Reincarnated as the Villainess's attendant

Chapter 495 162 - Perserios territory - part 5 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 27)

　　*click*

　　The sound of yet another body falling onto the floor was followed by the door to a small bedroom opening – with no one who could have opened it being visible from the inside.

　　"...? Hello? Is something wrong...?"

　　A woman in her early forties – with hair and eyes of the pastel-red color, a shade so light that it wouldn't be strange to be of a variant attribute – propped herself up on the bed and called out in a worried voice, trying to see into the hallway from her position.

　　"Little one, it's enough."

　　"...excuse me...?"

　　The paster-red-haired woman shook her head, thinking that the voice she said was some sort of hallucination - even more so because of what was said.

　　The voice itself was pleasant for the ear, but that wasn't one of the woman's worries at the current moment.

　　...especially because all of a sudden a devilishly handsome, black-haired and eyed boy – or rather a young man – showed up already standing inside the room, and to make things even more bizarre, he wasn't alone.

　　Beside him stood a blond-haired girl, so short that she could have been mistaken for a child just because of her height alone - if not for the rather eye-catching volume of her chest that could barely be contained in the already otherwise oversized shirt.

　　"Hello, lady Tencelion, we came here to heal you up completely and rescue you and your son from serving the Barbariacca nation."

　　The black-haired boy bowed elegantly toward the shocked woman. He then motioned at the blond girl to approach her while he himself was keeping an eye on the hallway and a single window.

　　"What are you talking about? The kind people here are already giving me the best possible care – far better than anyone from Bellcephora ever did!"

　　George's mother scoffed, pushing herself into the corner of her bed in an attempt of getting as far away from Burushi as she could.

　　"This is a valid opinion – as long as you are not saying that under a curse. Burushi, if you please."

　　"Fully covered insurance!"

　　Zoemi nodded his head with understanding, but certainly wasn't going to listen to someone who was almost definitely controlled by their enemies. So instead of getting into a pointless conversation, he gave the blond-haired girl a sign and she immediately used her strongest spell just as was previously decided.

　　"..."

　　The air quake that ensued was powerful enough to momentarily make the room look as if it was rapidly submerged underwater, which honestly caused Zoemi to feel more than just slightly nauseous and uncomfortable.

　　"What was that?! What did you do to me?!"

　　The pastel-red-haired woman called out in anger, still looking as if she was a step away from fainting.

　　Zoemi and Burushi looked at each other with concern, both knowing full well that it should not be the case at all.

　　"I asked what you two are trying to do to me?! I will have you know that my son will not let you get away with this!"

　　As was expected from a daughter of a noble house, the lady Tencelion had quite a temper despite her weak disposition.

　　"I don't know what is happening – that spell covers every physical wound, illness, symptoms of an illness, side effects of offensive spells, scars, and even fixes dehydration and malnutrition!"

　　The blond girl splendidly ignore her though, and instead turned towards the black-haired boy and said in a worried voice.

　　"Maybe the curse that they inflicted her with is messing with her cognition and her body only thinks that it isn't in its peak condition... Miri and my sentinels are doing a good job, go ahead and check her up – I don't want to try using acid magic on her before we know that she can handle it."

　　Zoemi raised his hand to his mouth and nibbled onto his finger, anxiously looking at the increasingly agitated and supposedly sick woman.

　　"...could have started with this, I'm already lightheaded – do you have any idea how much mana I spend on my strongest spell...?"

　　Burushi complained but ended up facing the paster-red-haired woman, and reached out her hand towards her.

　　"My lady, please stay still for a moment."

　　"Why would I?!"

　　The blond-haired girl asked in the nicest tone she could muster at the moment – but unfortunately, George's mother wasn't really into cooperation at the time being...

　　"Private visit. Good thing that I don't have to touch the patient for it to work."

　　Burushi rilled her eyes and used her spell regardless of the words of the potentially controlled woman – and then she froze.

　　"Will you two listen to me?! Tell me this instant what is that spell doing, or I will call for help and my son will teach you a lesson!"

　　Lady Tencelion demanded, almost breaking into a cough because of how loud she got to get the attention of the two young people who casually strolled into her room while there was some sort of commotion outside.

