Chapter 681: Creepy Smile

Third Person’s POV

Eleanor nodded.

"Yes."

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"If Ethan had chosen to fight cautiously and attempted to drag the battle into a war of attrition, he would have undoubtedly lost his life."

Aurelia’s lips trembled as she trembled in fear at that hypothetical outcome.

A terrifying chill ran through her body as the implications finally sank in.

"J-Just how dangerous and terrifying was that demonic existence...?"

Her voice trembled as she looked toward the room where Ethan was resting.

"Yet Ethan still managed to kill it."

"Yes."

Eleanor’s eyes softened for a brief moment.

"Because he is my son."

There was pride in her voice, but there was also something else.

A strange, almost fervent light appeared within her eyes as she stared toward the room where Ethan lay unconscious.

"And as his mother..."

Her voice became firm.

"It is now my turn to save my son."

Aurelia gulped when she saw the fervent light burning within Eleanor’s eyes.

She had never seen such an expression on her before.

For some reason, it sent a strange shiver through her heart.

After a brief silence, Aurelia slowly spoke.

"According to everything we have discovered so far..."

Eleanor’s expression turned solemn.

"Yes."

Aurelia’s heart sank.

"But then..."

She hesitated before asking the question that had been troubling her.

"How can making another potion with the poison possibly help?"

She couldn’t understand the logic.

"If the poison is truly that strange and dangerous, how would the poison inside Ethan even recognize the poison in the potion as an enemy?

Wouldn’t it instead become even stronger by combining with it?"

Eleanor’s lips slowly curved upward.

A mysterious smile appeared on her face.

"That’s the difficult part."

She leaned closer to Aurelia.

"It would have been impossible for anyone else."

Her eyes gleamed with confidence.

"But not for your aunt."

Aurelia blinked as Eleanor slowly reached into her spatial ring.

A moment later, an ornate red box appeared in her hand.

The box itself was beautifully crafted, its surface covered in intricate patterns that Aurelia had never seen before.

Eleanor carefully placed it on the table.

Then she opened it.

The moment Aurelia saw what was inside, her eyes widened.

Her mouth opened in shock.

She nearly screamed.

But before she could make a sound, Eleanor immediately reached over and covered her mouth with one hand.

"Shhh!"

Aurelia’s muffled cry escaped beneath her palm.

Eleanor glared at her.

"Do you want everyone outside to hear us?"

Aurelia hurriedly shook her head.

Only then did Eleanor slowly remove her hand.

But Aurelia’s eyes remained fixed on the object inside the red box, her expression still filled with disbelief.

Inside the box lay a strange, misshapen ginseng root.

At first glance, it resembled an ordinary ginseng root, albeit one that had grown in an exceptionally twisted manner.

But then Aurelia noticed the thing that had made her scream in shock.

A horrifying human-like smile was embedded within the main body of the root.

The smile was far too lifelike.

Worse, there was something strangely self-satisfied and delusional about it, as though the root itself were grinning at some secret and creepy fantasy that only it could see.

Just staring at that creepy smile sent chills down Aurelia’s spine.

Then, without warning, something strange began to happen.

Her thoughts became disordered.

The moment her gaze lingered upon the root, fantastical ideas began rising within her heart one after another.

Soon she realized that she was actually an all powerful queen, and everyone around her existed merely to serve her.

She was the greatest potion master in the entire world, and countless people knelt before her, endlessly singing her praises and bowing their heads without even daring to meet her eyes.

Nothing could oppose her.

In that beautiful world, Princess Arlene was nothing more than her personal maid.

Edhan was her most loyal soldier, willing to obey her every command without hesitation.

And Ethan, well, he loved only her, and her only, with all his heart and soul.

He would never question her.

Never doubt her.

Never leave her.

The more those thoughts surfaced, the more real that fantastical world became.

Aurelia’s consciousness gradually sank deeper into that beautiful illusion.

She had completely lost herself within that utopia.

Unknown to her, the corners of her lips had slowly curled upward into the exact same creepy smile displayed by the ginseng root.

Saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth.

Her eyes gradually rolled backward until only the whites remained visible.

Her consciousness was already teetering dangerously close to complete collapse.

Then—

SLAP!

A sharp slap landed across Aurelia’s face.

"Snap out of it and control yourself!"

Eleanor’s low but firm voice followed.

The words were infused with soul energy, penetrating directly into Aurelia’s consciousness like a sharp spear and violently shattering the dreamlike utopia that had enveloped her mind.

The illusion shattered instantly.

Aurelia’s pupils rapidly regained focus as the distorted world before her eyes disappeared, replaced by the cold surroundings of the makeshift potion room.

The moment she understood what had happened, terror washed over her.

She had fallen into a false reality without even realizing it.

Worse, she had completely accepted that false reality as the absolute truth.

For those brief moments, she hadn’t even known that she was trapped inside an illusion.

Everything she had experienced had felt completely real.

Aurelia’s breathing became hurried as the horrifying realization sank in.

If Eleanor hadn’t intervened in time, she might have remained trapped inside that illusion until her consciousness completely collapsed.

And once her mind and soul suffered irreversible damage, there might have been no way to recover.

She stumbled backward, her face pale with lingering fear, and hurriedly turned her gaze away from the red box, refusing to look at it again.

She didn’t dare look at it again.

"W-What is that demonic thing, Aunt...?"

Her voice trembled.

"Hah..."

She gasped heavily for breath, sweat running down her pale face despite the freezing temperature of the realm.