Living as the Villain’s Stepmother - Chapter 132

Chapter 132 – Deja Vu (1)

Lacias could feel Lila’s trembling body calming down as he patted her reassuringly in his arms. Heaving a dry sigh inwardly, he gave an eye signal to Roxana.

As you command. She signaled back.

After mouthing her reply in silence, Roxana pulled Lugar by his sleeve. On account of her strong force, Lugar was helplessly dragged away by her.

“The knights will take the lead into the hall. We’ll follow after them for safety.”

“…alright. I understood.”, said Lila lightly, pulling herself together. Soon enough, she had managed to collect her cool and restored her composure once again.

As Lila and the train of knights made their way to the hall, two guardsmen were found lying on the ground at the entrance of the party hall.

Lacias pointed with his chin at the men and Roxana promptly placed her hand on the neck of one of the guardsmen.

Thump, thump…. a feeble pulse could still be felt around his neck.

After noticing that, She shook the man by his shoulders vigorously trying to get him to wake up, but all she got in response was lifeless swaying and a faint groan.

“He’s still alive but there’s no way we could question him in his current condition, he’s in a life-or-death situation. It’s almost a miracle that he’s still breathing,” said Roxana as she shook her head side to side, looking back at Lacias.

Lila shook her head. I guess it’s impossible to ask them regarding the situation then … They appear to be having enough trouble from just trying to breathe.

“There’s a possibility that their lives were spared on purpose. As they don’t appear to be suffering from any external injuries.” Suggested Roxanna. “It must’ve been either poison or an attack from a Hole that did this. However, if it was a poison, some kind of symptoms must’ve shown from their skin. So it’s highly likely to be the latter instead.”

After having their conditions examined, Roxana backed away to let Lugar conduct a body search on them by summoning his Ring. Before long, ashy shadows of Holes started to flock around as if they wanted to latch onto Lugar’s Ring.

“Tsk, how disgusting. I’ll get rid of them right away.” In an instant, the hole residue vanished with a swing of Lugar’s ring.

With this, It seemed certain to them that shadows were the ones responsible for the commotion at the party hall.

A boy with an unknown identity. And an explosion that occurred right after the boy had disappeared. Lila had an uncomfortable feeling regarding the entire situation as if she was missing out on something important. However, it was nothing but only a hunch of hers.

“It was a new type of Hole which had been found frequently of late.” Commented Lugar.

Roxanna nodded her head in agreement. “It does seem like it.”

A new type of Hole? Nothing of the sort was mentioned in the original story before. As Lila dubiously tilted her head, Lacias kindly explained to her himself.

“Originally, they were never this ingenious before. But the kind of Holes that’s been appearing of late could even conceal itself just like that.”

The residues from the Holes had only appeared when Lugar scanned the surroundings with his Ring, as they were invisible to the naked eye. Does this mean what she’d seen just now was indeed the so-called new type of Hole?

But then, why did such a thing appear all of sudden? All sorts of questions began forming in her mind. Could this be Emperor Enrique’s doing?

Being held back by an enormous shield named Lacias, Enrique failed to retrieve Lila who he needed to purify his Hole.

Though it was certain that Lila Marshmell and Enrique Akhibalt had a symbiotic relationship in the past, it was still possible that Enrique manipulated his Hole to adapt if Lila refused.

“We’ll now enter the hall,” said Roxanna, stopping Lila’s chain of thought.

She had finished searching the entrance and now wanted to get to the root of the commotion. “I’ll open the gates then.”

“Alright,”

A loud noise boomed through the surroundings as soon as the grand gate was pushed open. There also came a loud shattering clunk from inside the moment a slight gap was revealed through the opened door.

“…!”

Regardless of the noise, the knights had thrown the gate open wider without a hint of surprise while Lila covered her mouth to suppress a gasp.

The party hall was indeed a total mess as expected. However, it seemed like they managed to avoid the worst situation. Although the invited nobles appeared flustered in a state of panic, no one seemed to have been injured heavily from the explosion.

I wonder where the shattering noise came from just now….

The loud clunk was caused by the grand crystal chandelier which was adorned on the ceiling of the hall. It shattered on the floor when the strings that were holding it onto the ceiling were cut down.

“No….” Edith seemed upset because it was something she had dedicated her heart and soul into for the sake of the party.

The hall was so chaotic that the nobles didn’t even notice them enter from the gate.

“Everyone stay calm!” With Roxanna’s firm voice, the nobles immediately turned their attention to her.

“The knights of the Wipere!” The commotion began to draw with their arrival.

“Help us to get out right now!”

“Help! What in the world just happened?! What’s going on outside?!”