Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 78

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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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#78.

While preparing for the next trial, the Lower-Ranked Members of the Chloe Squadron fulfilled their duties with diligence.
They divided themselves into hunting and gathering teams, moving with efficiency and finding their own sense of purpose in the work.
The problem was that the other members refused to acknowledge their labor and treated it with contempt.
“You there, parasites. Do you truly believe you’re worth the rations we provide? Fend for yourselves.”
The supplies being distributed had become woefully inadequate compared to before.
Those who had once enjoyed abundance could only economize by abstaining from alcohol and sweets.
They had grown accustomed to three regular meals at set times, but only when the provisions began to dwindle did they grasp the necessity of rationing.
The easiest method was to seize the portion of the weak.
“We’re not in combat now, and we’re doing the most work, aren’t we? Laundry, cleaning, errands—everything.”
The weak naturally resisted.
The strong deemed their labor utterly worthless.
And among them stood Ethan, a man who displayed contempt for the weak through action.
He kicked a dissenting member to the ground, then trampled them with his military boot.
“We can simply kill you to reduce our mouths to feed.”
Unable to stand against the strong, this unjust situation bred division among the weak themselves.
“What good is working hard as a slave if we won’t be treated with respect?”
“If we don’t do it properly, we’ll lose even what little we receive.”
“Forget it—you all do it. I won’t. It’s filthy and petty.”
Some, caught in the crevices of resentment, sought someone to blame and condemned them.
“If you hadn’t incited us, we’d still be living comfortably in the Northeast Squadron. At least we wouldn’t be in this situation, washing other people’s undergarments and being looked down upon.”
“You all agreed back then! And you said you didn’t want to do gathering work because you were part of the Prince’s Unit—you said it looked bad!”
On the day the Lower-Ranked Members failed to meet their assigned quota and supplies dwindled further, discontent and conflict among them reached a fever pitch.
“See? I told you we need to get rid of those incompetent ones.”
The Lower-Ranked Members’ silent protest became a weapon against them instead.
“We can procure food on our own! And here you are, sitting idle and consuming what we bring back—so who’s really incompetent?”
At the Lower-Ranked Member’s defiance, a senior member shot to their feet, baring fangs like a beast.
“Do you want to die? Do you think the law will protect you even in this situation?”
“I-I apologize!”
“You need a beating to come to your senses, don’t you?”
Chloe felt her head might split from the endless quarrels and complaints of her squadron members. She stepped forward to restrain Ethan and questioned the Lower-Ranked Members.
“May I ask why you failed to complete your assigned tasks properly?”
“What would someone like you, who receives everything without effort just like them, possibly understand?”
The arrows of blame found their target in Chloe, who had taken them in and given them a chance.
Saint Chloe was the easiest mark here.
She had accepted the rejected Lower-Ranked Members and lacked the firmness to be truly commanding—a soft-hearted woman.
They believed that if they attacked her guilt, she would act in their favor.
“If you hadn’t accepted us in the first place, we would have crawled back to the Northeast Squadron with our tails between our legs. We wouldn’t be treated like insects and exploited as we are now. You took us in just to use us like servants, didn’t you?”
They dared blame me for this.
At that consequential remark, Chloe felt her breath catch in her throat.
“Even though Saint Chloe is now a lower-ranked member like us, how can you be so indifferent? Octavia Ludovisi at least never trampled on the character of someone who worked hard!”
The voice pouring out accusations through that broken mouth was so utterly repulsive that I couldn’t bear it.
‘Evil is easy, and virtue is an endless succession of hardships.’
It was a refrain I’d heard so often from my mother, who had been clergy, and even after devoting myself to religion.
Chloe managed to suppress the revulsion that made her hair stand on end.
“As I said from the beginning, the supply rations will be distributed fairly. If you plunder others’ shares, you’ll be confined to the Detention Camp.”
“The Prince isn’t here—who’s going to carry out the punishment? Are you going to hand it over to Octavia Ludovisi?”
Ethan suddenly approached and needled her with a sneer.
Chloe reflexively flinched and stepped back.
I could already hear the lower-ranked members who had sided with Ethan laughing mockingly.
Chloe exhaled a sigh, feeling the limits of her strength and authority.
“In place of Prince Dominic, Ortega and Ewain have assumed joint command.”
The moment those two powerful names were mentioned, expressions shifted and the surroundings fell silent—a sight equally repugnant to witness.
“I show no mercy to those who commit sin. So don’t commit any.”
Just as I had with Saint Uriana, I could reveal honest malice before sinners. Whether they were shoved into the sewers or screamed under cruel punishment, it was merely the consequence of karma.
Only because I had been compromised could I not condemn Ethan.
As a result, frost-like anger continued to accumulate in my chest.
Chloe composed herself and looked at the lower-ranked members.
“From now on, I’ll accompany you on all food and material procurement activities.”
From their perspective, it was like having a supervisor attached, so their expressions were reluctant.
“Rather than that, couldn’t you go persuade Octavia Ludovisi to give us more?”
At the lower-ranked member’s request, Chloe’s face hardened completely.
“Hey, don’t you know those two are enemies? She’s a human consumed by inferiority complex. A pampered young lady from a wealthy family who doesn’t have to pretend to be good like her. I thought about making her my bride, but I couldn’t marry a woman my younger brother dislikes. Such a waste.”
Ethan’s mocking voice came through with a snicker.
“Why not? Or go persuade her yourself. Honestly, we suffered damage because you’re disliked by her. If you help reconcile and marry me this time, wouldn’t that be nice?”
Perhaps because I had lived my entire life as the weakest within my family, crushed helplessly, I couldn’t find a way to express my immediate rage.
In truth, as a lower-ranked consecration mage, I had wallowed in the mire and experienced such things far too many times.
With patience honed over long years, Chloe ignored his words and gestured to the lower-ranked members.
“Let’s go. If we fill our quota now, we can receive the remaining supplies.”

