Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 77

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

#77.

A senior ability user from the problematic Chloe Squadron voiced yet another meaningless objection.
“Don’t we need even one more person to stand against the Chaos entities? Acting on whim only weakens morale and depletes our forces! This isn’t High Society!”
“If you understood that my mood holds enough weight to sway the entire unit’s morale, you should have been more careful first. Or better yet, leave your comfortable Quarters and speak from the front lines.”
Octavia turned to face all her members with an unwavering expression.
“I’m simply prioritizing efficiency. In the first Chaos entity battle, when people were risking their lives in combat, what were your Squadron members doing?”
They either fled, assuming the Squadron that received special weapons from Octavia would handle everything, or searched for ways to escape the territory.
All of this stemmed from the influence of Ethan alone, who disregarded Chloe’s role as commander and shirked his duties.
Members from other Squadrons who had fought earnestly fixed sharp, piercing gazes upon Ethan and his comrades.
Octavia continued in a measured tone.
“Retaining only efficient personnel and executing operations is the most pragmatic survival logic. Resources are finite, after all.”
She stroked her chin thoughtfully, as if deliberating.
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m not kind enough to give while enduring ridicule.”
Everyone now understood that whether she discriminated openly or kept only essential personnel while discarding the rest, everything hinged on her choice.
Tension rippled through the gathered soldiers as they awaited her decision.
“From now on, I’ll distribute resources with differentiation only to Squadrons that fulfill their duties. You’re free not to follow my orders. And I’m equally free to strip away what you’ve taken for granted until now.”
The current situation was fertile ground for inter-Squadron competition and conflict.
“Northern Squadron bastards, shut your mouths! We know you’ve been relying on the Prince and the Queen Consort’s backing, drinking and gallivanting around!”
“What? You skipped operations and slacked off just the same!”
As you can see, the battlefield had become chaos.
Beautiful cooperation and harmony require peace as their foundation.
Order doesn’t stem from justice—it emerges from unequal distribution.
The principle where followers receive sufficient reward while the disobedient face elimination becomes the very engine of motivation.
Octavia understood this truth better than anyone.
Paradoxically, it was humanity’s ancient method of governance and an enduring order throughout history.
Yet Chloe, who had prioritized human unity, now painfully awakened to the depths of human depravity through this very opportunity.

***

It all started with Ethan’s biting criticism.
“Hey! Because you accepted those maggots, our share got smaller!”
Ethan’s accusatory finger pointed at Chloe, who had been locked away in her quarters due to shock.
“Choose your words carefully, Ethan. Don’t demean people based on ability.”
But his disrespectful conduct had long since undermined the hierarchy that established her as the squadron’s commander and leader.
“Holy Knight, we must expel those who only waste our rations immediately! The squadron’s survival is at stake!”
“Exactly. Why would they have been cast out from the Northeast Squadron otherwise? We cannot shelter them just because they belong to the Prince’s Division!”
The resentment of the unit members was directed not at Octavia, who had set the rules, but at Chloe.
The seven lowest-ranking members could only watch nervously without saying a word.
“They each possess the ability to fulfill their roles, which is why they participate in operations. Combat isn’t the only thing that matters, is it?”
Chloe defended them, but the individuals in question made no effort to step forward and explain their usefulness or demonstrate their willingness to work hard.
“Please take full responsibility for non-combat support and provisions. You can do that diligently, can’t you?”
“Yes, of course.”
In the end, they were assigned menial tasks no different from how they’d been treated in the Northeast Squadron, but without compliance, they would be cast out, leaving them no choice.
The existing members also had no desire to do tedious chores, so they accepted Chloe’s proposal.
Chloe believed that if she gave these people a chance and trusted them, they would rise to meet her expectations.
After all, she herself was someone who desperately needed opportunity and trust.
‘I am different from those who abandoned their subordinates and fled.’
‘I don’t manipulate people using resources that could be distributed fairly.’
She believed that even without exceptional ability, if one walked the righteous path, eventually everyone would recognize her worth.
She was an unfortunate idealist.

