A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 91

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 91
* * *
The atmosphere in the Cordiac Charity hall was deeply unsettling.
Despite Edta’s Ring appearing from the hem of my dress, I remained composed.
“Don’t be fooled by that calm smile.”
People murmured among themselves.
“Lady Kiana smiles like an angel precisely when she’s committing an obvious wrongdoing.”
“That’s certainly true.”
Even with Sezare, my companion at the same table, proving unhelpful, I turned to gaze slowly at Loyte.
“Interim Captain of the Guard.”
“…Yes?”
Loyte had accumulated considerable experience from his long service as the capable First Captain of the Guard.
In truth, when one frequents crime scenes often enough, one develops an instinct for distinguishing the guilty from the innocent. This was why Loyte couldn’t move easily. His instincts, honed by years in the field, were telling him something clear: this princess was no criminal.
‘I wish I could discuss this feeling with someone! But Avian isn’t here.’
Loyte recalled the Fifth Captain of the Guard, Avian, and sighed deeply.
When he heard that Avian had submitted his resignation and left, he thought the future of the Guard was finished. But when he learned that Nix had become unable to move, suddenly the future seemed to exist again.
‘As a nobleman, he could have participated even without being in the Guard…. I’m certain I saw him on the guest list, so where on earth did he go?’
In fact, after Nix had become that way, Loyte had visited Avian once to try persuading him.
“Shouldn’t talented people like you continue to remain? Hmm?”
“Well…. But the First Captain of the Guard is still not you, is he? Even though Nix has become like that, the Imperial Family hasn’t appointed a new Captain of the Guard.”
“….”
“I believe nothing has changed.”
“But I’ve at least become interim captain and handle urgent matters as his substitute until Nix recovers….”
“That’s only a temporary position, Loyte.”
“….”
“The reason they placed you temporarily in that position… I believe it’s reasonable to interpret it as the Imperial Family wanting to preserve Nix’s position by force, not even promoting the Second Captain of the Guard.”
Loyte had no way to refute Avian’s words. Moreover, seeing the Duke’s Town House for the first time and finding it so magnificent only made him sadder, realizing the Guard had lost such a principled and talented individual.
‘I was planning to try convincing him one more time today….’
Loyte naturally expected Avian to attend the charity gala. It was a major event in the Capital’s social circles, and he knew considerable attention was being directed toward Avian, who had returned as Prince Ricinis. He even knew Avian was on the invitation list.
‘But why didn’t he come…. Is he ill?’
While Loyte sat quietly, I approached the table with light steps.
“Shall I introduce my donation first?”
And I boldly declared to the people surrounding the table.
“Everyone, step aside.”
Though brief, people scattered like they were seeing a bomb.
What I picked up from the table was precisely the “transparent ink” everyone had been cursing about. The one people said was just water in an ink bottle….
“This isn’t ordinary ink—it’s colorless fluorescent ink.”
People’s eyes began to blink. Some already looked drowsy before I’d even started.
“Our eyes cannot see everything. Light is divided into ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light, but we can only see visible light….”
And just as I was excitedly about to explain, I suddenly closed my mouth. This wasn’t the time to indulge in my hobbies. Only Loyte wore an intrigued expression, though even he seemed interested only in the situation itself, understanding nothing of the content.
“Ahem, in any case, this ink appears completely transparent to the naked eye, but… Your Grace?”
As I turned to look at Sezare, he approached with lightning speed. Then he produced a small magical artifact.
“This is a magical artifact that emits ultraviolet light.”
Sezare gave a brief explanation to the gathered crowd before directing the artifact’s light toward the ink bottle.
“Oh my!”
“Wow!”
“Good heavens…”
And the transparent ink contained within the bottle began to glow a brilliant blue.
“The conclusion is that while invisible to the naked eye, it becomes visible under ultraviolet light.”
I summarized the matter calmly.
“I had poured it onto Edta’s Ring earlier, you see?”
At my words, everyone’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“Pardon?”
“What did you say?”
“But why on earth?”
At the question of why I had deliberately applied it, I shrugged my shoulders.
“I spilled some of it around that area. Accidentally.”
“Accidentally?”
When someone cautiously questioned this, I shot back with raised eyes.
“Yes. Do you have a complaint? And even if you did, would it be appropriate to point out something so trivial in such a dramatic moment, or would it not?”
