The Villainess Returns with a System-Chapter 128: A Deadly Connection

Chapter 128: A Deadly Connection

Ronald moved through the room and approached the Prince, bowing slightly before speaking:

"I apologize for her behavior, Highness. Usually, she is much more... tame."

The Prince looked coldly at Ronald before turning and looking at Ian from behind.

"Just what sort of spell does he have on her?" The Prince murmured quietly, letting only Ronald hear him speaking.

"This part is related to my sister’s ring," Ronald replied with a similar tone and looked at his sister, "It has a nature that can only be described as... quirky."

"A Quirk Ring?" The Prince’s scornful attitude was gone completely, and his eyes were open wide. "That’s quite rare... and dangerous."

"It is as you say, Highness. Her Ring is what we call a double-edged weapon," Ronald said.

"And why was she trained in Magic if it is like that?" The Prince asked with the curiosity of a fellow sorcerer.

"Usually, we wouldn’t train a female member of the House if she were to be wed off from the House, but as it turns out, House Grayson paid for Beatrix’s spellring and tutelage. Technically, she is a sorceress of House Grayson. The Quirk Ring made her very unpredictable, turning between two moods in a flash and without warning or trigger. But her abilities are very valuable to the family, almost to a point where my grandfather likes to mentor her himself from time to time."

Ronald’s words, despite being surprising, were sound and logical to the Prince.

Quirky Spellrings (also known as Quirk Rings) refer to one of the six main types of spellrings one may find. These types are...

> Alter Rings: Rings that focus on matter and its manipulation.

> Conjure Rings: Rings that lean more towards summoning entities and objects.

> Destroy Rings: Rings that manipulate the wild side of chaos.

> Fortify Rings: Rings that have the ability to protect and heal.

> Mystic Rings: Rings that reinforce and manipulate senses, allowing both detecting entities and casting illusions.

... and last but not least...

> Quirk Rings: Rings with bizarre properties and requirements for their use, as well as strange effects on their casters.

So when it comes to Quirk Rings, there is no solid science to understanding them, except to study each user specifically and see how the effects of the ring affect them.

There was also a type of Spellring called Cursed Rings; this type is a Quirk Ring where the requirements to use it are so severe that the ring gets confiscated and the user is banned from ever using magic.

In contrast, there are Blessed Rings that have more than one major attribute, just like the Spellrings of Prince Liam and Matilda, which are known for their wide versatility and strength. However, they do not strongly excel toward one side of the six schools.

Back to Beatrix, the blonde girl was done examining the blooded blade; then, with a silent move of her fingers and a quiet muttering of "MANAFISTUS1", the blade remained hanging in the air.

She then touched her temples with her fingers and muttered: "NOMINUS1," as her eyes’ color started to glow slightly. In her vision, she could see the blood on the blade much clearly as she started to let her magic capture it.

Finally, she was able to establish a connection and raise her hand, but before she cast her spell, Ronald spoke:

"She has established the link between her and the Bloody Swan."

As he said so, almost everyone in the room was now on their feet, except for Valentine, who was watching silently. The Prince approached Beatrix hastily and asked:

"Can you identify the Swan?" He asked with a serious air around him.

"I apologize, Your Highness. My magic doesn’t work like that," Beatrix replied monotonically.

"Can you get us any clues to catch her?" He asked again before suggesting, "Is it possible to place a spellmark?"

"That is not possible." She shook her head before suggesting: "The best we can do is have another cast AUGURIX 1on me and see if they get any divination on her, unless someone has a specialised divination spell."

Hearing that, the Prince saw both Ronald and Matilda shake their heads.

"Fine. We will have Lady Matilda do it first, if you don’t mind, my lady," the Prince said and allowed Matilda to approach Beatrix, who stared solemnly at each other.

The tension seemed to have frozen in place as the Prince was watching closely as Matilda stood with her eyes closed and two hands aimed at Beatrix. She muttered the magic word for the Guidance cantrip and started to establish a link with Beatrix.

AUGURIX was a minor spell under the classification of Mysticism; it had the ability to make people peek into the Fate of others, allowing reflections and guidance regarding matters like life, success, feelings, and the future. However, sometimes it can establish a mystic link and reveal information about the target.

With Beatrix’s specialised magic of her ring, she can connect directly to the Bloody Swan, but she is limited in what she can do. However, whatever happens to her right now may also happen to the Bloody Swan.

As Matilda tried to unravel the whispers she felt from the spell, the feedback came back as blank. She felt like she was just closing her eyes, but as she opened them, she was not where she was a while ago.

"Oh!"

Surprised, Matilda looked around and tried to move her body, but she suddenly felt her body moving with strange vigor and saw a face of something non-human, which scared her, causing her control to go haywire, and she suddenly awakened and opened her eyes.

"Wha!"

Matilda came back to the room with everyone looking at her with anticipation. She looked at them, a bit dazed, and her breathing was all over the place.

"I... I apologize, I must have lost control," she said and put her hand on her chest, "It felt like my heart was bounding... different feelings... excitement, rush, strength."

"Nothing else?" Prince Liam asked with a solemn face.

"No. I am sorry, my Prince. It seemed like conflicting signals," Matilda replied.

"This is useless!"

The one who spoke with absolute scorn was Beatrix, who seemed too tired to even look at Matilda, but then she had to turn to the other option they had.

"Brother, you do it."

Hearing her ask him to do it instead of Matilda, Ronald felt a little bit awkward, but Prince Liam actually cleared the way for him to join, and so he stepped forward.

"Mysticism is not my forte... but, it is always a coin toss with AUGURIX, anyway," Ronald said and positioned himself against his sister, closing his eyes and raising his palms.

"Matilda, I want you to try again. This time, again, try to resonate with Ronald and Beatrix."

Prince Liam urged Matilda to try again, and she reluctantly joined, trying to do another augury while standing behind Beatrix this time.

Ronald and Matilda started to feel each other’s presence through the spell, but they were fully conscious this time as their magic balanced one another. They slowly tried to pry into the Bloody Swan through Beatrix, but then something felt rather weird.

It was warm, soothing, and filled with harmonious feelings. This sort of feedback would only come when the augury is trying to convey something positive.

"I see it... That’s certainly interesting," Ronald was the first to speak. "It is not the Bloody Swan, but I sense a great success from the connection between Beatrix and the Swan. Something good is bound to happen... with Beatrix, I mean."

His augury was vague, so he only shrugged and apologized for not doing much regarding this. On the other hand, Matilda felt rather silent.

"What did you find, Matilda?" The Prince asked her.

"I think the spell Lady Beatrix cast is splendid. My feedback was more regarding Lady Beatrix, too, rather than the Swan." Matilda spoke carefully before looking into the cold eyes of Prince Liam, who seemed rather disappointed but was hiding it under a poker face.

As he turned away, Matilda continued:

"I think whatever effect that we subject Lady Beatrix to will also apply to the Swan."

Her last words made the Prince halt in his steps and look meaningfully at her. He then turned to Beatrix and asked:

"Is that true?"

Beatrix seemed rather silent and unblinking, but for the first time since she stepped into the room, she closed her eyes.

"Not usually, your highness, but I think the link I established now is strong enough to do so," she said and paused for a bit before she opened her eyes, speaking the most chilling words that were ever spoken that night, "For example, if you kill me right now, the Bloody Swan may also die."

(Mana+Fist = Mage’s Hand, aka minor telekinesis)(Nominus = Magic Sight or Detect Aura)(Augurix = Clairvoyance, Guidance)

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