I Became the Mastermind Who Betrays the Heroines

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 90 – The Rose (2)

“Get out.”

The voice that broke the silence was as cold as ice, a tone devoid of familial warmth.

Charlotte’s lips twitched, halting mid-motion.

“…Elise.”

“I said, get out. I can’t stand the sight of that damned face of yours.”

“But—”

“Didn’t you hear me? I want all of you gone. Every last one of you.”

“… …”

Her sharp, cutting words struck like daggers.

Charlotte’s blue eyes wavered, betraying a moment of hesitation.

But her fists soon clenched tightly, her determination unyielding.

This was a moment she could not yield.

“You need treatment. There won’t be another chance like this.”

“And what does that have to do with you?”

“I’m your sister.”

“Hah… what a joke.”

A derisive laugh escaped the Rose.

With a slender hand, Elise grabbed something nearby—a flower vase from the bedside table—and hurled it at Charlotte.

Crash!

The vase barely missed Charlotte, shattering against the floor into a spray of shards.

The jagged fragments glittered ominously at her feet.

“……”

The violent act silenced the elder sister.

Elise, exuding bitter cold, glared daggers at her sibling.

Her pale lips parted with a venomous warning.

“I’ve told you already. Whether I live or die, it’s none of your business.”

“……”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“It’s not pity, and you know it.”

“I don’t care to know. I’ve never once wanted to live by your side.”

“Why… Why must you always say such cruel things?”

The conversation suffocated the room, tension mounting with each exchange.

I stood by, silently observing.

Elise’s personality and her strained relationship with Charlotte had been clearly established in the original story.

Scenes like this were not uncommon.

‘But to this extent…?’

Seeing Charlotte so subdued, I couldn’t help but reflect.

The atmosphere had turned so frigid it seemed irreparable.

The sisters were wholly absorbed in their confrontation, leaving me unnoticed.

I stood motionless, pondering how to intervene, when Elise suddenly clutched her chest and began coughing violently.

Mixed with her strained breaths were flecks of blood.

“Cough, ugh…!”

Her face twisted in pain.

Bright red blood painted her pale lips, a stark and unsettling contrast.

Charlotte instinctively took a step forward, but the sharp, “Stay away!” froze her in her tracks.

She hesitated, unable to move closer.

For once, Charlotte looked genuinely shaken, uncertain of what to do.

She wanted to ease Elise’s suffering, but she had no means to do so.

Even the simple act of holding her hand would likely provoke an outburst.

It was a situation that left her utterly powerless.

I realized it was the perfect moment to act.

“Your Highness.”

I placed a steadying hand on Charlotte’s shoulder.

Her trembling gaze turned toward me, and I smiled confidently, reassuringly.

“I’ll handle this.”

“Can you really…?”

“Of course. That’s why you called for me, isn’t it?”

Faith is a fragile, malleable thing.

In a moment of despair, the right words—spoken at just the right time—are often enough.

People are weak creatures, prone to trusting those who offer exactly what they wish to hear.

“Her illness can be cured.”

Charlotte’s blue eyes widened.

A single sentence, soft and short, yet overflowing with hope.

The words she most longed to hear.

I quietly slid in a condition, knowing it would be impossible for her to refuse.

“However, for the treatment to proceed, I’ll need your full cooperation.”

“Cooperation…?”

“Trust me.”

My poor little prince.

The woman who had cherished her Rose for so long was in no position to decline.

“…Alright. Whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

She agreed without hesitation.

***

Minutes later, the room was empty save for Elise and me.

I had requested privacy for the treatment, claiming it was essential.

Already halfway under my spell, Charlotte had agreed, stepping out with the maid in tow.

The absence of their presence left the room eerily quiet, as if it were a tomb.

“Cough… cough!”

Elise’s labored breathing and the occasional coughing fit were the only sounds that broke the stillness.

I gazed at the shadowed figure on the bed.

A Rose, wilting under its own weight.

Though she struggled to maintain her composure, the suffering was etched clearly across her face.

Her complexion, pale to the point of translucence, betrayed her declining vitality.

“What a pitiable sight.”

I murmured, loud enough for her to hear.

Her head snapped up at my words.

