Isn’t Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? - Chapter 179

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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 179
The lyrical melody that had echoed from the bow of the ship abruptly ceased. The deck was instantly filled with the harsh screams of Black Mages and the sound of hurried footsteps.
“W-what in the world is this…?”
As the Third Prince spun around with a dazed expression, magic arrows suddenly began raining down from the direction of the forest once more.
The mages under Duke Simour’s command had prepared scrolls in advance that would allow them to arrive instantly at the forest downstream of the Rene River, and they had launched their operation the moment they received the signal.
As more and more mages arrived at the forest, the barrage of magic arrows grew increasingly fierce.
“Ugh!”
Soon, a sharply honed blade of mana embedded itself deeply into the Third Prince’s shoulder. As searing pain tore through his muscles, he gasped and his body convulsed.
“Hgh, aaargh…!”
His face went pale as his right arm—the one holding his sword—became useless. The shock of falling into a trap terrified him far more than the excruciating pain radiating from his shoulder.
The Third Prince had led battles from the vanguard on several occasions, but it was his mother who had created the rift in the Northern Region, so he had always faced only predictable situations. Confronted with this unexpected ambush, he lost his composure in an instant, and the Black Mage group he had brought with him fell like autumn leaves before the enemy’s surprise attack.
Gasping for breath, the Third Prince gripped his sword with his left arm and desperately drew upon his mana to deflect the arrows of condensed magic. But the moment the barrage of magic arrows ceased, towering columns of water suddenly erupted from all directions—with enough force to capsize the ship.
“We’ll be annihilated at this rate! Flee, Your Highness! It’s a trap!”
One of the Black Mages nearby fired black flames in the direction the magic was coming from, urgently shouting to the Third Prince. Some were already jumping into the river to escape. The ship, riddled with holes from the arrow magic, swayed precariously as if it would be overturned by the savage columns of water.
“Damn it!”
Staggering, the Third Prince finally discarded his armor and leaped overboard.
“Cough! Gack!”
His head barely breaking the surface, he thrashed his arms toward the nearby dock.
‘If I can just slip away from here unnoticed…’
That was when something blocked his path forward. The bow of a ship.
Numerous small boats, moving with the speed of speedboats thanks to wind magic, began surrounding all the Black Mages floundering in the river. As if they wouldn’t let a single one escape.
The Third Prince stopped swimming and jerked his head up in panic, meeting a pair of gleaming crimson eyes.
Deborah Simour.
The Third Prince breathed heavily and ground his teeth.
“You dare, you wench!”
“I was targeting you too. Thanks for coming straight to me.”
“Tch!”
“Now you’ll serve as my hostage.”
The Third Prince hurled curses at me with a face twisted in humiliation, but it was short-lived.
Crackle—!
A powerful electrical spell spread across the river water where the Black Mages were struggling. The current passed through their soaked bodies in an instant.
That was the extent of the Third Prince’s memory.
* * *
“It’s over.”
The Third Prince and his Black Mage group, struck by the electrical magic that poured across the river, were all electrocuted and rendered unconscious, allowing me to easily take possession of the Third Prince.
‘Somehow, this fool hasn’t deviated from my expectations by even a hair’s breadth.’
I clicked my tongue as I observed the Third Prince, who had so willingly become my prisoner. The Fourth Empress was certainly a difficult and troublesome opponent, but he was exactly as I had predicted.
‘There’s one thing the Fourth Empress overlooked in this battle of wits.’
A lure is primarily used as a strategy when you don’t know much about your opponent’s identity. If she had read my moves, the Fourth Empress would naturally have assumed I hadn’t discovered her identity at all.
‘So she would have thought this lure was intended to draw her out.’
The Fourth Empress had been preoccupied with protecting herself and gauging my intentions, neglecting to monitor the movements of the Third Prince—her only weakness and burden.
‘She failed to keep her son in check.’
From the beginning, Isidore and I had identified the Third Prince as the one most likely to fall into this trap.
Through a Blanche informant who had infiltrated Count Loien’s party, Isidore discovered that the Third Prince was an ambitious man deeply dissatisfied with his current circumstances. The fact that he participated in the lavender diamond auction made it abundantly clear that he coveted the Saint.
‘What is so special about that Saint of his…’
Originally, I had planned an intimate birthday celebration aboard ship for only a select few, but I spread rumors of a proposal to provoke the greedy Third Prince—and the result was a resounding success.
The Third Prince had taken the bait!
Isidore, observing through flight magic as the Third Prince and the Black Mages under his command walked directly into the trap, used teleportation magic to appear instantly at the dock where the ship awaited and sent the signal.
