The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 5

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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 Wicked Villainess Episode 5
At the Emperor’s gesture, Kael stepped forward. As he raised his sword, a Golden Aura bloomed along the blade.
“Uaaaaaaah!”
A tremendous roar shook the square, and the knights’ morale surged in an instant. Kael knew it too, and he was deliberately stoking that momentum. It was a performance meant to lift the spirits of his soldiers.
“Do not fear! We shall triumph and return victorious!”
The elite members lined up behind Kael also raised their weapons—spears and bows, swords and axes. An Aura bloomed from each, not as brilliant as Kael’s own, but radiant as the sun itself, bright with promise.
“Uaaaaaaah!”
The cry erupted once more.
The young noblewoman beside me was streaming tears down her face as she raised the sword she’d been given for the departure ceremony—a blade that looked almost comically large in her skeletal hands. I glanced around nervously, then lifted my own sword.
The other expedition members raised theirs as well.
“Golden Lily Expedition! Hope of the Empire! We depart now!”
As the Emperor’s declaration rang out, the expedition began its procession in formation. They filed through the square and toward the gates of the Imperial Capital, while the crowd scattered flower petals in their wake.
I marched along with the column, and with each step, the hidden purses beneath my skirts clinked and rattled.
Oh no. I gripped the purses tightly. The truth was, I’d also gotten my hands on the Duke’s vault. The lock had been shoddier than expected—just a few good pulls and the metal gave way. I’d been so anxious during the dawn hours, terrified of making noise. I absolutely couldn’t afford to be caught here.
Just as the column passed through the city gates, an old woman cried out through her tears.
“Please come back alive!”
The crowd strewed flowers along our path—golden petals. The Golden Lily, blooming in every season, always in flower. Symbol of the Empire, symbol of hope.
I smiled brightly as I trampled those petals beneath my feet.
Gold coins and jewels clinked together inside the purses at my waist. That was my only true hope now.
Ah, what a shame.
I could have taken so much more.
* * *
Two days into the expedition. After arriving at Rainford, our first way station, the camp had been pitched on a broad clearing just outside the village.
Most of them had never walked so far in their lives. Even the skeletal young noblewoman who’d lifted her sword was now drenched in sweat, dragging her feet.
“Huff, huff!”
“Are you all right?”
“I-I-I’m fine.”
She clearly wasn’t. Her face had gone deathly pale, and she looked ready to collapse at any moment. When I handed her water, she gulped it down desperately.
She wasn’t anyone Rosana remembered, which meant she’d likely come from the provinces.
“What’s your name?”
“I-I-I’m… I’m Vanessa. I came representing House Keston.”
Ah, House Keston.
So they’d bought her to come—a daughter from some fallen minor noble house. She still carried herself with an aristocratic bearing, but her rough hands and the worn, mended seams of her dress spoke of ancient poverty. I recalled House Keston had only a son. They’d clearly enlisted her as a substitute sacrifice.
The woman wiped her forehead with trembling fingers, then gave me a faint smile.
“Are y-you managing, my lady?”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
Apart from the dress getting in the way, I truly was. All that chicken breast I’d forced down over the past month had been worth the muscle I’d built.
“Still, we’re camping here tonight, so rest while you can. Your muscles will be sore, but this should help if you take it before sleep.”
Before I left, I’d ransacked more than just the vault and the dressing room. A noble house the size of a Duke’s estate naturally kept a physician on staff, and I’d certainly not overlooked the medicine cabinet. I’d brought every useful remedy I could find, including one particularly effective for sore muscles.
I pulled out one of the pouches hanging beneath my skirts and offered her the medicine. Vanessa’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Thank you.”
I watched as she took the medicine without hesitation and swallowed it, and I smiled to myself.
She’ll sleep well tonight.
If I was sharing a tent with her, she needed to be deeply asleep for me to slip away unnoticed.
There was somewhere I absolutely had to go at dawn tomorrow.
Sleep soundly.
* * *
The next morning, before dawn.
Kael entered Rainford village accompanied by two of his Knights.
A market opened in Rainford every dawn, and the hour of its opening had just arrived.
The Black Market.
A place where you could buy anything that existed. He’d gathered intelligence that the item he sought had surfaced there.
The Black Market catered mainly to mercenaries, so dangerous types ran the place. Moreover, in times like these, forbidden goods and stolen merchandise of dubious provenance flowed through regularly.