Her green eyes, though clouded with fatigue, blazed with hostility.

“Haah… haah…!”

She glared at me, her breaths heavy and uneven.

Despite her weakened state, her gaze was sharp, burning with defiance.

I met her eyes without flinching.

“Does it hurt?”

“Get… out… I told all of you to leave!”

“I’m here to treat your illness, Your Highness. Please forgive this unworthy servant’s insolence.”

“I don’t… cough… need it!”

“But I need it. When I want something, I never let it go.”

“Shut… up!”

Crash!

Another projectile—a glass cup—whizzed past my cheek, shattering against the floor.

“My, such terrible manners.”

Clearly, she would need some reeducation.

“Cough, hack… ugh…!”

But first, I needed to stop her coughing fit.

I approached the bed.

Elise had been coughing up blood non-stop.

Her defiant outbursts masked the excruciating pain she must have been enduring.

After all, the illness she suffered from was no ordinary affliction.

‘Mana Stone Ossification.’

A disease where the body’s mana circuits harden into stone, eventually causing the entire body to crumble into fragments.

Its cause was unknown—a mystery even to the Empire’s most brilliant minds.

The condition had been recorded in ancient texts, but no one afflicted with it had ever survived.

A disease with a survival rate of zero.

It was a death sentence, a curse with no hope of reprieve.

Curing it was theoretically impossible.

But theory did not apply to me.

I intended to twist fate itself to save this girl.

‘Slowly, carefully.’

I needed time. Enough time to fully claim everything surrounding her.

Snap.

I snapped my fingers.

An invisible barrier materialized, sealing the room.

All sound within would be contained. Even if Elise screamed, no one outside would hear.

“Now then.”

I murmured, stepping closer to the Rose.

Despite her pain, Elise sat up, her trembling fists clenched as if to resist.

‘How adorable.’

“Futile.”

Clap!

A sharp sound rang out as I snapped my fingers.

In an instant, tendrils of shadow stretched forth, snaking around the girl’s limbs.

The pitch-black ropes coiled tighter, binding her arms and legs until she was completely immobilized.

Elise flinched, startled by the sudden restraint.

“Wh-what is this all of a sudden…?!”

It was the first time she showed genuine unease since I had entered the room.

I let a sinister smile play on my lips.

Had she finally realized something was amiss?

The Rose thrashed against her bindings, but the taut shadows refused to yield.

She was left completely splayed out, unable to move.

“Wait, what are you trying to do…?!”

“I’m going to fix you. Both the illness that afflicts your body… and those bad habits of yours.”

= I’ll start by healing the internal damage, little by little.

I reached out, my hand moving toward her.

Her fragile state was evident in the thin nightgown that clung to her body, leaving little of her delicate form to the imagination.

Swish.

My fingers brushed against the fabric, lifting it slightly to reveal her abdomen.

The smooth, pale skin beneath it reflected her frailty.

With deliberate care, I ran my hand over her slender stomach, my touch feather-light.

‘Better focus.’

The area around her abdomen was where the mana circuits in her body converged—a critical point for the delicate work I was about to undertake.

I planned to use my lies to carefully reconstruct the damaged pathways, ensuring there were no lingering aftereffects.

Placing my palm on her stomach, I felt the warmth of her body seep into my hand.

“Ah…!”

A startled gasp escaped Elise’s lips, an involuntary reaction to my touch.

She glanced down at herself, her face quickly twisting into a mask of shock and horror.

Her shoulders began to tremble as she struggled to process what was happening.

“Y-you… What do you think you’re doing?!” @@novelbin@@

“I know exactly what I’m doing.”

= I’m treating you.

“Let me go! Cough! You… you sent the others out just for this, didn’t you?!”

“How astute. Yes, this was all for you.”

= After all, this isn’t something others should witness.

Her green eyes darted around wildly, trembling with panic.

Their glassy surface reflected my face, a distorted mirror of her terror.

I softened my expression, curving my lips into the kindest smile I could muster.

The smile of a physician looking down at their patient.

“Don’t worry. I promise this won’t hurt a bit.”

= It won’t hurt at all—I’m only here to heal you.

Gently, I pressed my hand against her core.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]