Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 219 : Spark 4

"...I cannot leave here."

Refusing her daughter's proposal, she turned to look at the people behind her.

Yuna's mother, Lili, was not only a mineralogist but also a healer.

"If I leave, who will take care of everyone? Many of them are already in critical condition. If their treatment is interrupted even for a day, it could worsen to life-threatening levels..."

"But...!"

Yuna had more to say, but was silenced by her mother's serious expression.

"Moreover, there are too many unresolved issues... Even if, as you say, the current lord's rule can be overthrown, what will happen to these innocent civilians? How will the new lord treat them?"

Her gaze became complex, looking into the distance as she recalled the past.

"The current state of this place is partly my responsibility... So, I must take responsibility for everyone."

Rather than responsibility, it was more her way of atonement.

When the hidden ore vein was first discovered, with the intention of improving the living standards of the people here, Lili agreed to serve as the chief engineer.

The high-quality ore did indeed fetch a good price, but it also brought endless disaster.

"The dual-attribute magic ore is unstable and extremely dangerous... But your father had already been blinded by the money brought by those people from the Eastern Country. He refused to listen to my reports on the casualties among the miners..."

So Lili deeply regretted it. If only she had realized sooner, things might not have become like this.

"All the more reason you should come with us." Brin said, stepping forward from behind. She wore a dirty, tattered hood.

She pulled down her cloak, revealing long, curly silver hair that cascaded over her shoulders, making her look like a soft, fluffy little lamb.

A child with silver hair...

Lili was somewhat surprised.

Hair was very important to the small folk.

They believed that hair contained life force and magical power.

The more vibrant the color, the more it was revered.

Dull, light-colored hair was seen as a symbol of weakness and incompetence.

Especially silver-gray hair like Brin's was most looked down upon.

Throughout her life, she had been bullied countless times because of her hair color.

Except for one person,

Who complimented her long, curly hair as cute, saying it matched well with the dark wizard robes.

So, from that day on, she no longer hid her hair that she had viewed as a weakness. She loosened the hair tie hidden under her hat and never cut it again.

She wanted to affirm the things Yuna found correct and beautiful, and to make her proud of them.

This feeling had never changed from beginning to end.

"Brin is... my friend."

Yuna wanted to use more special words to describe their relationship, but after hesitating for a while, she could only come up with the rather plain word 'friend' in her mind.

"Excuse me."

"Wait—"

Brin stepped forward and gently lifted Lili's arm. Before the panicked Lady Lili could agree, she had already rolled up her sleeve.

Beneath the sleeve, a patch of skin mottled like cracked earth was revealed.

"Mother... This, this is??"

Her own mother... The petrification was even more severe than some of the patients present.

Lili hurriedly pulled down her sleeve.

"As I thought..."

Brin sighed.

As an expert in earth elements, she immediately recognized what this meant.

"Forgive my presumption, but may I ask what method you've been using to remove the harmful excess elements from their bodies?"

"This..."

"Mother!"

Under her daughter's concerned and anxious gaze, Lili's eyes became evasive.

"It seems to be as I thought, you've been recklessly transferring the harmful active elements to yourself, haven't you?"

Upon hearing this, the injured patients present immediately erupted in a clamor.

Indeed, using element transfer could effectively alleviate symptoms, but it would also cause great damage to the practitioner's own body.

If this continued... Yuna's mother could very likely die from multiple complications such as organ damage caused by non-compatible element overload.

"............"

Having all of this that she had been concealing exposed, Lili fell silent.

"Could it be... Lady Lili has been using such a dangerous method to treat us all this time?"

The old miner spoke with a trembling voice,

"You must be joking—Our lives are worth far less than yours!"

"That's right, that's right!"

"...Don't say that!"

Lili cried out shakily. Her voice wasn't loud, but it instantly made the space unbearably silent.

"All human lives are equal, all are precious—But... You've all ended up like this because of me!! No matter how much I do, I can never atone for my sins..."

Sighs echoed from the darkness.

"But Lady Lili... You've already done more than enough..."

"Without you, we would have all died long ago."

"That's right, no one here blames you."

"Mother..."

Yuna placed her hand on her mother's.

"Please believe in us."

"We came here with enough determination."

Producing the ore as evidence, Brin also took out her noble credentials and a document signed by the King of Oz Kingdom himself, revealing a crafty smile.

After reading the order under the firelight Yuna lit at her fingertip, Lili's eyes widened slightly.

"Could this be—"

·

"Report to the Lord! Thousands of dragon riders from the northwest have crossed the border barrier and are advancing towards us at great speed!!"

"You useless fools!! Where are the mercenaries from the Eastern Country? Send them out!!"

"Re-report—!! Those people used some kind of sorcery, one small squad has already broken through the first floor checkpoint, they're about to come up now!!"

Listening to these reports one after another, Floris began to panic internally.

Who on earth had he offended??

Thud—

Within his field of vision, guards fell one after another.

Click, click, click—

In the spacious hall, the sound of high heels stepping on the jade floor echoed.

"Who—"

Floris feigned composure, still sitting on his throne.

"Who dares to intrude into my Golden Castle—"

The one who pushed open the door was a brown-haired human girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old.

She strode in casually, as if the castle's tight defenses were non-existent to her. She playfully poked the silver-scaled armored mercenary standing motionless at the door with her finger, and the elite soldier he had hired at great expense immediately fell stiffly to the ground. The expensive armor clashed with the equally expensive floor tiles, making a cracking sound.

"Calling it the Golden Castle... That name is too tacky."

She said dissatisfied, smacking her lips.

"I declare, from now on, this place will be renamed Yvonne Castle."