A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 97

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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 97
Still, I appreciate the gesture. Now that I think about it, it seems like it came from a good place after all. Perhaps that’s why the Princess’s worries that I overheard on the night of the banquet weighed so heavily on my mind.
Money, yes. Money is truly important. Especially for someone in the Princess’s precarious position. After much deliberation, I devised a method to multiply her meager fortune dozens of times over.
I continued writing the letter, noticing Ben sipping his tea anxiously, his eyes darting about restlessly.
‘Perfect.’
Once I finished writing the remaining contents and set down my quill, my mood became remarkably pleasant.
‘I’ll make sure this letter reaches the right hands.’
Ben was a wretch who hoped Seliet would become so destitute that she’d fall completely into his grasp. He would never deliver such a letter to her. Yet he wouldn’t discard this valuable information I was sending either.
So he would rush to the Imperial Palace and tell his closest confidant—the Third Queen herself.
‘Let them all fall into the trap.’
This grand scheme was precisely why I had saved Seliet in the first place.
It absolutely wasn’t because I was worried about her. It wasn’t because her lack of confidence despite being of imperial blood bothered me. It certainly wasn’t because I couldn’t bear to watch her suffer at the hands of someone like Ben. It wasn’t because I feared she’d fall victim to the same vicious rumors that had plagued me. Absolutely not!
“Make sure you deliver this. Today, without delay.”
I hastily sealed the letter and handed it to Ben, remembering to ask him not to read it to avoid suspicion.
“If you dare open this letter secretly during delivery, your limbs will be torn apart just as secretly.”
“Y-yes, of course….”
I had also instructed the Crown Prince not to lay a hand on Ben for this very reason. It would be inconvenient if he harmed Ben when there was still use to be extracted from him.
But once I was done with him, I would hand him over to the Crown Prince again.
“And test the mana shock device daily to ensure it’s functioning properly. As you know, magical artifacts aren’t permanent installations—they require periodic mana recharging.”
“M-mana recharging? How would I do that?”
“Just visit a magical item shop that provides mana recharging services.”
I answered casually.
“The closest one to the Imperial Palace is Todd’s Shop on Reloca Street.”
“I see.”
Ben muttered “Todd’s item shop on Reloca Street” several times before standing up.
“Then, Princess, I sincerely thank you.”
Ben bowed deeply to me in gratitude. Then he hesitated for a moment, his gaze flickering across my face.
“I warned you.”
And in that instant, Sezare raised his eyebrows and spoke. His cold voice was so chilling that even the Spy Maid, who had been shadowboxing as if to show off, flinched.
“Don’t let your filthy eyes take in the Princess’s noble beauty.”
“N-no, I wasn’t….”
“I dislike the impure glint in your eyes. You were thinking something like ‘she’s prettier than I expected,’ weren’t you?'”
I thought Sezare was being unreasonably nitpicky. But Ben surprisingly had no response. Then he cried out “My apologies!” and quickly left Prelai Manor.
“…What was that?”
As I muttered in bewilderment, Sezare, who remained alone with me in the drawing room, spoke in a low voice.
“His eyes were murky. Most displeasing.”
This was the first time he had been so cautious about someone so unreasonable.
“He seems like the type who harbors filthy thoughts whenever he sees a beautiful woman.”
What remarkable insight. His words were accurate—after all, that attendant had always harbored base thoughts whenever he laid eyes on Seliet.
“I wanted to tear his eyes out.”
“Do your best.”
I offered him encouragement without any real heart behind it.
“He’s the type who can handle it anyway.”
Sezare chuckled and shrugged his shoulders once. Then, without another word, he bid me to rest well and returned to the Marquis’ Mansion.
After sending the two of them off, I rose immediately.
“Piyak!”
At my call, Piyak came flying over from the Garden where he had been rolling around.
【Yes!】
“Let’s work!”
【Sigh…】
Piyak muttered while washing his face with his small wings.
【I thought I’d had a good rest for a few days… the Cordiac Charity was fun too… watching Kiana’s vicious way of speaking was enjoyable… I don’t want to go…】
“Look, Piyak.”
I spoke firmly.
