The Girl Wants to Be Murdered

TL/Editor: Butter Cat

Status: 4/week mon-thurs

Illustrations: none

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〈 Chapter 17 〉 Chapter 17. The Truth of the Incident.

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Caw, caw,

Having found its target, the crow, which had been soaring through the sky with its wings spread wide, slowly descended and perched on a woman's arm.

The woman's name was Saelli.

She was the woman who had pulled a young girl from the riverbank a few days ago.

The crow was larger than the body of an average child, so even at a glance, it was clear that it was an extraordinary creature.

And the woman who had allowed such a crow to land on her arm as if it were a pet was no ordinary woman either.

She carefully untied the knot that secured a small object to the crow's leg.

One arm was occupied by the crow, so she had to use only the other hand, but Saelli seemed accustomed to this, quickly untying the knot with deft fingers and retrieving the object.

A beautiful, blue, glowing stone fell from the crow's leg and landed in her hand.

"Caw~♬"

"Rami, I'm always grateful for your help. You've worked hard today, as always."

Saelli pulled a large chunk of meat from her pocket and gave it to the crow. Fresh meat, red and dripping with blood, as if it had been recently caught.

—Chomp.

"Oh my."

The crow, named Rami, let out a loud caw, pleased, and took the meat in its beak. Seeing that it wasn't eating it right away, it seemed like it had somewhere else to take it.

Flap, flap, the crow shook its wings a few times. A sign that it was about to take flight.

"Then, I'll see you later."

"~♬"

As Saelli nodded in acknowledgment and stroked its head once, Rami soared into the sky, leaving a gust of wind in its wake, and disappeared.

Saelli put the pebble-sized stone in her pocket and stood still for a moment, waiting for the wind created by the crow to subside.

After a few seconds, the forest, which had been whipped by the harsh wind, fell silent again.

"....Hoo."

She took the stone out of her pocket again.

It was a smooth, crystal-like stone that could be confidently said to be not naturally polished. A white aura shimmered around it.

The sight of the stone enveloped in a strange aura resembled the energy emitted by the earring of a certain man who had been blinded by greed and plotted a conspiracy in the past.

A shamanistic tool.

An object imbued with shamanistic power by a shaman. Its purpose could range from cursing someone to death to assisting with everyday tasks like starting a fire.

However, unlike the black pearl's energy that had cursed the princess, the bright aura emanating from the stone was pure and clean, indicating that it wasn't a tool intended for the same purpose.

"Then, shall we see?"

—Crackle.

After sending the crow off, she looked around a few times, confirming that no one was around, then began to exert force on the stone in her hand.

Cracks slowly began to spread across the shamanistic tool.

Whether it was designed to be fragile or whether her strength was that great was unknown, but it was clear that something significant was about to happen.

Beams of light erupted from the widening cracks, shooting into the air and intertwining with each other.

The beams of light twisted together in a complex pattern, like knitting, and soon formed a thin, rectangular shape.

The shimmering, glowing panel then projected something that could be called an image.

A city surrounded by high walls was the first thing that appeared.

Atop the highest tower, a flag fluttered, seemingly depicting a white snowflake.

It was the flag of the Tesillia Kingdom.

"......."

Yes.

The image displayed was an aerial view of the Tesillia Kingdom.

**

The people in the image, seemingly unconcerned with a crow flying overhead, went about their daily lives, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched.

A peaceful country where people lived, bumping into each other.

When the crow recording the image passed close to the talking people, their voices emanated from the remnants of the tool.

It seemed like a state-of-the-art tool capable of recording audio as well.

Saelli, holding the completely shattered stone in her hand, listened intently and watched the image.

She watched the entire image without pausing it, from start to finish.

The first place the crow visited for information was the marketplace.

The most densely populated area in the kingdom.

Perhaps because the crow was flying quickly through the market alleys, the voices that suddenly reached her ears were deafeningly loud.

