I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 44

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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 44
“……You still haven’t found her?”
Jerban, absorbed in paperwork at his office, furrowed his brow.
He’d hoped to hear some good news today, at least.
“I—I’m terribly sorry.”
“How can you not find a single person! What’s so difficult about tracking down one wretched girl?”
Especially one carrying luggage.
Her movements should be limited, her routes predictable—how could you fail to catch her for days?
Jerban simply couldn’t comprehend it.
“His Majesty asks me every day whether you’ve apprehended the girl or not. If I have to tell him tomorrow that you’ve still failed, my reputation will be in tatters. Do you understand?”
“I—I’ll find a lead by today somehow, I promise——”
“How many times have I heard that excuse now?”
Jerban hurled the inkwell in his hand at his aide. The man, unable to dodge, swallowed a dull wave of pain.
“Have you searched the back alleys thoroughly? The places where vagrants gather?”
“……Yes.”
“Then search again! Every corner, every spot you might have missed. Truly everywhere. There’s nowhere else for her to go!”
If she’d headed to the Capital Outskirts, the guards would have caught her immediately. If not, she’d need to come into the Capital’s center to make contact with Bancadium’s people, and we already have knights stationed there.
So the only place left is where the stench rises and vermin crawl.
She’ll be hiding in filth, doing everything in her power to escape.
“……Wait. No, that’s not quite right.”
Jerban lowered his head, reconsidering.
Looking at the report that came in earlier, there were actually one or two places they hadn’t searched yet.
“There’s that place. Why not? The one even the vermin avoid. The one not listed in the report.”
“Such a place would be……the Cemetery, perhaps?”
“Yes, there!”
“But even vagrants won’t go near that place. It’s crawling with disease and filth, barely maintained at all—hardly a suitable hideout——”
“That’s exactly why she might have chosen it.”
What wouldn’t a person do to survive?
When life is at stake, humans could bark like dogs if they had to.
“Search it at first light. Search it thoroughly, and find even a single strand of her hair. Do you understand?”
“Y—yes, I understand.”
The aide bowed his head hurriedly.
Jerban watched him flee with contempt, then lowered his own head.
‘I have to find her somehow.’
The Emperor’s pressure was mounting day by day.
Genteel words masked a ruler who, once provoked, could lose himself completely.
Of everyone I’ve known, he was the darkest. It was wisest not to provoke him.
So I had to bring him some report, anything to keep his mood from sour.
“My lord. An urgent report.”
“Come in.”
Not long after the aide departed, an attendant wrapped head to toe in robes entered.
“What is it?”
“It concerns the girl Karin, whom you mentioned before.”
“Yes. Did you find something out about her?”
The Emperor’s second point of interest, after Bancadium, was this girl.
A child that Duke Bancadium had extracted from the prison separately. Moreover, one who’d committed Imperial Treason to a degree nearly warranting execution.
I myself had been curious about her for some time.
“All the trial records, testimonies, and related documents appear to have been forged.”
“……Forged? Are you saying a four-year-old child committed Document Forgery?”
“There must be someone behind it. The forgery was done with such precision and care as to deceive even the Iztail Prison guards. A child couldn’t possibly manage that.”
“True, a child couldn’t handle such documents alone.”
“Exactly. Creating the forged official documents and inserting them into the original files—that’s beyond what a child could do.”
“So this girl Karin entered the prison deliberately.”
“Whoever did this would need to be skilled in Document Forgery and possess a wide network of connections.”
“It could even be a Guild, not an individual.”
An individual has clear limits for handling all of this alone.
“It would be a Guild in the Capital. The provincial ones lack the capability for such work.”
It’s unlikely to be any Guild under my authority. If such a request had come in, I would’ve been informed long ago.
With Bancadium imprisoned and the Emperor watching Iztail, a small child trying to slip inside? Suspicious by any measure.
However, most of the Guilds in the Capital belonged to the Emperor’s Faction.
Among the remaining ones, if any could pull off something this audacious……
‘It wouldn’t be the madman’s place.’
That leaves only one option.
“Cloken.”
It has to be them.
“Cloken is……”
“A place the late Lady Bancadium had connections with.”
I hadn’t determined the exact nature of their relationship, but I’d confirmed she’d visited that Guild multiple times.
“It’s too much of a coincidence.”
“……”
“Send an anonymous agent there at once. Have him poke around and see what he can learn. Ask about Bancadium while he’s at it.”
“Understood.”
Jerban rose from his seat, finally settling his agitated emotions.
“Prepare a hunt. I need to clear my head.”
“I’ll see to it at once.”
After all the attendants had left,
the Chancellor stood at the window and removed his spectacles.
Narrowing his eyes, he gazed out beyond the glass.
“The weather is quite perfect, isn’t it.”
Ideal for a hunt.
* * *
‘Excellent!’
Alone in the Study for once, I scribbled eagerly on clean paper.
1. Earn money for revenge!
2. Secure the backing of one Guild (Aunt’s XX)
3. Create a new identity and account (in case I need to escape!)
Once Bancadium’s name is cleared, I could return to the Capital. Only then could my true preparations for revenge begin in earnest.
For now, while I had to stay hidden, there was little I could do.
So my plan was to organize everything meticulously now, and once I returned to the Capital, move forward based on this foundation.
“Perfect!”
The first thing to do was earn ‘money.’
‘I won’t accept help from Bancadium.’
I had to handle it myself.
‘I’ll sell the jewel, that’s all.’
I’d use what the Count had coveted so desperately to utterly destroy them.
But creating the jewel was one thing…
The real problem was what to do with the money afterward.
That’s where a Guild to assist me would come in handy!
‘Aunt can’t be involved.’
It would be too dangerous.
And she would object.
If she found out I harbored these dreams of blood revenge.
‘She opposed it even when I said I was going to Iztail Prison.’
But my mind was already made up, and from the moment I came to Bancadium, there was no turning back.
So the question was: which Guild in the Capital should I secure?
‘I’ve already thought about that too.’

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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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