입양딸 역할을 지나치게 잘해버렸다 066화

[You. What’s your identity?]

Viola was taken aback for a moment.

She looked around as nonchalantly as possible.

‘There’s nothing here?’

Her eyes perceived nothing.

It was as if a ghost was speaking.

‘Is it a spirit?’

It was described that this feeling occurs when spirits speak.

The one speaking seemed to be a spirit.

“Viola. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Jeremy stood in front of a red tree, its branches splitting into a trident shape at the end.

“So you’re saying this thing is suspicious?”

“Yeah.”

Since she had given him a hint up to this point, he’d figure it out on his own now.

Viola simply observed.

To be honest, she wasn’t very clear after this point. In the novel, it was written that Jeremy stumbled upon this strange tree and entered the ruins through it.

“Hmm.”

Meanwhile, another voice was heard.

[You. What’s your identity?]

[Answer me.]

Viola pondered for a moment.

How should she respond?

If she spoke, it might seem like she was talking to herself.

‘This wasn’t in the novel.’

Spirits appeared once they entered the ruins, but there had never been a spirit encountered in the Red Tree Forest.

Jeremy conversed with the spirits only after entering the ruins.

She couldn’t understand why a spirit was here.

[I already know you can hear my voice.]

[I’ve never seen someone with your spirit affinity before.]

Could it be……?

Viola realized one thing.

‘Is it because my spirit affinity is extraordinarily high that I can hear the voice?’

In the story, the concept of spirit affinity existed.

It was something one was born with, which influenced spirit contracts significantly.

Viola felt a bit confused.

‘Why?’

The Viola in the story had no spirit affinity.

She had grown into a great Bellatu, the ruler of the Bellatu, but was very far from being a spirit mage.

‘Why does she have high spirit affinity?’

As an avid reader of the work, Viola deduced one fact.

‘I think it’s because I’m possessed.’

According to the setting, spirits are beings from another world.

These beings manifest in the human world through their contracts with their contractors.

In the novel, it was expressed as “opened the spirit door through a contract.”

‘In other words, to cross over from another world to this one, the spirit door must be opened.’

That was the setting in this novel.

Thus, according to the rules of this story, Han Ah-rin crossed the spirit door and became Viola.

‘Because I also crossed the spirit door.

That’s why I became a character with extraordinarily high spirit affinity.’

At that moment, Jeremy spoke.

“Sure enough, this tree is suspicious.”

And made some unintelligible sounds.

“It has a special mana magic formula inscribed. This magic formula is an illusion magic formula based on the Germanth Third Principle…”

Martial artists of this era always had to consider battles with mages.

So even if they couldn’t practice magic themselves, they were reasonably well-versed in the theories and studies of mages.

Jeremy was no exception.

He tilted his head.

“I understand this magic requires the aid of a spirit, right?”

He continued to tilt his head, seemingly still confused.

“Without the help of a spirit, this lightweight illusion magic can’t be broken. Unless you reverse-engineer the magic formula to break it.”

That’s what the textbook stated.

Although it was considered lightweight illusion magic, breaking it required either the aid of a spirit or the process of recognizing the magic and dismantling it.

“But Viola, you saw it directly.”

When Viola pierced through the essence, the illusion magic was automatically dispelled.

Viola realized the reason.

‘It’s because my spirit affinity is extraordinarily high.’

Viola began to feel a little excited.

The place she would go with Jeremy was a special space that even people without spirit affinity could form contracts with spirits.

But what if someone with incredibly high spirit affinity entered from the start?

‘What would happen then?’

Perhaps it would allow her to form a contract with a tremendous existence like the Spirit King, mentioned only in the novel?

It would be the best if the Spirit King appeared as a guardian spirit.

“My spirit affinity is apparently higher than I thought.”

“How intriguing. The blood of the Bellatu and spirits is in synergy… Ah.”

Jeremy recalled one fact he had forgotten.

Viola Bellatu didn’t carry the blood of the Bellatu.

He had momentarily forgotten because she was such a Bellatu among Bellatus.

‘Viola was an adopted daughter.’

He had completely forgotten that simple fact.

‘Then it makes sense.’

So a character who is extremely Bellatu-like has high spirit affinity…

From Jeremy’s perspective, it was amazing and surprising.

‘What an interesting girl.’

Indeed, he wanted to become closer.

It felt like having fun and joyful times would be abundant if he became friends with Viola.

Jeremy placed his hand on the red tree.

“If I place my hand and infuse my mana, something might change.”

*

Viola felt dizzy.

She held back the nausea.

It seemed Jeremy felt just as unwell.

“Wow. This is the first time I’ve felt such motion sickness from a teleportation gate.”

The red tree was the teleportation gate.

They had moved to a dark, damp cave-like location through it.

It looked like they had entered the ruins via the red tree as a medium.

[Hohohoho.]

[Hehehee.]

Voices came from everywhere.

“Viola, can you hear that too?”

“Yeah, I can hear it.”

Jeremy nodded to himself.

“It seems the eerie sounds in the forest were noises escaping from this laughter.”

“Right.”

Those laughs must have made strange sounds as they leaked out into the Red Tree Forest.

“Do you think the missing explorers came this far?”

“I think so.”

Viola looked down at the ground.

She saw a muddy, sludgy floor somewhere between soil and mud.

“There are footprints.”

“Yeah.”

Jeremy chuckled to himself.

