I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 54

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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 54
“So you buried her in the ground, then.”
“……Yes. After investigating her identity, the woman found in the burned cemetery was confirmed to be an Imperial Palace Maidservant. Her name was Charlotte, twenty-five years old, and she had worked as a maidservant in the Main Palace since childhood.”
Chancellor Jervan, who had been delivering his report for some time, carefully studied his sovereign’s reaction.
After days of investigation, they had found nothing of substance.
The Crown Prince’s maidservant they thought they’d finally located—or rather, the woman presumed to be her—had become nothing more than a cold corpse.
By this point, they should have simply accepted that the woman who died in the fire was indeed the maidservant they sought.
But this lingering, uncomfortable unease was the problem.
It would be easier to simply accept her death.
Given the current circumstances, he needed to wrap this up, then watch how Bancadium would move next and plan their strategy accordingly.
But what if—what if by some chance the maidservant was still alive? What if she’d fallen into Bancadium’s hands?
They’d found the maidservant’s body, perhaps, but any evidence she might have possessed remained shrouded in mystery.
To settle the matter without uncovering anything concrete felt intolerable.
And that wasn’t the only suspicious thing.
‘T-two of the knights have vanished. At first we thought they’d simply moved to another post or were changing shifts, but…….’
The two knights who had been watching the back alley had now been missing for four days. Not a hair of them was to be found—they’d disappeared cleanly, as if they’d simply evaporated.
It was unlikely they’d fled in the meantime. Unless someone had attacked them…….
“……Your Majesty.”
“…….”
“Chancellor.”
“Ah. I—I beg your pardon, Your Majesty.”
Chancellor Jervan hastily broke free from his thoughts and bowed his head. That was when the Emperor’s eyes narrowed.
“What were you thinking about that you didn’t hear me calling? Do you have some particular concern these days?”
“No, no, Your Majesty.”
Chancellor Jervan quickly denied it. The anxiety that had filled his mind retreated to some distant corner.
Fortunately, the Emperor had only made that one remark before. He pressed the matter no further.
“Chancellor.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I ask merely to be thorough.”
The Emperor fixed his gaze on his loyal minister and pursed his lips slightly.
“Is the report you’ve given me truly all there is?”
“……!”
Beneath the table, the Chancellor’s hidden hand trembled slightly.
“I’m not certain what you mean, Your Majesty.”
“I mean exactly what I said. I know of the effort you’ve made, and I’m aware of the thoroughness with which you’ve investigated.”
“…….”
“But given the sensitivity of this matter, I cannot help but verify it myself.”
The Emperor smiled faintly as he spoke.
“I already know there is nothing you’re hiding from me. This is merely a final question.”
Sometimes one means to ask something at just this moment, only to forget later and regret it afterwards.
“I hope you’ll speak freely.”
“…….”
“Is there anything you haven’t told me?”
“…….”
“Anything at all?”
Damn it all.
Despite the relentless questioning, Chancellor Jervan maintained his expression, though he cursed inwardly.
‘Trust me, does he?’
Hardly.
Having survived decades beneath the Emperor, Jervan knew precisely what those words truly meant.
The Chancellor found himself swallowing dryly.
‘He’s suspicious. Right now.’
A single chance to confess, the unspoken message went. But it was a trap.
How many had lost their heads by naively falling for those words?
Chancellor Jervan steadied himself.
In this moment, one careless word would cost him his life, regardless of who he was.
“I have always told Your Majesty everything.”
“…….”
“In this matter as well, I have held back nothing.”
“Is that so.”
A heavy question fell between them. Chancellor Jervan nodded slowly.
The Emperor studied his servant and smiled.
“Then that settles it.”
“…….”
“If you speak so resolutely, I’ve no wish to press further. It would be ungracious.”
“Not at all, Your Majesty.”
“On the contrary. You are hardly an ordinary person, and I regret having asked such questions at all.”
Having satisfied himself with this confirmation, the Emperor added that the Chancellor was free to go.
It was a command granting complete escape.
Chancellor Jervan seized the opportunity and hastily left the office.
Yet even as he climbed into his carriage, he could not relax his guard.
‘I’ve weathered this crisis for now.’
But now that the Emperor had begun to suspect him, Jervan would have to be cautious for some time.
‘Absolutely not.’
He could never mention that the knights had disappeared.
He’d barely been forgiven for Bancadium’s prison escape.
The moment he revealed that knights had vanished, that there was a real possibility the maidservant was alive, it would be finished.
As the Emperor had said before, there were more than enough ambitious men eyeing the Chancellor’s position.
‘I’ll conceal it for now and keep searching from the shadows.’
From what he could see, the maidservant did appear to be truly dead, so he should focus on finding whatever evidence she might have left behind.
She couldn’t have left the capital, in any case.
Bancadium’s associates remained still, and the vanished Duke had shown no particular activity—the opportunity was still there.
‘Yes, this isn’t over yet.’
He would start by carefully examining where those men had disappeared.
“Chancellor. Count Amelot is waiting in the Reception Hall.”
Just as Chancellor Jervan arrived at his residence and was about to dispatch people on various errands, he belatedly remembered that he had an appointment today.
He would have liked to turn the Count away immediately, but since he’d already come, there was little choice.
With an irritated sigh, Chancellor Jervan made his way to the Reception Hall.
* * *
She was supposed to return to Bancadium within a week, but Hyacinth, having completed her mission flawlessly, returned in exactly four days.
“I never thought I’d actually miss the Duke like this. How I longed for this place, how I ached for it. Sleeping on the ground, eating whatever was available, rolling about in constant danger of my life…….”
“Hand over the evidence.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Hyacinth obediently nodded and opened the bag that had been entrusted to her by the maidservant.
Charlotte, the maidservant who had come with her, collapsed the moment she crossed Bancadium’s threshold—the accumulated tension and exhaustion finally overwhelming her.
While the servants attended to washing and putting her to bed, they decided to open the evidence they’d received in advance.
“This sword is-.”
The older woman murmured upon discovering a bloodstained short sword in the bag.
Seeing this, Hyacinth gave me a meaningful glance.
“That’s the blade used when the Crown Prince was assassinated. I’m told that just before he died, he drew the sword from his own chest and gave it to 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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