The Villain's Ending is Only Death Chapter 85
I looked up at the Crown Prince, who had a fierce expression on his face, with wide eyes.
"Why are you cutting your perfectly fine hair with a knife so recklessly?"
I was taken aback by the Crown Prince's insistence on questioning every move I made.
"I told you I would do it myself, so please wait a moment, Your Highness."
I pulled my hand away from his grip forcefully and replied indifferently.
"I'm busy now, so don't interfere and wait over there."
"…Impudent. How dare you talk about interfering with the Crown Prince of the Empire."
As he pointed with his finger where I should step back, he grumbled but retreated.
I put the dagger I had taken out back into my pocket.
Then I gathered a handful of my cut hair in my hand.
My pink hair curled attractively.
‘If it were straight, it would have been better…’
I glanced at the Crown Prince's blonde hair with a tinge of regret, but if I didn't want to die, I had to be satisfied with what I had.
I approached the skeleton again and gently brushed my left finger bones with my hair.
When cleaning the site, removing foreign objects from the excavation target is a basic necessity.
My hair was so soft that it was more like wiping away dirt rather than brushing it off, but it was much better than before.
After a while, though not perfectly, the visible foreign objects were mostly removed.
However, I couldn't just pull out the scroll.
Due to the moisture from the decaying body and the dampness of the cave, the bone and paper parts were almost stuck together.
If I pulled it out forcefully, the paper might tear.
‘First, I need to remove the moisture.’
After pondering for a moment, I thought of one way to remove the scroll.
Paper cultural relics are very susceptible to damage, so they need to be handled carefully.
Ideally, they should be moved to a sterile room, treated with preservatives, and dried, but that was out of the question here.
I looked around frantically for something that could help remove the moisture.
Then I noticed a discarded, extinguished torch that the Crown Prince had thrown aside carelessly.
I shook out my cut hair onto the floor and quickly approached it.
I picked up a piece of wood and smashed its end on a rock.
The part that had burned black and turned to charcoal crumbled easily.
Once I had gathered enough charcoal powder, I threw the wood aside and squatted down to scrape it together with my hands.
Then I returned to the skeleton and gently rubbed the charcoal powder onto the surface of the scroll.
"What are you doing now?"
The Crown Prince, who had been silently watching my busy movements, predictably approached and asked.
"I'm removing the moisture to easily detach the part stuck to the bone."
The Crown Prince watched my actions with a puzzled look for a while before speaking.
"I don't understand why you have to go through such a troublesome process. Why not just cut the bone?"
"To minimize damage to both the skeleton and the paper, this is the only way. It would be better if I had tweezers or forceps…"
I muttered, brushing off the Crown Prince's odd comment.
Squatting and applying the sticky charcoal powder with my bare hands, I desperately wished for a simple pair of latex gloves.
"Did you study archaeology?"
My moving hands stopped abruptly.
I resumed moving my hands as if nothing had happened.
"I read a few books at home."
"The princess is truly unique. You seem to choose only the things that noble daughters don't do."
"Thank you for the compliment."
I clenched my teeth and replied, then finally finished applying the charcoal to the skeleton's hands.
Now, I just had to wait for the charcoal to absorb the moisture.
My hands, covered in charcoal, were a mess. As I looked at them with a troubled expression, the Crown Prince suddenly thrust something at me.
The Crown Prince had taken out a handkerchief and was offering it to me.
I looked at it in surprise, then took it with a "thank you."
"Do you carry something like this around all the time?"
It was a casual question, but the Crown Prince snorted, as if he had been caught.
"Huh. What do you think I am, a princess?"
A clear word popped into my head.
"…I think you are a brave Crown Prince."
But I managed to maintain my composure and replied as if making an excuse.
"…Handkerchiefs are usually not carried for dynamic activities like hunting. Even my brothers often forget them."
Whether those two really forgot their handkerchiefs was a lie.
The Crown Prince sent me a suspicious look before saying dismissively,
"Probably didn't want to receive a gift."