The ship, laden only with puppets provided by the puppeteer Michèle Grandbert and a recording artifact, was able to move toward the enemy’s ambush point without crew thanks to Rozard’s wind magic. Because Rozard could manipulate the wind with perfect control, the operation to surround any Black Mages fleeing into the river with the boat proceeded far more smoothly.
From the start, I had no intention of engaging in a chaotic battle aboard a dangerous ship.
‘I cannot bear to watch the people I cherish get hurt.’
I fired Magic Arrows to force the enemies overboard, surrounded them with the ship waiting on the opposite bank of the forest, and finished them with electrical shocks.
‘I succeeded in capturing the Third Prince and the Black Mage Group without losing anyone.’
I soothed my racing heart as it pounded heavily, then slowly caught my breath and surveyed my surroundings.
“Just throw them in roughly.”
Duke Simour gave the cold command while gazing at the Black Mages bound with rope. Restraints infused with holy power had been placed on the limbs of the Black Mages, and the mages who received Duke Simour’s order carelessly hurled the unconscious Black Mages into a prison-like cart.
These were the ones who had committed murder and kidnapping as casually as eating, all to offer sacrifices to demons. The Imperial Judicial Department would impose severe punishment without us needing to dirty our hands.
Shortly after.
Beleck appeared, having been searching the forest surrounding the lower reaches of the river to confirm whether any remaining forces remained.
“These damned bastards were trying to summon a demon using human corpses as offerings.”
The Black Mages that Beleck had captured were bound tightly with rope alongside a magic circle drawn in blood.
“They must have been attempting to summon a water-dwelling demon to destroy evidence.”
Isidore, picking up a scroll inscribed with strange symbols, curved his lips into a slight smile.
“We should submit this as evidence that the Third Prince colluded with the Black Mages. Though honestly, even without this, the case against him is airtight.”
As Isidore said, the opponent was backed into a corner. Not only the direct line of Simour participated in this Black Mage suppression operation, but also the Magic Tower and the White Knight Order. Other noble families had witnessed firsthand the Third Prince leading the Black Mage Group in attacking the ship, so there were more than enough witnesses.
“Put this one in a special cart.”
The valuable hostage, the Third Prince, was thrown into the most secure cart prison, specially reinforced with a triple barrier.
“…But still, trying to make such a fool into Emperor. Did the Fourth Empress really think Simour would meekly recognize and follow this incompetent as Emperor?”
Rozard muttered with an incredulous expression. I too had to swallow my sense of absurdity as I looked at the unconscious Third Prince sprawled before me. No matter how capable and brilliant the Fourth Empress was, it seemed she couldn’t maintain objectivity when it came to her own child.
“Children never turn out the way parents intend.”
Duke Simour murmured bitterly.
As the night deepened and the situation drew to a close, an informant Isidore had planted came rushing toward us in urgency.
“Duke Visconti!”
“Report.”
“Suspicious movements by the Fourth Empress have been detected.”
* * *
“What, what did you say? Habier… my Habier… was taken by that woman after leading the Black Mages?”
“Ugh, p-please calm down!”
“That, that can’t be right. Tell me again!”
No.
No!
No matter how much I denied reality, Habier’s empty bedchamber laid bare the truth—my son had walked into the trap of his own volition.
*Cough! Cough!*
The Fourth Empress, who had been strangling the aide bearing this catastrophic news, trembled violently and gasped for breath before bolting from the palace.
Her eyes, already stripped of reason, were bloodshot and inflamed. By dawn tomorrow, my son would be as good as dead.
The Empire’s law showed no mercy toward Black Mages. Black Magic was classified as a grave sacrilege of the highest order, and the penalties for such blasphemy applied without exception—even to the Imperial Family.
‘Stupid wretch! Foolish boy!’
At this point, there was only one choice: slaughter those wretched Simour dogs and flee with my son.
“Those cursed Simour serpents! They’ll beg for mercy when they learn what it means to cross me!”
Shrieking like one seized by madness, she rushed toward the cave where the summoning circle of the Archfiend Lucifer lay. Remarkably, that very cave existed deep within the Sky Forest—the woodland closest to the Imperial Palace itself.
Who could have imagined it? That the stronghold of the apex of Black Mages stood mere steps from the Imperial Palace, which so rigidly opposed sorcery.
As she bit her finger and drew blood, the cave’s sealed entrance slowly creaked open, and she scrambled down the labyrinthine staircase that descended into darkness.
“I offer my entire soul! Come forth! Please…!”
She approached the hexagram inscribed with her name in blood and tore open her arm, letting crimson spray across the magic circle. Blood pooled like a river across the floor, and as an eerie wind swept through, every candle illuminating the chamber was extinguished.
The demon had begun its summoning.

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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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