The Puppet Villainess’s Splendid Rebellion - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 4

When I opened my eyes again, the sun was setting in the west.

Mia, who had been keeping watch, stopped me from trying to get up hastily and stubbornly made me eat both food and medicine.

She even sternly lectured me with “Teenagers and patients need to eat!” when I showed signs of discomfort.

Thanks to that, by the time I left my room to meet Carlos, it was already full evening.

Knock knock, I knocked and opened the door to the study to see Carlos’s face looking up indifferently.

“Am I interrupting?”

“How fortunate that you’re aware of it.”

A cold wind is blowing fiercely.

I thought he might have become more lenient since he gave me a guest room.

Well, even I wouldn’t have kind words for someone who threatened my life.

“I’ll skip the personal pleasantries.”

Carlos took off his glasses and gestured with his chin for me to sit in the chair across from him.

“…You didn’t kick me out.”

“Regrettably.”

He spoke indifferently and lowered his gaze.

On the desk lay the dark red mineral I had given him.

The mineral seen in bright light was definitely different from other refined stones. It was vivid, deep, and chillingly red.

If the distributed refined stones were made by mixing my blood with rock, the mineral before my eyes was condensed blood itself.

It was my last resort that I had hidden even from the Emperor in preparation for the day I would be abandoned by the Imperial Court…

‘To think I’m showing this to the Imperial Court’s greatest enemy, not the Emperor or the administrators.’

It was a strange feeling.

Suddenly, Carlos’s voice came from above my head.

“Where did it come from?”

“Does the source matter?”

“What your scheme is matters.”

“To ask about schemes, it seems you’ve seen results in the past two days.”

Carlos’s brow furrowed.

It was exactly as I said.

His complexion, which I faced after exactly two days, had noticeably improved.

His sharp and sensitive impression hadn’t changed, but the shadows that had been cast darkly under his eyes had definitely lightened.

I took a tense breath and spoke.

‘Calmly, I’m going to talk.’

I brought out the words I had practiced dozens of times on my way to the Dukedom.

“This time you again paid a massive price to buy up all the refined stones circulating in the market, didn’t you?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know the reason?”

“I’m asking because I know it well.”

Because it was all the Emperor’s intention.

The Imperial Court released only small amounts to the market – just enough to keep magic users from dying – always making them struggle for refined stones.

So they would compete among themselves, fight, and never dare rebel against the Imperial Court.

Among them, House of Carter was the Imperial Court’s primary target.

“The price of refined stones will keep soaring, and the quantity you can secure will decrease. Because the Imperial Court is making it so. No matter how much of the Duke’s vast fortune you pour out, how long can you really hold out?”

After mulling over the words in my mouth for a moment, I said.

“You’ll have no choice but to obediently submit to the Emperor or choose death.”

In fact, I already knew the outcome.

Because the Carlos Carter of the past chose to die unable to withstand the rampage of magic rather than prostrate himself before the Imperial Court, becoming neither human nor beast.

I could still vividly see how delighted the Emperor was when he heard news of his death.

Meanwhile, Carlos, who had been listening to my words with one hand pressed to his temple, chuckled.

“…Right. I was wondering what kind of bizarre act this would be this time.”

He rose from his seat and slowly approached. His half-lowered red eyes swept over me coldly.

“Being hailed as the villainess of the century from all sides, have you lost your sense of fear? Or has life become so boring that you want to play games with your life using such refined stones?”

He approached right up to my nose in an instant and gripped my chin firmly with one hand. The feeling of bones being squeezed was vivid.

“Do you think killing you right here would be a big deal for me?”

He smirked.

“You seem to have forgotten, but this is the Dukedom. It’s extraterritorial – even Imperial forces wouldn’t dare rampage here.”

There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in his murderous voice.

The same killing intent as two days ago came rushing in suffocatingly.

“I could tear you apart and kill you right here, right now, and have the soldiers outside throw you to wild beasts.”

I felt my mouth going dry and clenched my fists tight.

My body trembled under the oppressive pressure weighing down my shoulders.

Carlos was truly someone who could put his words into practice exactly as spoken. I knew this better than anyone.

“Pathetic.”

After staring at me from close range for a while, Carlos clicked his tongue and released my chin.

A tingling sensation remained deep in my bones.

“Go back. You won’t need an escort.”

It was an attitude of dismissing this as childish mischief from a young princess and letting it slide.

However, I didn’t budge.