The sword rumored to have appeared was no exception.
The expedition was a disaster—a rabble that couldn’t even march in proper formation. And there was a woman among them wearing a dress like a wedding cake.
His former fiancée, sent by Duke Ardena.
He had no interest in even glancing at her, no desire to think of her at all, yet she continually drew the eye with that showy dress so entirely unsuited to a march.
But was Rosana the only problem?
The expedition was little more than a rabble. He had to lead this mission to success with people who couldn’t even hold a sword properly. They weren’t an asset—they were a burden to be protected.
Kael had decided that before reaching the first objective, he would find a way to reassign roughly half of them to rear support roles. Once he’d culled the unnecessary, he could properly gauge who among the remaining members might actually prove useful.
Kael intended to use the resources freed up by trimming unnecessary personnel to invest in better weapons and equipment.
In times of chaos like this, all manner of goods flood the Black Market—including legendary weapons among them. Many sought to sell off anything of value to find safety elsewhere, which was precisely why such treasures surfaced.
Kael was now on his way to acquire some of those items that had slipped out from the deep vaults where they’d slumbered.
The moment Kael arrived at the market entrance and stepped inside.
He caught sight of a familiar dress hem.
‘Rosana?’
Kael’s brow furrowed. What in the world was she doing here? Shopping for jewels? At a time like this? In a situation like this? It was infuriating.
Kael clenched his teeth. That woman was among the people he absolutely had to protect. He was damned to be the Crown Prince of the Empire, bound by the duty to safeguard every citizen.
Kael began closing the distance to Rosana, narrowing the gap gradually. At this rate, he’d catch up with her soon. But the moment he rounded a corner, she vanished from sight as though she’d never been there at all.
Kael stopped in his tracks and looked around. He was certain she’d gone this way, yet there wasn’t even a trace left behind.
He stood with his fist clenched at the empty air, blinking.
What was that just now?
* * *
A decorative dagger, however pretty, wouldn’t even stop a monster’s claw. Real, usable weapons were needed.
I pulled my hood down low and made my way toward the back alleys of town. According to the information from the original work, Rainford lay near the border, making it a place where smuggled goods were traded freely. Good weapons should certainly be obtainable here.
Moreover, it was here that Kael would encounter the finest weapon of his life. But since that belonged to him for when he’d save the world, I had to leave it for him and find some other decent weapon instead.
As I stepped into the Black Market, it was already bustling with visitors despite the early hour.
Surely the best items hadn’t all been picked over yet?
After buying a weapon, I’d also need to prepare proper clothes for the expedition. I’d left in such haste that I hadn’t even managed to pack spare garments. The expedition would depart immediately after breakfast, so I had to get back before then.
I wove through the alleyways and deeper still, toward the very heart of the market. I recalled how the original work had described “Hersen’s Weapon Shop, at the innermost Black Market, in the dead-end alley.” I’d thought it unlikely, but there it was.
At the far end of an alley devoid of foot traffic, a shabby smithy stood without even a sign. On the firmly shut door frame was carved only a faint, small sword emblem.
Hersen’s Weapon Shop.
According to the original work, every weapon in Hersen’s shop was worth having. Kael had purchased several weapons here too—keeping one and distributing the rest among his closest confidants, or so I remembered.
It appeared outwardly to be a shuttered smithy, but in truth, it was a place where weapons of obscure origin and military arms forbidden by the Empire were handled in secret.
“What are you looking for, customer?”
The shabby shop owner asked. I kept my voice as low as possible and replied.
“Practical. Something sturdy and light. I’m mainly looking at daggers.”
Since I’d relied primarily on daggers before, if not guns, I was naturally more comfortable with them. I stated what I wanted while producing gold coins—showing I had enough to pay for even the finest wares.
The owner’s eyes gleamed.
“In troubled times, you need a dagger more than a dress, that’s for certain. This way, please.”
I followed the owner deeper into the shop and took in the various weapons hanging on the walls at a glance. I slowly scanned them until I stopped before one dagger in particular.
This is it.
The length was roughly that of a forearm, but the balance of weight was perfect. The elegant blade, tinged with a subtle blue light, looked as though it could cleave through a monster’s hide without difficulty. I swallowed hard.
My very soul was speaking. I absolutely had to buy this one.

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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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