The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 111

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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 111
The orders given to the Knight Order and the Mage Order were unmistakable. They positioned themselves with speed and precision, each in the place they were meant to be.
Lucas was no exception. He infiltrated Rein without drawing a single eye.
He used the Sewer. Piercing through the iron bars scattered along its length with Mana was child’s play for him.
Less than an hour later, Lucas stood in the heart of Rein, brushing back his dripping-wet hair, and surveyed his surroundings.
The commoners of Anareо went about their daily lives. They seemed utterly at peace, as though they believed the war had already ended. Lucas fixed his gaze on the distant silhouette of the Anareо Imperial Palace. There was a high probability that Rachel was being held in the Underground Dungeon beneath it.
‘Rachel might try to escape the prison on her own.’
The Rachel Swan he knew was fiercely independent. She did not seem the type to sit idle like other noblewomen, waiting for someone to rescue her.
It was for this reason that Lucas harbored a fervent hope—that their paths would not cross.
* * *
“Out of my way!”
Rachel shouted roughly as she drove back the soldiers. In truth, she had never fought like this before. Of course she was on edge.
Breathing heavily, Rachel climbed the stairs that led from the Underground Dungeon to the surface.
“Move!”
Her shout rang out, and the sentries took combat stances. Rachel attacked them regardless, with her Circular Mana Formation.
For all its many Mages, Anareо had not equipped every dungeon guard with the ability to wield Mana. This gave Rachel the advantage. She threw all her strength into driving them back.
‘How many have I put down by now?’
She glanced around. Most of Anareо’s soldiers lay sprawled on the ground.
‘I need to get out of here. Fast.’
Rachel bit her lip hard. There was no time to waste. She was about to move toward the empty corridor when—
“Rachel Swan.”
Someone had called her name.
“…Who are you?”
Rachel turned. Before her stood a man in robes.
“You may know me as the Mage Tower Master of Anareо.”
The man who introduced himself as such smiled with a chilling edge.
“You thought you’d escape easily from here. But from this point on, it won’t be so simple.”
The Mage Tower Master raised a hand. The soldiers who lay unconscious on the ground began to stir. Yet they remained without consciousness.
Slowly, they rose and surrounded Rachel—like the walking dead.
Rachel gathered Mana in both hands. She pushed forward, trying to break through the wall of soldiers closing in on her.
“Get out of my way!”
Even as Rachel threw all her strength into the effort, the soldiers did not budge. They seemed to feel no pain.
Wracked with guilt, Rachel intensified her assault.
“Please!”
But within moments, the soldiers had seized both her wrists. Her hands went limp not long after.
* * *
Rachel’s eyes were covered. She could barely move her arms or her body, though she couldn’t discern what had been done to her.
The Mage Tower Master of Anareо must have used Mana. Beyond that, she could easily infer that she was completely surrounded.
“Kneel here.”
It was the voice of the Mage Tower Master. He forced her to her knees and laughed. Rachel’s fists clenched. Could humiliation be any more complete?
“Rachel Swan.”
A new voice spoke. There was unmistakable power in it—the voice of someone of very high station, Rachel surmised.
“So you caused all this commotion, did you?”
Rachel said nothing. Instead, she watched ceaselessly for any chance to escape.
“I anticipated you would try to escape from the Underground Dungeon. Such an escape was necessary—it will spread the right sort of rumor.”
A rumor…?
She had no idea what he meant.
“Your foolish attempt will put Lucas Maksim in danger.”
“What? What did you say?!”
The moment Lucas’s name was mentioned, Rachel reacted visibly. The man laughed loudly at her response.
“Once word spreads that you failed to escape, Lucas Maksim will panic. And in that panic, he will surely do something foolish—infiltrate the Imperial Palace.”
Now she understood.
Rachel had failed in her escape from the Underground Dungeon. News of such a dramatic failure would spread—it was inevitable.
It would reach Lucas’s ears, and he would rush to infiltrate the Anareо Imperial Palace. The man was counting on exactly that.
‘I was a fool.’
Everything had gone too smoothly. Even for someone as obtuse as Kate, the prison doors would never open this easily. It made no sense.
Rachel exhaled a sigh that was almost a lament.
“Place Rachel Swan in the Emperor’s receiving chamber. We must be ready to receive Lucas Maksim.”
The voice-only man—the Emperor of Anareо—had spoken his command. The soldiers standing nearby immediately hauled Rachel to her feet. Without so much as a struggle, she was dragged toward the Emperor’s receiving chamber.
* * *
“Did you hear the news?”
“What?”
“The Crown Prince of Tirnes’s fiancée. She tried to escape from the Underground Dungeon and got caught.”
“Quite something, really.”
The soldiers passing by shook their heads in disbelief. Rachel’s failed escape had already become the talk of all Rein. And Henry, upon hearing the news, found his expression hardening involuntarily.
‘…Miss Rachel.’
He had never expected her to remain idle. Yet the thought of her in danger filled him with dread. He worried desperately that she might have been wounded during the escape attempt.
‘Please let her be unharmed….’
Every member of the Knight Order prayed earnestly for Rachel’s safety.
“By the way, is that story true?”
“What?”
“That His Imperial Majesty has summoned the Crown Prince of Tirnes.”
“What do you mean?”
“You haven’t heard that either?”
The man pointed to a notice posted on the wall.
“His Imperial Majesty has placed the Crown Prince of Tirnes’s fiancée in his private audience chamber. If you wish to retrieve her, come directly to that location. That’s what the notice says.”
“Is that true?”
Another man’s eyes widened as he asked.
“The very fact that such a notice was posted means the Crown Prince of Tirnes is inside this castle.”
“Would someone of the Crown Prince’s standing really enter the castle just to find his fiancée?”
“You never know.”
The men exchanged various speculations. Listening to their conversation, Henry’s thoughts turned to Lucas.
How would he act in response?
The Emperor of Anareо had surmised far more than anyone realized. He knew that Lucas had entered the castle, and he knew that Lucas was a man who would risk everything for Rachel.
‘The Crown Prince is a rational man, if nothing else.’
If Lucas Maxim, Crown Prince of Tirnes, were captured by the Emperor of Anareо, the consequences would be dire.
At minimum, the Unjust Covenant would be nullified; at worst, the Tirnes Empire itself might be erased from the map. Lucas Maxim surely understood this.
‘Then I must act.’
Henry’s resolve solidified. It was he—not anyone else—who must go to rescue Rachel in Lucas Maxim’s stead.
‘Though the Crown Prince ordered me to hold my position.’
One thing gave him pause: Lucas had issued him a command. Yet his concern and worry for Rachel took precedence over that order.
‘In the end, my objective is to rescue Miss Rachel.’
As he dwelt on Rachel, the answer to what he must do came naturally.
“I have something to tell you all.”
Henry spoke up. The knights around him turned their attention to him.
“I intend to enter the Imperial Palace to rescue Miss Rachel.”
“What? We have a mission.”
“Before we carry out that mission, I will bring Miss Rachel back safely.”
Henry’s eyes, fixed on the image of Rachel, shone brighter than ever before.

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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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