This Three Year Old Is a Villainess-Chapter 298

Dalia shook Erilot’s hand off and snorted, turning her head.

‘What is this? In the novel she was scheming but never this selfish.’

You really don’t know someone until you see them up close. As the heroine, I liked her—but in person there’s nothing endearing about her.

‘Why does she pick a fight over every little thing?’

I didn’t buy the crumatus with our family’s funds—it was granted by His Majesty.

“Your Majesty, this is disastrous! Patients exhibiting the same symptoms as Your Majesty are appearing throughout the capital!”

“What...?”

“It appears to be a contagious disease.”

His Majesty pressed his palm to his forehead as if stunned. Word must not reach that the palace itself is ground zero. The populace would blame the royal family—for self-proclaimed divine blood! They’d rise in rebellion.

‘Father said if that happens, the Emperor’s carefully built tower of power will collapse.’

So I must act.

“Your Majesty, may # Nоvеlight # I intervene?”

“...You?”

“Yes! I bear the Blessing of Healing. If it’s not as severe as Your Majesty’s case, perhaps I can treat them.”

“If you could swiftly contain the disease... But it will be grueling work.”

“You are my first friend, Your Majesty. I can do this for a friend.”

His Majesty smiled kindly. The Chief Imperial Physician’s pupils shook—an eight-magnitude quake. He’d never smiled so gently at the Crown Prince.

‘Then I’ll give it my all.’

Dalia hugged armfuls of crumatus.

“I’ll brew every last bit! Everyone, help me!”

Erilot dashed forward, snatched the crumatus from Dalia’s arms, and flung it aside.

“Do you even know what kind of herb this is?!”

“Why are you like this? Fine, tell me—what is it?”

Erilot ground her teeth.

‘This is the Emperor’s own herb.’

I couldn’t reveal it turned the disease into a contagion, that it was actually spores of an ancient monster. The blame would fall on the Emperor, and irreparable rifts would open between him and me. Alexis’s claim to the throne would suffer too, since I’m his betrothed. Worst case, the Emperor might bypass Prince Salvatore entirely.

“Leave the crumatus be. I’ll provide a better herb.”

“Liar! You just want to make crumatus unusable. There’s no better herb!”

“That’s not true!”

“Esther tested every herb—nothing equals crumatus!”

Erilot was on the verge of exploding.

‘Was Dalia always this way?’

In my first life, I never quarreled with Dalia. As the heroine, the world moved to protect her safety and happiness. She never had to fight anyone—her charm moved people. She never needed to resort to this.

‘If crumatus keeps being used to spawn an adult Despair, Dalia will have to slay it.’

A calamity-level monster only overcome by a blessing of destruction. If she defeats it, the world will reclaim her as heroine.

‘Better than that...’

“Dalia, I know what a better herb is. I’m not lying. I’ll provide it—just please stop using crumatus.”

“Why are you like this? Don’t you hear their cries of agony?”

“No herb matters more than ease from pain—”

“Come outside. I’ll explain the situation—”

“I don’t have time for your excuses! Enough! I don’t want to be disappointed in you anymore!”

“You’re ruining this country!”

Then—

“What are you doing in front of the patients—!!”

A thunderous shout rang from the tent’s entrance. Erilot and Dalia flinched and looked toward the door. Everyone dropped to the ground, stunned, as the Emperor, Esther, and palace officials entered the medical tent.

“Your Majesty—”

Dalia ran to him with tears in her eyes.

“Why have you come?”

“To inspect the patients. So, how are things?”

“The patients keep coming. The disease spreads onward. We must act quickly—”

Dalia glanced at Erilot with a petulant expression.

“Erilot is preventing the use of crumatus.”

“Why?”

“Well, I thought... because it’s so expensive....”

His Majesty fixed Erilot with a cold stare. Erilot bowed her head.

“For the glory of the throne, I greet You, Your Majesty.”

“How very presumptuous.”

“...”

