Reincarnation of The Villainess: She Has The Duke's Baby!-Chapter 161: #-Penelope Askary’s Dangerous Strategy!
Ethan Askary suddenly has a really bad feeling.
The man walked back and forth in the guest room he was using. Day by day, the situation in the De Louis empire got worse. Monsters still continued to appear, although not as many as on the first day. Philleo Aaron’s whereabouts are still unknown and Sebastian De Louis is still not make any dangerous movements. Of all the events around him, to be honest, Ethan Askary is more worried about Sebastian De Louis because that man is unpredictable. Last time, he collaborated with Elisha Brown to separate Penelope Askary from Edmund Gerwyn but failed and ended with Elisha Brown and her parents being sentenced to death. And now, Ethan suddenly thought about his little sister’s safety.
"What is this feeling?" Ethan bit his lip and massaged his temples. "Why do I keep thinking about Penny? The matter regarding Isabella Lysander’s lie and the reasons behind it have not been resolved and now I have to think about things related to my little sister. Shouldn’t she be fine? I believe she is sleeping in one of the rooms in this palace with her husband."
Ethan didn’t turn his head even though he felt someone’s presence behind him. There would not be a single person who would dare harm him in this Abelavish palace. Because of that, Ethan was sure that this person who suddenly appeared was not a bad person.
"Ren, is that you?" Ethan asked, mentioning the name of one of Edmund’s shadow knights who had always been with him lately.
Ren knelt and bowed to greet Ethan. "Greetings to Prince Ethan. May Elleia’s light always be with you."
"You’ve been busy enough lately that I haven’t seen much of you."
"I’m sorry, Prince Ethan." Ren stood up and approached Ethan. "Prince, I have come to bring you bad news."
"Bad news?" Ethan turned his body and looked at Ren with a sharp gaze. "What do you mean by bad news? Did something happen to my parents or the twins?"
"Duke and Duchess Askary, as well as Prince Ethan and Princess Ocean, they are all fine, Prince Ethan. This bad news concerns Duchess Penelope."
"My little sister?!" Ethan exclaimed. He widened his eyes and shook Ren’s shoulders. Ren just kept quiet and looked down. "What do you mean something bad happened to Penny?! My little sister is sleeping with Duke Edmund in one of the rooms in this palace. She—"
"Kyaaaa!"
The scream made Ethan and Ren freeze. That was Isabella Lysander’s scream! Ethan immediately left Ren and ran out of the room. He ran as fast as he could towards Isabella’s room. This palace was very large, making the distance between the guest room he used and the guest room used by Isabella very far. Ethan didn’t care if his chest hurt because of this. What was clear was that Ethan wanted to immediately get to Isabella’s room and make sure with his own eyes that she was okay. As soon as he arrived in front of Isabella’s room, Ethan immediately opened it with one hard push and went inside without permission. He knelt before Isabella, who was crying and her body was shaking violently. Beside Isabella, Amy paled and didn’t know what to do.
"What is wrong?" Ethan asked while looking at Amy with a firm gaze.
"I...don’t know, Prince," Amy said, shaking her head. "Earlier, when I was about to give milk to Lady Isabella, suddenly Lady was screaming and crying."
"What happened before that?"
"I don’t really remember," shook Amy again. "If I’m not mistaken, Lady is daydreaming."
Ethan immediately turned his attention to Isabella and gripped her cold hands tightly. He smiled and wiped the tears from Isabella’s face.
"Isabel, what’s wrong? Hm? Tell me, what did you see?" asked Ethan in a gentle tone.
Isabella knew she was deceiving Ethan and everyone by saying that she didn’t remember Ethan at all. But, only Ethan could make her feel calm. Isabella doesn’t know what will happen in the future regarding her lies but she needs Ethan right now.
"I... saw Penny being taken to a hidden house by Philleo Aaron," explained Isabella in a trembling voice. "Then, Penny found a room. A room filled with many corpses covered in blood. I could see it clearly and could inhale the scent of blood in the room until it made me nauseous. Then, the man said he would use Penny as his guinea pig." Isabella cried again. "He told Penny to return Penny’s divine power to him."
Hearing that, Ethan froze. Is this what made his feelings continue to get worse since earlier? Ethan stood up and looked at Ren. The shadow knight just looked down.
