The Villain’S Daughter-In-Law Is Inherently Powerful [EN]: Chapter 136

Ah, so this is a childish ploy to ask me to stay by her side.

But before I could answer, Yuri whispered again.

“I told you I would give you the position of head of the family. But Sister said she’d rather fall in love than have such benefits.”

“…Yeah.”

“But I can’t understand it at all. When we were in Arkhalik, you never thought about love.”

“How do you know what I was thinking in Arkhalik?”

This is the key.

The secret Yuri has been hiding until now.

Its identity is…

“…I have a book.”

Yuri’s thin lips moved slowly.

“I’ve had it since the moment my ego was formed; I don’t know when it started.”

“A book?”

“It looks like this.”

*Swish.*

Iculus [a magical energy or substance] gathered on Yuri’s palm, and before long, a book materialized.

Yuri stroked it with her eyes, then looked at me with a twist of her lips.

“Follow me if you want to know.”

“Where to?”

“To the place where it all began.”

It was a meaningful statement.

I hesitated for a moment but eventually followed Yuri.

I wanted to know exactly what Yuri’s power was and what its range was.

And above all, this week was originally for Yuri.

‘There’s no one in the hallway. Did she clear everyone out beforehand?’

So much so that the sound of my slippers dragging echoed loudly.

The empty, lifeless hallway of the Imperial Palace was eerie. Perhaps it felt even more so because Yuri’s final destination was a place with a huge aquarium.

“This is……”

“Familiar, isn’t it?”

Yuri, who hadn’t said a word while coming, turned to me and smiled softly.

“You’re the one who saved me from this cheap imitation that doesn’t even have the will to imitate the sea.”

The aquarium, which I saw after a long time, was bizarre.

When it was filled with water, I felt a sense of mystery, but now it was just hideous.

Dead moss clung to various structures in the aquarium, and the small temple looked like it was about to collapse due to corrosion.

However, the only difference from the past was… there was a white brick house in the aquarium.

The cube-shaped house had no windows, so the inside was not visible at all.

‘I had vaguely thought Yuri would break the aquarium because she wouldn’t even want to see it.’

But Yuri even built a house inside. Moreover, she even made an entrance by piercing the glass wall of the aquarium so that anyone could enter and exit.

To my eyes, it looked like she was comforting her past, which had been displayed in the aquarium.

It was like a manifestation of some will that no one would be imprisoned anymore.

‘My heart aches.’

Regardless of the problems between Yuri and me now, I felt bad when I thought about Yuri’s childhood.

Because no child in the world deserves to be treated like that.

“There was only one thing I could do in here: reading my book. No other freedom was allowed.”

“……”

“But do you know what was in that book?”

*Gulp.*

A dry cough escaped me. But my throat was also dry, so it was just painful.

“It was you, Sister.”

“Me?”

“Yes. From the beginning, it was you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. How do I appear in that book?”

Was Yuri’s affection for me not from the day we first met in the aquarium?

I frowned at the confusion.

Then Yuri conjured a book with Iculus again and opened it.

“All the stories about you are written in here. I’m the only one who knows that you were a small cranberry tree.”

“What?”

“Ah, besides that, you were reborn and died in various ways, and then reborn again. You repeated that tedious act several times.”

I felt something collapsing inside me. It wasn’t an external sound, but a roar within.

Did the sky just fall? Or has the world turned upside down? I was so shocked that I forgot how to breathe.

She knows that?

“I watched all those struggles in life. It was heartbreaking. Even if being born as something trivial is repeated three or four times, you would be tired, but you didn’t give up on living. But I liked that. It was like telling me to live.”

Yuri’s tone softened as she looked at my expression.

“And you finally became a human. A person who can meet me, talk to me, and be with me. You will never know the joy I felt at that time.”

This was a secret I held.

I was about to reveal Yuri’s secret, but when what I had buried inside me was revealed instead, I completely lost my words.

“If this isn’t fate, then what is? Tell me, Sister. I know everything about you.”

