Transmigrated as the Villainous Love Rival of the Abusive Novel's Heroine [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 61

Chapter 61: The Female Lead

Filled with ecstasy, Celis—forgetting the previous lessons she’d been taught—reached out toward Ladon. “Senior Ladon, the ground is cold. Please, get up.”

Ladon, who had recovered a child-level intellect, instinctively felt a sense of repulsion. However, she vaguely remembered that this person belonged to the Vattel Royal Family, so she couldn’t rashly harm her. Young Ladon had once been taught not to provoke nobles; the lives of commoners were like dust in their eyes.

Furthermore, the half-demon—who was cunning, playful, and reckless in front of Yin Shaoqing—was vigilantly protecting her master’s reputation in the outside world. This was because not long ago, she seemed to have angered a short female noble, and her master had been “bullied” because of it. In Ladon’s eyes, that so-called bullying was merely the malice Cody released toward Yin Shaoqing.

Back then, Ladon had injured Cody’s people, and Cody had felt genuine anger toward Yin Shaoqing. Yin Shaoqing didn’t care much, as blood ties in the Heim family were thin. But unexpectedly, Ladon remembered that malice.

Demonic beasts hold grudges and remain vigilant. Without Cody’s knowledge, Ladon had already placed her in the category of “enemy.” Anyone malicious toward her master was her enemy. Until she had enough strength to protect her master, she would only hide this list in her heart and wait for an opportunity.

Similarly, these two individuals who had repeatedly shown aggression toward her master were also recorded on her blacklist.

“Senior Ladon?” Celis’s smile froze. Her hand remained awkwardly suspended in mid-air, left hanging by Ladon’s evasive movement.

Ladon’s semi-long hair obscured her crimson eyes as she watched the woman before her with vigilance, her sharp nails scraping restlessly behind her back. She was calculating. She was thinking about how to kill these two weak prey without leaving a trace.

While the Holy Court had taught her chivalry, they had also—for their own benefit—forcefully instilled in her some underhanded and low-class methods and thoughts. Now, it was time for Ladon to let those backfire on them.

“Celis, let’s go.” Elven intuition was sharp. Nonat suddenly felt a chill down his spine; a massive sense of threat made him pull Celis away.

Seeing this, Ladon, half-hidden in the darkness, slightly retracted her sharp nails. Her intent seemed to have been discovered, so she stopped and endured. She would endure until the prey revealed a fatal flaw…

Celis was dissatisfied; she rolled her eyes where Nonat couldn’t see. That moment of vulgarity and lack of grace made Ladon tilt her head in confusion. In her shallow memories, nobles didn’t make such ungraceful movements. They were self-important, born noble, and fastidious about etiquette. But the woman before her seemed… no, she was strange.

“I can’t let Senior Ladon suffer here alone.” Celis remained “kind,” appearing not to look down on any race. She turned to Nonat, speaking gently but firmly: “I must save Senior Ladon.”

She would find the best Light Mage to heal her, and then hide her away.

“Very well.” As an elven prince, Nonat greatly admired and approved of Celis’s kindness. In this foul world, this kindness was like a pure feather bestowed upon the earth by an angel, bringing a sense of coolness to his desolate heart.

However, this proposal caused Ladon’s nails to extend once more. The ignorant half-demon only knew that she belonged to her master—and only to her master. Her collar was proof of her being owned; her contract was proof of her existence being recognized by her master; her body and even her soul belonged to her master.

No one could snatch away her master’s things. As a loyal familiar, anyone coveting her master’s property was an enemy. Sharp nails laden with black mist quietly aimed for Celis’s heart. It was silent, as if merging with the current stillness; Ladon’s attack fooled the entire world.

“Celis, you are always so kind.” Nonat gave in, smiling as he stroked Celis’s hair like a doting older brother. The beautiful and “kind” Princess Celis smiled softly, feeling triumphant. As expected, the elven prince would listen to her. She knew no one could dislike her; she was born to be loved. This was something her highly-praised sister could never achieve.

Just a little closer… a bloodthirsty glint flashed in Ladon’s crimson eyes. Her lips curled into a stiff grin, like a true demonic beast—full of savagery and violence. The black mist had already touched Celis’s clothes, yet she hadn’t noticed. The mist entangled and seeped into her garments, but in the next second, Ladon’s expression changed.