“…Ah, no, of course not.”
My confidence was so overwhelming that no one dared to contradict me.
Sezare immediately turned and directed the ultraviolet light toward Edta’s Ring lying on the grass. Indeed, Edta’s Ring also glowed with a blue luminescence.
“Well then.”
I smiled brightly.
“Whoever touched that Edta’s Ring would naturally have the ink on them and react to the ultraviolet light, wouldn’t they?”
Sezare then shone the ultraviolet light on my hand. Of course, nothing glowed except for the hem of my dress where Edta’s Ring had been.
“As many people have witnessed, Sezare and I have not left our seats at the table since arriving here.”
I spoke with a composed smile.
“Your Grace.”
Looking at Sezare, who without being told perfectly orchestrated each moment as needed, I spoke with dignified authority.
“Then assist the interim Captain of the Guard and search all the people here.”
In essence, I was ordering Loyte to move.
How long had it been since such a search! Loyte felt his blood boiling strangely.
* * *
A closed space, fewer than a hundred people, a simple investigative method. Moreover, a veteran former Captain of the Guard experienced in such matters.
Therefore, the culprit was apprehended quickly.
It was none other than Dolores’s lady’s maid, the Countess of Alcyone.
“I, I, that is…”
The Countess of Alcyone was the very person who had come to my table with Sezare earlier and poured wine for me directly. With her quick hands, she had dropped the ring onto my dress hem at that moment.
In truth, Sezare, whose dynamic visual acuity was exceptional, had already witnessed the situation vividly.
“You saw it?”
“Yes. Did you also see it, Lady Kiana?”
“I did. And I’ve handled it well.”
Of course, I had already smeared colorless fluorescent ink on Edta’s ring beforehand.
‘Everything you people can think of is the same tired trick. How utterly lacking in creativity.’
This was an incident from the original story.
Melissa suffered the exact same treatment at the hands of Third Empress Dolores.
The reason Dolores despised her was simple—she kept destabilizing Hitten.
Dolores wanted Hitten to marry Judith. But Hitten couldn’t let go of Melissa and engaged in an intense power struggle with Lord Rodrigo as well. Ultimately, Dolores concluded that Melissa’s existence was driving a wedge between House of Purbis and Hitten. So she conspired with Judith to frame her for theft.
‘Originally, Melissa just suffers until Hitten releases her.’
Of course, when the Imperial Family ignored the law, Hitten’s reputation suffered somewhat as a result. And so Dolores came to despise Melissa even more.
In any case, the moment I received the invitation, I predicted this was a trap laid for me today and prepared accordingly.
“That is, it was….”
The Countess of Alcyone trembled pitifully as she looked at Dolores. She had merely followed Dolores’s orders.
Of course, Dolores spoke from where she stood.
“Have the guards handle it.”
The Countess of Alcyone’s eyes wavered with disbelief. Dolores regarded her with a contemptuous gaze and issued her command again.
“I placed you as my closest attendant because I trusted you, yet you commit such deeds, blinded by mere jewels?”
Dolores had immediately decided to discard the Countess of Alcyone. In that tense atmosphere, I stepped forward.
“But something doesn’t add up.”
If this simply ended with only the Countess of Alcyone going to prison, it wouldn’t serve my purpose.
“You didn’t just steal it—you were trying to frame me with it, weren’t you?”
I fixed my gaze on the Countess of Alcyone and pressed her immediately.
“Countess, you don’t know me, do you? I have virtually no connections with most people, so it’s certain we’re strangers.”
“Y-Your Highness….”
“Then why on earth did you place that ring on the hem of my dress specifically?”
I couldn’t afford to miss this moment when everyone was flustered. Given time, they could create an escape route. Sure enough, the Countess of Alcyone’s eyes wavered. She had no time to prepare a response.
“No matter how I think about it, it seems like someone ordered you to do this.”
I pressed forward with my arms crossed.
“Stealing this is theft, but if you were asked by someone else, isn’t it difficult to call you the true culprit?”
“That, that is…!”
I could hear the Countess of Alcyone desperately racking her brain.
“Tell me, Countess.”
I bent my waist slightly. Meeting her eyes as she lay prostrate on the grass, I asked as if I already knew everything.
“Someone of unknown standing, who wanted to frame me, orchestrated this entire affair, didn’t they?”

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