The Villainess Wants to Make Her Husband Slim Down

CHAPTER 43

Other than that, there were a few crevices that only a small child would have been able to fit into. Camilla looked around, then spoke to Nicole.

"Which one? Should we try this one, then?"

Camilla asked, pointing at the second opening.

"I-I don't think so, it has a strong reaction of magical power, but it's dangerous..."

"Should we go back down the tunnel we came from, then?"

"You can't! That place... It might explode at any time..."

"Then..."

As Camilla was about to speak, she head a clanging sound behind her.

Camilla turned around to look at the source of that strange sound, lying on the floor behind her.

What she saw was Martha's walking cane that she had thrown to the ground, with the old woman herself hunched over on the floor. The manservant beside her looked worried as he called out to her.

"Lady Martha, what's wrong?"

"I can't walk anymore."

Martha looked on emotionlessly as she told him that, making no effort to pick up her fallen cane.

"My legs won't move. I can't even grip my walking stick properly anymore. Yet, just where am I supposed to be going?"

"We're trying to escape, please just hang in there a little longer."

As the manservant tried to encourage her, Martha shook her head. Then, without raising her head, she shifted her gaze to Nicole.

"We're constantly following tunnels that the miners themselves have never taken, running into dead ends every time. At this rate, can we ever truly escape?"

It was impossible to see Martha's expression in the dark. But those words illustrated her doubts clearly.

Nicole seemed to shrink back as she trembled. Her hands were grasped together as she stared at the ground.

"Um... I..."

"Nicole, are we getting closer to Lord Alois' magical power?"

"Y-Yes. I think we're close now."

Nicole managed to respond quietly to Camilla's question. Although she had been reaching one dead-end after another in pursuit of it, Nicole was in effect getting closer to the source of Alois' power. Although, even if she's close, because she doesn't know exactly how to get there she has chosen the wrong path more than a few times. That only made Nicole less and less confident each time.

Listening to Nicole's words, Martha could only express an exhausted sigh, her breath ragged.

"Can we really trust what this girl has to say? Even if you can use magic, do you really understand how to follow its power? In fact, is there really someone's power above ground in the first place? At this point, who can say."

Martha tried to take another deep breath, but it turned into a hacking cough. It must be due to her intense fatigue that her breathing sounded more and more laboured with every word she spoke. Because of her old age, this ordeal must have been truly awful on Martha. That had only enhanced her doubtfulness of the whole thing.

Of course, that didn't mean Camilla had to accept her selfish words.

"I would ask you to just remain patient, if you could. There is no point in trying to shift the blame onto Nicole now."

"Are you going to have me be patient until I keel over and die?"

"I'd have you be patient so that you don't die! If it weren't for Nicole, we would have been caught in a magical explosion already!"