“That is……”

“I don’t know why this happened. I don’t know why the main character of this book is you either. I didn’t want it, but you came to me. So it’s fate.”

I have to ask the Celestial God.

This was really strange. It went beyond Yuri being able to know my every move; she knew all the painful years I had gone through.

She’s seen it all.

‘That’s… that’s…’

Ah.

Something hot welled up inside.

The name of that emotion is…

“I’ve been watching you for a very long time. And I’ve been waiting for the day we can meet… the only day we can meet.”

A drop of hot tears flowed down my cheek.

I didn’t say anything and bit the soft flesh inside my cheek.

I thought I was alone.

Trapped in the swaying body of a jellyfish, moving with the current… I lamented how long I would have to live like this.

I was a different species among other jellyfish, and in fact, jellyfish didn’t communicate very well with each other.

It was all the same even if I was born as something else.

I was so lonely. But Yuri has been watching me all along.

‘This is a bit touching……’

At the same time, it’s creepy.

I was trapped between two incompatible emotions and didn’t know what kind of expression to make, so I made an ambiguous face.

But the tears didn’t stop.

Was it so shocking and happy that someone recognized my life?

“So I don’t mind waiting a little longer.”

Yuri gestured as if to go in together, standing near the open entrance of the aquarium.

I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve and moved my steps as if possessed.

“Even if you say you’re going to make Ian or Dante the head of the family because of this and that… okay. I don’t like it, but I’ll bear it.”

“Bear it?”

“Yes. I’ll bear it. I won’t harm Driblja either.”

Is that true?

I tried to find signs of lies on Yuri’s face. But in the end, all I found was sincerity.

‘It’s a relief if it’s true.’

I’m a little uneasy about Yuri being so docile. Besides, Yuri hasn’t even mentioned whether she will continue to look at the book or not.

“But you know what? I decided that just because you choose someone doesn’t mean I have to stop my love.”

“…What does that mean?”

“If you don’t choose the person you love as the head of the family, why shouldn’t I love you? You said you wanted to fall in love.”

“…?”

“Do it with me, that love.”

Unlike the outside, the inside of the aquarium was too humid.

I stopped crying at the feeling of moisture sticking to my skin and looked around.

Then suddenly, in a fleeting moment.

I realized that Yuri was still standing outside the aquarium.

“Florin, how can I let you go when we’ve finally met like this?”

“Yuri…?”

“I’ll make you fall in love, so just receive the love I give you and live.”

It’s a trap!

I hurriedly turned around, but Yuri was one step faster.

*Thump!* The entrance that was clearly there disappeared like a mirage. At the same time, the entire aquarium shook with a roar.

I swallowed a scream, covered my head, and sat down.

‘Oh my god……!’

I was completely fooled.

I said I was suspicious, but I was fooled by Yuri showing me everything about herself and revealing her secrets.

“Stay here until you understand my heart, Florin.”

Yuri leaned her forehead against the wall of the aquarium as if collapsing.

“This aquarium is enchanted. When a person enters this place, they can see the outside from the inside, but they can’t look inside from the outside.”

Yuri!!!

I shouted and hit the wall, but the entrance did not reappear. Of course, I couldn’t break the wall with my strength.

What can I do if I turn into a small weasel?

‘What should I do? I’m completely trapped.’

If Yuri is right, no one will know even if I scream here.

Unless Father comes back, he won’t be able to break the magic that’s hanging here.

‘But Father has gone to the Holy Empire now……!’

I can’t even tell my dad about this situation. Can Ian find me?

Even if he finds me, can he get me out of here?

‘Father, I told her as you advised……! Yuri seems a little more crazy than I expected!’

I gave up hitting it and put my hand on the wall.

As if I could see it, Yuri also put her hand on the wall of the aquarium.

“This is my love, Florin.”

With a face as ecstatic as the best work created by God, Yuri kissed as if in love—on the glass wall of the aquarium I was trapped in.

“Wait for me here. For a long time, as I did.”