She withdrew her hand at lightning speed, and the mist on Celis’s clothes vanished. Ladon’s hair once again covered her eyes. She returned to her wooden vigilance, as if nothing had happened.

Nonat and Celis talked to themselves for a long time, until the sound of footsteps approached and a steady, pleasant female voice interrupted them.

“Celis, why are you here?” A female Knight Commander in armor, her long hair tied high and one hand resting on her sword hilt, expressed surprise at seeing her sister here.

Celis’s expression turned sour as she spoke with difficulty: “Sister Salahmi…”

Ladon keenly noticed that this woman was currently radiating massive malice—did she hate that female knight?

Salahmi was the eldest Princess of Vattel, Celis’s half-sister, and the heir apparent chosen by the Emperor. However, Celis had never been satisfied; she believed she was no worse than Salahmi. Why should Salahmi be the next Empress while she could not?

“It’s dangerous here. How could Father allow you to come?” Salahmi frowned. This blonde, gold-eyed Princess was heralded by the Holy Clergy from birth as an incarnation of an angel—the Child of Destiny kissed by Light Elves. Furthermore, this Princess had shown her excellence since childhood. Pure Light power and upright character made her a knight from the moment she understood the world.

“She will be the holy flame that illuminates the future of Narheim.” Almost everyone said so. Naturally, even the Heim family’s dark mages, who usually disliked Vattel, exceptionally acknowledged her.

“This one might be the true female lead,” Yin Shaoqing had once said to the Fat Calico Cat. “Upright, luminous, egalitarian… the qualities she possesses are far superior to Celis.”

“But what does that prove?” The cat flicked its paw, disagreeing completely. It believed that only a woman who was excellent yet constantly took hits for the male lead and met a tragic end could be the female lead. This was an angst-trope story, after all, wasn’t it?

“We’ll know as we watch,” Yin Shaoqing wasn’t certain of her guess either. After all, this world was large, and there were many women surrounding Nonat—the “IQ-basin” male lead. Nonat’s only “golden finger” was likely his status.

The elven race, having survived three Eras of Destruction, was no longer the noble and mysterious existence that lived with nature and danced with the breeze. The warriors who stood tall and held up the sky during the destruction had passed away, buried with their Mother Tree beneath the Cloud Sea in the Cloudfield Forest.

The remaining ones were either the cowardly who died under oppression, the elderly and wise who passed away ignored and unaccomplished, or the cunning who survived well. They occupied the peace and resources won by their ancestors’ blood, living like a swarm of maggots.

But resources would eventually run out. The maggots were now powerless to pray to the Elven Tree to create an Elven King who could shield them from the wind and rain. So, they set their sights on the crown of the First Elven King. Within it lay a seed born alongside the King; the elves took it and, with a “try-it-and-see” mentality, planted it in the Elven Spring.

As it turned out, they actually grew a powerful elf. Nonat possessed the same excellent aptitude as the First Elven King; with enough tempering, he could surely become—or even surpass—the First Elven King, becoming the most powerful king in elven history. Of course, the prerequisite was that he had enough tempering.

The maggots, having finally obtained a weapon to shield them in the future, naturally wouldn’t let him go to a dangerous place like the Trasil Front. Thus, they pampered and indulged him, using the filthiest means to turn Nonat into a useless person. But how could a useless person support the barrier of the elven race?

So, they turned their gaze toward Light Elves. An ancient legend said that anything kissed by a Light Elf would possess the most luminous and pure soul. Such a soul could directly purify the souls of others. If she were willing, she could even share her Light power with others—a power sufficient to sway the balance of the entire continent.

However, the Light Elf had vanished directly from the elven forbidden lands back then; no one knew where it went or what it did. Just as the elves were collapsing, the Vattel Royal Family came to their door. They learned from the Eleventh Duke of Heim that the Light Elf had once seen the Thirteenth Duke—Yin.