***

The Western city of Mirabel.
Mayor Mirabel gazed toward the Border, now shrouded beneath an opaque dome, and released a weary sigh.
“Octavia entrusted me with her puppy, believing in me, and now she’s vanished without a trace. I’m truly sorry….”
In the old man’s hand was not a walking stick, but a heavy broadsword.
Before the Gate could seal the district completely, the opening torn by the Prince’s party had transformed into a kind of Heart Gate. Through it, the Chaos entities from the first trial had spilled out and engulfed the city.
He had ignored the council members who claimed the calamity was a fabrication by the Ludovisi Family to peddle military weapons and extort protection fees from the city, instead evacuating the citizens to the Precious Metal Territory.
As a result, the calamity appeared exactly as Octavia had warned.
The noble council members who had boasted that the Mayor had grown senile with age had long since withdrawn all their deposits from the Bank and fled.
Those who remained in the city were righteous citizens determined to defend it and the Capital Defense Force.
Additional Kingdom Division personnel had arrived, but there was no way to resolve the Gate from the outside.
“Her family is so worried. I pray she remains safe.”
The Ludovisi Family had rushed here upon hearing news of their youngest daughter.
The Ludovisi Representative, her father, stared blankly at the wall that could not be destroyed by any means.
“Octavia….”
Could she still be alive?
By logical reasoning, it was nearly impossible.
He’d heard that cursed Prince Dominic and the high nobles had escaped before the Gate sealed completely, yet the Prince was nowhere to be found.
Those cowards had not only fled the battlefield, but in creating the Heart Gate and causing damage, they bore responsibility—yet they remained silent to the end.
The Prince was likely hiding and evading accountability as well.
The only reassurance came from the information that Ortega and Holy Knight Commander Ewain were with Octavia, and that the Admiral and the Saint Man appeared to be inside as well.
“Bia! Where on earth are you!”
Crash—!
Samuel charged at the barrier blocking his path, attempting to break through with his bare body, only to collide repeatedly and bounce back.
“Brother, stop. Don’t destroy yourself so recklessly.”
The relatively rational Vittore restrained Samuel and added his words.
“She doesn’t look like it at all, but she cares about us getting hurt.”
Samuel recalled Octavia applying an intensely stinging red medicine to his injured arm.
The potion had a suspicious color, but he had valued the significance of his younger sister applying the medicine she had made herself.

“It’s a red medicine I made. Since you’re already injured, want to test it out?”

In the end, that worry and affection belonged to her alone.
I should have done whatever it took to keep her from going.
Samuel struck down the barrier with a sharp crack, overwhelmed by bitter regret and rage.
“Octavia—!”
My brother’s anguished cry echoed across the dense Great Forest and faded into the distance.
The Ludovisi Representative stared at the cross-shaped Gate that had materialized in the sky within the barrier.
The information that Octavia had taken five star sarcophagi that Mayor Mirabel possessed, the hastily constructed and imperfect Gate summoning circle.
‘A reverse Alchemy Circle that inverts the life-equivalent principle.’
It was nearly impossible to accomplish without one’s own magical power, relying only on a bracelet.
In other words, she had driven a car without an engine.
‘Did she manifest alchemy abilities using energy other than magical power?’
It was difficult to believe she had accomplished all of this through mere chance or improvisation.
It meant she had foreseen this catastrophe.
What burden had that girl been carrying alone all this time?
The Ludovisi Representative recalled the letter Octavia had sent him and closed his eyes.
Soon after, he gripped his own face with one hand and bowed his head deeply.
The moment I confirmed the letter, I instructed the matter be handled as she requested and rushed here quickly, but it was already too late.

「Father, a Chaos Gate will open here soon.
As a final matter, I apologize for refusing to share a meal with you.」

The thought that my daughter’s final sentence might become her actual last words struck me—beyond the colorless years of fatherhood, the very foundation of my existence trembled.
“Why….”
Why had I always been so arrogant as to assume that girl would remain within my sight?
The inability to remain forever by someone’s side was not a fate that applied only to parents.
Children too could leave their parents at any moment.

“Dad….”

In those days when I had to look down to meet her eyes, the image of that child with large eyes and sun-colored hair like my late wife’s came vividly to mind.
Using the excuse that she reminded me of my dead wife, I lived looking only forward, fleeing from reality.
Why had I turned away from the child’s hands gripping my sleeve, trapped as I was in my own loss?
From that moment on, my daughter had become independent from me, becoming a stranger—and I never even realized it.
He, shadowed beneath the eyes, bowed his head while his hand remained pressed against the barrier.
“Daughter, come back to Dad.”
Dad has made every mistake.

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