I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 16

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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 16
Number 392.
He had infiltrated Iztale earlier than Veronica and Carin.
The current Emperor’s closest confidant and the empire’s right hand—dispatched on orders from Chancellor Jervan, his initial assignment was simply to surveil Duke Bangcadium.
He had expected the Duke to resist, given the false accusations he’d suffered, but to his surprise, Bangcadium entered Iztale without protest.
Jervan, finding this deeply suspicious, had sent him—Nick Franzel, Agent 392—to investigate.
But contrary to his assumption that surveillance would end with the Duke, the number of subjects requiring observation had only grown with time.
Veronica.
Carin.
And Cis Kailo, the current Commander of Iztale.
In truth, it was the Commander who’d caught his attention first. There was something odd about how much more often he sought out Bangcadium than the others.
Yet no connection between them appeared in either his official records or his history.
Still, since the Duke was also under observation by the Imperial Court, he certainly warranted closer attention than the rest.
Having set aside his initial suspicions of the Commander, Nick quickly turned his focus elsewhere.
These two were what truly puzzled him.
‘Strange, really.’
The Commander, by virtue of his position, had no choice but to take notice of the Duke. But the other two? They didn’t.
‘Can’t make sense of it. Can’t make sense of it at all.’
A woman who’d done nothing but steal, and a child imprisoned on the most peculiar charges.
Nick decided to investigate the suspicious child first.
The youngest prisoner ever held in Iztale was ten years old.
When someone six years younger than that arrived, suspicion was inevitable.
Moreover,
‘She keeps trying to get closer to Bangcadium.’
Every prisoner in Iztale feared Bangcadium. Even the dregs of humanity understood this much: who held the greater strength.
After he’d killed several guards, they’d given him an even wider berth. Yet this one seemed to have no fear.
‘She pursues him relentlessly.’
Her determination to make contact by any means was suspicious.
And the woman watching it all from the side—Veronica—was equally strange.
‘The same way.’
She didn’t fear the Duke either.
It was an irony.
So he’d approached the child to gather information about Veronica—curious to see what reaction he’d get.
‘She was warier than I expected.’
But that didn’t matter.
He could learn what he needed through the guards who’d infiltrated with him.
And after investigating from multiple angles, he’d uncovered something astonishing.
[At midnight, both the Duke and the others you mentioned gather in the Commander’s Office. They’re clearly plotting something, though… I’ll uncover the details soon enough.]
Bangcadium’s Five Senses operated far beyond the realm of ordinary perception. A careless move would expose him instantly.
[A separate meeting of this caliber suggests the Commander also has ties to Bangcadium. Today, he released the child from the Solitary Cell and let her roam freely during the day. Naturally, she clung to that woman Veronica like a burr.]
Beyond this, Nick had transcribed numerous other observations.
Reports on Veronica’s behavior, naturally,
And everything regarding Carin.
And finally,
[Investigation into the child called Carin seems necessary.]
With that last line,
Nick finished his carrier pigeon message and carefully folded the parchment.
And just as he was about to release it,
Whoosh—
A gust of wind extinguished the oil lamp.
Clatter!
Nick sprang to his feet and immediately bit his thumb. Crimson blood welled up in droplets.
Seizing the carrier pigeon desperately, he smeared his blood onto the paper wound around its leg.
Flutter!
The pigeon flew from his rough hands, wings beating furiously. Nick drew a poisoned needle from within his prisoner garment and hurled it into the darkness.
At the same moment,
“So the little rat’s been watching us after all—not him.”
A sharp blade pressed against Nick’s throat.
Golden eyes gleamed with unmistakable clarity even in the darkness.
Nick didn’t dare move, swallowing hard.
“Guess you weren’t just a common thief.”
Veronica’s voice trembled with fear—or perhaps with cruel amusement—as her lips stretched into a thin smile.
“Either very brave to target the girl,
Or,
“Very stupid.”
Her gentleness and kindness belonged solely to Carin. To others, she offered nothing of the sort.
Veronica, too, was Bangcadium.
If anything, she was every bit as ruthless as her brother Rodrigo—if not more so.
Veronica glanced toward the open window.
This one had been frequenting the Guard’s Room, apparently to conduct his spying here.
“Tsk.”
She should have caught him.
But she’d missed him in that brief instant while dodging the poisoned needle.
“Seems you’re quite trusted, to have access to a place like this.”
Nick set his jaw and said nothing, refusing to answer.
But it was futile.
“At first, you were only investigating my brother,
Brother?
Nick’s face went pale at the word.
His original mission was to investigate Duke Bangcadium.
Which meant the brother she’d just mentioned was—
“You’re… you’re also one of Bangcadium’s people, aren’t you?”
The Bangcadium family was shrouded in mystery.
There was only one way to identify a family member.
Those jewel-like Golden Eyes—a gleam no one could fake. And when he forced himself to look, the eyes he met were,
“…!”
Unmistakably a brilliant gold.
Now it made sense. How she could move so freely without detection.
How she could come to the Guard’s Room.
Because she was Bangcadium.
“I’m not revealing myself to shock you, Nick Franzel.”
Veronica, who already knew his name, chuckled softly.
“You’re going to die here anyway.
That’s why I’m telling you.
“The dead, after all, keep no secrets.”
“K-killing me won’t matter—the pigeon’s already gone! Soon the others will know about you and Bangcadium—! Gack?!”
“Mm. Doesn’t matter.”
Veronica sliced through his throat in one swift motion, wiping her wet face with the back of her hand.
“I know who sent you anyway.”
She murmured in a soft voice, retrieving the short dagger that had been lodged in place.
“There are only so many people who’d do something like this.”
Jervan Miller.
The Imperial Court’s lapdog.
Veronica recalled that name after so long, glancing back the way she’d come.
From Nick, whom she’d just dealt with, to the two or three other guards,
“It’ll take time to clean up.”
Cis had asked her to be as thorough as possible.
She might end up running a bit late.
* * *
“….”
“Your Excellency.”
In the deep of night, when all had fallen asleep,
The aide, who’d remained awake beside his lord, spoke cautiously.
From Iztale to this place.
The blood-stained carrier pigeon, arrived within a single hour, now lay in Chancellor Jervan’s hands.
After studying the message for a long time, he licked his lips.
“I need to contact the others immediately.”
Marking the paper with blood was no mere accident.
It was a signal.
A signal that his cover had been blown.
Which meant,
“Nick is dead.”
His breath had already stopped.
“So… someone capable of killing Nick exists.”
“Well, it is Iztale, after all.”
Plenty of creatures crawled through that place; there would be no shortage of candidates to make the attempt.
“It’s likely one of the people mentioned in this letter.”
For instance,
“The woman named Veronica.”
Given the circumstances, there was no choice.
“We change the plan.”

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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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