　　"My lady, please, do not bother yourself with worry, in this room not a single person wishes harm upon you."

　　Zoemi assured the pastel-red-haired woman in a tone that was similar to the one he would use while dealing with Miriette's mood swing – with a quite jarring difference of it not sounding even half as interested as he would be in the actual dark-haired girl.

　　" Burushi. What is going on? Can you see what is wrong with her? Is the curse actually hampering the healing or something?"

　　Without waiting for the reaction, he glanced over to the blond-haired girl, motioning at her with his chin, encouraging her to speak up.

　　"...she's dead..."

　　"...huh...?"

　　Burushi muttered, staring wide-eyed at lady Tencelion, making Zoemi turn to her, blinking repeatably.

　　"Could you... be more precise, please? I believe that I have misheard you."

　　The black-haired boy asked, already feeling a chill going down his back as his mind come up with a very unpleasant and definitely unfavorable – for them – answer to that question.

　　Surprisingly enough, the pastel-red-haired woman was staying silent, only watching the exchange between the two young people, oddly patiently considering how vocal she was about them just a few moments before.

　　"Dead. She is most definitely no longer alive, her heart isn't being, her blood isn't flowing through her veins, and she isn't breathing. Fully covered insurance did not affect her because she isn't kept alive by the curse - she is a corpse reanimated by the curse...!"

　　The blond-haired girl declared in a tense voice, inching back from the sickly lady Tencelion who was glaring at her with a grim expression.

　　"Those curses are almost as versatile as my magic - that said..."

　　The black-haired boy scoffed, gritting his teeth, trying his best to not blow up with the violent emotions boiling within him.

　　Not only does his worst-case scenario turn out to be true, but also...

　　"U-KYAAAAAAH?!"

　　*WHOOOOOOOO*

　　The black-haired boy grabbed Burushi by the collar of her shirt and jumped back, pulling her together with him – which made her scream in shock – but that very same scream got stuck in her throat when a pillar of fire erupted in the exact spot she was a fraction of a second earlier.

　　The flames immediately started spreading through the wooden floor and fluffy carpet.

　　"Wh-what is happening! Why are you doing this?! Put it out!"

　　Despite being the one to use the spell, the pastel-red-haired woman cried out seeing the fire spreading,

　　The black-haired boy was holding Burushi's arm securely, glaring at the panicking lady Tencelion.

　　"Zoemi, what are you doing? We need to get her out of here! Isn't this why we came here for?"

　　The blond-haired girl gasped, trying to struggle her way out, but the iron grip on her arm did not lessen in any way.

　　"Help...! HELP ME!"

　　"Zoemi...?"

　　The woman started screaming, reaching out her hand toward the two, which made Burushi tremble and look up at the frowning black-haired boy.

　　"She attacked you because you figured out the truth about her. It must be a countermeasure for anyone – including George – to try and save her. Most likely she will just drop dead the moment we get her out of here, just in time to be seen by George."

　　"...!"

　　Zoemi could not be sure about things he was saying but he certainly wasn't going to let Burushi get injured because of a dead body moving around only thanks to curses and hexes.

　　"Can't you use those whole borrowed time sentinels or something to her to return to normal or somethin..?"

　　"HELP ME! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! NOOOOO!"

　　The healer magician countered with a great point but that was also the moment when the pastel-red-haired woman howled in despair while putting her hands to her chest and...

　　*WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

　　"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

　　...set herself on fire, immolating hrself into a pile of ash within a blink of an eye...

　　"...was it that hard to keep quiet, and let me make it seem like we were retreating to reset the whatever curse was making her do that or did you think I can just restore her from a pile of ash...?"

　　"...!"

　　Burushi felt the grip on her arm tightening and all words got stuck in her throat as she looked up at the black-haired boy doing his best to keep his anger at bay.

　　The bad situation just got worse.

　　Far worse.

　　"I... I didn't... I just wanted to..."

　　"Just... just don't say anything. I should have communicated it better. Let's go back. Little ones! The plan is a bust, we need to get away from here, please."

　　Burushi stuttered, looking away in shame as her chin began to tremble, but the black-haired boy merely shook his head and pulled her towards the door of the burning house while calling out to his sentinels.