A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 42

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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 42】

 

I dragged the thief I caught red-handed to my room.

 

Fortunately, my room hadn’t been handed over to Lishie and was preserved as it was. Even the soundproofing magic circle I had installed in the room.

 

As soon as the door closed, Mel started rattling on.

 

“Miss! I believed you would return safely!”

 

Like hell she did.

 

It was obvious that she had carefully stolen not only the box she was now holding preciously, but also other valuables, stuffing them into every corner of her body.

 

“You were planning to grab everything valuable and run, weren’t you?”

 

“No! How could you say such hurtful things! I waited and waited for you alone for three whole months!”

 

It was indeed a bit surprising that Mel had waited for me all this time while I was absent. Though she did get caught trying to flee today.

 

“Then after seeing the wanted notice, you thought ‘this rope has rotted’ and decided to abandon your master, right or wrong.”

 

“Exactly right! As expected of Miss!”

 

Mel didn’t even deny it and gave a thumbs up.

 

Appreciating her shamelessness, instead of lecturing or beating her, I spoke kindly.

 

“Hand over the box.”

 

“Miss disappeared without a word, so I’m owed a lot of back pay. Please understand.”

 

“Just hand over the box and you can keep the rest.”

 

“Hehe. What else could I have possibly taken?”

 

“Right. Since you have two hands, you don’t need one of them?”

 

“I’m returning it! Returning!”

 

Only then did Mel hurriedly hand over the box.

 

Anyway, this box was a magical tool that only I could open, so even if she stole it, she wouldn’t be able to sell it for its proper value.

 

Actually, knowing Mel, she might have greatly exaggerated that point and sold it as some ancient magical artifact or something.

 

I put the box I received into my robe’s inner pocket and plopped down on the bed. Davuer just stood there like a wooden statue while watching me.

 

“Why don’t you sit down next to me?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

No, but I’m not fine.

 

He couldn’t look more uncomfortable. The awkward hand-holding position made it even worse.

 

Mel, who had been rolling her eyes busily, quickly asked.

 

“Miss, who is that person?”

 

“Oh my. You’ll get hurt if you know.”

 

“Did you finally switch from His Highness the Prince?”

 

This girl, really.

 

When I glared at her silently, Mel timidly mumbled.

 

“Well, Miss disappeared on that exact day… I thought maybe you ran away after falling for another man. You know, eloping for love, that sort of thing.”

 

“I did run away after causing trouble on that exact day.”

 

“Um, I’m just asking just in case. You wouldn’t happen to be the assailant who attacked His Highness the Prince that day, would you? Haha, surely not.”

 

What a bother, asking such things. She had already finished that deduction and was trying to flee quickly when things got chaotic.

 

I lightly agreed.

 

“Correct. You could be a detective.”

 

After a moment of chilling silence.

 

Mel screamed and grabbed her head.

 

“Kyaaah! Why?! No matter how angry you were, still, that’s tr-treason…! I, I have nothing to do with it!”

 

Admirably, she was only worried about her own safety.

 

When Davuer looked at her with eyes that said ‘that thing is your long-time subordinate?’, I shrugged as if to say ‘this is the extent of my luck with people.’

 

And I clarified the facts for Mel.

 

“Unfortunately Mel, you’re an accomplice too. You’re the one who gave me information about the Prince’s location.”

 

“I thought you’d just slap him!”

 

“I didn’t know I’d go that far either.”

 

Of course, slapping him would have been quite an act of insubordination too.

 

At that time, I was furious after reading gossip magazines about ‘the two duchesses of Baltres’ and ‘who will become the Crown Princess’ and such.

 

Though I hadn’t intended to kill him. It was because the marriage annulment notice poured in like oil on a fire that I went crazy.

 

“Miss!”

 

Mel made a tearful face, but I didn’t feel particularly sorry for her.

 

“You’re facing life imprisonment for theft and fraud anyway.”

 

That’s right.

 

Mel, who was older than she looked, was the master of an information guild before being my maid, and before that, a wanted thief and con artist.

 

The nobles who suffered because of her numbered in the dozens, and she had earned enough money to buy several entire streets of the Citadel.

 

She who had been riding high after even establishing a guild, approached me to gather information about Baltres, but instead had her identity exposed and got caught.

 

And instead of punishing her, I bought her loyalty with money.

 

“That’s different from this! If I get caught, I’ll be executed too! My neck will go chop!”

 

…She has absolutely no loyalty to me whatsoever.

 

But I rather liked how she remained transparently materialistic, so I decided to be generous.

 

“Just don’t get caught. Why do you think I came back?”

