Chapter 66: Overacting the Adopted Daughter Role

[You. What are you?]

Viola was startled for a moment.

She tried not to show it and looked around.

‘There’s nothing here?’

She couldn’t see anything.

It sounded like a ghost was speaking.

‘Is it a spirit?’

The feeling when spirits spoke was described this way.

The one speaking seemed to be a spirit.

“Viola, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Jermi stood in front of a red tree with branches that split into a trident shape.

“So, this tree is suspicious, right?”

“Yeah.”

I’ve given enough hints; now it’s up to you.

Viola just watched.

Actually, she didn’t know what happened next. In the novel, Jermi found this strange tree by chance and entered the ruins through the tree.

“Hmm.”

Meanwhile, the voice spoke again.

[You. What are you?]

[Answer me.]

Viola thought for a moment.

How should I answer?

If I speak, it will sound like I’m talking to myself.

‘This content isn’t in the novel.’

Spirits do appear in the ruins, but there’s no record of a spirit appearing in the red forest.

Jermi only started talking to spirits after entering the ruins.

Viola couldn’t understand why the spirit was here.

[I know you can hear my voice.]

[I’ve never seen anyone with such a high spirit affinity.]

Could it be…’

Viola noticed one fact.

‘Is it because my spirit affinity is extremely high, so I can hear the voice?’

The novel has a setting called spirit affinity.

It’s an innate trait that significantly affects the formation of a contract with spirits.

Viola was a bit confused.

‘Why?’

In the novel, Viola didn’t have spirit affinity.

She was a great Bella, the ruler of Bellatora, but a character far from being a spirit mage.

‘Why is my spirit affinity so high?’

As a true fan of this work, Viola deduced one fact.

‘It’s probably because I’m possessed.’

According to the setting, spirits are beings from another world.

These beings manifest in the human world through contracts with their contractors.

In the novel, it’s described as ‘opening a spirit gate through a contract.’

‘In other words, to come from another world to this world, you need to open a spirit gate.’

That’s the setting of this novel.

So, according to the rules of this novel, Han Arin crossed the spirit gate to become Viola.

‘I also crossed the spirit gate.

So, I became a character with extremely high spirit affinity.’

At that moment, Jermi said,

“Sure enough, this tree is suspicious.”

And he made some incomprehensible sounds.

“There’s a special mana magic rune engraved on it. This magic rune is an illusion magic rune based on the third formula of Ghermano...”

Warriors of this era always had to be prepared for battles with mages.

So, even if they couldn’t use magic, they were quite knowledgeable about the theories and research of mages.

Jermi was no exception.

Jermi tilted his head.

“I know this magic requires the help of spirits.”

He still seemed confused and kept tilting his head.

“Without the help of spirits, you can’t break this light illusion magic. Unless you reverse-calculate the magic rune and break it.”

That’s what the textbook said.

Even though it’s a light illusion magic, to break it, you need the help of spirits or you have to recognize the magic and then dismantle it.

“But you, Viola, just saw through it.”

When Viola saw through the essence, the illusion magic was automatically dispelled.

Viola realized the reason.

‘It’s because my spirit affinity is extremely high.’

Viola started to feel a bit excited.

The place Jermi and she were going to was a special space that could even form a contract with spirits for someone without spirit affinity.

But what if someone with extremely high spirit affinity entered?

‘What would happen?’

Maybe she could form a contract with a spirit king, a being mentioned only in the novel.

If a spirit king appeared as her guardian spirit, it would be the best.

“My spirit affinity seems higher than I thought.”

“That’s amazing. The blood of Bella and the affinity with spirits... Oh.”

Jermi remembered a fact he had forgotten.

Viola Bella didn’t inherit the blood of Bella.

He had forgotten because she was so Bella-like.

‘Viola was an adopted daughter.’

He had completely forgotten this simple fact.

‘That makes sense.’

For someone so Bella-like to have high spirit affinity...

To Jermi, it was a very surprising and amazing thing.

‘She’s an interesting kid.’

I really want to be friends with her.

Being friends with Viola would be full of exciting and fun things.

