Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 44

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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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#44.

Chloe’s Mother was a woman whose nationality and status remained shrouded in mystery, known only to have crossed over from the Chaos Federation Empire.
Baron Arses had discovered her by chance at the Military Border and brought her back, becoming so enamored with her beauty that he abandoned his wife and remarried.
However, after she confessed to having been captured by the Chaos Faith of the Allied Empire and escaped, the Baron—who had been playing the devoted husband—revealed his true nature.

“Chloe, my daughter. That woman was once my Savior.”

Just as I had cowered in corners whenever loud sounds erupted during my childhood, I could never understand why Mother regarded Father as her Savior.

“Everything is equivalent exchange. Never believe in love.”

Such was Mother’s counsel, her face bruised from his hands.
She had repeatedly told me that love was nothing but a lie for survival and plunder.
Perhaps Mother died precisely because she had begun to believe in the very sincerity she once weaponized against others.
Regardless of Mother’s past, I never doubted that she had been a formidable Holy Ability User.
“The daughter of the Ludovisi Family, you say? I saw her at the ceremony—quite beautiful. And their family fortune rivals the Royal Treasury itself?”
Ethan’s voice pulled me from my reverie.
“Octavia? Isn’t she in a relationship with Kelsedny Admiral?”
I asked, my brow furrowing slightly.
“A genuine relationship? Hardly. Merely a fleeting diversion. You should secure what you can before the Prince tires of you.”
Seeing that I had struck a nerve, Ethan grinned wickedly at the way my expression hardened.
“And I too must prepare for the worst and find my path forward. As the heir to a Baron Family and with a Saint candidate as my sister, wouldn’t I be worth considering?”
Ethan added with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Those types surrender everything—liver, gallbladder, and all—if you treat them even slightly well. She followed Prince Dominic around for years, offering him everything, all because of one kindness he showed her.”
It was said that after Prince Dominic had taken Octavia’s side during their Academy days, her one-sided infatuation had begun.
‘There’s nothing one-sided about it.’
The difference between admiration and unrequited love lay in whether there existed hope of reciprocation with the other party.
I was well aware that the Prince had subtly left room for Octavia’s affections.
“In any case, wouldn’t you need funds for adornments to catch the eye of a wealthy young lady?”
As always, our sibling conversation culminated in matters of money.
“Do well by your own methods.”
I answered indifferently, tossing him a few jewels I had received as purification allowance.
Ethan was a penniless man with nothing but a passable appearance and a noble title. Thus, he habitually employed malicious tactics—deliberately placing his target in difficult circumstances before offering aid.
“Are you perhaps planning to frame Octavia as a suspect in the criminal’s escape incident? The Inspection Bureau has been questioning individuals connected to the past Saint.”
At my question, Ethan merely smiled, indicating he had no intention of elaborating.
“If I become that family’s son-in-law, your lowborn origins would never be exposed for execution, would they?”
Watching Ethan leave the room chuckling to himself, I let out a soft laugh.
Had I never considered exploiting Octavia’s emotions for my own purposes?
There was no easier person to manipulate than one consumed by deficiency.
But Octavia had changed.
She was fundamentally different from those whose hearts merely wavered through infidelity or betrayal.
The reason she had transformed into someone who wielded even her opponent’s emotions as tools—devoid of love itself—remained unknowable.
Yet what trials had she truly endured? Only a failed romance. She was, after all, someone who had grown up without hardship.
Chloe believed that victory was determined not by ability or wealth, but by the difference in effort and desperation.
‘She was already irritating anyway. If she causes trouble and conveniently entangles herself with Octavia and dies on her own, that would be even better.’
Chloe saw Octavia not as a rival, but merely as one of countless stepping stones to climb over.
However, it did not take long for her to realize that this judgment was a catastrophic miscalculation.

***

Summoned by the Holy Temple Council, Octavia was heading toward the Inspection Bureau.
Along the way, she encountered Ethan, dressed in his Holy Knight uniform.
“My lady, what brings you here?”
Octavia sidestepped him as though he were an obstacle in her path and continued walking.
‘That insolent commoner…’
Ethan, whose expression had been stern, donned a smile and followed after her, broaching the subject.
“It seems you’re heading to the Inspection Bureau. Are you in a difficult situation? Perhaps you need assistance?”
Only then did Octavia stop and turn to face him, her expression blank.
“I heard someone has named you a suspect in the escape incident.”
“I see.”
Normally, one would bombard with questions—who said so, and the like. Her lackluster response caught him off guard, but he maintained his composure.
“As you know, my sister is a leading candidate to become a Saint, and she has the backing of Prince Dominic. This means I stand in a position where I can fabricate crimes that don’t exist and erase those that do.”
“Impressive.”
She maintained her consistent demeanor as she drew closer to Ethan.
“When you get the chance, show me that magic trick. How crimes disappear into thin air.”
Ethan gazed at her pristine face and violet eyes as though entranced.
Her words sounded ominous for some reason, yet surely she would need his help.
‘She has a strong presence, which is a flaw, but I can simply break that.’