“Once you start playing, you want to keep playing. Then you’ll never put in the effort, and then your movement speed will never get faster, right? That’s sad.”
【But…】
“Anyway, you know it’s 1135, right? Work.”
【This damned 1135!】
Piyak cursed, but he seemed aware that he had indeed been playing all this time. So I personally placed the letter in Piyak’s beak.
The letter began as follows.
When Piyak saw the contents of the letter, he was startled.
【Kiana? Why the formal tone…】
“In a class-based society, there’s no helping it.”
Until now, I had used a comfortable tone under the shield of uncertainty about whether the recipient was the Crown Prince. But since he had even mentioned “firecrackers,” I couldn’t pretend not to know until the end.
‘Anyway, I’m going to completely finish off House of Purbis soon… and I’ll let the military authority fizzle out like this too.’
No matter how I thought about it, I was laying out a flower path for him.
In the end, for a person I’m supposed to pretend not to know, I’m going this far… Of course, it’s also for my sake….
But the impact of the word “firecrackers” was enormous. Thinking of the Crown Prince’s character, it seemed like it could happen to anyone.
‘Come to think of it, just as Sezare said, with such a gullible personality, it seems like he might have ended up in that situation.’
But even if it was kindness extended to everyone, kindness was still kindness. Just because it was common for him didn’t mean I couldn’t be grateful. So I conveyed my honest feelings with deep gratitude.
And so Piyak flew off with my letter in his beak.
* * *
At that moment, Ben tore open Kiana’s letter as soon as he arrived at the Imperial Palace.
The letter he had glimpsed over his shoulder in the Drawing Room clearly contained content about “money.” It seemed Seliet had asked Kiana for advice about money problems on the night of the banquet.
That made sense. In fact, the budget allocated to Seliet was not small, but much of it was being embezzled from the middle due to everyone’s indifference.
All things require money. In other words, money brings power with it. So if Seliet had more money, she could gain power she didn’t have before.
That was never good for Ben. He already disliked standing out in the eyes of other nobles by going to the charity….
‘Anyway, Lady Kiana said we shouldn’t meet again, and since we’re both the type to shut ourselves away, there’s no reason for us to communicate.’
Ben read the letter Kiana had sent in an instant. Then he immediately decided where to take this letter. It was to Dolores.
Ben went directly to Dolores’ palace with Kiana’s letter.
After hearing the full story, Dolores read Kiana’s letter with evident interest.
Prelai has severed ties with House of Purbis over the Onseok trade, hasn’t it? Instead, I’m planning to conduct large-scale transactions in Pebble ore. I intend to manufacture similar magical artifacts using Pebble ore.
So if you’re interested in investment, I’d recommend Pebble ore. Once we begin earnestly entering the market, supply will quickly become insufficient.
“Hmm.”
Dolores’s eyes narrowed.
The Onseok trade had been severed, and now there were tax evasion suspicions as well. House of Purbis’s financial situation was quite dire. And Dolores had been receiving money from them under the guise of political funds. In a sense, she had been helping stabilize House of Purbis’s finances. Though in truth, she was merely returning what she’d received in order to draft legislation to depose the Empress.
But Dolores also knew this couldn’t last long. Money was a finite resource, after all. And she needed money. More than ever these days.
Yet here came such welcome news.
“Ben, you’ve done excellently.”
Things had been going poorly with the charity work lately, so her mood seemed to improve somewhat.
Dolores immediately picked up her pen and began writing a letter to House of Purbis.
The Third Queen couldn’t directly invest due to her position. So she needed to use House of Purbis as a proxy to multiply her funds. And if House of Purbis harbored resentment about not rescuing Lord Rodrigo, it would be wise to create an opportunity for cooperation as a reminder that they were allies.
Dolores smiled contentedly as she finished the letter.
She hadn’t been able to punish Kiana, but it wasn’t an entirely unfavorable outcome either. After all, things had been smoothly settled with Lord Rodrigo going to prison. The maid, the Countess of Alcyone, had merely been following Lord Rodrigo’s orders, so she would be released soon enough. With House of Purbis also appeased in this manner, the matter had concluded quite satisfactorily.

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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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