“The Twin-Dragon Crest signifies the wearer as none other than Myself, yet you present yourself so shamelessly.”

“...”

“You, Lady Astra, are banished back to your estate to reflect deeply on today’s events.”

“You must not hinder Dalia’s work.”

Erilot met the Emperor’s gaze, her eyes blazing—and everyone in the tent froze.

A palace official barked:

“How dare you defy the Emperor’s command!”

“It’s not that—!”

The officials seethed.

“Have you seen such arrogance?”

“Do you think your family’s dragon blood can trespass the palace—!!”

Erilot hurried to the Emperor’s side.

“That is not the case...!”

Then Dalia shouted:

“It’s because of Father, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“You worry Father will lose the Uncle Diamond’s favor because I helped Your Majesty!”

“It’s not that.”

“Our subjects in my fief thought so. But I... I believed you were not so petty.”

“Dalia, you—!”

“Enough—!”

The Emperor silenced their quarrel with a stern glare, then turned to Erilot.

“I order you confined to your estate.”

“Your Majesty!”

“Confinement to your fief—!!”

“...”

“Will you command that the noble nourishment of a ducal house be thrown into the dungeons below the palace?”

“...”

He ground out the words: “Do nothing. Interfere no more with Dalia’s work.”

“Not do anything...?”

“Yes. Nothing at all.”

“...”

“Remember, I send you back to your fief out of gratitude for your cousin’s tireless service to this country.”

Erilot’s expression fell. She managed a bitter smile, then bowed her head.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I shall never return from the Astra estate.”

...No matter what happens.

My promise to share our family’s lifelong collection of herbs was not entirely for my own sake—it was the last spark of conscience: I could not permit so many to perish.

‘But that was enough.’

Erilot saluted the Emperor and left the tent. Dalia gazed up at him, eyes glistening.

“Thank you for forgiving my cousin, Your Majesty.”

‘I’m so happy—my feelings are understood.’

Dalia clenched both fists and declared:

“I will work even harder. I will let more people—no, all the people of the empire—drink the crumatus tea I brew!”

“Very well.”

Dalia laughed brightly.

Three weeks passed. What began in the capital spread across the nation—no, the entire continent. The people despaired and flocked to the capital for the only remedy, crumatus.

At the heart of crumatus treatment stood Dalia Astra. Immortalized in the house’s martyrology, she was hailed as the “Sacred Lady,” “Saint Dalia.” Word of “Saint Dalia” reached every corner of the world.

“Lady Dalia, the Queen Dowager of Aligirosa has arrived!”

“Yes! I’ll just see Princess Palasa first!”

Royalty from foreign lands sought Dalia, leaving her no moment’s rest.

“Oh dear, I’m exhausted.”

After seeing the Queen Dowager of Aligirosa, Dalia padded down the palace corridor, tapping her shoulder.

“You must rest. You’ve slept none for two nights.”

The maids asked worryingly. Dalia shook her head.

“I’m fine. I must care for the Emperor, the Queen Dowager, and the Empress Consort.”

“But—”

“I’m indispensable. If I rest, what then? Let us hurry!”

Dalia laughed and headed to the grand audience chamber, where the Emperor, Crown Princess, and Empress Consort awaited her.

‘I’ll share the amusing stories I heard from the patients.’

All the royals adored Dalia—except the Queen Dowager, who fretted over protocol. But soon, she and Dalia would grow close.

‘Being the world’s only saint isn’t so bad.’

Welcomed warmly, Dalia needed no announcement to enter. She burst in cheerfully.

“Greetings! Though it rained today, I feel rather poetic—”

“Do you not question what nonsense that is—!”

This was unlike them. The Emperor, Crown Princess, and Empress Consort wore grave faces, and His Majesty even thundered angrily. His court physicians cowered before him.

“I—I burned the crumatus that got wet in the rain, but the smoke—”

“What of the smoke—!!”

“The smoke took the form of a monster! The Chief Imperial Physician investigated and found...it is the ancient monster Despair’s spores!”

