I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 86

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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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Episode 86.
Karman dropped the mask of composure and exhaled a long breath, dragging a dry hand across his face.
“So the rumors have spread. I thought we were keeping it quiet.”
“With respect, Your Majesty, I wouldn’t call it rumor—more reasoned deduction. I’m a professor of royal studies, after all, and though I haven’t seen him many times, I do know Professor Umbreller by sight. He’s not the sort of man to deliberately sabotage the Crown Prince.”
“You’re right. You make a fair point.”
In the days since Gardian had locked himself away to treat Cassion’s wounds, Karman had come to learn a great deal.
Karman had hidden nothing from Gardian—everything he knew was laid bare.
That Umbreller’s assignment envelope had been switched. That the man responsible was Andersen.
That when Karman learned this and issued the warrant for Andersen’s arrest, the man had fled, and the royal forces were now pursuing him.
And finally, that Julia had fallen into deep remorse over her failure to prevent her subordinate’s transgression and had withdrawn into self-recrimination.
The crisis management was so seamless—not a single thread out of place—that Gardian found himself troubled by the very neatness of it.
“So that’s how it stands.”
But the culprit had been identified and had even written a confession. The incident was, for all intents and purposes, closed.
To reopen it would require considerable effort and time, neither of which Gardian had to spare. There were more pressing matters.
“The Queen withdrawing in self-reproach? That stern woman must be in considerable distress.”
“She paid dearly for her trust. The one she believed in—”
“But tell me, what was this Andersen fellow’s true motive?”
“Loyalty to Dayson, they say. He wanted the Crown Prince proclaimed as quickly as possible.”
Gardian let out a short laugh. For an act of such magnitude, the motive was remarkably weak.
“Your Majesty doesn’t intend to investigate further, then.”
Karman turned his head slightly to the left.
“Do you think there’s more to uncover?”
Gardian gave another slight shrug. Then he broached the real reason he’d come.
“I’m stepping down. I won’t be tutoring Prince Cassion anymore.”
Karman stared at the sorcerer who’d arrived unannounced and now spoke of departure with the same casualness, his expression openly bewildered.
“Not permanently. I’ll return in a year. So until then, look after my student well, Your Majesty.”
Gardian’s final words carried the weight of a threat—that any harm befalling Cassion would not go unanswered.
Karman chose to interpret Gardian’s presumptuous tone generously.
He saw it as nothing more than affection for the boy.
And perhaps, he thought,
‘this is what Violetta wanted.’
When Cassion was born and she resolved to have him raised in Saga, Violetta had wanted a godfather—a powerful patron to watch over the child.
The first and only name she’d ever mentioned was Gardian’s.
So Karman could afford to overlook Gardian’s excessive concern for Cassion. Twice over, even.
Even if it meant being reproached for it.
“Do as you see fit.”
“But Your Majesty—”
Gardian seemed about to unsettle something else, and Cassion braced himself for what might come.
“Go ahead.”
“Why do you leave the Crown Prince’s seat vacant? Surely that’s why these conflicts arise.”
Gardian had wondered this from the moment he first met Karman.
He had a grown son in Dayson, and that son had Julia as a solid political foundation.
True, Gardian had found him no prodigy in his studies, but that was hardly the point.
Did the king govern the realm alone? One simply surrounded him with capable advisors.
Even a sorcerer with no interest in human politics could see that delaying the Crown Prince’s appointment caused more harm than good.
“Wouldn’t fewer lives be spilled before one becomes Crown Prince than if you keep switching who holds the title?”
Gardian’s eyes gleamed with unusual intensity. Karman felt the weight of that gaze, and Gardian understood perfectly where the king’s heart was truly divided.
***
Brighting Palace wore shadows these days, belying its luminous name.
“Did Lord Andersen really run away?”
“Or was he arrested?”
“More likely the Queen had him put to death in secret.”
The maids of Brighting Palace whispered like this all day long.
Julia knew of the rumors circulating through her own chambers since Andersen vanished.
Under ordinary circumstances, she would have summoned the gossips at once and had them punished—but Julia lay motionless on her bed, taking no action whatsoever.
She stared into empty space, sprawled across the mattress.
“Your Majesty, it is time for your meal.”
Rena ventured these words only after carefully gauging Julia’s mood.
Julia had always been difficult to address, but these days especially, even a single word felt perilous.
“Later. I’ll eat later.”
“Your Majesty, you’ve already skipped four meals. The royal physician was quite clear that you must eat today.”
Under normal circumstances, Rena would never have dared contradict Julia. But Julia’s condition was far from normal, and Rena found her courage.
“Four meals already… How many days has it been since Andersen left?”
Rena understood that Julia’s strange behavior stemmed from Andersen’s absence.
Though Julia commanded him like a servant, he was someone she relied upon just as deeply.
Andersen was not merely Julia’s pillar—he was the only person in Brighting Palace who could check her, and this made him invaluable to the entire household staff.
That was why the whole palace had grown so gloomy. All it took was one person’s departure.
Rena counted silently in her head to answer Julia’s question.
