The second female lead Dual Cultivates

"Executed in two days? Don't joke with me over this. Where are the laughs? The camera crew?" Maria tried to lighten the situation but nothing made it look like Lady Elma was joking with her. The other lady was 100% serious, wasn't she?

How did Maria always end up in these situations when she least expected it? Why were there so many unnecessary twists that did not make sense in her life? Ah, because this world was originally a novel, right?

"Trisha McWell is the current owner of the key and the last of the McWelk line as well. The governing council decided she was to be executed due to being a danger to the peace of Imu. They scheduled it to happen in two days" Maria gulped as she heard the name.

What a coincidence to hear the name. She knew that name since she had taken the time to learn about the MC's harem originally. But Maria had never thought she would meet anyone else from it except Suna. The other few girls in Gerna haven't even made an appearance.

"The princess? I thought the government agreed to leave the royal family alone if they agreed to not interfere with the government." The original file had said something about neglect and unjust killing.

But unlike other people, Maria did not have a lot of knowledge about this place. She had never expected to even set foot in Imu since it had collapsed by the time the main party had met the former princess.

How did they end up in Imu of all places? Especially when they did not incline ever heading here? This place was about to end up as finished anyway.

"I can't believe my luck. We just escaped a life-threatening situation, only to end up in another life-threatening situation. How did this happen" Maria moaned those words out in almost pain? There was no other choice for her but to seal the node of this world now.

Either that or sneak into the royal palace to use their connector and hop the world. Staying here would be a death wish. Maria was not ready to die this young and she also needs to live out Nao's wishes.

"Like- threatening? Did you see something you cannot share about? Are there rules about not telling the future to others?" Lady Elma asked and Maria frowned. She had thought that the other knew about Oracle and their powers but that seemed not to be the case.

But Maria was also sure she had heard about the last oracle and her journey to far distant lands. What was the name of the last oracle again? For some reason, Maria felt like the answer was just at the tip of her tongue before it slipped her mind.

"I might know a thing or two about what is going to happen here. The node is going to collapse and Imu would end up as a relic of the last" Maria informed and waited for the backlash.

No one liked it when they were told about the eventual downfall of their home. And with how much Lady Elma had seemed to be attached to the people and the continent, it was akin to poking a sleeping lion. So if Lady Elma decided to attack her to get more information, it would be within her right to do that.

"I see. That is a real problem but not one we can tackle right out of the blue. It would be better for us to focus on retrieving the McWell heir first" Lady Elma concluded which surprised Maria.

She had thought for sure that the elder lady would jump up at the chance to save this world, even if it meant the death of Trisha McWell but maybe Maria had overestimated the attachment Lady Elma had in her key.

"Saving the node or not, we will need the key to get there first and for that, we need Trisha McWell. Let's hope we make it in time '' Apparently, it was Maria who had her information mixed up. She should have thought about the situation better.

But Maria has always been a doer and not a thinker. The one who generally came up with plans was Nao and surely she would have a good one this time around as well-

-but she was gone. She would never make plans and Maria felt her eyes become wet at the reminder. Nao was gone and the grief over that came in small waves. It was so painful to bear and Maria could not help but choke at her tears.

"It seems like you are not in any condition to continue this talk. Shall we postpone it for a few hours?" Lady Elma asked and Maria clutched her chest tightly. She needed to get over Nao for now. There was no time to mourn her now.

The time to mourn would come soon. But for that to happen, they needed to survive first. And the only one with this knowledge was Lady Elma in front of her.

"No need to postpone this talk. We don't have the luxury of time to wait around" Since Lady Elma did not respond with a negative, Maroa supposed that she agreed with her. Not that it mattered to Maria.

She had all but recovered from the wounds she had sustained and her heat was manageable as well. There was only a thin line between the two-day frame and the node's collapse would happen within this week.

​ "Alright. I already had a force ready to carry out a rescue operation and you joining them might turn out to be a bigger power boost than we originally thought. However, your companion would need to stay here" Lady Elma commanded and Maria felt reluctant to part with Suna.

Of course, she understood why she could not take Suna. The other female was not in her right mind but surely it was better to keep her with Maria?

"Do we have to? No one else other than me would be able to control her if she got into a rage. She also seemed to have absorbed a little of the node's magic" the last part was a guess since Maria could not feel the magic bit it still felt right to say.

Besides, the transformation Suna had gone through seemed not natural. There had to be other factors involved in this. Maria was sure of that and she did not want Suna out of her sight for some time.

"Alright. Have it your way but you'll be responsible for her" it was fine with Maria. Suna was her responsibility in the end and Maria was going to take care of her.