Thus, Alf and Vattel teamed up to detain the Eleventh Duke and pressured the Heim family. Ha—they agreed. They agreed to exchange the Thirteenth Duke for the Eleventh. The Alf patriarch almost laughed out loud; it was truly thanks to the Eleventh Duke being a sentimental woman, otherwise they’d still be worrying about a “Light Soul.”

Though previously they thought Salahmi, the eldest Princess of Vattel, was the one kissed by the Light Elf. However, these high-level nobles knew that if a pure Light Soul shared its power with others, its own power would not only weaken, but if the other party’s intentions were impure and their greed too great, they would directly snatch away her Light power. At that point, the person whose power was snatched would die.

So the Vattel Royal Family had always protected Salahmi well, and for some reason, the Holy Court was also protecting her. This forced Alf onto their “thief’s boat” to oppress the Heim family. Fortunately, the Heim family was not of one mind, which gave them an opening.

“Host, your luck is really not great,” the Fat Calico Cat lamented on her shoulder. Although she chose a decent shell in a noble family for this world, the family was full of lunatics.

“Is that so?” Yin Shaoqing didn’t mind. She even felt: “It’s actually quite alright.” She didn’t care about the opinions of other Heim blood relatives, nor did she care for that ethereal affection. She only valued how much worth they could bring her.

“I never treated them as my own people,” Yin Shaoqing shook her head. On the contrary, if they had treated her as their own and provided meticulous care and concern, she would have found it more troublesome. Now, having Ladon was enough to bother her; she had no time for others.

“Host, are you going to Salahmi’s side?” In the cat’s memory, its host usually followed the female lead from the start to change her fate.

“I’m not going.” Yin Shaoqing didn’t want to move. To be precise, she didn’t want to go to the tavern. She was afraid of being found by Ladon.

“But that’s the female lead…” The cat scratched its ear in confusion. Since she wanted to change the female lead’s fate, wasn’t it faster to be by her side?

“I’m helping her change her fate, not going there to be her shield. Why go to her side?” Furthermore, if that super possessive half-demon of hers found out she was so close to someone else—good heavens, she’d certainly flip out!

“Admit it, you just like your familiar.” The system had figured it out. Its host wasn’t avoiding being a shield for the female lead; she was entirely focused on her romance and didn’t want to complete the mission!

Yin Shaoqing denied it a million times, humming half-heartedly: “You wrong me.”

Like hell I do! The cat gnashed its teeth but was powerless. However, the mission was truly important. In desperation, the cat had to nag its host in a roundabout way. “Aren’t you afraid your familiar will cause trouble over there?”

“What’s there to fear?” Yin Shaoqing answered naturally. “I dared to let her go out alone, so what am I afraid of?” Besides, her Ladon was a very kind person; she had her own judgment.

Yin Shaoqing’s confidence seemed like extreme arrogance to the cat. Even if her familiar only had the cognitive level of a child, she would surely be smarter than other adults and handle things more reasonably.

“Her ‘reason’ is wanting to kill the male lead and Celis!” The system was at its limit. If Ladon hadn’t attempted to kill the male lead, the cat wouldn’t have bothered to complain. But if the male lead died, their mission would fail!

Yin Shaoqing realized what was happening—the system was trying to get her to go to Salahmi’s side? “Forget it, dear. Ladon cannot kill Nonat. He is a companion piece to the Elven King, blessed by nature; he will live longer than Salahmi.”

The cat had nothing left to say. Fine, it would just wait and see who—between Salahmi and Celis—was the true female lead. Currently, Celis was infatuated with the male lead; it believed she would soon be pulled in to take a hit for him. Whichever of the two took the most hits for the male lead, she would definitely be the female lead.

“Truly…” A stupid speculation. For the sake of the system’s pitiful self-esteem, Yin Shaoqing didn’t say it out loud.

The reason she had ruled out Celis from the start was that she had learned Celis had the nickname “Royal Ladon.” It was given to her by other Princesses who disliked her. Yin Shaoqing learned from them that all of Celis’s gentleness, kindness, and even some of her ways of handling things and her mannerisms were copied from the former Ladon.

To be precise, the Ladon who was a candidate knight. In her lies, Ladon was not someone she admired, but a template she plagiarized.

How ridiculous. A fake, merciful monster. How could she be the kind, angst-trope female lead?

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