"That handkerchief, I received it from some noble lady before the battle."
As the guy chuckled and added, I looked down at my hands, which were now black with dirt.
When I finally noticed the daffodil embroidered on the corner, he said,
"Ah. Because of you, I can't use this handkerchief anymore. I inadvertently ignored the noble lady's gesture. Isn't that so?"
The Crown Prince dramatically clutched his chest. It was clearly to tease me.
I immediately returned the handkerchief I had been using to wipe my hands.
"Wash it and use it again."
"You're not going to give me a new handkerchief as a gift, are you?"
The Crown Prince frowned.
In the end, it seemed he had lent me the handkerchief just to hear those words from me.
I ignored his words and replied coldly,
"Thank you for lending it to me."
"Why are you so ungrateful?"
The Crown Prince, holding the handkerchief with a displeased look, spat out another insult.
‘You’re the one who’s ungrateful, you jerk!’
I was about to snap, but now was the time to remove the scroll.
I carefully took off my jacket.
I didn't want to damage the old paper by touching it with my warm hands.
It felt a bit strange, but I had no choice. I wrapped the scroll in the thin part of the jacket and carefully pulled it out.
Fortunately, my idea of using charcoal to absorb moisture was correct.
It was a bit stiff, but I finally managed to pull the scroll out from between the skeleton's finger bones.
I had held my breath, fearing the paper might crumble. I don't know how much I had been concentrating.
When I carefully laid the jacket, which was wrapped around the two scrolls, on the floor, a sigh of relief escaped me.
"Why are you so careful with it? A quick check would have been enough."
The Crown Prince clicked his tongue and approached as I carefully unfolded the crumpled jacket.
I ignored his comment and carefully examined the condition of the scrolls.
The two scrolls were tied with a red and a blue leather cord, respectively.
Apart from the dark, decayed marks in the middle, the condition of the paper was quite good.
There were no signs of mold or insect damage.
‘Was this also preserved by magic, like the body?’
I would have to open it to know, but the paper was layered and reinforced, so the inside might be intact despite the decayed parts.
Since I had successfully removed it, I naturally assumed I would move it to a safe place.
Excavated artifacts are typically preserved and then used for research.
But the Crown Prince suddenly grabbed the blue cord on the scroll in front of him.
Before I could stop him, the knot came undone, and the rolled-up scroll unfolded on its own.
"Don't handle it so carelessly…"
I was about to scold him for treating the artifact so rudely.
At that moment, the scene before me suddenly brightened.
〈SYSTEM〉 Hidden Quest [Exploring the Suspicious Cave] Mission Completed!
〈SYSTEM〉 As a reward, you have obtained [Ancient Magic Map]. Do you wish to accept it?
I was staring blankly at the sudden system window when the Crown Prince muttered with a firm voice after thoroughly examining the map.
"This is… a map of the northern forest."
I turned my gaze from the system window to the inside of the scroll at his words.
To my surprise, a moving map was drawn on the paper.
As the Crown Prince touched various parts of the map, the area expanded.
Then, on the faded paper, swaying trees and forests appeared.
It looked like a video playing in black and white ink.
‘Wow. It’s like a tablet PC.’
I was amazed by the magical map.
But the Crown Prince muttered as if it were nothing.
"That dead guy was trying to engrave a teleportation portal inside the palace."
The Crown Prince reached out and grabbed the red scroll that was lying nearby.
He untied the knot and unfolded it without giving me a chance to say anything.
The map drawn inside the other scroll was also of an unknown place.
"This is… a map of ancient Balt."
The Crown Prince's sharp red eyes slowly widened as he examined the map.
"Traces of Balt, this is quite surprising?"
"Yes. The current Arkina Empire. You probably don't know much. Most of Balt's history has been erased."
I didn't know where the current Arkina was. I just assumed it was somewhere in a neighboring country, so I pretended to know.
"Do you know about the persecution of mages?"
The Crown Prince suddenly asked. It was a topic I had been quite concerned about due to the rumors.
"Balt is the beginning of the persecution of mages."