I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 3

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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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Chapter 3
‘It wasn’t the Duke.’
The real culprit was the Emperor himself.
A father had killed his own son.
Which meant the Duke of Bancadium had been
‘falsely accused.’
Later, it came to light that the Imperial Family had fabricated the evidence and witnesses,
but by then Bancadium’s honor had been dragged through the mud, and he’d become an enemy to every noble house.
To put it kindly, he was isolated; in reality, he’d been cast out.
‘This time, I’ll help him.’
Right now, Bancadium was facing an unprecedented crisis.
There was only one way out of this web: clearing his name.
‘If I step in and help him, and Bancadium protects me in return.’
Wouldn’t we both get what we want?
But first, I had to meet with the Duke…….
‘Where is he?’
During the thirty-minute stroll after lunch, I looked around eagerly.
“What are you doing, little one?”
Veronica had just come out of the dining hall.
“Looking for where the Duke is—eek?!”
“Hup.”
She swept me up into her arms with a mischievous grin.
“Goodness, what does our little one see in that Dragon anyway?”
Veronica tilted her head as if baffled, holding me while glancing around.
Just then, as if on cue, all the inmates nearby averted their eyes.
“Sister.”
“Yes, little one?”
“Who are you?”
“……Huh?”
“Everyone’s being very careful around you.”
At the dining hall earlier and everywhere else, the inmates had been on edge; someone so cautious around them must have been someone important on the outside.
“Are you someone important?”
“Oh, no? Sister is an extremely gentle and kind rabbit.”
I tilted my head, recalling a drawing of a rabbit from an old newspaper.
“But you’re much bigger than a rabbit…….”
“Sister’s a combat rabbit.”
“A combat rabbit?”
Such a thing exists?
The moment doubt crossed my mind, she quickly added,
“The Dragon is in his room right now.”
“His room?”
I pushed my curiosity aside and my eyes lit up.
Veronica nodded with a slight smile.
“I’m not sure what happened, but he—he fought while stroking the warden’s head, it seems.”
“Hmm.”
Fighting while stroking someone’s head?
That made no sense to me.
‘Why would he fight?’
If it was serious enough to land him in solitary, it must have been something unusual.
Dangling in Veronica’s arms, I racked my brain.
‘I need to find out.’
Something smelled fishy here.
* * *
At that same moment.
Rodrigo, the Dragon of Bancadium, sat with his long legs crossed, and his mood was decidedly foul.
‘What good is being a Dragon? I’m an exile now. They say there’s a sword and witnesses proving I murdered the Crown Prince.’
‘And the Imperial Family issued a Sealing Order. Doesn’t that mean my wings are clipped entirely?’
‘Even worse—a Permanent House Confinement Order after release. They’re completely expelling Bancadium from Brosia, that’s what this is. Damn it all.’
Murder of a royal.
The fall of Bancadium.
Every whisper reached the Dragon’s ears—his senses were several times sharper than any ordinary man’s.
But he didn’t care about that.
He’d been born indifferent, and he had no interest in what others said.
They were weaker creatures anyway, babbling among themselves.
Except for one thing.
‘It’s pathetic, really. What he’s managed this time. He couldn’t even lift a finger when the Duchess was kidnapped.’
‘And the daughter in her womb—they say she died too.’
There were things one could say, and things one couldn’t.
Listening to such vulgar gossip, Rodrigo finally rose from his seat.
And when the door to the dining hall opened,
‘Aaaagh! Argh!’
‘S-somebody! P-please……! H-help!’
In moments, Rodrigo had crippled several guards and returned to his bunk.
Magic was forbidden inside the prison, but insects like those—he could dispose of them easily with one hand.
The guards who arrived too late dared not even step on the blood-soaked floor.
After that, Rodrigo was subdued without resistance and locked in solitary confinement.
‘Spouting such nonsense.’
The Duchess who was killed. Her unborn daughter.
To Rodrigo, those two were like his Reverse Scale.
Five years ago—he’d felt powerlessness for the first time when he lost those two.
‘How dare they.’
To touch them like that.
Hearing such vulgarity again, Rodrigo’s nerves were as raw as they could be.
The reason he’d accepted solitary confinement quietly was that he simply didn’t want to see anyone.
‘Yes.’
Not even that reckless brat.
For nearly a month, Rodrigo had found the small child who kept hovering around him utterly unbearable.
A creature so fragile it would die from a single flick, yet fearless enough to approach him without hesitation.
It should have stayed quiet like the others. He couldn’t fathom why it kept coming near him as if they were close, its intentions completely unclear.
And that other one beside it,

Always making such threats.
‘Lay a finger? As if.’
The one doing the approaching was them.
Rodrigo let out a quiet snort despite himself. Yet he left them alone even though they irritated him so—
“Tsk.”
because killing them would feel even worse.
That was all.
Those fluttering strands of hair resembled someone so much it was infuriating.
Knock, knock.
“……Prisoner 666. The Director is calling.”
Likely because of the earlier incident, the guard’s manner toward him had become noticeably more cautious.
Rodrigo suppressed a sigh and left his cell.
The total commander of Iztail. Nowhere else was his word absolute law.
Except over Rodrigo.
“Prisoner 666 entering, Director.”
The top floor of Iztail.
Sys, the Director, rose from where he sat in this fortress of a place that overlooked the entire vicinity.
He had once been rescued from an assassination attempt by Rodrigo’s own hand, long ago. Afterward, while serving as the prison director, he had secretly supported his savior in captivity.
Once the door closed, Sys immediately bowed deeply.
“My sincerest apologies. About this incident…….”
“It’s fine. Actually, it worked out well.”
Solitary suited him better than expected.
No one around. Barely any noise.
“I’d rather stay there.”
Rodrigo settled into the sofa nearby and crossed his legs. Sys gathered papers from the desk and approached.
“If you wish, I’ll extend your stay when you return.”
Rodrigo nodded and extended his hand. As if on cue, Sys handed over a stack of documents.
“The key witness—a chambermaid—recently met with an accident. She had no family, and her close colleagues all took sudden leave and have been out of contact since.”
“They cleaned house.”
It was obvious enough.
They’d eliminated a bothersome witness beforehand.
“Pathetic.”
Rodrigo clicked his tongue and turned another page.
“We’re searching for evidence as thoroughly as we can…….”
“You haven’t found any.”
“I apologize.”
Sys bowed deeply again.
To fail at clearing his lord’s name, to find not a single piece of solid evidence—he was an utter failure as a retainer.
“Is this all the information you have on her?”

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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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