A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 41

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 41】

 

“Ah, Miss…?”

 

As the male soldier stammered and loosened his grip on the spear, the woman beside him stomped hard on his foot.

 

“Get a grip! That’s impossible!”

 

“Ah, uh, right. Don’t, don’t talk nonsense. Who are you!”

 

“The man next to you! You take off your hood too!”

 

“Tsk, they don’t believe me.”

 

Well, if they immediately believed the words of an uninvited guest appearing from the darkness, that would be Baltres’s shame in its own way.

 

I picked up the lantern rolling at my feet and brightly illuminated my face.

 

“How about now?”

 

“…!”

 

The two soldiers’ eyes widened.

 

But soon they gripped their spears again.

 

“So who are you!”

 

…They can’t even recognize faces just because I changed my hair color a bit. Are these guys a bit slow?

 

After making that judgment, instead of explaining this and that, I used magic to pull the spear points aimed at me.

 

Whoosh!

 

“Uh, uhhh!”

 

The spears helplessly slipped from their grasp and flew behind us, embedding deep into the ground.

 

The dumbfounded patrol soldiers muttered.

 

“Ma, magic…”

 

Only then did the look in their eyes slowly change to horror. The female soldier who had been gossiping about the ‘eldest miss’ until just moments ago covered her mouth with her hand.

 

Mm, good reaction.

 

“From now on, I’ll be asking the questions.”

 

“Miss, how are you…”

 

“I said I’ll be asking the questions, didn’t I? Answer with yes or no.”

 

“That…”

 

They seemed quite confused about whether to treat me as a young lady or as a criminal.

 

Look at them exchanging glances with each other.

 

Times like this are when you need to establish discipline.

 

“But your necks are still stiff, aren’t they?”

 

“What?”

 

Thud!

 

I immediately used magic to kick their legs, making them kneel. They blinked stupidly as if they still couldn’t grasp the situation well.

 

Since I had no intention of giving them time to think calmly, I decided to stimulate their fear.

 

“Answer honestly and I’ll let you live, otherwise…”

 

Whoosh, thud!

 

When I moved the spear I had taken with magic and embedded it between them, a gasping sound burst out.

 

Now seeming to recall the numerous evil rumors surrounding me one by one, their faces turned deathly pale.

 

A benevolent smile welled up from my heart.

 

“You know, right?”

 

What followed was instantaneous.

 

Crouched low, they sold out their employer’s information more easily than reluctantly eating mustard while crying.

 

After finishing the brief Q&A, I asked again for confirmation.

 

“The Duke isn’t home right now, is that right?”

 

“Yes, yes.”

 

“And there’s only one drunk older brother? Are you sure?”

 

“Really! At least at the patrol shift time, only the young duke was at the manor!”

 

The female soldier shouted loudly.

 

I immediately scolded her.

 

“I told you to answer with yes or no.”

 

“Yes…”

 

Then this is quite favorable, isn’t it?

 

There are two people I need to be careful of, but one is absent and one is in a drunken state – there couldn’t be better timing than this.

 

It’s as if heaven is helping my great thievery.

 

“Good, then is there a maid named Mel? Tiny as a mouse dropping with green hair, she was my chamber maid.”

 

“…”

 

“What, don’t tell me she quit? Why aren’t you answering?”

 

“But you said to only answer with yes or no…”

 

“Talking back too.”

 

“No, no! I don’t know such a maid! Actually, I was hired not too long ago…!”

 

So that’s why I didn’t recognize the face. Yet she was gossiping as if she knew everything.

 

Tsk, I clicked my tongue and gestured toward the male soldier.

 

“You too?”

 

“I, I don’t know…!”

 

Right, I didn’t expect much anyway.

 

I have no choice but to check directly.

 

I only wanted to get a general feel for the manor’s atmosphere before entering anyway. My business was roughly finished.

 

I set down the magic lantern I was holding in one hand as if throwing it, and unnecessarily threatened them more.

 

“If you’re lying, you’re dead.”

 

“It’s, it’s true!”

 

“If you go around blabbing that you met me, you’re also dead.”

 

Crack!

 

After splitting their spears with magic, I made a V with my fingers and pointed alternately at my eyes and them. It was a warning that I was ‘watching.’

 

“We absolutely won’t tell anyone!”

 

“Please… spare us!”

 

Leaving behind the sounds that followed like tails – whether they were oaths or pleas, I couldn’t tell – I dragged Davuer along and headed back toward the duke’s mansion, crossing the forest path again.

 

It was a bit undignified, but this was both the shortcut and where my precious little hole was, so there was no choice.

 

Davuer, who had been silently following me, murmured.

 

“It would be better to kill them. Or cut off their tongues and hands.”

 

“Wow, how brutal.”

 

“Their mouths won’t be that tight. What good is there in leaving future troubles?”