***

Holy Temple, Inspection Bureau Investigation Room.
“This is merely a formality.”
Priest Kimihee, a search support priest of the Holy Knight Order and member of the Inspection Bureau, faced Octavia with an expression of barely concealed irritation.
“We’re conducting interviews with everyone in the vicinity. Please answer simply with yes or no. I’d like to finish quickly and get some rest.”
The priest, exhausted from the fallen Saint’s escape incident, dark circles shadowing his eyes, posed his question.
“Did you provide any direct or indirect assistance in the escape of the criminal Uriana?”
“No.”
“What was your purpose for visiting that location at that time?”
“Yes.”
Priest Kimihee swept back his silver hair with an expression of displeasure.
Octavia brazenly lifted her head in response.
“You told me to answer with yes or no.”
“I heard from the soldiers that you were with the Admiral, so let’s move on.”
Admiral Kelsedny had no memory of what he had done while inhabiting Keldi’s body.
He remained unaware that he had severed a soldier who talked back, an incident everyone had quietly classified as an accident.
Though the vehicle used in the crime was the Admiral’s—one of only a handful in the nation—the car that should have been destroyed during the escape was confirmed to be parked intact at his residence.
‘No one would dare suspect the Admiral.’
Octavia allowed herself a moment of confidence.
It was the Ludovisi Representative—her father—who had smuggled in a new vehicle without leaving records and secretly delivered it during the time of the crime.
Surely Knight Commander Ewain would have stepped forward claiming “Octavia is a car thief!” but Ewain was surprisingly silent.
‘That car was a trap set to implicate Chloe’s accomplice and eliminate Subnam’s influence.’
As a result, the Holy Temple and Priest Kimihee sitting before her had settled on the narrative that the Admiral was merely “trying to conceal that he had skipped his schedule for a date.” Already eighty meaningless interviews in, they were exhausted.
“Do you know of any suspicious organizations or individuals in contact with the criminal Uriana?”
“Chloe Arsenes’s older brother. His name was Edward, I think.”
“Ethan Holy Knight? I know their relationship is poor, and yes, this is just a perfunctory investigation, but perjury is problematic.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Octavia smiled gently and tilted her head.
Priest Kimihee remained unmoved.
It was Chloe who had exposed the criminal Uriana, resulting in her being sentenced to public execution.
Had she brought down the Saint, she would never have attempted to rescue her through her brother.
Then Octavia twisted his reasoning.
“Has the Imperial Court confirmed whether they will recover the criminal Uriana’s abilities?”
According to procedure, before execution, an ability user’s power should be measured, and the Imperial Court should be asked if they wish to recover those abilities.
Especially for key figures like Saints.
But this time, it had been omitted under the pretext of “special circumstances.”
“Are you suggesting that the remaining sanctity was greedily embezzled?”
“If you sell it, you’d make money. Chloe’s father is a notorious gambler, after all.”
Priest Kimihee, who had been leaning lazily against the chair’s backrest, slowly straightened himself.
‘Now that I think about it, the execution proceeded at an unprecedented pace.’
As if concealing something.
He knew better than anyone the cutthroat machinations that unfolded within the Temple.
At that moment, Octavia withdrew something from her pocket and placed it upon the desk.
It was a golden badge bearing Ethan’s name.
She had stolen it from Ethan when they crossed paths earlier.
“I found it on the street that day. When I tried to return it by asking the Holy Knight Order, they said his name wasn’t on the dispatch roster. Apparently, his younger sister called him away.”
Octavia tilted her head, resting one hand against her cheek.
“So when I tried to return it directly, he suddenly started spouting nonsense about using the Prince and his Saint candidate sister as backing to cover up my crimes?”
“Besides the insult of telling me to lick the Bishop’s backside, what other grave sin have you committed?”
“I have no idea. In any case, he seemed to think I was being investigated because of that grave sin.”
Kimihee sorted through the documents with an expressionless face, tapping them into order.
“We did receive a report accusing you of being the culprit. But since your alibi was solid, we let it slide.”
The Admiral, who had claimed not to remember, suddenly changed his testimony and stated he had been with her, so there was no need for further investigation beyond the eyewitness accounts.
Kimihee regarded Octavia with a look of regret.
‘If only you’d lived decently in the first place.’
Her character had become so tainted that whenever an incident occurred, public opinion immediately blamed “the villainess Octavia”—to the point where she almost seemed pitiable instead.
“But Priest Chloe wouldn’t instruct her brother to do something like this for money. The losses far outweigh the gains.”
At Kimihee’s words, Octavia smoothed her platinum hair and spoke.
“Chloe Arsenes is a good person. She possesses both compassion and mercy. Enough to visit a Saint awaiting capital punishment and offer her comfort.”
She continued with a smile.
“And she still looks after parasitic family members. The problem with good people is that most of their troubles stem from those around them.”
Octavia brushed off her coat and rose to her feet.
“If there’s nothing else to report, may I take my leave?”
There had been a reason she hadn’t used extraordinary magical engineering tools or the Ludovisi siblings’ unique transmutation abilities during her escape.
‘I manifested that man’s telekinetic power while fleeing.’
Chloe’s brother, Ethan, was a telekinetic ability user.
Since the Ludovisi Family was responsible for manufacturing specialized weapons for the major military divisions, the military department, and the Holy Knight Order, they had naturally crafted custom weapons for Ethan after he became a Holy Knight.
In that process, they had been able to fully analyze and replicate Ethan’s Grade 4 ability.
Of course, she had no intention of dealing with the parasite on Chloe’s behalf.
‘Chloe, you must break the shackles that bind you on your own.’
The shackles can be removed, but you’ll never escape beyond my design. Never.
Octavia smiled to herself, murmuring these words.

***

Meanwhile, Ethan, who had been waiting for Octavia outside the Inspection Bureau, was lost in the delusion that he was her savior.

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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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