Chapter 24: The Illegitimate Daughter
The darkness before him shattered like glass, revealing Leona’s flushed face. Abyss took a deep breath and shook his head, fully regaining his senses.
“What happened, Abyss? Your eyes were glowing, and you froze…” Flora’s concerned voice reached him. “Did the Eye of Fear affect you?”
“Not just the Eye of Fear. I can now confirm that there’s definitely a cursed object in Leona’s stomach!” Abyss said to Leona with certainty. “Did you feel anything unusual just now?”
Leona, unlike her usual arrogant and domineering self, nodded shyly. In her eighteen years of life, it was the first time a boy her age had been so close to her, leaving her flustered.
Abyss, oblivious to the impact of this event on Leona’s young heart, stood up from the tree stump and said, “In that case, let’s see what happens when you throw up what you just ate. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
Leona stared at Abyss for a moment, then rubbed her face with both hands, regaining her proud demeanor. She coughed lightly and said, “Fine, I’ll throw up and show you!”
She moved away from the fire, found a spot away from the dining area, took a deep breath, and started dry heaving.
After struggling for a while, she looked up at Abyss with an aggrieved expression. “I can’t throw up.”
Abyss thought for a moment. “I can go to the nearby graveyard and ask the deceased there to lend me a rotting corpse.”
“Forget it… Just thinking about it… Ugh…”
Leona finally threw up, but what came out surprised Flora.
She had just eaten a whole leg of pork, but what she vomited wasn’t undigested chunks of meat, but a pile of charred ash! The ash seemed to have been thoroughly burned. As soon as it left her mouth, it scattered in the wind, staining the nearby snow black.
Leona had been expecting the usual discomfort of stomach acid after vomiting, but what came out wasn’t anything normal. She stared wide-eyed, covering her mouth.
“Indeed… there’s definitely a powerful curse in your stomach,” Abyss said, frowning. “Based on your symptoms before death, I believe this object absorbs the food you eat and directly converts it into Dou Qi, which led to your Dou Qi going out of control and ultimately killing you.”
“Wouldn’t that be a good thing? Directly converting food into Dou Qi would be very convenient, wouldn’t it?”
“Not really. Your body seems to have stopped developing at the age of twelve because it wasn’t getting enough nutrients. A Dou Warrior’s body needs Dou Qi not only for strength and martial techniques but also to constantly temper its physical functions during the process of absorbing Dou Qi from the outside world. As the body strengthens, its capacity for Dou Qi increases. But this step was bypassed due to the curse. Your internal organs weren’t tempered, which ultimately led to your Dou Qi going out of control and destroying them, killing you before you could even call for help.”
Abyss analyzed slowly, stroking his chin.
“As for the truth, two groups of people probably know it. One is the kind and benevolent Empress and her faction, and the other is the Council of the Dead, whom I’ve never met but have completely offended.”
He showed Leona the Eye of Fear and explained the origin of the purple pendant, recounting the illusion he had seen.
“That village in the distance, they’re tomb guardians stationed here under the Empress’s orders. Their mission is to protect your tomb from being discovered and invaded. And since the year you died, they’ve been sending people here twice a year to check if your tomb has been disturbed. There’s also a very elaborate magic circle inside. It’s clear that the Empress is trying her best to conceal this curse.” Abyss looked at Leona. “So, the Empress doesn’t like you very much, does she?”
“It’s more than just dislike,” Leona shrugged nonchalantly. “She’s my father’s latest wife. A year after their marriage, she gave birth to a son. Ever since she had her son, she’s been cold to my father’s other children. I have several older brothers and sisters, all of them legitimate princes and princesses. But I’m different. Of all the siblings, I’m the only one my father conceived outside the palace, with my mother, an unmarried countess. In the Empress’s words, I’m a bastard, an embodiment of evil. She not only despises my birth but also envies my talent. I was brought to the palace when I was young, without my mother’s protection, and my father couldn’t favor me among so many children. Naturally, I became her primary target.”
“Her initial attempts to harm me were ineffective, and I didn’t bother retaliating. No one in this world could hurt me. But she did her best to ostracize me. The only time I remember her being nice to me was on my twelfth birthday when she gave me a basket of cherries… Maybe that was when she planted the curse in my stomach…”
Leona’s voice grew angry as she spoke, kicking the ashes at her feet.
“Now that I’ve brought you out of the tomb, to protect the tomb guardians from being discovered and executed by the Empress’s people, I need to take you to her and resolve this issue completely. What do you think?” Abyss asked.
“I’d be delighted. The Empress has already killed me once. If I don’t go back and see her, I’ll feel like a coward,” Leona said, looking up at Abyss with pride in her eyes. “I’m a glorious knight. I won’t be a weakling who doesn’t fight back when killed by a villain!”
“Very well. Now I’ll remove the cursed object from your stomach. It won’t hurt, and it won’t leave any marks. But I need you to lift your top and expose your upper abdomen. Do you have any objections?”
Abyss seized the opportunity. Now that Leona’s fighting spirit was high, it was the best time to remove the object from her stomach. It would be difficult to find another chance later.
“Hmph, fine, it’s just my stomach. Whatever,” Leona blushed, thought for a moment, and finally agreed through gritted teeth. She was straightforward, unbuttoning her elaborate top and pulling up her chemise, revealing her smooth, flat abdomen with an air of facing her execution. “Go ahead, I won’t even blink!”
“Right, I have one last question,” Abyss said.
“Ask away. As long as you help me find the truth, I’ll tell you everything.”
“Do you really swallow cherry pits when you eat cherries?”
“Mind your own business?!”
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