The Abandoned Villainess Takes Everything This Time - Chapter 165

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

165.
The Saint of the Infinite Wings revealed herself once more.
“How fortunate indeed.”
“To see you vanquish that terrible Monster…”
“That ominous presence still lingers in the sky, so how blessed we are that you’ve returned.”
“However……”
They all trailed off, recalling what had transpired since that incident.
And the Tillard Family had come to the Crown Prince’s Castle.
“I’m told you’ve requested a visit several times.”
Lillian was far calmer than expected.
Though visibly thinner, all the same.
“Duke Tillard, and… Kuern. Along with the rest of your retainers. It’s been quite some time.”
The entire Tillard Family felt uncomfortable in their depths upon seeing her.
If she’d been sarcastic or emotional, what lay ahead would have been easier to navigate.
“What brings you to call on us today?”
Duke Tillard squeezed his eyes shut.
If he’d known it would come to this……
Kuern was imprisoned for his role in the cheating during the last Prince’s Tournament.
And now, not even in a tournament but in this, Iris had become implicated in the Crown Prince’s death.
Since they hadn’t found Iris yet, if things continued this way, the house would be ruined.
“I’ve come, ignoring propriety, to seek your forgiveness.”
“My forgiveness?”
At Lillian’s response, all the retainers who had come with her fell to their knees.
They were here to support the Duke.
“We regret our misguided judgment every single day.”
“That’s right, Lillian!”
“……”
“Lillian. We will do anything—please, give us another chance.”
A few seconds passed.
Lillian answered with startling ease.
“Very well. I forgive you.”
“……!”
“As long as you show sincere intent, there’s nothing difficult about it.”
“When you say sincere intent……”
Money, perhaps?
In the past, hadn’t Lillian demanded compensation calculated in gold for her contributions to the house?
If that were the case, even the direct line of the Tillard Family and their vassal houses could pool resources to pay.
But Lillian offered an unexpected answer.
“The most valuable thing in your lives.”
“……?”
The family stirred uneasily.
“For example, first: the Tillard Family will voluntarily withdraw from the Five Great Families, taking responsibility for the regicide.”
Duke Tillard jolted to his feet in shock.
“That’s impossible……!”
“The law states the Family won’t be stripped of status for ordinary reasons, but it says nothing about stepping down of your own accord.”
Lillian was right.
But that would be a loss for him as well……!
‘No, wait.’
Lillian had already been cast out by the Tillard Family—she would suffer no blow from this.
Because he, the Duke, had been the one to discard her.
“And second: all Controller personnel operations and the Artifact Business shall be transferred to the Empire.”
“That… that can’t…”
It would be like severing every limb the Tillard Family possessed.
“Why would you do this?”
Lillian asked them calmly, her bewilderment plain to see.
She’d upended everything, yet her expression suggested she’d known this all along.
“Didn’t you all swear you’d do anything to receive my forgiveness?”
But no one could answer.
Lillian turned away from them.
She wasn’t surprised.
“You’ve all been so perfectly, consistently yourselves from start to finish.”
Her voice was quiet.
Yet it burrowed painfully into the ears of those who heard it.
“Discarding people as though they were nothing. Spineless. Without the courage to admit a single wrong.”
A younger retainer cried out, wrought with indignation.
Surely if they humbled themselves to this degree, forgiveness should follow?
“No! We truly gathered our courage and came here to beg your forgiveness, Lillian!”
“No, you all want my forgiveness—that’s not it at all.”
“Pardon?”
“You want to escape the suspicion of killing the Crown Prince, so you’re clinging to the ‘Saint.'”
Lillian rose from her seat.
Her gaze upon them was like glass marbles.
“You should at least know how cowardly you are.”
“……”
“No—if you truly knew, you wouldn’t be begging for forgiveness like this. You’re people who know exactly how I was raised.”
Some of the retainers bowed their heads.
When young Lillian had fallen from the Duke’s favor.
There had been those wretched days in the Manor, surviving on weeds pulled from the gardens.
‘Tsk, tsk. Look at that pathetic creature.’
‘A direct heir of the Tillard Family, no less. How shameful.’
‘If she’s useless, she shouldn’t have existed in the Tillard Family at all.’
Lillian continued, her voice empty of emotion.
“Until you resolve those two matters, I will not forgive the Tillard Family.”
“Lillian!”
But before they could awkwardly step forward, Baltazar’s people could restrain themselves no longer.
“Leave at once!”
“Stop bothering Miss!”
Yet one person remained uninvited to depart.
Ramio approached awkwardly, scratching his head.
“Lillian… I mean, Miss Lillian. Are you… all right……?”
He had at least the sense not to ask what could possibly be all right.
Those around Lillian thought this with wide eyes.
“…… I’m fine.”
“R-right.”
Ramio cleared his throat awkwardly again.
Ordinarily, he’d have been full of bravado, crowing about how he’d told them so, that Lillian would return—hadn’t he been right?
But everything had exploded in chaos before he could draw breath……
“Take care of yourself.”
“……”
Lillian gazed at Ramio intently.
“If the Tillard Family really does withdraw from the Five Great Families, you won’t be able to live as you do now.”
“Huh?”
“I’m asking if you know that and yet still speak to me.”
“Oh. Well, that’s just…”
Ramio rubbed the back of his neck.
“I-I’ll figure it out somehow! There must be some Mercenary Company or other that needs Controllers. I didn’t have real authority as a junior heir anyway.”
“……”
“I may have… I mean, I acted like a brat toward Lillian, so I’ll just think of it as… shared responsibility……”
“……”
Lillian regarded Ramio steadily.
Then, turning to leave, she answered.
“You can just call me by my name. The stumbling gets tiresome to hear.”
Lillian went inside.
* * *
Lillian sat amid a sprawl of books and documents marked with secret arcane formulae—nothing a Saint would be expected to pursue.
The world outside hoped she would quickly resolve the Distortion.
But none of that mattered now.
None of it……
As Lillian was leafing through a Grimoire, the door opened deliberately, making itself known.
“……Ahem.”
Duke Baltazar cleared his throat.
“……Child.”
He’d been quietly proud of her as his prospective daughter-in-law, but he couldn’t bring himself to call her “dear girl” under such circumstances.
So he carried in a tray of food himself.
“However grave things are, one must still take meals.”
“……”
“Elias and the others have all been fretting—you haven’t eaten in days, they say.”
“……”
“……His Highness would not wish to see you like this.”
Lillian blinked.
Meals……
‘You, promise me. Don’t… skip meals.’
Ah, yes. I promised……
Lillian nodded.
But the moment she put food in her mouth, Duke Baltazar’s brows lowered.
‘Better if she’d just weep.’
This child never wept.
She threw all her strength into the work that lay before her, never faltering.
Yet it seemed she was handling everything with desperate urgency because it caused her such pain.
It was he, Duke Baltazar, who should have spoken these words.
“We must hold His Highness’s funeral now.”
“……”
“There’s no more delaying it. There’s no hope of his returning.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————