The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 25

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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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The Male Lead Went Mad for the Villainess — Episode 025
The children began vying with one another to boast of their exploits.
“I was banging the pot! Like this, clang-clang-clang!”
“I saw a finger and went right!”
“I fell down, but Vanessa clenched her fist and threw herself flat—and then the legs just whooshed right over me!”
“I squeezed under the cart, see? But the bad monster couldn’t get in! It was too fat!”
When one child mimicked a monster, raising his hands like claws, the rest dissolved into giggles and scattered as if in flight.
I stood rooted to the spot. Had they really pulled that off?
Vanessa, her face flushed crimson, spoke slowly.
“Well, somehow it just… happened. I was thinking about what Rosana would do, and…”
My throat tightened.
These people had never so much as gripped a sword. They had been loaded onto this Expedition like baggage. They were people who would become nothing but numbers if they died.
Yet tonight, they had protected themselves.
“You… you really did brilliantly. You were amazing.”
That was all I could manage. My voice came out raw and broken.
“You did so well. So incredibly well.”
The children smelled of earth and ash. It was the smell of life itself.
Seraphine arrived late, her eyes wide with astonishment as she looked at the children. They rushed toward her as well.
“We all kept watch, Seraphine!”
Cael still stood before the corpse, looking down at it. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
But I saw the rigid line of his mouth ease, ever so slightly. Perhaps Cael saw in that moment a hope burning like flame.
Morning sunlight was pouring down upon the Campsite.
* * *
Only after the sun had fully risen did the state of the Campsite become properly visible.
It was chaos. Nearly every Tent was torn to shreds, and four of them had broken poles that looked completely unusable. Not a drop of Oil remained.
Moreover, a massive spider corpse lay jammed in the middle of the Campsite.
Millis went around with the roster, confirmed the situation, and reported to Cael.
“No fatalities, sir.”
Millis checked the roster twice before saying as much.
“Nine wounded. Three of those fell from the Cart last night. No fractures—they’ll be fully recovered in a week.”
I, standing at Cael’s side, heard every word of Millis’s report.
In the original story, we had encountered the spider clan too. The only difference was their numbers were greater and they were larger than in the source text. In any case, the original account noted over twenty dead just in this area—reduced to a single line stating “many were sacrificed.”
But we had all survived. My chest swelled with warmth. We all lived. My eyes stung and I wiped my nose. The sky was an unusually vivid blue.
“We were truly fortunate.”
Cael glanced at me.
“It might not have been luck. In any case, we should make for the next town. We need to replace the Tents.”
“Yes, we’ll need to procure various supplies.”
Millis’s sigh grew heavier. Register, the supply officer, stood pale-faced, turning over the fragments of the ruined barracks in his hands. There would be many places where coin would flow out, but I had something to say as well. I lingered about Cael’s vicinity for no reason, released my grip from where I’d been absently toying with the sword hilt, and ventured to speak.
“What if we armed all the Non-Combatant Personnel?”
I was astounded by their audacity in stabbing a Monster with a Kitchen Knife.
Cael turned his gaze upon me.
“Considering the courage they showed last night, it would certainly be of use.”
Looking back at yesterday’s battle, there had been more than one moment that left me breathless.
“I believe Weapons are cheaper than human lives.”
Cael rubbed his face.
“Your words are fair, but our Expedition suffers from a chronic problem.”
Cael smiled coldly. His eyes had grown dark and distant.
“We spent considerable Military Funds buying supplies in Willow. Once we purchase new Tents and Oil, further expenditure seems impossible.”
Cael closed his mouth. If we could continue to receive support and provisions, it might be otherwise, but that was not our circumstance.
Cael’s expression hardened into something chilling. A quiet anger burned in his gaze. It was likely the Emperor and the nobility were diverting support supplies and withholding provisions—as had been the case in the original account.
Where was the next supply depot. Did it have a smithy. Or rather, how much money was left to the Expedition anyway. What Personal Funds did I have, and how much of that could I afford to spend.
Even after transmigrating, I found myself worrying about coin.
* * *
Cael called for Register.
“How much Military Funds remain? Do we have the means to acquire additional Weapons?”
“As you know, it’s impossible, Your Highness. Purchasing shelters must come first.”
“And my Personal Funds?”
“Your Highness, did you not already commit your Personal Funds to acquire additional Weapons and equipment? The available capital is nearly exhausted. It would take time to liquidate any remaining assets.”
At the aide’s response, Cael ground his teeth.
Arming the Non-Combatant Personnel had been a matter reviewed several times since the beginning of the Expedition, but each time it had been stalled by justification and coin.
The nobility hired replacements for their own sons and pushed them forward, yet they were stingy when it came to placing weapons in those men’s hands.
And last night, they’d nearly paid the price for that stinginess.
‘Weapons are cheaper than human lives.’
Cael let out a hollow laugh. Rosana had been right. They’d nearly paid the costliest price of all. If they’d lost the Saint? The damage would have been catastrophic.
Cael ran a hand through his hair.
He felt bound hand and foot. There was work to be done—work that had to be done—yet no one would lift a finger to help. Simply because the danger wasn’t at their doorstep.
Was this Expedition going to end with recovering the Sacred Relic? No. The true end of this war was the complete annihilation of Monsters from these lands.
“Send an urgent dispatch to the Imperial Capital demanding reinforcements. And tell those remaining behind not to sit idle—have them do something, anything.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Cael exhaled a long, weary breath.
* * *
That evening.
As always, I went to where the clergy were staying to check on Lillia. Since the barracks had been damaged, the children were all meant to spend the night in a single Tent. But one of the clergy was standing anxiously in front of it.
“Is something wrong?”
“The Saint has not woken once since this morning. At first it seemed fine, but as time passed, her condition has grown concerning.”
The clergy member turned back to look inside the Tent with a troubled expression. Seized by a bad premonition, I went straight in.
Lillia was lying on the bed. Her face had gone deathly pale. Her forehead glistened with sweat, yet her fingertips were ice-cold.
“Lillia.”
As I moved to wake the child, the clergy member urgently stopped me.
“You mustn’t! She appears to be experiencing a Premonitory Dream.”
The clergy member’s voice was shrill with alarm as he held me back. The other children watched with frightened faces.
A Premonitory Dream.
In the original story, Lillia had suffered greatly from those dreams. A child facing calamity alone in the depths of sleep—it could be nothing but agonizing.
Fortunately, after waiting a moment, Lillia’s eyes opened with difficulty. But her unfocused gaze wandered through empty air for some time. Then, slowly, the child’s lips began to move.
Moisture gathered in the corners of her eyes. Yet the voice that emerged from her mouth was so strange, so utterly unlike the usual Lillia, that I could scarcely believe it.
“It shall come again. Nightmare dwells at your side, and none shall escape it.”
With those final words, strength drained from the child’s body. Her eyelids descended slowly, gently closed.

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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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