Isn’t Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? - Chapter 182

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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 182
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“Miya Binoshu was at the Dark Mages’ Headquarters?”
“I heard that Miss Miya volunteered at the Orphanage not long ago. What on earth is going on…?”
Bound in rope as she emerged from the forest, Miya Binoshu became the center of the crowd’s shocked gazes. The commotion from the previous night had drawn onlookers and curiosity-seekers to the Sky Forest, and she wept with a frail body that seemed to appeal to everyone’s sympathy.
“…Thank you. Sob, truly. Thank you.”
Miya continued to murmur in a trembling voice.
“What exactly are you thanking us for? Your complicity in the Dark Mages’ vicious conspiracy and your impersonation of a Saint are grave crimes. The punishment awaiting you will be severe.”
Duke Simour, who had been walking near the Investigation Team, shot the words at her with a cold voice. Miya shrank her shoulders, her blue eyes glistening with tears.
“Still… at least now I won’t be forced to commit greater sins against my will. My heart finds some peace in that.”
Her words carried the implication that she had been coerced by the Fourth Empress and the Dark Mages.
“It seems you’re trying to play the victim to reduce your sentence. Do you think I don’t see through such transparent tricks?”
As Beleck sneered, Miya bowed her head even lower.
“You’re right. I know my own weakness and cowardice. I will… accept my punishment willingly…”
As Beleck pressed her harshly with a cold expression, several people frowned and clicked their tongues.
They were those who had witnessed Miya willingly bestowing her holy power upon the marginalized. Even as she struggled in the Slum District, she had never lost her gentle smile—there was something about her tearful appearance now that stirred compassion.
One of the Priests among the Investigation Team stepped forward and spoke carefully.
“Miss Miya was granted holy power by the Divine. The situation is certainly suspicious, but we need more time to investigate exactly how connected Miss Miya is to this group of wicked apostles and what relationship exists between them.”
“What investigation?! The mere fact that she impersonated a Saint is already a desecration of the sacred! She shamelessly enjoyed the glory that should have belonged to my sister!”
“However, Miss Miya possesses holy power of high purity. The Archbishop himself has vouched for this. It is contradictory for one blessed by the Divine to desecrate the sacred…”
“Why is it contradictory? There are records of fallen angels in the Holy Temple.”
“Beleck. Restrain yourself for now.”
Rozard hastily stopped Beleck from touching upon this sensitive religious matter.
“In any case, things will not proceed as that woman wishes.”
“Damn it!”
As Beleck spat out a curse and grumbled, Isidore watched Miya Binoshu’s fiery tears with deep thought.
‘She’s deliberately stirring sympathy.’
Quite a few people showed signs of being swayed.
Even if she played the victim by riding on sympathetic sentiment, it wouldn’t take long before her past good deeds would be revealed to have harbored impure intentions. Miya Binoshu surely knew that the trial, composed of jurors influenced by Visconti and Simour, would not proceed in her favor.
‘What’s the point of dragging out this situation with such unconvincing acting?’
Did she have something to rely on?
‘Surely that something isn’t Philaf Montes, who spends his life drowning in wine.’
As Isidore pondered, a prison carriage used by the Imperial Court to transport criminals had appeared.
“Lock this one in the Underground Prison beneath the Icebreaker Tower.”
The Crown Prince issued the command.
The ‘Icebreaker Tower’ was a prison for serious offenders. However, those held there had committed crimes slightly less grave than those imprisoned in the ‘Tower of Darkness,’ from which one could never see light again.
Perhaps wary of confining a Priest with such pure holy power to the Tower of Darkness, the Crown Prince seemed to be postponing extreme measures until the investigation was complete and the results could be announced to noble society.
“Get in.”
Bound tightly in rope, Miya Binoshu was locked into the prison carriage used to transport criminals.
“The Crown Prince is arriving!”
“Duke Simour and Duke Visconti are here too!”
“But why is Miya Binoshu trapped in that carriage like some kind of prisoner?”
“What in the world is happening…”
Despite the dreary weather with sleet swirling through the air, the crowd of onlookers circling the prison carriage grew even larger, their eyes gleaming with curiosity.
Miya’s tears fell silently as she bit down hard on the tender flesh inside her mouth, surrounded by the suspicious gazes directed at her. When even these worthless commoners dared to gossip and gawk at her as though she were a spectacle, a sudden surge of unbearable hatred and rage consumed her.
‘What could I possibly have done so wrong?’
Anyone facing such dire circumstances would have no choice but to reach out to a demon. If she had been born the daughter of a high-ranking noble house, would these commoners have ever dared to look upon her?
‘I want to kill them all.’
Yet she had persevered among those filthy creatures, only for Deborah Simour to ruin everything. As Miya swallowed her grievances and deep murderous intent, the demon’s voice echoed in her ears once more.
-Miya. When the crimson moon rises, everything will unfold as you desire. Just be patient a little longer.
The demon spoke in a remarkably gentle tone.
The demon had grown fond of the vessel called Miya that contained it—far more so than Jamila, who had stopped at nothing to satisfy her desires. In truth, Jamila’s blind maternal obsession was something the demon could never quite comprehend.
But Miya was different. She perceived herself as a victim in every circumstance, which freed her from guilt, and made her far more prone to resenting and hating others. Humans who loved to blame others and frequently rationalized their own actions were the demon’s favorite prey.
