Isn’t Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? - Chapter 42

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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 42
* * *
‘What is that?’
‘A public confession?’
‘How extraordinary.’
‘Is there really still someone as old-fashioned as Young-sik making a confession like that these days?’
Before the fountain in the Magic Faculty Courtyard, a man clutching an armful of crimson roses drew the astonished gazes of every student present.
He was a man adorned from head to toe in expensive-looking garments and accessories—so ostentatiously dressed that he emanated an uncomfortable sense of excess.
Most striking of all were those glittering brown boots.
‘Of all places, he had to stand where Knight Isidore was just moments ago….’
‘How unfortunate.’
The contrast was all the more pronounced when compared to Isidore, who allowed his natural charm to shine through with only subtle accents in his attire.
‘Heh heh. They’re all astounded by my wealth. As they should be. I am the master of the Western Silver Mine, after all.’
Louis Gazel savored the attention pouring down upon him as he waited for Deborah Simour to emerge from the Magic Faculty Building.
‘The Capital truly does have the finest water.’
In the meantime, whenever a beautiful lady passed by, he couldn’t resist stealing an admiring glance.
Shortly thereafter, a young noblewoman emerged from the main entrance of the Magic Faculty Building—one whose face practically screamed “Deborah Simour” to anyone with eyes.
As Deborah passed, those around her stepped aside with the utmost deference—like herbivores scurrying away at the sight of a predator.
‘Truly striking in appearance.’
Louis Gazel’s eyes widened. The woman was impressive—her violet hair cascading down to her waist and her slender, graceful figure.
‘She doesn’t seem the type to have a cute bone in her body, so she’s not quite my preference, but she is far more beautiful than I expected.’
Moreover, he had heard that this Deborah was of direct Simour lineage and had recently demonstrated exceptional magical talent.
She was precisely the sort of person the Gazel Family needed—a family that had produced no mages whatsoever.
He had heard the rumors well enough: that every Young-sik called her a viper and avoided her, that Deborah Simour was notoriously vicious. But if he isolated her in the Western Territory and educated her properly, he could reform her temperament.
‘It’s not as though I’ll be staring at that woman for the rest of my life, after all.’
He swallowed his sinister intentions and approached Deborah Simour with a friendly smile.
“Good day to you, Deborah Simour. I have come to pay my respects through the introduction of Beleck Simour. It is an infinite honor to meet someone as beautiful and noble as yourself in person.”
Just as he thought he had delivered a perfect greeting, the noblewoman’s lips curled upward in what appeared to be a sneer.
“Ah! So you’re that Thompson—no, Louis Gazel. What a shameless face you have. How dare you thrust that ugly mug before me.”
“I, what. How sudden….”
The sudden barrage of insults left Louis Gazel’s expression frozen.
“Katrin Bay.”
For but a moment, he felt the sting of contempt beneath her haughty gaze. But the instant the name Katrin left her lips, Gazel’s eyes went wide.
“That, that….”
“Yes—the name of your mother’s maid, the one you touched last year and got expelled from your territory for.”
“….”
“Of course, that’s not where it ends. Last winter there was Mary, three years ago in autumn there was Joan….”
“P-please, wait a moment, my lady!”
As the relentless barrage of past transgressions continued without pause, Louis Gazel’s complexion turned ashen.
“Goodness, there are so many. Every time I brush them out, more keep coming. I think even a cat sheds less than you do.”
“Ugh, ugh!”
As she stepped forward with a bloodthirsty smile, Louis Gazel stumbled backward, retreating hastily.
“Don’t think you can run just yet. I have a petition here that lists all your sordid deeds in vivid detail. Shall I read it to you?”
When Deborah Simour pulled a crimson-sealed envelope from her bag, Louis Gazel frantically waved his hands.
“N-no, that won’t be necessary.”
“Indeed. If I wished, there would be a line of people willing to testify against you all the way to the Capital. There’s no need for me to soil my lips with the truth. Besides, even without going to the Western Region, you’ve been quite flamboyant here. You’ve even been embezzling funds.”
So she knew about that too. Louis Gazel’s hands and feet began to tremble visibly.
“I’m also aware that you’ve become so addicted to gambling that you’ve been falsifying ledgers to secretly divert silver from the mines.”
“….”
“Your father must have harbored grand illusions after receiving a letter from Beleck Simour. He probably gave you the Gazel Family seal to strengthen ties with the Simour Family. Yet you used that seal to create slush funds.”
“Ah, ah…”
“I wonder how delighted your father would be to hear this news. Wouldn’t he?”