“A week has passed, Your Majesty.”
“I see.”
Julia lowered the arm that had been draped over the sofa’s edge and covered her eyes with it.
“Shall I bring your meal, Your Majesty?”
“Something simple. Bring it here.”
In truth, Julia had no appetite whatsoever, but she knew that refusing would only invite Rena’s endless pestering.
Rena answered at once and hurried from the room. Silence settled over the chamber.
“Andersen, Rena’s becoming quite presumptuous these days.”
Julia spoke to Andersen as she always did—out of habit. But no answer came. A hollow laugh escaped her lips.
The reality of Andersen’s absence was only now beginning to sink in.
Andersen, who had served her faithfully through every hardship from her days as a lady’s maid to her coronation, had been driven from the palace like a criminal.
Branded with a false and clumsy accusation of attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince.
No one understood Julia’s heart the way Andersen did.
No one would have devoted their life to her service the way she would have.
The loss of a single person had dealt Julia a crushing blow.
‘Because of a thirteen-year-old girl!’
Julia lurched to her feet with a ferocity that belied her days of fasting. She seized the portrait lying on the floor—Diana’s portrait.
The creased and crumpled image was torn to shreds by Julia’s shaking hands as she cursed.
“I swear it. I will kill her. I will kill that girl.”
Diana, whom she had once sought to eliminate for Dayson’s sake, had now become the object of pure, unadorned hatred.
She would take Irenber into her hands. She would force Diana to her knees and make her beg.
For that, she needed money and people.
Julia pulled the pin from her hair. With trembling hands, she drove it into her forearm, drawing blood.
Blood dripped steadily to the floor. When it had pooled into a small crimson puddle, Julia leaned down and whispered softly into it.
“Mother, help me.”
***
“Miss! Coal! The prototype response is incredible!”
Jennis burst through the door, waving Oskin’s telegram and shouting.
I had been watching the snow fall from the window seat, but I shot to my feet and took the telegram from Jennis’s hands.
As I read through it, a smile never left my face.
The new year had just begun. I had turned fourteen, and Cassion had turned twelve.
Good news had been pouring in since the moment the new year arrived, as if fortune itself was favoring this year.
There was Oskin’s report that he’d assembled a team to promote coal, along with a fresh order for Motion Sickness Medicine.
‘The war will start in spring, so Brook Kingdom seems ready to draw its sword.’
Apart from the good news, the thought of spring brought a heaviness to my chest.
‘Who will be appointed as the new Captain of the Silver Knight Order this year?’
Just before spring arrives, the Capital dispatches the knight order to Nobel.
The monsters in Nobel are most active during spring.
Since becoming Acting Family Head, I’d wanted to visit Nobel at least once, but one crisis after another had prevented me from going.
The seeds of unrest still smoldered in Nobel. Despite the considerable funds I was channeling there, the townspeople’s circumstances hadn’t improved much.
‘Someone’s skimming it off in the middle.’
This kind of thing required going there in person to uncover the evidence.
“You haven’t been doing your assignments lately, have you, Miss?”
Jennis asked as she tidied my desk.
“Right. Ever since Cassion got sick, the professors changed their attitudes.”
Genuinely.
At last, the professors were beginning to conduct themselves like true scholars.
The professors Julia had planted were still cold toward Cassion and me, but they no longer tormented us openly as they once had.
Even Dayson and Yumire had grown more courteous, apparently having heard something from Julia.
An era of peace had finally arrived.
“Jennis, how are the preparations for tonight’s reception coming along?”
“Excellently, Miss! Chef Kucker has already finished the entire menu for the reception.”
Savoring that peace, I shut myself away to keep the promise I had made to Cassion long ago.
“I’m already looking forward to it.”
“Me too! But Miss, why are you looking forward to it? The Crown Prince is the guest of honor.”
“True enough.”
Preparing for this banquet, I learned that giving a gift could be just as joyful as receiving one.
Perhaps Cassion, who had been so downcast since Gardian’s departure, might laugh with genuine delight this time.
I found myself hoping for it.
“By the way, this is the first time a birthday celebration for the Crown Prince has been held outside the palace. Does this happen often?”
Jennis asked as she closed the window I had opened and wrapped a fur stole around my shoulders.
“How could it?”
“I want to make the Crown Prince’s birthday this year truly grand. Irenber will take full responsibility for it.”
When the new year arrived, I sought out Karman. I produced the Motion Sickness Medicine I had promised and made my request. Karman, with a less-than-pleased expression, waved his hand dismissively to grant his approval.
Hosting a royal celebration outside the palace walls was an unprecedented affair—and proof that Karman trusted me.
‘Though there’s something of a transaction to it, I suppose.’
I smiled contentedly.
“You’ll be going to the palace even though there’s no class today, won’t you?”
Jennis asked, retrieving my outdoor dress from the dressing room.
“Of course!”
I nodded vigorously, and Jennis broke into a radiant smile.
I Bought Out the Villains with Money (Serialized)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 11th Floor, Ace Techno Tower 8, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Unit 1101)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
© Lee In-hye 2021
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and no part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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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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