know anything. Everything was Ariel doing with Sophia’s body—”

“I know.”

“Yes?”

“But I’m going to punish you.”

Mrs. Hewen’s eyes wavered.

“There will be more than one or two people who will find it strange if I don’t punish you. And Ariel’s backer too.”

“…!”

“Listen to me carefully.”

I went to Mrs. Hewen and told her a few things.

And I went back to my room and looked at the mirror.

I twisted my hair up and looked at the mirror, and I could see the black pattern engraved on my neck.

“The barrier that Dad personally cast… Why didn’t it activate?”

I thought it would activate when Ariel attacked me.

Should I say it’s a relief?

Thanks to this not being activated,

“Lulu is healthy and strong because she grew up with love from Daddy, Oppa, and Grandpa! I chased the bad monster away from Sophia’s body!”

My desperate excuse worked.

If that didn’t work, I would have had to bring Frise and Sandra with me even in the house.

It would have been harder to go out secretly.

“If the barrier didn’t activate, it seems that the power is special….”

That ominous and nauseating power.

‘I’m sure. It’s the power I felt from Seed’s Geas [a magical compulsion or oath].’

I let my hair down and turned away from the mirror.

“I have to meet Seed.”