The Villainess Returns with a System-Chapter 111: Open Sasame

For the following days, Vivian kept an ear to the ground and another to her advisors. The business was booming in unprecedented ways, bringing with it money, assets, and a host of troubles in just a few days. Yet with this remarkable growth, Vivian’s attention was still focused on the movement of the Crown Prince and his cronies, as well as the heroine and any faction affiliated with them.

But once she turned home, Vivian would go up the stairs and see her father resting on his back and Saskia lying her head on his lap. They smiled at each other and exchanged words before she ate her dinner all by herself in the dining room.

Count Julian and Lady Saskia were in no critical state. Still, as Saskia was slowly recovering from her skin condition, the Count was not showing any signs of recovery from the Blackthorn.

Nobody was.

But a discovery was made.

"The pathogen in question has been confirmed as a parasite. Its mechanism of pathogenicity involves the steady depletion of the host’s vital energy reserves. While the parasite’s initial energy consumption is moderate, the host’s attempt to mount an immune response and initiate recovery processes triggers a counter-response from the parasite. This counter-response aims to maintain the parasite’s energy supply, thereby facilitating its proliferation and growth in size. Consequently, the host experiences a progressive decline in energy levels, resulting in a state of general debilitation," the physician reported to Vivian.

"Doctor Godwin, that’s the theory we had so far. Tell me something I don’t know—preferably good news," retorted Vivian in a sour mood.

"Well, that is not why I am here, my lady."

"More funds. I get it."

"In that case, we concluded that the only treatment that may work is overwhelming the parasite with nutrients," Dr Godwin said.

"What the hell?" Vivian leaned forward angrily. "If you give it more nutrients than it should take, you’ll harm the host along the way."

"So far, this is the only theory."

"What about an elixir that can cure all diseases? The Panacea of Saint Florence, for example."

"That is all well and good, my lady, but we have to consider that the parasite is a living being. While the Panacea is a true mystery, it is impossible to convince the Temple of Florence to give it, even with all the money in the world, especially when I heard that all the Panacea potions are reserved by all the royal families for the coming 300 years."

"You really don’t bear good news, do you?"

"Well, on the subject of Panacea, I can prepare a list of some of the Royal Houses that hold such a cure, but if House Moore were to ask to buy any, they would at least ask for a chunk of your House’s assets. I doubt the Count will even agree to that."

"For God’s sake!"

Frustrated, Vivian stormed off her seat and seemed as if she was going to punch the wall before holding herself back.

"I am asking you to be realistic, my lady," Dr Godwin said and followed Vivian to her office’s balcony.

Dr Godwin was the family’s physician and one of the most respected men of medicine, despite his negative personality. He offered no hope and made no promises, since he was already busy with many Blackthorn patients.

As the only person in the family who is trying to keep it afloat, Vivian had many meetings with the doctor almost daily to keep tabs on her father’s health.

Since the plague started to spread, the fatalities were rather low in the beginning. All those who died were the ones who overexerted themselves, or the parasite played a secondary role in their death.

But lately, a few cases of the parasite spreading uncontrollably were reported in Archester. Whenever a person dies with Blackthorn, the black rash of the parasite starts to wither and die as if turning to ash under the skin. This rapid death made it harder to examine the corpses and study and understand the parasite more.

But the real issue was how unnaturally the parasite behaved to surgical interference. As if it had a mind of its own, the black rash would start to spread further on the infected limb whenever it was poked by a surgeon’s scalpel or the like, as if evading the treatment or holding its host hostage.

The only case of recovery was that of a blacksmith who amputated his left arm, which was badly infected with Blackthorn. However, even if amputation was an option, cases like Count Julian’s were impossible to deal with that way, since the infection appeared on his neck.

This made Vivian tense, as she could no longer think straight anymore. Thankfully, she could dump all her workload on Oscar, Jane, and Esmeralda, while she hid in the basement of her company with Voros to distract herself with violence.

"HAAH!"

Holding a sledgehammer, Vivian raised it above her head, and spending her Aura Star, she descended with the sledgehammer, smiting with all its might.

TINNNNNNNNNK!

Two kinds of metal collided, causing sparks to fly, but only one was the victor in this clash, and it wasn’t the sledgehammer. Vivian felt the backlash caused by an arcane shockwave from that small object; it was magical, as it completely negated her attack.

A Magic Lockbox—that’s what Isabella identified it as. As the Moores have little to do with magic, Vivian was poorly educated in that field pre-transmigration. Even after that, she wasn’t free enough to look into magical topics or bother with it. This resulted in her struggling with the Lockbox like a caveman, trying to figure out how to make fire by hitting rocks together for the first time. But the truth of the matter is that she was annoyed and wanted to beat something up.

