The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 46

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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 Has Gone Mad for the Villainess 046
Kalad didn’t bother untying the cord; he simply lifted the bundle to gauge its weight, then set it back on the table.
Kalad pushed his monocle up with a fingertip and glanced at me sideways before speaking.
“Why are you looking for that man?”
My eyes drifted to the empty space where his left ear should have been—a gesture I hadn’t meant to make. He caught the look and let out a short laugh.
“Bitten off. By a person.”
A person?
What sense did it make for a person to bite off an ear like some animal? The question lingered, but Kalad seemed disinclined to elaborate. He pivoted immediately to the topic at hand, beginning to speak about the High Priest.
“That man didn’t die the day the city fell. He’s likely still alive. There was someone who saw him last.”
A chill crept up my spine without reason.
“I hear the High Priest abandoned the Temple and fled. That’s how he survived.”
“What happened at the Temple?”
“Oh, the usual. Demons came pouring in. Isn’t it the same everywhere?”
Kalad spoke with perfect indifference.
“Then do you know where the Key to the Sanctuary went?”
Kael asked.
“Many people saw that man wearing it around his neck while he was alive. And there were plenty of folk interested in the Sanctuary. But no one found the Key. Which means that man must have taken it with him.”
Kalad gave a casual shrug. Yet that gesture sent a shiver down my spine.
No matter how I turned it over in my mind, something felt wrong. The disappeared High Priest, and the priests said to have been slaughtered—the mere notion that he alone survived felt deeply unsettling. Though in a place like this, what isn’t?
I clicked my tongue softly and turned back to Kael. His face was lost in thought.
I turned my head toward Kalad.
“You said many people were interested in the Sanctuary?”
Kalad nodded. Then he answered my question readily enough. It seemed Kael’s payment still had currency left to spend.
“What happened to all those people?”
“They never came back.”
Laughter echoed from the far side of the mine tunnel—distant and hollow. The silence between Kalad, Kael, and me was correspondingly deep.
Kalad narrowed his eyes and spoke.
“Guest. I’ve been selling information in this place for three years. In that time, five people bought tales of that man. Five paid their price, and five never returned.”
At those words, the tips of my fingers turned cold.
I had never read anything like this in the original story. I racked my brain to see if I’d forgotten, but I was certain: the original text made no mention of the High Priest or the Key guarding the Sanctuary.
I had no way of knowing how much I was missing, or what I was missing at all. I pressed my lips together hard.
“Rosana.”
At Kael’s low call, I turned to face him. His darkened gaze swept across my face. Kael exhaled slowly.
“You look unwell.”
“The air is stale.”
Kael clicked his tongue and drew me to my feet. Before he turned to leave, he posed one final question to Kalad.
“One last thing I’ll ask.”
Kalad nodded. His eyes were bright with interest.
“You said those who asked about the High Priest never returned. Do you know where they went?”
At that question, Kalad’s smile deepened—as though he’d been waiting for exactly this inquiry.
Kalad leaned forward toward the table. Interest clung to his eyes, thick and abundant.
“Of course I know. That’s the important part, you see. The High Priest kept a mansion on the outskirts, where he lived with his bastard and his mistress. People went there to find him. But strange to say—once they went inside, not one of them ever appeared again. The same held for those five I mentioned.”
“What’s wrong with the mansion?”
Kalad’s smile turned enigmatic.
“Well. At the very least, I wouldn’t go thinking of it as an ordinary dwelling. Not anymore.”
“Its location.”
Kalad traced a hand along what remained of his left ear and whispered low.
“You mean to say you’ll go knowing what lies inside? The miasma of Greystone drives people mad.”
“The location.”
At Kael’s insistent demand, Kalad produced paper, wrote down an address, and smiled broadly.
“Ask Hald waiting outside for directions. He was born in Greystone; he knows every street in this place.”
“You know that man?”
“I know you’re staying at Gloria right now. Information is my trade, after all.”
Kalad let out a soft laugh and rang a bell. It signaled the end of our business.
“Ah, one piece of advice. Be sure to bring that woman with you—the one who came with you.”
“Why.”
“The High Priest has a weakness for beautiful women.”
Laughter clung to those final words. Kael’s face twisted in the moment that followed.
* * *
On the way out, Kael said nothing.
The figure ahead walked with an unusually rigid posture. I followed in their wake, turning over the High Priest’s words in my mind. So when he said he’d lost his head over a beautiful woman, he’d essentially just volunteered me as bait. Well, it wasn’t the worst proposal I’d heard.
As we retraced the passage, the sounds grew louder again.
Millers and two knights stood near the entrance.
“You took your time.”
“The weight of my baggage has increased.”
Kael replied in a low voice.
“Five sacks of grain, two sacks of dried beans, one container of salted provisions, half a container of oil—and some medicinal herbs. We found everything we needed. The problem was the price. They were asking three times what you’d pay outside.”
Wow. Talk about leverage. How much were they pocketing? It was true—scarcity always sent prices through the roof.
Farming in Greystone was out of the question, so three times the standard rate might actually be reasonable.
“Your Highness.”
Millers lowered his voice slightly.
“There was something odd. They said the price of Demon By-products has risen as well. That’s why we had no real difficulty procuring what we needed. It should be abundant here, yet something felt wrong.”
Again, things didn’t align with what I knew from the original story. Each time something unfamiliar emerged, anxiety gnawed at me, and I caught myself biting my lip. Kael seemed lost in thought too.
“…Millers.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“So if I’m understanding correctly, it’s become difficult to obtain Demon By-products. Is that right?”
“It is.”
“…Could it be that the Demons have grown stronger? Difficult enough for people to contend with?”
Millers smiled, as though rueful at the admission.
“I believe your lady’s conjecture is correct.”
I pressed my fingers to my temples. So the Demons were evolving too. Growing alongside us. This was genuinely bad news.
* * *
Once we emerged fully from the Mine Tunnel, daylight had already broken outside.
Hald crouched in the shadow of a rock, waiting for us. He hadn’t run. The moment he saw us, he scrambled to his feet and began rubbing his hands together.
“You’ve been gone a long while, sir. I stayed right here the whole time, didn’t budge.”
Kael held out a single sheet of paper in front of him.
It was an address Kalad had written down.
“Do you know where this is?”
The perpetually glib smile vanished from his face entirely for the first time. His fingers tightened around the paper, trembling 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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