He found Viola incredibly fascinating.

‘A child with a killing star rejecting the Black Bellatu and claiming to be the White Bellatu…’

Seeing her like this made it understandable.

She quickly found the teleportation gate and didn’t miss the tiny clues on the ground.

[Can you find me?]

[Look for me.]

[I’ll wait.]

Little fireballs flew about here and there.

They looked like giant fireflies.

Whenever the fireballs flew, the surroundings lit up momentarily.

“There’s a long passage. Want to go, Viola?”

“Yeah.”

Viola recalled the contents of the novel.

“As he passed through the dark, long passage, Jeremy unknowingly fell into the illusions created by the spirits.”

According to the progression of the novel, Jeremy would fall into the illusions created by the spirits.

Essentially, spirits didn’t harm humans.

Rather than intentionally hurting, there were instances where they killed while playing pranks.

There were cases where people couldn’t escape the illusion magic created for play and ended up dying.

“Jeremy was trapped in the illusion for a week.”

He thrashed for an entire week, unaware that he was trapped in an illusion.

Had a normal person been in such a situation, they would have likely died from dehydration.

However, Jeremy wasn’t an ordinary person, and he was able to endure a week without food or water.

“Amidst severe dehydration and hunger, Jeremy could finally regain his senses.”

It was a situation oddly befitting of Jeremy.

Breaking free from the spirits’ illusion magic due to thirst and hunger.

‘If he hadn’t been hungry, he would have been swallowed by the illusion magic and died, right?’

The spirits probably wouldn’t understand why he died.

Because spirits don’t drink water or eat food.

It was like when a frog gets killed by a stone thrown in play.

But…

I can hear it.

They kept walking.

The further they entered, the narrower and darker the passage became.

The number of those firefly-like lights that occasionally brightened the way reduced.

“Viola. Give me your hand.”

“My hand?”

“Yeah. It’s too dark. Let’s hold hands.”

Viola decided that would be better.

Jeremy held her hand.

‘His hand… is bigger than I expected.’

Was it because she had the body of twelve-year-old Viola?

Jeremy’s seventeen-year-old hand felt much larger than she thought.

“Jeremy, remember the illusion magic was cast on the teleportation gate?”

“I remember.”

“Then there’s a high probability that the spirits here have set another illusion magic trap.”

“I understand. I’ll be careful.”

That should have been enough.

She thought that mentioning it would be enough for Jeremy to handle things well on his own.

Feeling a little relieved, Viola held his hand and walked for a while.

“How about it? Can you hear any other voices?”

“No. I can’t hear any.”

Just as she said that, Viola suddenly flinched.

Voices began to echo all at once.

It sounded like dozens of people were speaking at once.

Male voices. Female voices. Adult voices. Child voices. All sorts of voices jumbled together speaking to her.

[Why are you here?]

[You shouldn’t be here.]

[What’s your real name?]

Viola’s body trembled.

Her real name.

Viola’s real name was Han Ah-rin.

The voices grew increasingly rapid.

[What’s Korea?]

[What’s Han Ah-rin?]

In that moment, Viola felt a wave of fear.

It felt as if everything within her was being read.

This world was a fantasy one with horrendous occurrences like witch hunts happening frequently.

Korea.

Han Ah-rin.

Saying she came from another world…

‘If this fact is revealed…’

She would be beheaded for tarnishing the honor and prestige of the Bellatu.

As if reading her fearful thoughts, the voices spoke again.

[Yeah. Your head could be chopped off.]

[Why did you come here?]

Viola tried to respond.

To quiet them down.

But the words wouldn’t come out.

‘Why can’t I speak…’

It felt like she had a gigantic thorn lodged in her throat.

As if a huge boulder was pressing down on her neck and chest simultaneously.

[Who is Kang Han-jun?]

[Are you Kang Han-jun?]

Laughter floated around her.

[Where is Kang Han-jun?]

The laughter grew heavier.

[Wow! What’s a car accident?]

[What’s an emergency room?]

*

When Viola first flinched.

Jeremy didn’t show it.

‘It couldn’t be that she got tense because I was holding her hand, and of course that’s not something Viola would do.’

So it must be another reason.

‘Hmm. Would it be embarrassing if I pretended to know?’

He initially pretended not to notice.

But he could feel Viola sweating profusely in her hand.

‘Viola?’

It was dark.

The firefly-like lights had completely disappeared, leaving nothing visible.

He couldn’t feel even Zeno, who was following behind.

‘If I hadn’t been holding Viola’s hand…’

Then Viola’s presence might have vanished as well.

‘Thank goodness I was holding her hand.’

Viola’s body began to tremble like a aspen.

Jeremy pondered for a long while.

‘Viola seems off.’

But would Viola even need help?

Would me helping her hurt her pride?

‘But…’

He felt strangely worried.

What if something happened to Viola?

This invisible darkness suddenly felt terrifying.

A profound fear washed over him that he might lose such a fascinating friend.

It was a kind of emotion Jeremy had never felt before.

“Viola. Are you okay?”

A faint groan escaped Viola’s lips.

It seemed like she might be in pain.

‘Something feels wrong.’

He tried squeezing her hand tightly and shook her shoulder, but there was no response.

His anxiety grew even larger.

“What’s wrong?”

Still, no answer came.

“Viola!”

At that moment, something strange and unnatural occurred to Jeremy.