The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 49

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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 — Episode 49
The interior was dark, and it reeked.
It wasn’t an unpleasant smell. It was something like burning dry kindling mixed with incense—fragrant enough, almost soothing.
Everyone froze at the sound of movement ahead. A middle-aged man appeared at the top of the stairs. He was unmistakably the High Priest.
“We have guests.”
His voice was exquisitely formal, but that very formality sent a chill down my spine. The man stepped closer, carrying his lamp.
His face emerged into the light. He appeared to be in his mid-fifties—a receding hairline that left his brow wide, a goat’s beard cultivated on his chin. Neither gaunt nor corpulent, he wore clean priestly vestments over an ordinary frame.
“I am Bartel.”
The man spoke.
“I serve as High Priest of the Gracestone Grand Temple. If it does not impose undue burden, might I have the honor of knowing your name?”
“I command the Imperial Expedition.”
“I see. Then I shall address you as Commander. Since you’ve entered my home as a guest, I ought to offer proper hospitality. Would you care for tea?”
“I prefer to conduct my business and depart at once.”
“The roads nearby are treacherous. Do rest a while.”
The High Priest spoke with what sounded like genuine concern.
“Besides, it’s been so long since we’ve had visitors. Do come inside, humble though it may be.”
With that, he shifted his body aside to clear the way, and even that gesture moved with practiced grace. Throughout it all, the High Priest spared Seraphine and me not a single glance.
The High Priest led us to a reception room. Yet there was an unsettling absence of any sign of habitation. Not a speck of dust lined the hallway, the lamps were filled with oil, but no sound that one would ordinarily expect from a living household could be heard.
Kalad’s words came back to me. He’d said this was the house of a man who kept a bastard and a mistress. So where were they?
I swept my eyes across the room. There were no women’s possessions, no children’s things.
Bartel set the lamp on the table and moved toward the fireplace. When he stirred the ashes with a poker, embers beneath came alive.
Bartel took a kettle from beside the fireplace and poured tea into cups.
“Since my household is modest, I tend to things myself.”
He lifted his own cup first and took a sip.
Kael made no response.
“Please, sit comfortably.”
Bartel seated himself first. Only after Kael accepted the offered tea did he state his purpose.
“I require access to the inner sanctum of the Gracestone Grand Temple. I am told you possess the key. As the Empire’s representative, I’ve come to request it of you.”
“Yes, it is here. Over the past several years, I’ve received visitors with the same aim.”
Bartel tapped his fingers against the collar of his vestments. For a brief instant, a chain mark was visible beneath the fabric, then vanished.
“However, I cannot give it to you. A priest does not cease to exist simply because a temple has fallen to ruin. My duty is to guard the sanctum, and I have fulfilled that duty for two years. I cannot yield it to one I have only just met.”
“If the Sacred Relic is not recovered, the Empire itself may crumble.”
The High Priest smiled with serene warmth.
“Of course, should you prove your qualifications, I could surrender the key.”
Bartel continued.
“Spend the night here.”
The words came as I’d anticipated.
“The return journey is perilous.”
“No—there are those waiting for us. I wish only to obtain what I came for. If there is a price you require, name it.”
“……Just one night.”
The High Priest muttered irritably. In that instant, the air in the room changed.
* * *
It took me half a beat to understand what those words meant.
He’d already been doing something. Probably from the moment we crossed the threshold of this estate.
I scanned the room quickly. Everything felt wrong.
The incense smell that had been so clear when we entered had vanished at some point. My nose must have grown accustomed to it. I blinked. Despite the warm weather, the fireplace was lit and burning.
I tried to move at once. I had to extinguish that fireplace!
But my body wouldn’t obey. I bit the inside of my left thumb.
Pain shot through it, yet my senses felt oddly delayed.
Beside me, Seraphine grasped the hilt of her sword and tried to rise, only to collapse weakly back down.
I opened my eyes wide and confirmed the window positions again. Two windows in this room, both facing south.
“Kael.”
My voice sounded strange to me. My tongue felt thick.
“You must extinguish the…….”
The words died there.
Kael turned to look at me. Before I could finish, my vision tilted to one side.
“Rosana.”
I felt hands catching me. With a dull sound, both body and mind sank simultaneously.
* * *
Kael’s situation was scarcely different. As he mustered what strength remained to turn his head, he glimpsed Rosana calling his name in a voice barely audible.
Kael barely managed to stretch out his arms and catch Rosana as she collapsed. Seraphine was already sprawled on the floor. Kael, breathing heavily, could hold on no longer—he crumpled to the ground, pulling Rosana into his embrace.
He should never have brought her.
Should never have brought Rosana here.
That thought was his last before his eyelids fell slowly shut.
Bartel approached the fireplace and picked up the poker, stirring the burning logs.
He smiled with deep satisfaction.
“Should’ve done that sooner.”
He circled the room.
Bartel lifted a lamp and bent low before Rosana and Seraphine, examining their faces in its light. A lewd grin spread across his own.
“How long it’s been since a woman graced this place.”
His throat felt parched. The problem was that the full moon was nearly here. Bartel licked his lips. But what did it matter? The women wouldn’t escape this place anyway, and tomorrow the sun would rise as it always did.
Bartel drew out a bell and rang it harshly. The maids who had been hidden away filed inside.
“Take these women and adorn them. As quickly as you can! It’s been so long since such prime goods arrived—handle them carefully, mind you!”
“Yes, High Priest.”
The maids bowed their heads as they entered, supporting Seraphine and Rosana. Bartel licked his lips as he watched the women being dragged away.
* * *
Her eyes snapped open.
The ceiling was unfamiliar. And her throat was bone-dry—her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. That strange smoke from before, she thought. How long had she been unconscious? She tried to sit up, but something caught on her.
Cough.
Something pulled tight across her chest. She reached down and touched it.
A corset.
“This sick bastard.”
What I’m wearing is an ornate dress. Layers of puffed skirts jabbed awkwardly at me. It was a dark blue, and the sleeves were trimmed generously with black lace. The room was lined with mirrors.
What stared back at me from the glass was absolutely galling. The neckline was cut low, plunging deep at the chest. One could walk straight into a Capital society ball dressed like this.
His taste was abysmal.
Cradling the cumbersome dress, I looked around. Thank goodness Seraphine was in the same room.
“Seraphine, Seraphine! Wake up!”
I grabbed her shoulder and shook. Seraphine’s eyes opened. She wore a deep crimson dress. She blinked dazedly and looked at me.
“…Is this heaven?”
She smiled like someone still half-asleep. I tapped Seraphine’s cheek lightly.
“What are you saying, Seraphine? It’s me—Rosana!”
In this depraved hellhole, I need to keep my wits sharp if we’re going to escape. Wake up, now!

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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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