I will not die a Villainess's death

To be hornets, Elysia found herself a little lost in what the situation was. But she could tell that it was serious enough to make Lady Pheros look on the verge of collapsing.

Luckily for her, Lucas was here to let her know of the situation without making it awkward.

"Baron Pheros is the person in charge of our military affairs and recruiting people. But there is a rumor that he practices illegal means to do that. That is why we were investigating them when we came across a terrified Lady Pheros and her children. Someone was trying to have them killed so that they can get out of way of the succession."

'Ah, so it is that case. It is quite common in such noble households, right?'

As much as it broke Elysia's heart to admit, this was not the first such case she had come across.

In fact, it was so common that it was even difficult to even keep count at this point. But Lady Pheros seemed distressed.

"Won't it all be solved if these children renounced their right to the succession? I am sure no one would target them then."

Elysia's suggestion was met with a frantic smile.

"I'm afraid that it would not be possible. I had this talk with Baron Pheros before but he is adamant about getting one of my children to succeed him. He would just not let them go. And every year I am more and more afraid for them. He is determined to have them killed in his stead."

Lady Pheros's voice had taken a shrilling tone now. Her eyes were getting wider and wider with each passing second.

She looked no different than a ghost and it was scarring Elysia a little.

"So I am assuming that he has begun to transfer the curse to these children then? Bring them here because I would like to check on their condition."

'A curse? What is this about?'

Elysia wanted to ask the question but she knew that it would not be the right thing to do in front of Lady Pheros who was already distressed.

Her brother likely thought the same as he asked the lady to give them some space. And Elysia proved to be right because her bother quickly explained the situation to her once Lady Pheros was gone from the room.

"Pheros household deals with the military might as well as curses. As a result, they usually don't live long lives but the current Baron has lived quite long. According to Lady Pheros, he did this because of a forbidden art that allowed him to extract magic and life force from his blood relatives and add those years to his own."

"Of course, there is no proof about this but I cannot let this matter stand as the Duke. Lady Pheros brought it up to me a few years ago but we have not found any proof yet."

That explained a lot to Elysia. The twins she had seen before had been full of life energy and magic.

"Is that why he is going after these twins? Their magic was particularly strong for their age, not to mention the resonating effect is still possible with them."

Resonance referred to the practice of amplifying magic but it was only possible when the two sources of magic were the same.

As such, a normal person could not possibly resonate with their magic but it was different for a pair of twins who had the same origin.

Theoretically, one could harvest an infinite amount of magical power using this method but a human body would not last that long.

"But even so, how are we going to investigate Baron Pheros's household now if you failed to get anything this far? Do you have a plan?"

Elysia was curious about what her brother had planned. And he must have planned something if he was this confidence that he would be alright.

She had no idea why she thought like this, but Elysia had confidence in herself.

"It's because we have you this time with us. The Baron is a firm believer of the temple's forbidden dark arts and I am sure he would not refute a visit from you. There is a rumor that he was very interested in you right after that incident when you were young."

Elysia knew exactly which incident her brother was talking about. And as much as she did not want to admit it, it had gained her some fame in the wrong circles.

It seemed like this Baron was just another one of those 'bad seeds' who wanted to study Elysia for their gain.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I am sure we will be able to figure someone else out in our own time."

Lucas said that but the situation must quite dare for him to suggest using Elysia. And truthfully, Elysia did not care that much about what people thought of her either.

If she could help those children then she would like to do that anyway.

Lady Pheros entered the room with her children once again. The children's twin smiles looked radiating and pulled Elysia toward them.

They had such a bright future in front of them that Elysia wanted to help them out.

"Susan, Mars, please behave yourself now. We don't want anything to happen to you again, right? Papa will be angry with you if you managed to get yourself hurt."

The children calmed down as soon as they heard those words. It seemed like they held real fear for their 'papa' and tried their hardest to not anger him.

"Lady Pheros, I know that the situation is quite dire but I hope that you came here without telling anyone of your visit today."

"Yes. The servants know that I am out in the town today so it will be alright."

"In that case, I want you to do something for me. I want you to invite Elysia to your home so that she can investigate everything."

Lady Pheros looked uncertain and turned toward Elysia with pity-filled eyes. It was making Elysia uncomfortable to be looked at like this but she endured it for now.

"W-Will it be alright? My husband is not a morally upright person and Lady Dirac has a lot of magic. I am sure he would try to do something-"

"I know. But that is a risk we have to take if you want to save your children. Besides, I am sure Elysia would be able to handle it nicely."

Elysia nodded to show that she agreed but Lady Pheros still looked uncertain. But in the end, she relented and gave in.

It all seemed to be over when Enma raised his voice as well, his eyes shining with new knowledge.

"Ah, I just remember. Hey, can I accompany you as well? I need to check a few things in Baron Pheros's home. I knew I was forgetting something right now."

Elysia wanted to refuse on principles. Enma was too young to get involved in such a tough case and he would be a prime target for kidnapping.

But her brother thought differently.

"Sure you can. That is if Lady Pheros doesn't have a problem."

Of course she did not have one.