Since the basement was a safe space that only Vivian’s inner circle had access to, she took her liberty to take off her coat, vest, and shirt, standing in a white blouse with short sleeves and a wide collar.

Once again, she picked up the sledgehammer that flew off and dragged it toward the Lockbox. She stood over it, short on breath, and fixed it in place with her foot before taking a step back and raising the sledgehammer once again...

"Princess!"

Logan appeared as Vivian was raising the sledgehammer. Seeing her in her current state, he immediately averted his gaze. With her arms raised and most of them exposed shamelessly, Vivian felt ashamed. She quickly dropped her arms, letting go of the sledgehammer. The handle of the falling sledgehammer hit her shoulder, causing her to groan in pain, though it was nothing serious.

"Vivian! Careful!"

Immediately, Logan rushed to her and held her by the shoulders. His eyes searched for where she may have wounded herself, but all he saw was a reddened area and nothing else.

This caused him to feel shame, as no gentleman would grab a maiden like that. Even Vivian was speechless for a while, but as he awkwardly let go of her, he couldn’t help but notice something on her other shoulder.

A bruise, one that looked dark and purplish. Her left arm was bruised in two spots, but those have mostly healed.

With a concerned tone, he asked:

"What... who did that to you?"

"It is nothing. Just training."

"Training? You don’t spar with anyone."

"When Edith comes over, we usually spar."

Looking at her, Logan could easily know that Vivian wasn’t giving a straight answer. The truth behind her bruises is the fight she had with Natasha. While she took a lot of damage, the Panacea took care of most of it, but there were limits to how much damage one bottle could do. She could have spent 500 SP for an Uncommon Panacea, which is stronger than the common one she used, but she was rather tight-fisted with SP in case of a rainy day.

"What were you doing anyway?" Logan asked while looking at the Lockbox, Vivian was wrecking with the large hammer.

"Trying to break that thing open," she replied casually.

"What’s the... a magic lockbox, huh?" Logan looked at it and frowned. "I’ve never known we had one."

"Well... if we have ever had any, I wouldn’t be trying to break it open, would I?" Vivian said as she picked up the sledgehammer.

"So, how did you get this one?"

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Good thing I’m a knight."

"Oh, that just reminds me, what if there was something super dangerous in that lockbox, like the tiger from yesterday..."

"Tiger? Yesterday?"

"Logan! Curiosity, no no!"

"Good God!"

"Just hear me out! Let’s say I got this lockbox through shady means and I’m trying to open it now."

"I don’t know. When I think about you doing shady things, my knight oath urges me to pull you out of it."

"Come on, Logz, don’t be a boomer."

"Logz? What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Look at us, Logz and Viv, we’re buddies here. We don’t tell each other’s parents about each other."

"Oh! You’re going to bring that up, huh?"

"Leverage, sir knight."

"Just what do you want me to do?"

Seeing as he gave up talking her out of whatever trouble she was brewing, Vivian had a cheeky smile and turned to the Lockbox, pointing at it with her hammer.

"I’ll keep smiting that thing every time I can use Aura, and well... whatever comes out of it... If it is dangerous..."

"I understand, but that’s highly unlikely."

"Why is that?"

"First, magic lockboxes are mostly used to hold something from the outside, not trap something in. Such a thing can hold something no larger than a book or some important document."

"Alright, that makes sense. How do you know about lockboxes anyway? Even Voros seemed not to have come across one before."

"That’s natural. Back when I was in the service, I was assigned to a team of knights to deliver orders from the backlines to the front. Magic lockboxes were better than using secret codes and such."

"Well, whatever is inside must be something someone wants to keep secret," Vivian said as she readied herself to wield the hammer.

She fixed the Lockbox in place with her foot and then took a step back, preparing to deliver a mighty blow with her aura and...

TINNNNNNNNK!

As she landed the hit...

"Goddammit!"

... nothing happened, just like before.

Frustrated, Vivian leaned forward, resting her arm on the hammer’s handle while panting for breath. As she turned to Logan, she noticed that he was avoiding looking at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Maybe you are forgetting to dress properly," Logan replied.

Vivian had one short laugh before looking at herself with her arms fully exposed. What if he saw her in a proper tank top? She couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Still, she could very much pick up the clothes she had put aside or use her System’s outfit function as he was looking away, but... she didn’t.

"It is not like this is the first time seeing this."

"Not the first time?"

Logan’s memory didn’t catch on to what Vivian meant, but as soon as he turned to her so that he could retort, seeing her in these tight manly trousers and this cute white blouse made him recall that one time he saw her in what seemed to be some nightwear. That was the first time they met after transmigration.