***

After listening to the Lower-Ranked Members’ grievances—complaints that bordered on pleas—and fulfilling their demands, I finally approached Octavia to receive the remaining supplies.
“Octavia, we apologize for our conduct back then.”
At that moment, one of the Lower-Ranked Members stepped forward and offered her an apology.
I thought he was attempting to persuade Octavia through a direct apology, but the member broached an entirely different subject.
“Only after spending time in another Squadron and being treated worse than insects did we come to understand how well Octavia has cared for us.”
Octavia, who had been examining the collected items, slowly lifted her eyelids.
“And?”
“According to the Northern Squadron’s policy, we Lower-Ranked Members are denied even our share of supplies and forced to labor like slaves. Moreover, no matter how hard we worked, all we received in return was violence and verbal abuse.”
“How dreadful.”
Chloe’s expression turned bewildered as she observed how the member subtly exaggerated the extent of his suffering.
It was no different from when he had come to me after being expelled from the Northeast Squadron, cursing Octavia and lamenting his plight.
It was Ethan who had arbitrarily seized the rations in the middle—not Octavia who had ever established such a policy.
Moreover, the majority hadn’t even worked particularly hard, and only two of the lowest-ranked among them had barely managed to fill the shortfall.
“So, would you not accept us back? We will faithfully fulfill our duties and become an asset to you.”
At the Lower-Ranked Member’s plea, Octavia’s indifferent violet eyes turned toward Chloe.
Octavia, brushing grass-stained fabric from her garments and dirt from her shoes, picked up the basket of rations and smiled gently.
“Just don’t waste the food and die quickly—that’s how you’ll be useful.”
Octavia’s caustic remarks operated on an entirely different level.
“So you couldn’t manage it there because it was difficult, you didn’t want to do the unpleasant work because you felt disrespected, you couldn’t do it because you were weak—it seems you’ve been parasitizing others’ sense of responsibility by wielding every form of self-pity.”
“What did you say?”
One of the members, his pride wounded, approached in anger but immediately collapsed, overwhelmed by a fear-tinged pressure.
It was because he had caught sight of Kelsedny Admiral standing silently behind Octavia with his arms crossed. His mere presence radiated an enormous aura.
Octavia lifted her chin as she asked.
“How would you like working under the Admiral? I can’t guarantee your freedom or your life.”
“N-no… that’s not it.”
The Lower-Ranked Members, their faces drained of color, scrambled away in panic.
“Do they dislike it that much?”
The Admiral, who had only just arrived and was unfamiliar with the situation, tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
Chloe stared intently at the Admiral and Octavia, then bowed respectfully and withdrew in silence.

***

Chloe trudged along, her gaze falling upon her mud-caked shoes. She had tried to brush them clean, yet the soil stubbornly persisted.
The moment Octavia’s eyes met hers, she flinched.
‘Did the Admiral save Octavia and prevent the catastrophe? The Prince abandoned me and fled.’
She understood well the principle that those of the Empire did not interfere in the affairs of an independent Kingdom.
Unlike the Prince, who had cast aside his responsibility, the Admiral and the Saint Man remained here despite bearing no obligation to do so.
It must have been because of Octavia.
As she ventured into the Forest to gather mushrooms for the evening meal, she lifted her gaze to the sky, stained in shades of pale violet.
“…What is my role in this world?”
Alongside the sensation of being lost, a piercing loneliness of standing alone in this world cut through her.
To acknowledge oneself as an unremarkable human was a sorrow unto death.
Then, from somewhere, the laughter of Lower-Ranked Members echoed with crude amusement.
“I stole it while they were distributing supplies.”
“Impressive. Let’s eat it here in secret. That woman’s pretentious airs make her look like she’s starving to death.”
“Saint Chloe’s body can’t beg or anything like that. Yet she’s just a Lower-Ranked Member like us.”
“She just sits there silently even when her own subordinates hurl abuse at her. What a fool.”
Chloe watched with composed eyes as the men voraciously tore into the stolen bread.
Something that had barely held together within her suddenly snapped.
‘Criminals.’
They appeared as repugnant insects gnawing at stolen bread.
As Chloe quietly approached, the two showed no attempt to hide, brazenly stuffing their mouths with bread.
“You stole it?”
“We were hungry and had no choice. Isn’t it all the fault of your incompetence, Saint Chloe?”
The insect was speaking.
“Ah, vermin indeed.”
Chloe murmured softly and gave one of them a light push.
“Aaaahhh!”
The sound of a human body tumbling down the Cliff and a final death cry that grew distant before cutting off abruptly.
The remaining member stared with a pallid face, his eyes darting between the Cliff and her.
“S-Saint Chloe? What are you….”
“You’ve finally given me reason to sin.”
A faint smile graced Chloe’s lips.
“Thank you for allowing me to exterminate you.”
Between strands of black hair scattered by the evening breeze, her green eyes finally bloomed with a radiant smile, their gaze now sharp and cold as steel.
“Die peacefully, insects masquerading as humans.”
She laughed with an utterly serene expression, innocent and guileless.

S
i

Second
first

,
,

Evil
Commonplace

Manifestation
Result
Star
–
class

–

Evil
of

Evil
life

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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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