The Villainess Who Has Been Killed 108 Times - Chapter 24-1

Chapter 24 Part 1 – My mother has an archery cheat better than I expected, and there is a huge threat to my existence. WHAT? Are the ghosts of the duke’s manor involved?!

「My family, the Melvilles, has a secret that’s been passed down through generations. It will be useful to all.」

My mother pulled a board from the wall, which revealed a chain with a ring on the end. She pulled it down strongly.

「There is a secret room ahead.」

A heavy rumbling echoed and half of the wall slid into the side wall.

I could hear squeaking and grinding, like there was a waterwheel turning.

The wall continued to slip and then disappeared.

「Whoooa!」

「Auuaahh!」

Bradd and I shouted again in amazement.

I was wondering why this wall wasn’t covered by wallpaper.

I had no idea this trick was built into the duke’s manor.

It probably uses weights somewhere, or maybe some winding gears.

It shocked me that I never learned this over 108 lives.

Well, to recall, the previous 108 times the mansion had been renovated a lot by the time I grew up, so it might have been gone by then.

I guess my dad knew though…

It was a pitch-black room with no windows.

The air was dry even though it was a closed room, probably because we were on the second floor.

There was a faint dusty odor that tickled my nose.

My mother lit a candlestick at the entrance and I could see countless shadows shaking on the ceiling.

「Auaaah!」

I looked up and screamed.

Are there a lot of little mummies on the ceiling?!

I felt a string hook onto the back of my neck.

A chill ran down my spine and a trickle of urine down my leg.

Are you doing this to a baby this young?!

If you want to be friends with me, try not to KILL ME WITH FRIGHT!

I was hoping to have young friends of my own someday!

If I could, I’d like a friend that I can tell love stories to with glittering eyes.

AND NOT SOME EYELESS MUMMIES THAT ARE DRIED UP AND HANGING FROM THE CEILING!

Or…like a friend that we can run through the hills with with birds chirping in the background, while we pick four-leaf clovers…

NOT ONE WHERE WE PICK THROUGH GRAVESTONES IN LIMBO WITH DEMONS ROARING NEARBY! I WANT FOUR-LEAF CLOVERS! NOT CERBERUS ROVERS!

I guess love stories and tea parties will just be a dream…

JUST LIKE 50 YEARS OF LIFE IS LIKE A DREAM IF YOU SEND ME TO THE AFTERLIFE OUT OF FEAR!

「I know you all are surprised…I wasn’t sure if I could show anyone this.」

And when I looked closely, they seemed to be the roots of dried plants.

They were hung to dry in the shade.

What a relief…

W…well…I kind of knew it was something like that…from the first place.

But why would something like this be hanging from the ceiling?

And… sorry for being a little vulgar in my description…that on my leg was, SWEAT, yeah, babies metabolize a lot of liquids!

So, it’s time to investigate this room as the famous detective Scarlet…Watson, no, Mary! Let’s go!

If my theory is correct, the old hostess of this manor had a custom for making her own perfumes, but there’s no distiller in the room, just a mortal…and a jug on the desk…also a chair and a closet…I guess these roots have nothing to do with fragrances…but I saw this somewhere before…

「Nnn, auaaah!」

I could possibly smell something from that paste-like material still in the mortar…so I urged Mary to get closer…

「Don’t get close to that! It’s mashed ‘hooded deadly bride!’」

My mother’s rebuke caused all of us to freeze.

「Oh?!」

「Eep!」

「Hooded deadly bride?! The flower of the goddess of death!」

It was a flower called the hooded bride because it looked like the hood of a woman’s robe.

They changed it to deadly bride because the plant was used for poison many times in history. The leaves, stems, flowers…all parts are highly poisonous, even herbivores die if they eat the plant.

A arrow poisoned by this flower can kill large animals and is roundly feared. No second arrow is needed.

There’s also a powerful poison in the roots. It has a round top with a smaller bottom and two “legs” that hang below…almost like a dried baby.

I was murdered many times in my 108 lives, but several times involved this “deadly bride.”

Your mouth begins to burn, your lips and limbs fall numb, you fall into seizures and vomit, your mind becomes cloudy, and eventually your breathing is paralyzed and you die.

There is no way to detoxify it, but if you take a small dose, vomiting can save you.

If it’s a lethal dose…you’re pretty much dead.

Therefore, the other name is the flower of the goddess of death.

It got its nickname from the legend that it grows next to the queen of Hades, killing all who eat it.

It’s very rare, cannot be cultivated, and difficult to find without good knowledge of plants.

Also, the only poisonous ones grow during the new moon, and when they are collected at other times, the roots crumble when dried only a little, making them useless.

I’ve never seen such a large collection of “trade level” plants like this, even when I was a queen.

And this poisonous plant can be used as a medicine too, right? I heard that the diluted poison has excellent medical properties.

Hydrangea only knows of the existence of the poison as a drug from it is being prepared, so the price of this “deadly bride’s hood” will only rise.

Rare things like this only become more valuable.

All of this in one place is a fortune.