As he looked at her, she had a sweet smile, and with a wink, she raised her sledgehammer once again.

Logan watched from the side as Vivian did what she did and didn’t avert his eyes this time. As she said, he saw some of that before, so why not see more?

He watched her raise the hammer with her two slender arms that one wouldn’t imagine have the power to raise anything heavy. They were flawlessly white like alabaster, reminding him of the beautiful statues from the Temple. Her exposed arms were even more beautiful now that he saw them, with beads of sweat forming on them from her forearms all the way to her underarm—a scene that left him gulping.

TINNNNNNNNNK!

As Vivian landed her strongest hit yet, the metal screamed as it collided against metal, glowing with a bright spark.

The magic protecting the Lockbox was even more stubborn than before, and it retaliated by reflecting some of the kinetic shock from Vivian’s strike against her.

Almost losing her footing, Vivian lost her cool as she mustered her strength once again, but she became very agitated.

"Sonova..."

Driven by anger, she didn’t wait for her Aura Star to cool down and hit with raw strength. However...

TINNNNNNNNNK!

CRACK!

The hammer’s handle could no longer endure the hit, as it was even stronger than the one from just now. The handle broke in Vivian’s hand, and the hammer’s head flew further into the workshop.

"What was... that?"

Shocked, Vivian couldn’t even fathom what she had just done. She attacked once again with Aura just as she exhausted it, and it seemed that Logan noticed it as well.

"How?" He looked between her and the hammer’s head that had just flown off and seemed unable to get it. "That was so fast!"

"What are you talking about?"

Vivian was confused and looked at him, but she felt that she had hurt her hand just as she moved it, which made her groan and hold her right wrist with her left.

"Congratulations, Princess," Logan said and bowed ceremonially. "You have attained a new Aura Star."

« Level Up! »

« You have reached 2-Star Bronze Aura. »

Feeling her power getting back gradually, Vivian felt a strong sensation inside her body as her Aura gradually regenerated.

"Thank you, Logan."

She said and looked at him, only to see him getting closer to her.

"Is your hand alright?" he asked as he held her right hand to take a look at it.

Vivian stuttered before she could even talk as she smelled his perfume. Somewhat embarrassed that she had no perfume on, rather sweaty, she lost a bit of confidence, but just as she met eyes with him, she didn’t know when or how, but they were hugging.

Their feelings were riled up all of a sudden, and somehow, they couldn’t resist embarrassing one another. Logan’s large build made him tightly hold her closer, and she wasn’t shy about it as she wrapped her arms around him.

As she rested her head against him, she could feel his heart racing, and just like him, she also felt like her heart was beating stronger than ever. Each of them felt like their hearts could be enough to hold the other inside of them, and if they could hug each other tightly, then that, they would have.

After a short while, they parted.

Their feelings towards each other are more complicated than they thought. Logan and Vivian, two different creatures that somehow fit together really well.

She has always felt good around him, and despite her tendency to cause trouble, she knows he will be there for her when it gets out of hand.

As for him, Vivian has always been someone he never thought to live without. Even on the frontlines, he cherished her memory fondly, despite how she was not going to become his at the time. If Vivian was always so out of reach for him, Logan is now the happiest as she is no longer a princess consort. That feeling was short-lived, however, as she is still his liege’s daughter, his friend’s sister, and his direct superior.

This felt complicated, but just one hug was enough to clear many things off his mind and hers.

Awkwardly, the two took some distance from one another. Vivian headed to her clothes on the side, and Logan decided to look away. She used the chance to wear everything back using the Outfits Manager and returned not a minute later.

As she approached him, he turned to her and saw her back in one of her usual attire. The two looked at each other, and their feelings still lingered, but they weren’t foolish enough to fool around here.

"Damn. That was an interesting turn of events," Vivian said, trying to start a conversation.

"What was?" Flustered, Logan asked.

"The Aura Star," she answered.

"Oh, right. It was incredible how you managed to reach the second star this fast."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome."

The two looked a bit awkward as they were trying to avoid a certain subject, which led them back right where they started.

"This Lockbox, I think I’ll leave it to Voros to crack somehow," Vivian said as she seemed to have given up on opening it using brute force.

"It is protected by a spell, though. It will be tricky even for him," Logan replied.

"So no hope then?" Vivian became frustrated with the answer she was given.

"Why not? All you need is to speak the password, and the Lockbox will open on its own."

"Are you serious? Just saying a password like some ’Open Sesame’ will open it?"

But just at this moment, the moment Vivian uttered those exact same words...

CLICK!

CL-CLI-CLICK!

... the Lockbox opened, and its content was revealed to Logan and Vivian.

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