Watching the Princess see through his secret dealings as clearly as if reading from her palm, Louis Gazel felt genuine terror. She had uncovered everything that had transpired in the remote territory of the Western Region—a place so rugged that outsiders rarely ventured there.
The name Katrin Bay that the Princess had mentioned was an incident he had prided himself on concealing perfectly. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the extent of the Princess’s intelligence network.
She narrowed her cold eyes to serpentine slits, driving the final nail into his coffin.
“And most of all, I’m curious about Beleck Simour’s reaction—he who trusted you and tried to arrange this meeting.”
“Gasp!”
Princess Deborah Simour waved the red envelope, which contained detailed accounts of Louis Gazel’s every shameful deed.
“The petitions from the maids and servants who worked in the Gazel Family household describe how you deceived them, left them feeling humiliated. Don’t you think they’d throw their gloves in your shameless face?”
Louis Gazel drew a sharp breath.
A duel with Beleck Simour, the Simour Family’s second son and a recognized genius? If he so much as drew a single offensive artifact, Louis would drop dead on the spot.
Cold sweat poured down his face as his lips trembled uncontrollably.
“W-what… what do you…?”
“Speak clearly. Don’t stammer.”
“What do you want from me, Princess? Anything. I’ll do anything. I’ll beg if I must.”
“Simple. From this moment on, don’t let me catch even a glimpse of you. Don’t let me hear your name. Better yet, stay buried in the Western Region where you belong and never show your face again. You have three seconds.”
3. 2. 1.
She counted down without mercy.
Louis Gazel, barely standing with an expression of utter desperation, turned tail and fled like a madman the moment her gaze shifted away.
* * *
‘He certainly knows how to run.’
Watching Louis Gazel’s pathetic figure disappear into the distance, I massaged my stiff neck, tense from the confrontation. This was the moment my first commission from Blanche finally bore fruit—finding his weakness.
‘Master truly has a gift for burying someone.’
Master had excavated all of Louis Gazel’s dirty secrets, and I had simply wielded the weapon he provided, waiting for my prey to spring the trap.
I’d expected Beleck, as the heir, would eventually appear after drawing Louis Gazel in, but I never anticipated he’d announce his arrival with gifts and letters.
I’d calculated that once I seized his weakness and wielded it while invoking a duel with Beleck—a matter of life and death—he would surely panic and flee. And my prediction proved accurate.
‘But just how extensive is Master’s intelligence network?’
The Western Acon Region was a treacherous mountain terrain, far from the Capital, making information gathering difficult. Yet he had uncovered every hidden incident involving the lord’s son—a man who wielded power equivalent to a regional king.
Master must have already embedded informants throughout the Empire.
What on earth is his true identity?
Isn’t it highly probable that he’s a young master from a family that’s been in the information business for a long time?
He speaks to me with respectful language, but he’s certainly not a commoner. Master had always favored the metaphors that nobility employed.
The conclusion is that I want to continue doing business with him. To accomplish that, I need to make sure I don’t appear easy to manipulate, while presenting myself as someone who can bring him substantial profit.
‘I’ll need to be good at this tug of war. Who would have thought he’d bring me information of this caliber.’
I swallowed hard as I gazed at the envelope sealed with a silver seal—not the one with the red seal that had been used to blackmail Louis Gazel, but another envelope entirely.
* * *
“Louis Gazel had a riding accident?”
Just as Beleck Simour had been growing irritated by Louis Gazel’s ostentatious visits to the Academy, this news reached his ears.
“Yes, Beleck. Apparently he suffered severe injuries to a critical area… *ahem*. I suspect he won’t be lingering around the Capital’s high society anymore, having suffered the most catastrophic accident a man could endure.”
“….”
A nuisance had disappeared.
Such was Beleck Simour’s brief assessment.
Since his father disapproved of Louis Gazel, he had no desire to become further entangled with that family.
Yet despite the situation being favorable to him, something felt unsettling. Unable to focus on his work that day, Beleck Simour had returned from the Magic Tower to the Annex Building and taken a walk around the Town House.
Usually his mind was consumed entirely with thoughts of work and achievement, but today, unsettled as he was, his gaze fell upon the Rose Garden buried in the pale blue darkness.
‘It used to be the Rose Garden that Mother maintained….’
What on earth had prompted Father to suddenly undergo such a change of heart and have the garden torn up?
‘Could it possibly be because of Deborah Simour?’
He hoped it wasn’t, but his intuition stubbornly insisted that it was.
‘Why on earth?’
As he stood there in this ambiguous state of mind, a pale, wax-like silhouette slowly emerged from the darkness.
‘Deborah Simour?’
Because of the way she walked away from the garden, his mother suddenly came to mind, and Beleck Simour narrowed his eyes slightly.

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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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