Villainess Want's To Ignore Them!
Chapter 99: The Curse of Death...

Chapter 99: The Curse of Death...

"What was it?" Helion asked as he saw that Gineo looked terrified about what he was about to say about the lake.

"Was it drained again?" The emperor asked, This has happened before, but he was wondering why it was happening now when it was not even hot days.

"It was different this time, Your Majesty." Gineo said as he gulp. " The lake has been poisoned and many animals were dying there; some children died too today." Gineo said, which made the three stiffen at their seats.

"How did that happen?" The emperor asked as he looked worried about the people in his empire.

"We were looking for the cause, but the man who first saw it said that he just seen the lake turned into black, and the other-"

Gineo was cut when one of the maid entered the room hysterically.

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty!"

They all looked at the woman who was shouting hysterically.

"This is insolent!" Helion heard some of the knights as they were chasing the poor woman.

"What was it?" The emperor said, looking confused with the fuse that the woman made.

"T-the other maids had collapsed." The maid looked and by the look of her uniform, she seemed to be one of the palace’s head maids.

Helion and the others stand up from sitting.

"What happened?" Hlelion asked as he looked at the maid, who looked nervous and scared at the same time.

"We were just having our lunch when they drank water, and suddenly they collapsed." The maid explained as she looked at them like she was pleading with them to come with her.

"Lead us where they are." Helion said as he looked at the maid, who just nodded at him.

The maid led them to the quarters where they were eating their own food.

Helion saw many people who were lying unconscious there and some were even grunting in pain.

"Can you call Hernand?" The emperor said as he turned to Helion, who was about to take a walk to inspect the food and the water.

"I’ll call him, Your Majesty." Gineo said as he walked from the place.

Helion walked towards the table and looked at the food; some was untouched and some had already been eaten.

He tried sniffing the food when he couldn’t smell anything odd from it.

Helion was about to walk when he remembered what Gineo reported awhile ago.

He walked again back to the table and looked for the cup.

Helion almost vomited when he smelled the cup.

How could no one smell this one?

And how could they drink this knowing the smell was awful, and maybe the taste was even worse?

"What was it?" He looked at his father, who was looking at him.

He gives it to his father, gets another one, and lets the duke smell it too.

"What is this?" The duke was the one to react as he looked like he was going to vomit at what he smelled.

"What is happening?" They all looked at the door when Hernand entered and he looked like he was tired.

"What the—what happened in here?" He asked again as he looked at the people who were lying in front of them, some already having lost their consciousness and some trying to get a hold of themselves.

"We don’t know. It must be someone who was trying to kill us here." The emperor said as he looked at people worriedly.

"No, it wasn’t like that, Father." Helion said as he looked at his father, who looked at him while frowning. " Have you forgotten what Gineo reported awhile ago? He told us that the lake turned black." Helion said as he looked back at Hernand, who was still checking the people.

Helion noticed that Hernand looked like he was having a hard time trying to figure out what was happening.

"Wait!" Hernand said as he stopped checking the people.

"You said the lake turned into a black one? and look!" Hernand said as he pointed at one of the people and they almost vomited when they saw that the person looked like they were already decomposing.

"What is going on?" The duke asked Hernand, who just sighed.

"This person is already dead," Hernand pointed at the person who they saw awhile ago; its mouth was opened and Helion noticed that there was some green smoke that came out from its mouth.

"Who would have done such things to our empire?" The emperor said as he looked at the man who was now dead.

"Do you know the cure for this disease?" The duke asked Hernand and the latter only shook his head.

"This wasn’t an illness." Hernand said and they all looked at him, "This is maledictio mortis [the curse of death]" They all looked at him and frowned at him as they didn’t know what he was talking about.

"It’s the curse of death," Hernand said as he looked at them.

"How did you that it was that?" Helion asked as he looked at Hernand, who sighed in frustration.

"This has happened way back then; Abanoon uses this curse to kill many people to hurt her sister." Hernand said as he looked at the people again, and shook his head when he saw that some of them were already dead.

He was a healer, but he couldn’t do anything as this was beyond his abilities.

Helion looked at the dead bodies in front of them when he remembered something.

"But, it’s impossible to -"

Helion cut Hernand’s words. " You were there with us in the morning while we were fighting those people this morning.

"Yes, that’s why I am still tired. After we fought this morning, I went straight here,as I had some research that I needed to finish." Hernand said as he looked at him and almost yawned.

"Didn’t you both hear Flamear?" Helion asked as he looked at the duke and Hernand, who looked confused at what he was saying.

"And have you all forgotten? Abanoon was there and she was back; it was she who did this." Helion said as he clenches his jaw.

"Abanoon? The one you told me in your letter? the goddess who almost eradicated us all?" The emperor said as he was asking them.

Helion nodded at his father, and he saw that he looked pale.

"Yes, and she was there. She was fighting against Lady Acantha." Helion said as he looked at the duke before he said Acantha’s name.

"Why is she fighting with my daughter?" The duke asked and Helion could see the worry on his eyes.

"She must recognized Flamear as Solaia’s divine beast; that’s why she was -" Helion stopped what he was saying when he remembered something.

He saw horror in Abanoon’s eyes when she saw Acantha’s face, and her power.

And He remembered , that she was murmuring something about Acantha looking like Solaia.

Could it be?

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Acantha was left with the others as her father and the Helion went with Gineo to the palace.

She decided she was going to stay in her room to get some sleep, as she was feeling sleepy right now.

"Have you heard?" Acantha woke up when she heard some voices coming from her balcony.

She looked at her side and saw that Flamear was still there; by the way he looks, he just woke up just like her because of the noises.

"What?" one of the women’s voices said.

Acantha walked near her balcony so she could hear them more clearly; it was not her thing to listen to someone or somebody when they were talking, but something was telling her that she should listen to their conversation.

"The lake has turned black," the first woman said, which made Acantha more intrigued at what they were saying.

"What? Are you kidding?" the second maid said as she looked at the balcony and Acantha hid herself.

"Shh... be quiet. Lady Acantha was taking some rest," the other maid said and was trying to warn the other maid. "Yes, there many people who had died; unfortunately, it seems like the water in the empire had turned black not just in that lake," the woman continued, which surprised Acantha.

"How could that be? I just drank some water from the kitchen, but it wasn’t black." The second maid.

"Mine too; I went to the well and saw whether it was black or not but it wasn’t." The first maid said and Acantha can feel relief and confusion in her voice.

"But why is our water the only one that didn’t turn black?" The second maid asked as she sounded confused.

"I don’t know," the first maid said.

"Could it be?" she heard the second maid say.

"Hey, I know what you were thinking; we have been serving the Solaris and you know even if the duke is cold to everyone, he can’t do that to anyone." The first maid said this as she was defending the duke from the other maid.

"That’s not what I’m about to say." The second maid said , "I mean, I saw Lady Acantha back then doing something in this well, and in the lake in here while she was practicing her power." The second maid said, and Acantha didn’t hear what the first one said anymore as they already walked away when some knights went in their direction.

She remembered.

She tried purifying the lake and the other wells here to test her purification skills.

She was about to go back to her bed when suddenly, out of nowhere-