The Emperor lurched and sank into his chair.

“You poisoned my people and foreign nobility with ancient monster spores—”

“Your disease... the contagion... seems to have been crumatus—”

“What—!!”

Esther and the court physicians turned pale. Dalia looked around, bewildered.

‘What? What’s happening?’

Crumatus was spores of an ancient monster? And it caused the contagion?

What nonsense was this?

Esther asked anxiously:

“But Your Majesty has consumed crumatus for so long. Why now is it contagious—and spreading so quickly?”

The physicians glanced at Dalia, then shouted:

“It’s all Lady Dalia’s fault!”

“Pardon?”

“It seems a unique wavelength from Lady Dalia greatly amplified the power of the crumatus—”

‘What?’

So it was all my fault? What is this?

‘I only did my best...’

Then Erilot’s words echoed:

“You’re ruining this country!”

Dalia flinched.

‘She knew all along!’

She hurriedly told the Emperor:

“Your Majesty, how could this be? But Erilot knew. She told me I was destroying the country!”

“You heard that—?”

“What?”

The Empress Consort and Crown Princess glared at Dalia.

‘Why are you looking at me like that—?’

Erilot stayed silent, though she knew everything. I simply acted in good faith, believing crumatus was a cure.

Dalia stepped back trembling as the Crown Princess approached her.

“Then why did you not tell me?”

“I, um....”

Dalia looked to the Emperor for help, but his usual warmth was gone, replaced by a chilling stare.

“Y-Your Majesty—?”

“Your father was the first to bring crumatus.”

“Father?”

“He ordered me to keep you near.”

“That was....”

“And you, without command, used the guise of a healer to feed my people ancient monster spores—!!”

“...!”

Dalia froze, clutching her apron with shaking hands.

“Y-Your Majesty, I... I only meant to help. We are friends, so friends help friends....”

“Did your father command you to say that?”

“Your Majesty!”

Bang—!! The Emperor slammed the chair’s armrest and rose, then staggered, clutching his forehead.

“What on earth have I done—.”

At that moment—

“Y-Your Majesty!”

A footman burst in. The Emperor frowned.

“What is it?”

“The Imperial Health Bureau dispatched to distribute crumatus across the empire submitted their required quantities—”

“That mission is complete. Recall all crumatus immediately.”

“N-no, that’s not it!”

The footman swallowed hard.

“At the Astra estate, they reported ‘zero.’”

“Lady Erilot Astra? It seems she has prevented the patients from accessing crumatus.”

“There is none.”

“What?”

“No. There simply is none.”

“What in the world—!”

“There have been no patients at all!”

The Emperor’s expression stiffened.

“How is that possible—?”

“The ‘Astra Health Bureau’ Erilot Astra established at the estate has perfectly halted the contagion.”

“What did you say?”

“Moreover, news arrived that she fully cured her infected cousin within days—”

The court physicians, Esther, the Empress Consort, the Crown Princess, Dalia, even the Emperor gasped.

“H-How could this—?”

They murmured in awe. The Emperor’s face brightened.

“Fetch Lady Erilot Astra to the capital at once. Immediately!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

While everyone rejoiced, only Dalia’s eyes widened in shock.

‘What—?’

Why this turn of events? Something was amiss. I worked so hard—why summon Erilot?

Tears brimmed in Dalia’s eyes. All the nobility now awaited Erilot’s arrival. In the council chamber, they waited anxiously until a knock sounded.

“Is that Lady Astra?”

The Emperor called brightly—but the footman entered instead.

He spoke grimly:

“I bring Lady Erilot Astra’s letter.”

“A letter? Not in person?”

“Yes. ‘I remember the order to confine me to my fief and never intervene again. Since then I have feared appearing in public. I regret to say...’”

“Regret to say?”

The nobles swallowed. The footman continued, eyes shut tight:

“She declares she will never return to the capital in her lifetime—.”

The Emperor flinched, frozen.