The Puppet Villainess’s Splendid Rebellion - Chapter 47
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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 47
Around sunset, we arrived at the village.
It was a small village called Belton. It looked quiet and peaceful. Houses were clustered together, and there was a well in the town square. Smoke was rising from chimneys as people prepared their evening meals.
“Lorea, the necklace.”
“Oh, right.”
I put back on the artifact necklace I had taken off inside the carriage. My silver hair and red eyes changed back to ordinary brown hair and brown eyes.
This should be enough that people won’t immediately recognize me as the princess.
Carlos glanced over my transformed appearance with indifference before jumping down from the carriage first. It was Sion who took my hand to help me down.
“You look pretty in that form too.”
“…Yes, thank you.”
“I mean it.”
Somehow it seemed like Sion always took my side whenever I was being mindful of Carlos.
I stepped down from the carriage and slowly looked around the village.
‘Since it’s a village of decent size, it seems to have basic magical barrier protection.’
We just needed to find lodging here and rest for the night.
If I examined Carlos’s condition and purified his magic with purification stones as needed, he would be much better than now.
‘I wonder how many purification stones I can make…’
I was thinking this as we tried to pass through the town square.
Clatter clatter clatter.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves came from the village entrance.
It wasn’t just one horse. The ground beneath our feet was trembling.
I reflexively turned my head without thinking.
And the next moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“…What?”
It was troops.
Knights were charging into the village, flying banners emblazoned with the Imperial crest. Ten? Twenty? No, there were more. They surrounded the town square in an instant.
‘Were they really chasing us?’
I had vaguely suspected it after hearing Sion’s words, but I never thought they would come charging in like this.
I was standing there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do in my bewilderment, when it happened.
“Her Highness the Princess is in this village!”
The knight at the front shouted loudly. His voice was so loud it echoed throughout the entire village.
“Search every corner!”
The villagers came out of their houses in surprise. Some had rushed out in the middle of eating dinner.
The town square instantly became crowded with people.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?”
“It’s the Imperial army!”
“The Princess? Her Highness the Princess is here?”
“What are you talking about, so suddenly…”
Murmur murmur.
People were stirring from all directions.
“The Imperial Court is really annoying, right?”
Sion whispered and hid me behind him.
Carlos, who I thought had walked ahead, had also returned without me noticing and stood blocking my path.
I hid behind them and held my breath. Since I was disguised, it should be fine. They wouldn’t find me.
Meanwhile, the Imperial troops swarmed around pretending to search various parts of the village. Looking into houses, checking passersby, grabbing women and examining their faces.
“Search every corner!”
“We must not let Her Highness the Princess escape!”
“Search those houses over there!”
But something was strange.
They were only pretending to search, not really looking. Their eyes were directed elsewhere. As if they already knew the answer.
That’s when it happened.
The knight who had been at the front walked straight toward us. Without hesitation. Precisely.
My heart sank.
They had known from the beginning. Where I was, what I looked like. This show was meant to publicly point me out from the start.
‘That’s why they followed us immediately. They deliberately called people out to the town square to draw attention.’
The knight stood in front of Carlos, who was shielding me.
“Please step aside.”
“What?”
“I must escort Her Highness the Princess.”
Since I was crouched behind Carlos, I could only hear his voice. But even that alone made my heart race uncontrollably, making it hard to bear.
“Who said the Princess you’re looking for is here?”
“Please step aside!”
The standoff between Carlos and the knight continued.
When he showed no sign of stepping aside, the knight suddenly knelt on one knee.
“Your Highness the Princess!”
His booming voice echoed throughout the entire town square.
My body stiffened.
“You were here!”
Since they wouldn’t step aside, it seemed like they were trying to draw attention by force.
Then the villagers’ gazes all turned toward me at once.
It felt like my heart stopped.
“Is the Princess really here?”
“There, there is a brown-haired girl…”
“That girl is the Princess?”
“But the Princess is.”
“Oh my…”
I hastily pulled down my hood, but it was useless. The people’s gazes were already filled with suspicion.
“She does seem to resemble the portrait…”
“Isn’t she in disguise? You know, there’s magic for that too.”
“Wait, but that person next to her, could it be.”
“Isn’t that Duke Carter?”
“The Duke? That demon-like…!”
“Black hair and red eyes…”
Eventually, when their gazes turned to Carlos as well, the murmuring grew louder. More and more people gathered. Onlookers filled the town square.
The knight raised his head. His gaze was polite but coercive.
“I have come to escort you under His Majesty’s command.”
“…”
“His Majesty was greatly concerned upon hearing that Duke Carter was forcing Your Highness to remain in the ducal territory.”
So this was what Sion had mentioned.
They were binding Carlos and me together to demonize him and take me away. There was no noble in the entire Empire more despised than House Carter right now.
A cursed family, demons, monsters.
Through the Emperor’s meticulous planning, even common people trembled at the mention of House Carter.
‘This situation won’t be resolved like this.’
In the end, what they wanted was for me to step forward.
I slowly revealed myself from behind Carlos and stood before the knight.
The knight’s gaze was staring at me clearly.
“…I am not here by force.”
My voice trembled. But I spoke clearly.
“I came here voluntarily.”
Then the knight furrowed his brow with a pitying expression. It was an exaggerated look.
“Good heavens, Your Highness Princess.”
He bowed his head again.
“You must have suffered greatly being confined for such a long time.”
He was completely ignoring my words.
“You can rest assured now, Your Highness. Duke Carter can no longer threaten Your Highness Princess.”
The knight who said this smiled silently and slyly.
His eyes looking at me were smiling coldly.
The villagers murmured.
“Confinement! Duke Carter confined the Princess?”
“After everything, now he’s rebelling against the Imperial Family!”
“How frightened the young Princess must have been.”
Sympathetic gazes turned toward me.
And hostile gazes turned toward Carlos.
“Just as the rumors said.”
“To imprison Her Highness Princess.”
“For such a person to be a duke, it’s a disgrace to the Empire.”
Hearing the words coming from all directions, I narrowed my eyes.
‘Mobilizing this scale of military force means they intended to subdue us by force if we hadn’t stopped in the village.’
Carlos and Sion’s guess was correct.
They were determined to take me away no matter what.
‘How despicable.’
This situation of making me the victim and Carlos the perpetrator in front of numerous witnesses was truly the worst, but it was better than being subdued by force as the two had said.
No matter how much Sion was the Archmage, if he faced all those people in the Eastern Region filled with mana, there was no telling what consequences there might be.
‘It’s pitiful that I have to call this a better situation.’
Before I could finish my thoughts, the knight roughly grabbed my wrist.
“Come, Your Highness. Please come with us.”
At that moment.
Thud.
Someone grabbed the knight’s wrist.
It was Carlos.
“Don’t touch her.”
It was a low, cold voice.
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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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