Jermi touched the red tree.

“If I touch it and infuse mana, something might change.”

***

Viola felt dizzy.

She felt nauseous but held it in.

Jermi also seemed to have a bad stomach.

“Wow. This is the first time I’ve felt so sick from a teleportation gate.”

The red tree was a teleportation gate.

They were transported to a dark and damp cave-like place.

It seemed they entered the ruins through the red tree as a medium.

[Hehehe.]

[Kukukuku.]

Voices were heard from all around.

“Viola, can you hear them too?”

“Yeah, I can.”

Jermi nodded to himself.

“The eerie sounds we heard in the forest must have been these voices leaking out.”

“Yeah.”

These voices seemed to have leaked out of the red forest, creating strange sounds.

“Did the missing explorers come this far?”

“Seems like it.”

Viola looked down at the ground.

She saw a muddy, squelchy floor.

“There are footprints.”

“Yeah.”

Jermi chuckled to himself.

Jermi found Viola very intriguing.

‘A child with a bloodthirsty nature chose to be a white Bella instead of a black Bella.’

Seeing this, it made sense.

She found the teleportation gate instantly and didn’t miss even the slightest clue on the ground.

[Can you find me?]

[Look for me.]

[I’ll wait.]

Small fireballs were flying around.

They looked like large fireflies.

Whenever the fireballs flew, the surroundings would briefly light up.

“There’s a long corridor. Want to go, Viola?”

“Sure.”

Viola recalled the content of the novel.

‘While passing through the dark and long corridor, Jermi unknowingly fell into the spirits’ illusions.’

According to the novel, Jermi would fall into the spirits’ illusions.

Spirits generally don’t harm humans.

They don’t intentionally harm them, but sometimes they accidentally kill them while playing.

There were cases where people couldn’t escape from the illusion magic cast for fun and died.

‘Jermi struggled in the illusion for a week.’

Unknowingly, he wandered in the illusion for a week.

For a normal person, it would have been a situation where they could have died of dehydration.

But Jermi wasn’t a normal person and could survive without water or food for a week.

‘Severely dehydrated and hungry, Jermi barely regained his senses.’

It was a situation that seemed typical of Jermi.

To break out of the spirits’ illusion magic due to dehydration and hunger.

‘If he wasn’t hungry, he would have been devoured by the illusion magic and died.’

The spirits probably wouldn’t understand why he died.

Spirits don’t drink water or eat food.

It was like a frog being hit by a stone thrown for fun.

The spirits’ voices were

But...

I can hear them.”

Thud, thud.

Viola and Jermi kept walking.

The corridor became narrower and darker as they walked.

The number of firefly-like things that lit up occasionally also decreased.

“Viola, give me your hand.”

“Hand?”

“Yeah. It’s too dark. Let’s hold hands.”

Viola thought it was better.

Jermi held her hand.

‘His hand... is bigger than I thought.’

Maybe because she was in the body of a twelve-year-old Viola.

Jermi’s hand felt surprisingly large.

“Jermi, remember the spirits’ illusion magic on the teleportation gate?”

“I remember.”

“Then there’s a high probability that the spirits here have set up another illusion magic as a prank.”

“Got it. I’ll be careful.”

With that, it should be enough.

At this point, Jermi should be able to handle it well.

Slightly relieved, Viola held Jermi’s hand and walked for a while.

“How about it? Do you hear any other voices?”

“No, I don’t.”

Just as Viola said that, she suddenly flinched.

Voices started to be heard.

It sounded like dozens of people were speaking at once.

Male voices, female voices, adult voices, children’s voices, all kinds of voices were mixed and speaking to her.

[Why are you here?]

[You shouldn’t be here.]

[What’s your real name?]

Viola’s body trembled.

Real name.

Viola’s real name was Han Arin.

The voices became faster.

[What is Korea?]

[What is Han Arin?]

Viola felt a sudden fear.

It felt like all her innermost thoughts were being read.

This world had a fantasy setting, and witch hunts and other terrible things happened frequently.

Korea.

Han Arin.

Coming from another world...

‘If these facts are revealed...’