-Miya. Those who oppose you will soon be nothing but corpses scattered about. Look there—all those foolish spectators will tremble beneath your feet.
‘Is that really true…?’
-Yes, you may look forward to it.
When the crimson moon rose and the interference from the Demon Realm intensified, the demon intended to connect the habitats of high-ranking demons with the mortal world. Humans would surely witness a spectacular sight as ravenous demons poured forth from a sky stained blood-red.
‘This… crimson moon… when exactly will it rise?’
Miya posed the question carefully in her mind, swallowing her anxiety as she gnawed at her fingertips. The metallic taste of blood spread across her tongue.
-Soon.
‘Soon? But specifically, when?’
-In two days. At midnight.
‘I can easily stall until then.’
At the demon’s answer, Miya lowered her head and stretched her lips into a long, sinister smile.
That was when it happened.
Crash!
“Ahhhhh!”
Suddenly, the rear wheel of the prison carriage carrying Miya burst with a deafening explosion. As the carriage lost its balance and tilted sharply toward the ground, Miya tumbled downward, and all eyes turned toward the culprit who had destroyed the carriage.
It was Deborah Simour.
“W-what is the meaning of this? My lady?”
“My hand slipped.”
Deborah Simour brushed off her hands with an unbothered expression and walked toward the overturned prison carriage.
“My lady!”
The Crown Prince and the Investigation Team cried out in alarm at her reckless action, while the surrounding crowd murmured in confusion.
“Perhaps it’s the snow. This time my foot slipped as well.”
Crash!
Deborah Simour paid no heed and this time kicked the lock of the carriage, which was protected by defensive magic, causing it to explode. The light she emitted was pure white, like sacred power itself, yet its destructive force exceeded that of offensive magic, leaving everyone’s faces etched with shock.
Creak—
The carriage door swung open with a groaning hinge, and Deborah Simour suddenly dragged Miya’s body out, seizing her slender wrist in an iron grip. Miya’s large eyes brimmed with pitiful tears.
“Ugh! Ah, it hurts! Sob. Please… don’t do this.”
“I wasn’t even gripping it hard.”
Regardless of the truth, from a distance it appeared as though Deborah Simour was coercing the fragile young lady Miya without restraint. Unable to bear it, the Crown Prince and the Investigation Team moved to stop her.
“Deborah Simour! Compose yourself.”
“My lady. The criminal is obediently following His Highness the Crown Prince’s orders—what is the meaning of this reckless behavior?”
“S-sob… I was wrong, my lady… I’ll accept my punishment willingly. Please don’t do this.”
Tears streamed down Miya’s cheeks. It was at that moment when the soft-hearted knight commander among the nobles in the Investigation Team attempted to restrain the young lady.
“You all already know who is being hypocritical and who is genuine, yet you’re falling for it anyway.”
Isidore placed his hand on his sword hilt and blocked the young lady’s path with a cold expression. Duke Simour and the twins likewise surrounded her.
“While you lot squabbled over scraps among yourselves and didn’t lift a finger during the battle with the Demon Dragon, you dare obstruct my sister—the greatest contributor?”
“You have no right to lay a single finger on my daughter.”
“Even if Simour is known to bring down flying birds, isn’t this going too far? Right now the young lady is suddenly obstructing Miya’s arrest and intimidating her, is she not?”
Tension hung thick in the air from all directions. Surrounded by Isidore and Duke Simour’s direct line, Deborah Simour gazed at Miya, who was gasping for breath and weeping pitifully.
‘As I thought… those eyes…’
Her expression was sorrowful, yet her pupils held neither despair nor sadness—only the vacant gleam of an inanimate doll.
The demon I had faced in my previous life had possessed eyes exactly like these.
* * *
I stopped the carriage heading toward the Icebreaker Tower because of the danger signal emanating from my instincts.
Whether it was Naila’s intuition or Yoon Do-hee’s, I couldn’t say, but I couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that something was unfolding abnormally.
‘Everything about this situation is wrong.’
The crimson hexagram stained with blood was a summoning circle for a Greater Demon, not a Demon Dragon, and only a Greater Demon possessed the power to create such a rift.
‘And… Purple has no strength at all.’
Given that spirited Purple hadn’t participated in the battle with the Demon Dragon and had been ailing ever since, something ominous had definitely descended here.
‘If the demon chose a vessel other than the Empress for its descent, the most likely candidate would be Miya Binoshu, who stood before the crimson hexagram.’
Furthermore, the moment Beleck mentioned the “Fallen Angel,” the possibility crossed my mind that the demon could disguise its demonic energy as holy power.
Hypocrisy is also evil. In some ways, the worst kind.
I heard voices around me trying to dissuade me, but I tightened my grip on Miya’s wrist like a shackle, pressing harder.
Since the Investigation Team had determined Miya wasn’t a Black Mage, they hadn’t fitted her with restraints infused with holy power. If she was disguising herself, she would feel pain from this power and react.
“Miya Binoshu. Did you think I wouldn’t understand your purpose in stalling for time?”
“I-I beg your pardon, my lady… w-what are you talking about?”
Miya’s body began trembling noticeably.
“You’re waiting for the crimson moon to rise, aren’t you?”
“…!”

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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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