If I were going to give up like this, I wouldn’t have risked my life to come this far.

“Only I know about it.”

Carlos, who had been returning to his desk, stopped walking and turned his body at an angle.

I took a trembling breath and spoke clearly.

“Not the Imperial Court, not the close associates, not even His Majesty the Emperor knows that such a mineral exists.”

Carlos’s eyes narrowed.

“I can give it to you.”

“….”

“As much as you want, everything.”

At my last words, Carlos’s expression, which had been dry throughout, became strange.

I didn’t miss the opportunity and quickly added.

“I told you, I came here to make a deal.”

The Dukedom, extraterritorial rights.

I had clearly come this far targeting exactly that.

“In exchange, Your Grace will have to become my ‘guardian.'”

At the words I finally managed to utter, the study became coldly silent.

Carlos seemed unable to understand my words at once and frowned, then soon let out a hollow laugh. It was clearly mockery.

“…Guardian? You’ve lost your mind.”

“I came this far with a sound mind.”

Guardianship.

The only way for an underage noble daughter to change her guardian.

A guardian has the duty to protect their ward, and once a guardianship relationship is established, even relatives cannot take the ward away without consent.

It was usually a system used when a young daughter became engaged or when misfortune befell one of the families.

For now, it was also the best and only means that could protect me.

“Just 4 years. Only until I come of age.”

If the Dukedom’s extraterritorial rights and guardianship relationship overlapped, even the Emperor wouldn’t be able to do anything to me.

And I planned to give Carlos all the refined stones I could make once I became an adult, then disappear.

‘Of course, this is only possible if he accepts the red refined stone and agrees to the proposal.’

I gripped my left arm that hadn’t healed yet.

If one piece of refined stone couldn’t change his mind, I was prepared to offer ten pieces, twenty pieces.

Just a few drops of blood.

Compared to the price of life, it was an infinitely trivial cost.

* * *

Carlos watched Princess Lorea Pryce intently.

‘She’s trembling.’

The Imperial Court’s young demon.

A cruel villainess.

Such were the rumors Carlos knew about Princess Lorea. That from age ten, she had killed everything that displeased her.

The half-princess irritated Carlos just by existing.

Her red eyes that resembled not the Emperor but a collateral line, and her silver-white hair draped like silk threads. It was unpleasant how she reminded him of the most painful existence he had lost.

Watching her commit atrocities with a face that resembled his painful memories made him feel as if his insides were twisting.

So at first, when this princess stepped foot in the mansion, he had planned to kill her without consequence and send only her head back to the Imperial Court.

But it was strange.

Despite her notorious reputation, the princess before his eyes was terrified.

Though she tried to hide it by acting bold, her small, round shoulders trembling finely was visible at a glance.

‘Thirteen years old, was it.’

Certainly it was a bold attitude for her age, but that was all. The princess before his eyes was so young, small, and fragile that he couldn’t understand how she had the nerve to come to the Dukedom.

Above all, those eyes.

The moment Carlos saw the princess’s red eyes, he felt an indescribable strange feeling.

“….”

It was the same now.

He suddenly recalled the conversation he had with Mia in the room where the princess was sleeping this afternoon.

“She just fell asleep again. But, well….”

“Speak.”

“Strangely, she has many wounds on her body. They almost look like marks from being cut with something sharp….”

“Something sharp?”

“I’m not sure, but her left arm wrapped in bandages hasn’t even healed yet. I wonder if something happened to her?”

He wasn’t curious about the Imperial Court’s internal affairs.

Moreover, the half-princess who received the Emperor’s exclusive favor was nothing but an insolent wench who strangled his breath.

Such a thing couldn’t possibly concern him.

“…She’s only thirteen years old.”

“….”

“She’s exactly the young lady’s age.”

It should have been like that.

‘How troublesome.’

Why did that woman Mia have to bring up that child’s story at that moment.

Carlos withdrew his gaze from watching Lorea and looked at the red refined stone on his desk.

Setting aside the proposal, this refined stone was certainly special.

Just one piece had driven away terrible insomnia and suppressed his rampage, which proved its effectiveness.

Now that the Imperial Court was raising the price of refined stones every other day, it was clear he needed it.

If the princess could truly provide this mineral consistently, then whatever scheme she might be harboring, it would be worth being deceived.

“…Before that.”

So just once.

“Let’s make the conditions clear.”

He decided to let himself be fooled just this once.

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