 

His voice was calm as he spoke of murder and destruction.

 

I also wasn’t trusting their mouths.

 

My guess is that at most after about a week, their fear of me will fade and they’ll think ‘Still, shouldn’t we report this to someone?’

 

“If rumors about me spread later, that’s good in its own way. Or not. I’m playing the role of bait anyway.”

 

That’s why I revealed who I was while I was at it.

 

‘Why did I come all the way to the Empire.’

 

To divert attention from Belmayer. Right now, I was full of thoughts about succeeding in that absurd and excellent operation.

 

Davuer, who had been silent for a moment, asked with considerable difficulty.

 

“…Aren’t you afraid even though you might have to risk your life?”

 

“Not really.”

 

I’m still worried, but not particularly afraid.

 

What I worry about are external things I can’t control myself. For example, a situation where the Empire declares war on Belmayer.

 

Since my head is already complicated enough, I decided to think about the safety of my neck later.

 

This matter cannot be retreated from, and must be done.

 

So if I’m going to do it, I’ll just do it.

 

It might be my natural disposition. From long ago, I’ve had a higher threshold for feeling pain than others, so my actions were correspondingly more bold.

 

“Even if you might really die?”

 

“Are you going to leave me to die?”

 

“….”

 

I asked jokingly, but embarrassingly, there was no answer coming back.

 

I glanced at his profile hidden in darkness and hood, then soon spotted the familiar Duke’s Mansion and let out an exclamation.

 

“Ah, we’ve arrived. This is right behind the annex.”

 

“…So. Where exactly is the entrance here?”

 

What we faced was a high wall surrounding the manor.

 

Being a mage family and all, this place also had protective magic circles activated similar to the Imperial Capital.

 

To be precise, this magic was actually a lower-grade version, more like an intruder detection sensor than protection….

 

“Here. I dug a hole here.”

 

I pointed to a corner of the wall hidden by bushes.

 

Soon the bushes cleared like mist, revealing a hole large enough for one adult to pass through.

 

“I secretly disrupted the magic circle’s range locally, so no one knows when I go in and out through here.”

 

“You’ve been… using that as your main entrance.”

 

It sounded like both criticism and admiration.

 

Though it was embarrassing, if I made it any larger, I’d get caught, so there was no choice.

 

Sometimes I needed to go out without the household knowing. Of course, my secret informants also used this path.

 

I naturally boasted.

 

“I prepared all this in advance for times like this.”

 

Now let’s crawl in.

 

It’s not dignified, but what can you do.

 

* * *

 

Deep in the night. The Duke’s Mansion was quiet as a tomb.

 

Though it was my ‘home’ that I was visiting after about half a year, nothing had changed during that time, so I could easily pass through the annex and enter the main building.

 

‘The servants’ routes seem unchanged too.’

 

The patrol guards’ words about the Duke being absent weren’t lies either. I confirmed there was light in the westernmost room on the top floor.

 

That belonged to the old butler waiting for his master’s return.

 

However, since Noaren in his bedroom was sensitive to mana flow, I had to move without using magic.

 

Having sharpened my senses, I whispered quietly to the man who gave off an even more ghostly atmosphere.

 

“I’ll visit my bedroom first. It’s on the east end of the 3rd floor… I think.”

 

“You think?”

 

That room had the best lighting in the Duke’s Mansion.

 

I had inherited the separate room that the Duke’s wife used to use, and I remembered throwing a tantrum to defend it when told to give it up to Lishie.

 

So whether it was still my room was questionable. Given how things went, they probably would have given it away.

 

“Let’s go see.”

 

Just as we climbed the stairs and were about to turn the corner.

 

I sensed someone’s presence from afar, so I immediately pulled Davuer’s hand and pressed him against the wall.

 

He frowned as our faces came close.

 

I spoke almost soundlessly, just moving my lips.

 

“Just bear with it a little.”

 

“….”

 

Not ‘thump thump’ but footsteps matching ‘sneak sneak’.

 

Probably female, small build, with a habit of stopping every three steps to look around.

 

…I think I know who it is.

 

When I peeked my head around the corner, sure enough, I saw the silhouette of a familiar maid.

 

‘I hid for nothing.’

 

I waited until the maid approached the stairs, then when she came within arm’s reach, I strongly grabbed her collar.

 

“…Mmph!”

 

Of course, I didn’t forget to cover her mouth before she could scream in surprise. With one hand mortgaged to Davuer, moving with just one hand was quite inconvenient.

 

Anyway, speaking of this maid.

 

A youthful face with sharp cat-like features, light green hair reaching her collarbone. And most importantly.

 

My jewelry box carefully tucked in her arms.

 

“Mel. You’re not trying to run away, are you?”

 

I came to steal but ended up catching a thief.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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