The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 101

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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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Chapter 101
All the way to the Emperor’s Palace, Rachel found herself lost in thought.
‘Will His Majesty share information with me?’
Rachel exhaled deeply. She thought that if the Emperor treated his own son so harshly, what hope had she, merely his son’s betrothed?
‘Still, it’s better than doing nothing.’
Rachel chose to think positively. Attempting something, anything, was better than standing idle.
As she stood before the Emperor’s Palace, she felt the servants’ eyes flicker toward her.
“I’ve come to see His Majesty the Emperor.”
Rachel spoke quietly. The Chief Attendant then announced her arrival.
“Rachel Swan. What is the meaning of this?”
The Emperor fixed her with a sharp gaze. Even as he coughed repeatedly, he spared no effort in glaring at her.
“Your Majesty.”
Rachel stood before the Emperor with the utmost deference.
“I have come to this place with a request for Your Majesty, if I may be so bold.”
“A request?”
“Yes.”
“I find myself remarkably uninterested.”
The Emperor’s response was negative from the start. Yet Rachel did not yield. She forced brightness into her expression and met his gaze.
“Your Majesty, are you aware of how the conflict with Anareо progresses?”
“Indeed. That incompetent Lucas is apparently failing to hold the line.”
As expected, the Emperor blamed Lucas. Rachel could not let him dismiss the matter here. She held his eyes with unwavering intensity.
“It is said that the Empire’s pride—our cavalry—are unable to deploy their full strength.”
“Fools, the lot of them. This is precisely what comes of Lucas commanding the vanguard.”
The Emperor blamed Lucas yet again. Rachel felt anger beginning to kindle within her. But to interrupt or contradict the Emperor would only weaken her position.
She opened her mouth again as though she had heard nothing.
“All of this stems from Anareо awakening an Ancient Demon.”
“Do you truly believe that rumor?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Lucas lacks the strength, so he has clearly spread this falsehood. An Ancient Demon? I have never heard such a thing in all my years. To speak of awakening one is pure fantasy.”
Only then did Rachel understand why the Emperor was so dismissive. He refused to accept the very existence of an Ancient Demon.
“Your Majesty, the Ancient Demon has long since become Anareо’s instrument.”
“A lie!”
The Emperor cried out. Rachel was exasperated beyond measure. Yet in this moment, she glimpsed the true narrowness of his mind.
And so she resolved to use that against him.
“The Emperor of Anareо has awakened the Ancient Demon and thereby earned the deep trust of his people. Should he win this war, he will become the greatest Emperor in Anareо’s history.”
Rachel prodded him carefully.
“What?”
Just as she had anticipated, the comparison to Anareо’s Emperor made his displeasure evident at once.
“At this rate, Your Majesty may be remembered in history as the Emperor of Tirnes who failed to stop Anareо’s ruler.”
“Failed to stop Anareо? The great cavalry of Tirnes will crush Anareо with ease!”
“Then why does the battle unfold as it does?”
Rachel spoke with firm resolve.
Right now, the armies of Tirnes are broken in spirit by Anareо’s Ancient Demon legion. Unless something changes, we will lose not merely individual battles, but the war itself.”
Rachel spoke plainly, without hesitation.
“Your Majesty, I have heard that you possess knowledge of a power equal to the Ancient Demon legion.”
“How do you know of such a thing?”
“I will not demand that power for myself, nor for the Crown Prince. But to win this war, that power is essential. I beg you—entrust it to someone worthy, and send them to the battlefield.”
Rachel made her plea with earnest sincerity.
“For the sake of Tirnes, for the fate of the Empire itself.”
* * *
The Emperor fell into contemplation. He disliked that a mere baroness would come before him and speak so bluntly.
And who was she? The betrothed of Lucas Maksim. Part of him wanted to cry out in fury.
‘And yet…’
But setting that aside, there was nothing false in what Rachel Swan had said.
Though he had feigned ignorance of the Ancient Demon, he had already learned through his secret agents that Anareо had indeed awakened it.
Yet he had not revealed this fact to Lucas Maksim—that had been his own selfishness. He did not wish for Lucas to go to war and return with swift victory.
‘What am I to do?’
The Emperor was trapped in thought. He needed Tirnes to win, yet without surrendering his own power.
‘Is there no one I can trust?’
The only person the Emperor truly trusted was the Empress. But he could not send a pregnant woman to the battlefield.
‘Then the answer is all but decided.’
The Emperor, lost in thought, summoned the Chief Attendant. The Chief Attendant hurried over and bent his ear toward his master.
As the Emperor issued quiet instructions, the Chief Attendant’s eyes widened sharply. Regardless, the Emperor finished his orders and continued coughing.
“At once.”
The Emperor dismissed the Chief Attendant and made his way to the bed. It had been an exhausting day.
The Chief Attendant hastened toward the Empress’s Palace, where the Empress was taking tea in the garden. She looked up as he approached.
“Your Majesty, the Emperor has sent a command.”
The Emperor rarely issued orders through intermediaries; he preferred to speak face-to-face. That he would send word this way meant the news was certain to be unwelcome. The Empress drew a long breath.
* * *
“The Empress’s father is to take the field?!”
“Yes, Miss.”
Sinclair, the Empress’s father, had already reached an understanding with Lucas through their negotiations — he was not to march to war.
“There’s no reason for Sinclair to go to battle at all.”
Rachel’s mind raced.
‘Sinclair is someone the Emperor trusts implicitly. If he’s being sent to the Battlefield now, despite their agreement, it means the Emperor has given him the strength to hold back the Ancient Demons.’
Rachel pieced together the situation.
“Moreover, the Commoner Mages who completed their final training have received orders to deploy to the Dekision River.”
The Tutor relayed the information. When Rachel heard that the Commoner Mages were being sent to the Dekision River of all places, her eyes widened.
“A full-scale war is coming, then.”
The remaining Commoner Mages were supposed to be stationed in other regions. But deploying them to the Dekision River meant an all-out offensive.
‘Is it right for me to stay here in the Imperial Palace?’
Rachel exhaled slowly.
She could channel mana herself. She had trained the Commoner Mages, so her skills were certainly of some standard.
But she was bound by an unspoken understanding — she was to remain behind. Neither Lucas nor the Mage Tower Master wished otherwise.
‘Yet I cannot simply stay idle.’
No matter how she weighed it, remaining felt wrong. She should add her strength to theirs.
“Tutor, I’m going to the Mage Tower.”
Rachel bowed respectfully and made her way toward the tower.
As she walked, she could not hide the turmoil in her heart.
‘I have to go to the Battlefield.’
The word ‘war’ carried tremendous weight. She could not be certain she would endure a place where life and death hung in the balance.
‘But I want to help Lucas.’
The thought that she might be of some small use to him made her footsteps grow lighter.
Standing before the Mage Tower, she took a deep breath and stepped inside. The Commoner Mages greeted her, and Rachel gathered them close.
“Everyone.”
“Yes.”
Answers came from all around her.
“You will depart for the Dekision River. Together with me.”
Rachel’s steady voice rang out through the chamber. She was prepared, with full conviction, to throw herself into war.

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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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