I will not die a Villainess's death

Unlike its name, the restricted section was an area filled with light and high windows. It was decorated in a gothic style with high ceilings and open spaces.

Different magical beast statues decorated the outer lining of the staircase and the walls were lined with books of every shade and kind.

It was a place that was impossible to comb out even in a year, much less in a few days. Eve was sure that they would not be able to finish before Adam's birthday banquet that was being planned.

"There are an awful number of books in here. I find it impossible to think that none of these have any knowledge about the topic we are looking for."

Adam decided to take a jab at Head Priest Yohan and Eve was torn whether to agree with him or not.

"You would be surprised then."

Head Priest Yohan decided for him as he scoffed and spoke softly. Eve heard him clearly and those words worried her a little.

As the current Head Priest, he was the person who had the most knowledge about what kind of material was available in this section. He knew the general gist of this place and the topics covered here.

"But surely even you did not have enough time to look over this place and remember it? Maybe you missed something?"

Lord Lucas also joined in taking a jab at her adoptive father. Eve felt offended on his behalf but she did not say anything.

When one's feelings were in such a divine state, it was wisest to keep quiet. That was the only way to stay neutral and survive the strife.

"If you think so then you can look around on your own. Don't even think of exceeding your allotted time and do not steal any books. I will be in the adjoining office if you need me."

It surprised Eve that the Head Priest had lasted this long in the company of someone he hated with a passion.

And even Lucas looked relieved to see the Head Priest leave. Eve could see his shoulders loosen up and his smile became more genuine.

"Sorry for asking such a heavy thing from the both of you. You know that I would have never asked you to pay the price if there was another way, right?"

"No, don't apologize. It is for Elysia's sake and we asked you to take advantage of us anyway."

Eve did not like the situation but that did not mean she wanted Lord Dirac to feel responsible for it either. He did not need to worry or stress about having forced Eve to help.

"Yeah. She's right. I can take a year of being engaged and a few days of no rest if it means I can get Elysia back. Both of us do not need to act like this engagement is real anyway."

No one was convinced by Adam's words but they also knew that nothing would change even if they did the presence of this engagement.

Elysia was tasked with a lot of tasks that the Crown princess was supposed to be doing. But when it came to the ceremonial practices, Eve suddenly realized that a lot of it had been done by her, to begin with.

Elysia always managed to back out at the last second with one excuse or another when it came to official events and Eve was the obvious substitute since she was a Saintess candidate.

It was no wonder that the citizens had misunderstood the situation between herself and Elysia so much. Also, the rumors about her romance with Adam did make sense in this context.

'Fuck it. Now it feels like everything that happened to me and Adam was planned. I will have to clear the air out with Elysia once I get her back.'

"Don't stress yourself do much. For now, just focus on doing the tasks you are assigned with. I will handle the political warfare."

It was so reassuring to have Lucas's support. Eve knew that he would be able to keep the council of nobles in check.

"Hey, check this out. I think this text can help us."

While Eve was busy talking it out with Lord Lucas, Adam had already started to look around the room and open the books.

He seemed not to be concerned about the things Eve was feeling self-conscious about.

"Hey, let me check. Ah, these are about traveling theories and spacial magic. It can work if we rewrite the formula."

Eve tried it out but it did not yield much result. It was not the end of their search but it was a start for sure.

________________________

Lucas watched as the kids did their best to look for a solution. They were working hard and he was glad to see that Elysia had such good company.

She would be alright once he ended up dying. Even now he had to do his best to hold his cough back. He could not afford to show his weak side to these kids who were relying on him.

'Now that those two are busy, it is time I start looking around. It was a good thing that I asked the emperor for suggestions about where to look.'

As a jointly build space, there were countless artifacts present here that even the Head Priest did not know about.

One such artifact was the mirror of Isis. It was capable of connecting with anyone who had ever existed. It should be able to connect with Elysia even if she was in another dimension.

But there was a risk involved in invoking such a method to bring Elysia back. And the risk of using the mirror of Isis was that there was no guarantee of what would happen.

It required a lot of magic and an even more concentrated life force to work. A lot of alive monsters would need to be tossed into it to make sure a secure connection could be established.

Lucas reached for the right button and opened the small container to take the mirror out.

But there was nothing inside it. The space where the mirror should be was empty. Someone had already taken the mirror out for use and Lucas had no idea who it could be.

According to the emperor, no one should even know about the existence of that mirror except the royal family. Even the temple did not know about its existence.

So how had someone taken the mirror out? And more importantly, how had they gotten into such a secure place?

"Did you find anything?"

Adam asked as Lucas walked out from the rows of bookshelves he had walked behind. All he could do was to shake his head and be disappointed.

His single ray of hope had been dimmed but not exhausted.

"Don't worry. We will find something to try really soon. See, there are already formulas we can try out."

Eve spread out the sheet she had in front of her. She was the one who was working the hardest since she was the only one who could use light magic.

Adam stood up to find more material for her and got himself busy.

This was how the week that led up to Adam's birthday was shaped up for them. The whole notation was busy celebrating the upcoming appointment of their new emperor while the said emperor slaved away at an impossible task.

________________________

Somewhere outside the temple, a shadow figure took out the mirror he had taken away with him.

He snapped his energy into the mirror and it responded. But it needed more life energy that he could not give it.

So the shadow figure decided to send a few small seed-like things through the mirror. They were the wild-monster seeds that were about to germinate.

The mirror responded and opened up a small window. On the other side stood Elysia as well as a group of unknown people, out for tracking in the forest.

He watched as the seeds germinated and formed into the monsters they were supposed to be. They managed to corner the small group that had separated from Elysia.

It seemed like the female who had questioned Elysia would die but Elysia surprisingly came back to help her out.

The shadow figure wanted to see more but he was out of time and energy to use. He needed to gather his resources if he wanted to open the gate again.

This time, he would require bigger sacrifices and a lot of magic energy. He would only have such an opportunity when a big gathering of strong people happened.

And the best venue for such a thing was during the birthday banquet of the Crown Prince. That day, the people present in the hall would get a surprise they had not expected.

And it would also be the time for Elysia Dirac to come back to this world. It was her destiny to be called a villainess and if she ended up being blamed for this accident, then it would be on her head.

It was all up to her fate now.