And with my knowledge cheat, I can use it to gain even more wealth.

I guess with this I can draw all the influence of the Wilhelm lords together.

The abacus in my head started clicking away.

First of all, whether wheat or rye, I have to put the grain away in a safe place…Hydrangea had good harvest for several years while grain prices were stable. We even used the grain to feed livestock…it was cheap. No hunger in the country, mills completely full.

However, this year, the year I was born, Hydrangea begins the longest locust plague in its history. They eat up all the plants, grain prices soar, and even the aristocrats only eat spring barley.

Starvation everywhere, riots break out in search of food.

The turmoil continues for six months, the nation suffers, and our prestige is lost.

The aristocrats and nobles abandon and force out the crown.

And these phenomena like weather never change throughout my lives.

Storms, earthquakes, floods.

I’ve seen them again and again every life of my 108.

It will all happen this one as well.

The locust plague is inevitable.

By then any store of grain will be of infinite value…the grain must flow…she who controls the grain, controls the universe!

Mom! Be happy!

We’ll never be poor again!

This manor and your clothes will sparkle!

I’ll buy Mary a new dress and Bradd a new maid outfit.

And because I’ll smash his knees later, I’ll get him a fashionable walker as well.

When the famine comes, we will distribute this so the people will not starve! Serve others while striving to make money! The profit will go to the people! Their happiness will make mine!

. . . . . . . . .

Also, I know that many children starved in this famine caused by the locusts.

It is easy to remember how dire it was by looking at the historical records.

And I has similar experiences as a queen, myself.

Cities wiped away by muddy waters. Plague killing off a city. Riots, then fires, then death.

Children glancing vacantly at their parents’ corpses.

I hid my identity and saw the scenes myself.

When I saw an infant crawling on her starved mother’s breast attempting to suck some milk, her voice squeaking like a frog, I bit my fist to stop the sobbing.

I wanted to hug her, cry, apologize.

No.

I have no right to.

I was the queen of this country. The person responsible for not preventing this.

No matter what I say, those lives could never return.

So I didn’t apologize or cry…but just struggled to process it all.

The only atonement I had.

Such feelings and helplessness…will I taste it all again?

No matter how much regret I had or how I cried, everything was useless.

I clenched my fist.

This time I will save them all.

This time I won’t just apologize with my heart, but I will save you with these hands.

So…I promise! This time! I will…

「…Nnnnn…」

Bradd pulled out a cloth and silently wiped my tear away.

Oh, was I crying? Than…thanks…

Hey! My nose isn’t running though! I’m not going to blow my nose!

O…okay! I’ll make a lot of money, and then enjoy a happy withdrawn future, ALONE!

But when I do, I’ll need a competent partner to help me trade.

The Shylocks are completely out, so who then?

「We Melvilles have a special treatment for poison darts. The amount is actually doubled. Be careful not to touch it.」

My mother’s warning brought me back to reality.

「The poison of the flower of the death goddess, strengthened? What a fearsome thing…」

「Auoouuu…」

Bradd and I both twitched.

You could poison to death thousands of people with these.

And the poison is twice as strong as I’ve ever seen!

「It’s true. I wanted to kill all those red-bloods that bullied me with the poisoned darts from these and then kill myself. But I was too afraid…I couldn’t do it, so the roots increased year by year…」

She had turned her back to us and placed her hand in the closet, whispering to us.

Oh?! Is that it?!

The insidious bullying from those red bloods at the behest of marquis Vygod caused my mother to suffer, deep, even piercing her heart.

They thought the were batting around a little kitten, but little did they know they had stepped on a tiger’s tail.

What terrible…

I was happy that my mother restrained herself.

If she had killed all of the red-bloods, no one would have aided her.

Even if she didn’t commit suicide, there was no escaping the death penalty.

And then I would have never been born.

Thanks, mom.

I’m here, because of you.

And I’ll avenge your sadness soon.

Deadly baby spin-kicks to smash their faces!

Don’t mock the anger of an evil queen that had lived 108 times!

I’ll make them all piss their pants, I’ll hit them so hard.

I’ll bind their limbs, put a diaper on them, then make them drink plenty of cleansing tea. I won’t stop even when they piss themselves. Then I won’t replace their diaper…in fact, I’ll make the diaper out of wool!

Ooooh, what a devilish idea!

I trembled at my own outrage.

After all, I really get pissed after I pissed myself!

My skin swells and cracks from the moisture.

You hear me newborns?! Raise your hands if you agree!

I hope those villains are shivering in fear.

Urine a lot of trouble when I’m done with you.

Wait…if I bind their limbs…how does the diaper go on…?

Whatever…for now, let’s just laugh at the evil of it.

Ohh ho ho ho…

「Auu uahhuu ahuuu」

「You’re in a good mood, mistress.」

「She’s just imagining something evil again. She had some master plan, but then found a defect in it, and now she’s laughing to cover for it.」

「Auuhh!」

Dammit! Bradd! You idiot!

You got some balls to guess about some maiden’s joy and then embarrassment!