Struggling as a Villain

Hearing that Elizabeth wanted to kill her father, cleared Richard's doubt. The Emperor was indeed involved in all this mess. Well, that was natural, considering this much wouldn't have happened without him noticing.

The Emperor himself wasn't strong enough to protect the Empire so he decided to build these clones, huh?

"Your Highness, I think we should focus on a more pressing matter at the moment," Richard urged as he glanced at the bracer and found the blinks of the dot had reduced to forty in a few minutes.

Elizabeth nodded before she got up followed by Richard. Just for safety, Richard burned the Prime Minister to death in case he woke up and tried to cause trouble.

Elizabeth groaned, clearly wanting to torture the lanky minister herself. However, Richard didn't have the leisure to let her enjoy her sadistic fantasies.

He walked out of the room, and so did Elizabeth, and they both began to run.

"Ah!" Elizabeth's gown was long which caused her to trip after taking a few steps.

Richard sighed in exasperation before he went towards the girl and using his dagger, he trimmed the gown from around her knees, making it a mini dress

Elizabeth looked like a tigress who wanted to bite Richard to death, however, the redhead didn't pay attention to her aggression and told her,

"If you fall now, I will leave you behind."

Clicking her tongue, Elizabeth got up and tore away the hanging piece of fabric before she began to run along with Richard back to the place where they came across.

Elizabeth led them there, and Richard acted oblivious; couldn't let her know about the bracer. Having Elizabeth know about his meeting with the Goddess seemed like it would cause trouble for him.

Elizabeth calmed her breathing before she connected her fingers against the wall—just below the Empire's symbol.

She closed her eyes and chanted something inaudibly. It was an ancient language that Richard faintly understood.

Suddenly the wall caved in and slid to the left

Elizabeth shared a glance with Richard before the duo stepped inside.

"Princess, can you chant another of that spell?" En route, he asked.

Elizabeth sighed, "Based on the numbers, I don't think I can stop them for more than six seconds."

After the path opened up for them, she could somehow sense the people stationed around the large facility. Seriously, despite living here for so long, she never discovered this underground madhouse.

Richard thought for a moment. He didn't have much time, given Ethan has become very weak now. And Elizabeth wouldn't be able to withhold those possibly high-ranking soldiers for long.

Then he had an idea. He suddenly pulled out three vials of body enhancement potion.

"What are you doing?" While Richard gulped on the potions, she asked.

Just as he was about to gulp the third one, he told her, "Once I leave, release the spell just after four seconds. Remember princess, if you don't show precision, Ethan will die."

Elizabeth gulped and diligently nodded.

To make the Princess diligent it was best to use Ethan's name—a tactic that Richard has discerned long ago.

Once he was done gulping down the last vial, he took out his batons and turned around. Running back to the palace entrance with all his speed, he turned around and almost instantly ran back. His speed easily exceeded someone of his rank. He was like a blur to others because of his potion overdose. And with that, he was using self-enhancement to boost himself as much as he could.

*SWISH*

Just as Elizabeth released the spell, she felt something going past her, disheveling her hair.

Richard reached inside the lab with his batons raised. Just for a moment, he glanced at his surroundings and found that all the soldiers had already dropped their barriers because of Elizabeth's spell.

Utilizing the opportunity he struck the left baton on the right one.

**BOOOOOOOM**

The accumulated kinetic energy was converted into explosives, and the whole laboratory was engulfed in a ground-rumbling explosion.

Even Richard was blown away and crashed against the wall, given the level of explosion erupting in a closed space.

Every soldier, researchers, and other staff member were consumed by the flames and dropped to the ground with their skin searing.

Elizabeth entered the place soon after with a dagger in her hand. She protected herself from the flames that snaked into the tunnel using the barrier artifact she carried.

She moved toward the soldiers and started stabbing them one after another. If these people get back on their feet, game over.

The pain of the burns didn't let the soldiers realize the pain of the dagger stabbing their chest, and slowly every being in the room who was involved in hurting her husband was sent to the grim reaper.