"This is what I wanted to say, Prince Ethan," Ren said in a firm tone. "Initially, Duchess Penelope suddenly disappeared from the room in this palace after having a big fight with Duke Edmund. Then, His Highness Helios received a magic signal from the Duchess requesting help. When they arrived at Gerwyn’s mansion, the Duchess had already been taken away by Philleo Aaron. Then, suddenly the Duchess appeared in the middle of the room at Gerwyn’s mansion and immediately fainted."
"Philleo Aaron!" Ethan growled. The man clenched his fists at his sides. He gritted his teeth and his eyes flashed sharply. "I will kill that bastard!"
Ethan immediately walked out of Isabella’s room. However, the woman held his arm. Ethan turned his head and blinked.
"Take me," Isabella said. "Please, I want to come with you to meet Penny and make sure Penny is okay."
"Isabel—"
"Please, Ethan," Isabella begged in a pleading tone. "Let me go see Penny and make sure my good friend is okay. She saved me, didn’t she? I want to be by her side." Isabella leaned her forehead on Ethan’s chest. "I... promise to tell you and everyone the truth about a secret that I really want to keep tightly in my heart."
Ethan took a deep breath and looked at Amy.
"Take us to meet the Abelavish palace’s magician." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
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"I’m worried about you."
Penelope Askary turned her head around and tilted her head towards Goddess Elleia. The woman was, of course, confused by what the Goddess had just said. The beautiful woman in the pink dress approached Penelope and stroked her hair lovingly.
"What do you mean, Goddess?" Penelope asked.
"If you keep meeting me in places like this, I’m afraid that someday you’ll actually settle here, my darling." Goddess Elleia looked at Penelope with a serious look. "This is not a good place for you to visit, my child. I mean, it’s a good place but only for... good people who have passed away."
"What...?"
"Every time you meet me here, it means you are in a state of life and death." Goddess Elleia hugged Penelope who was frozen. "But, it’s okay. You’re fine now. You used up too much of your mana when you were running away from the enemy nest."
Penelope nodded and believed the Goddess’ words.
"Then, what do you plan to do now, my child?"
Penelope broke free from Goddess Elleia’s warm embrace and looked down. "I was indeed suspicious of Gabriel Brown because he was once thrown by the power of Raven and Ocean. But, I didn’t expect him to have the heart to kill so many innocent people. Isn’t he the head priest, Goddess? Isn’t the head priest a person who is close to the position of Saintess and also a person who has many blessings from you?"
"He has been influenced by Goddess Oizys, Penelope," said Goddess Elleia in a firm tone. "There was a speck of darkness in his heart and also jealousy. It was used by Goddess Oizys to manipulate Gabriel Brown’s brain. He considers himself the person most worthy of having divine power equal to mine. A sacred power that belongs only to you and your children. He’s jealous of you. And, Goddess Oizys saw that as an opportunity to make Gabriel Brown hurt you."
"Then, I have to do something to save Gabriel Brown."
Goddess Elleia smiled. "What would you do?"
"I will see him again."
"Are you sure your husband will allow you to meet a man who has the potential to hurt you?" chuckled Goddess Elleia. "You know Edmund Gerwyn is a very possessive and protective man."
"He has to let me. Let’s just say that his permission was his way of apologizing to me for yelling at me and being childish." Penelope snorted and crossed her arms. Goddess Elleia knows what happened to Penelope and Edmund, and the woman is confident that the two of them can solve this problem. "Then, I will pretend that I need Gabriel Brown’s help."
"Yes?"
Penelope grinned at Goddess Elleia. "I will make him fall in love with me."
"What?" Goddess Elleia blinked.
"I will tell him that Duke Edmund has hurt me and is cheating on me. Then, I will make him sympathize with me and I will find out more about his plans in the De Louis empire and what Goddess Oizys did to him. Men are very weak to women’s tears, aren’t they? After Gabriel Brown falls in love with me and fall to his knees before me, I will purify the darkness in his heart and order my husband’s shadow knight to bring the corpses to the De Louis imperial palace as proof that Gabriel Brown, the head priest, who is known to be kind in in front of everyone, it turns out to be sacrificing humans to do evil things!" Penelope smiled broadly at Goddess Elleia. "Isn’t that a very good strategy, Goddess?"
Goddess Elleia smiled awkwardly and cleared her throat.
’It seems like your husband would have destroyed the De Louis empire when he heard this strategy of yours rather than having to watch you seduce another man, darling.’