Saelli winced for a moment, but soon, the story she heard made her forget about the noise and harden her face, doubting her own ears.

The rumor was as follows.

'The first princess brutally murdered her younger sister, the youngest princess, and threw her off a cliff.'

"—Wh-What...?!"

Rumors always spread, regardless of time or place. Saelli, knowing this all too well, tried to ignore the absurd story and pick up other information.

But the main point of the rumor was the same everywhere.

The disappearance of Aris Akaia, the 'Light of the Kingdom', who had always brought smiles to everyone's faces, known for her gentle nature and polite manners.

Although the royal palace declared Duke Aquitaine as the culprit, there were too many unanswered questions.

And the rumor that the true culprit behind the princess's disappearance was the first princess was rampant throughout the marketplace.

Some said that Princess Anna had been secretly abusing Princess Aris for a long time.

Others said that Princess Anna had been cursed and driven mad, which led to this incident.

There were even those who claimed to have seen Princess Anna walking into the royal palace, covered in blood and looking dazed.

It was clear that this had gone beyond the realm of ordinary rumors.

Baseless rumors would soon be forgotten. It was rare for them to spread so widely and become the topic of everyone's conversation.

In other words, there was some truth to it.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, right?

It seemed like her predictions had come true in the worst possible way, she thought.

—Swish.

".....Is this really the truth?"

The two-hour-long image ended, and her investigation concluded.

Saelli slowly pulled a small sword from her pocket.

A half-broken sword, embedded in the child's stomach from the moment she found her.

And the weapon that had been repeatedly used to stab her stomach.

The blade bore the crest of the 'Akaia' family, the royal family of the Tesillia Kingdom.

Yes. The culprit was the victim's older sister.

What a horrific story.

There were many other wounds on the child's body. In particular, arrows were deeply embedded in her calf and the back of her hand, and the wounds were mangled as if someone had twisted the arrows inside.

Saelli doubled over, overwhelmed by nausea. But no matter how much she opened her mouth and stuck her fingers down her throat, nothing came out.

Plip, plop, only a small amount of bile dripped onto the ground.

"I had a feeling from the beginning. But I didn't want to believe it."

She slowly stroked the blade of the sword in her hand.

If this cold piece of metal had continued to dig into her stomach, the pain would be unimaginable. And if the perpetrator of that atrocity was —her own cherished family, it would be even worse.

Saelli understood why the child had lost her memory.

It must have been so traumatic that she wanted to seal away the memory herself.

If she hadn't pulled her out of the river, if she hadn't treated her, the child would surely have died.

To be an older sister and, instead of protecting her younger sister, try to kill her, blinded by jealousy?

Saelli shuddered with rage.

‘This is unacceptable, an act that goes against human nature,’ she concluded.

"Just as there are things humans are allowed to do... There are things they should never do...!"

She remembered.

The thoughtful little sister who, even as she hovered between life and death, coughing up blood, kept repeating the word "big sis" and thinking of her older sister.

A kind soul who, despite being at an age when throwing tantrums and being spoiled was natural, showed no complaints, and instead worried about her, the one providing treatment.

The foolish youngest princess, who couldn't even remember her own name and cried out in a sense of loss, yet remembered and cherished the name of the one who tried to kill her, Princess Anna.

A good child who spent her nights tormented by guilt over those she had forgotten, not fear of the future.

That's why she found it even more unforgivable.

"You have no right."

She scattered the fragments in her hand on the ground. As if they were something filthy, she shook her hand vigorously, brushing away every last bit.

And then she stomped on them with her foot.

Crack, the fragments crumbled into dust with a loud crunch. Saelli, as if deeming them unworthy of even a glance, kicked the pile of debris hard with her foot.

Leaving the dust to scatter in the wind, she started heading towards her house.

Thinking about what to say to the child, to Aris.

"I can't... I can't tell the child who's waiting for me... about this miserable reality.....!"

Her worries were far from over.

**

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