"E...than..." Suddenly, upon hearing Richard's slow whispers, Elizabeth turned towards where he was pointing, only to find her eyes widened.

Inside a cylindrical capsule, he was floating with his eyes closed. The tank was not damaged since it seems the tank was engraved with some runes that protected it from the blast.

However, what made Elizabeth gasp was the fact of a certain individual standing beside the tank, completely unaffected by the explosion earlier.

Richard weakly took out a healing potion and somehow gulped it down to heal himself. His vision slowly cleared up and the first thing he saw was the familiar face of an individual who wasn't supposed to be here.

"N-Nora?" Elizabeth couldn't believe her eyes. The girl, who was sent back in time like the other three and someone who adored Ethan just like them, was also involved in this experiment?

How is that even possible?!

"Ahaha~you guys are so desperate. Almost killing yourself to save this guy, eh?"

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. Was this person really Nora...how could she so nonchalantly endanger Ethan's life?

"I will warn you once; step aside or I will make you beg for death," Elizabeth uttered through her gritted teeth.

Richard slowly rose to his feet, closely inspecting the girl who looked like Nora...but was she? He has confirmed from a reliable resource that Nora was still in her hometown. Then how is she here? No, this girl isn't Nora. She is an impostor.

The fake one grinned before saying, "Woo~I am scared."

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and marched forward, "You bitch! I am so gonna-"

"Hey, hey! Wait right there, or your lover dies by my hand," The fake Nora showed a blue cord that was connected to the tank before she said, "This supplies a longevity potion into the tank. If I pull this out now, even for a second, your guy dies." With a nasty smirk, she announced.

Elizabeth clenched her fist and couldn't take another step. She couldn't be sure if this sl*t was saying the truth or not but she couldn't take any chances. Ethan's condition didn't look good at all.

Suddenly, Richard raised his hands, and said, "This looks like an internal conflict...I don't want to interfere in this." He slowly began to back off, causing the fake Nora to laugh loudly.

"What a cowardly partner you got there!" Patting her thigh, the elf laughed mockingly, but Elizabeth didn't care about that. In the first place, she never expected Richard to take so many risks for Ethan's sake, so she wasn't disappointed when he backed off.

"Tell me, what do you want?" Elizabeth asked with a sense of urgency in her voice.

The fake Nora tilted her head before asking, "Can you grant me what I wish?" She provoked.

"Just name the price already!" Elizabeth scowled.

The blue-haired teenager's lips stretched in a smile before she said, "Then...tear down the Northern continent and bring me my sister's head. Then I might release your precious lover."

Elizabeth frowned, "Your sister?"

The fake one grinned as she asked, "Don't you know her closely? You have fought several wars with her, and got so close to killing the God of Death."

Elizabeth's eyes parted wide as she looked at the girl with a sense of disbelief, and some words subconsciously left her lips, "Y-You are Nora's sister. Yulan?!"

The illusion from the girl's face slowly vanished and her features shifted dramatically. Unlike before, her eyes became narrower, and her lips turned thin. Her short hair became long and the innocence she had, even if it was fake, was now completely gone.

There was a sense of madness in Yulan's eyes as she looked at Elizabeth. The flames of vengeance and the agitation she has been accumulating for ages now were fiercely extruding from her aura.

But now, she finally will have her revenge!

"My dear sister, for whom I died in the last timeline...I want you to take her life-" Suddenly, her eyes and voice halted as Yulan felt a cold metal pressing against her neck.

Suddenly someone appeared behind her with a dagger pressed against her throat.

Elizabeth was stunned as Richard unexpectedly materialized behind Yulan, his left hand gripping a dagger while his right seized the hand Yulan used to clutch the blue tube.

With a soft smile on his face, Richard slowly whispered, "The only thing you will receive now is death. Bye~bye."

Without another thought, Richard pushed her toward the Princess.

And what Elizabeth did to Yulan was something no human could ever be capable of.

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A/N:- I will explain the whole thing about Yulan and Nora thoroughly.