 

“…Uh, well? Because you went crazy?”

 

Naturally, her solid skills as an informant too.

 

“Choose. Prison or cooperating with me.”

 

* * *

 

Mel ‘smoothly’ agreed to cooperate.

 

Whether she wailed or not, right after I sent her away almost like chasing her out, telling her to come to the inn on 7th Street within two days with the latest developments from the Imperial Capital.

 

Davuer, who had maintained a consistently untrustworthy attitude throughout, asked.

 

“Don’t we need to track her separately?”

 

“It’s already being done, isn’t it?”

 

Why do you think I let her take the valuables so readily?

 

There’s tracking magic on them. As long as she possesses them, she’s in the palm of my hand.

 

“And Mel keeps promises she makes with her own mouth.”

 

You could call it the secret to our long employment relationship.

 

She might throw tantrums demanding more pay, but she had never backstabbed me – she was a faithful subordinate in the end, at least in terms of results.

 

I deliberately hardened my expression and lowered my voice.

 

“Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t get a clear answer earlier. Davuer keeps promises too, understood?”

 

“…”

 

“Do you know why I stabbed the Prince? It’s all because he didn’t keep his promise with me.”

 

Now that I said it, it sounded too much like a threat.

 

“…My words were a bit strange. I don’t mean I’ll kill you for breaking a promise, okay? I’m not that violent a person.”

 

Chessier’s case was just special.

 

If I killed this man, I’d die, you’d die, everyone would die – there’s no way I could do that.

 

‘And actually, even if that weren’t the case…’

 

The moment I quickly changed my words, Davuer suddenly slowly lifted our clasped hands and brought them to his forehead.

 

As if praying.

 

He looked unusually devout and faithful, unbelievably so for someone called a demon outside.

 

Would it sound crazy to say that even the plain black hood on his head looked like a prayer veil?

 

Silver hair falling over his eyelids. A metallic gaze meeting mine through it.

 

He whispered like a priest reciting an oracle.

 

“If I fail to keep it, I’ll die by your hand.”

 

“…”

 

It was strange. His voice was clearly light, yet somehow what was contained within it felt indescribably heavy.

 

My spirit, which had been briefly captivated, slowly returned.

 

‘What… why would you make a promise like that?’

 

I’ll keep it, I’ll do that, I’ll remember. That would be enough, but why does he have to act so dramatically as if he’s staking his life on it?

 

Besides.

 

“…I don’t want that.”

 

Who asked you to kill me? What nonsense!

 

I carefully lowered the hand that had been touching his forehead, making sure not to let go of the hand I was holding.

 

“Why?”

 

‘Really now. Why what why…’

 

But looking into those eyes, I felt like I might end up agreeing to whatever he wanted.

 

I hastily looked away and grabbed the door handle.

 

“I have no intention of killing you or letting you die, anyway!”

 

“…”

 

“We’re still infiltrating, and now is the time for thievery. Focus.”

 

I was talking to myself as much as to him.

 

I left the room immediately without waiting for Davuer’s response. After all, our only business here was to collect the box and find Mel.

 

We walked silently through the empty corridor for quite a while.

 

The place where the treasure to steal was located was in the basement of the main building.

 

Fortunately, it was in the complete opposite direction from the upper floors where Noaren would be, so we didn’t need to worry too much about being caught.

 

It didn’t take long to reach our destination while occasionally avoiding servants moving through the corridors.

 

“Here it is.”

 

I whispered this while touching a landscape painting that nearly covered an entire wall with my fingertip.

 

The door to a storage room that only direct descendants of Baltres could open. An identical one existed in the duchy as well.

 

Actually, family treasures were usually displayed there, but what I was looking for now was in the Citadel.

 

Since it was a sacred object, it was supposedly better positioned close to the Grand Temple or something? It was for some superstitious reason.

 

Soon the portrait slid sideways without a sound, revealing a hidden spiral staircase leading underground.

 

“Ta-da.”

 

“…”

 

“Can’t you at least act surprised? How boring.”

 

“Do I need to if it’s not surprising?”

 

He always responded without ever backing down, as usual.

 

For some reason, I felt inwardly relieved by this fact as I took the lead going down the stairs one by one. Then.

 

“Irene.”

 

Davuer, who had stopped immovably, held me back. Just then, the door closed smoothly behind him.

 

“Why? You’re not scared of the dark, are you?”

 

Actually, this stairway wasn’t even dark. It was quite bright thanks to small lights maintained by magic.

 

“Below.”

 

He narrowed his brow as if gauging something and continued.

 

“There’s a ghost.”

 

…What kind of genre-changing statement is this.

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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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