The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 112

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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 112
Rachel sat pinned to her chair. The shackles binding her wrists and ankles made any real movement impossible.
It wasn’t merely the restriction of her limbs. The flow of Mana she’d always sensed so clearly now cut off as if severed by a blade.
‘These shackles must have the power to block the flow of Mana.’
If she could still use Mana, she would find some way to resist. But in this state, resistance was pointless. At the absurdity of it all, Rachel exhaled a long sigh.
“What’s with the sighing?”
Katie spoke from beside her with unbearable mockery. Rachel turned her head sharply, her voice cutting.
“Is that what you want?”
“What?”
“To betray your homeland and throw your lot in with Anareо.”
Rachel’s contempt stung, but Katie simply laughed.
“You’re funny. What did I do wrong?”
“You actually believe your actions are justified?”
“Now that I’ve been pushed aside as the Crown Prince’s betrothed, it’s obvious what humiliation my house will face. Finding a path to survival is only natural, isn’t it?”
Katie spoke with absolute confidence, and Rachel found herself at a loss for words.
There was no point trying to reason with her in such circumstances. So Rachel held her tongue.
‘Will Lucas come to rescue me?’
Rachel’s heart was torn. She hoped he would come save her, yet hoped he wouldn’t. His very presence in the Anareо Imperial Palace would cause an enormous upheaval.
‘If I could escape on my own, that would be ideal.’
Rachel tried moving her arms again. But they remained utterly immobile, as if held by invisible hands. A sigh escaped her helplessly.
“Stay put. Don’t even think about anything else.”
Katie spoke with malicious glee before turning to glare at her coldly.
“Oh my, look at you. Does the Crown Prince know you make faces like that?”
Katie delighted in tormenting her. It was infuriating, admittedly. But Rachel forced herself to remain composed. Losing her temper now would mean losing everything.
“Watch her carefully. This woman might try to escape at any moment.”
After issuing the order to the soldiers, Katie hummed to herself as she left the Emperor’s Reception Hall.
Rachel clenched her fists, straining once more to channel her Mana.
* * *
‘This should be the place.’
Henry, cloaked in a robe, moved calmly over the Estate’s wall and through its gardens. The darkness concealed him completely, allowing him to slip inside undetected.
During the Continental War, Henry had learned much about Anareо. One such discovery was that a distant cousin of his lived there as a nobleman.
Henry had been stunned when he first learned this. But once he understood that the cousin was a lord of a border territory and had been forced to side with Anareо, his bewilderment turned to understanding.
What Henry learned of his distant relative proved quite varied. Among other things, the cousin’s second son bore a striking resemblance to him.
‘Roy Chesper, if I recall.’
The nobleman who resembled Henry was named Roy Chesper. If Henry could steal his clothes and the brooch he wore, given his frequent visits to the Imperial Palace, entry would be assured.
‘The lady.’
Henry’s thoughts turned to Rachel. In his mind, she was suffering at Anareо’s hands. The image of her being tortured was unbearable, leaving him no choice but to act.
He scaled the wall skillfully to reach Roy Chesper’s window, then slipped inside.
Fortunately, Roy was asleep. Henry took his clothes and the brooch bearing the family crest.
After that, everything proceeded swiftly. He avoided a dozing stable hand, took a horse, and made for the Anareо Imperial Palace.
“Who goes there?”
A soldier guarding the palace gates challenged him. Henry showed his face calmly and pointed to the brooch pinned to his chest.
“From the Chesper Household.”
The last he’d heard of Roy Chesper had been impressive. The man was betrothed to the Anareо princess and wielded considerable political influence.
Perhaps for this reason, the soldiers at the gate bowed deeply and welcomed him.
‘The darkness makes faces hard to identify. Fortune favors me.’
The moon was dim, and clouds hung thick overhead. The weather was on his side.
After passing through the palace gates, he handed off his horse and surveyed his surroundings.
Moving as naturally as possible into the palace proper, Henry felt the weight of eyes upon him. Thinking him Roy Chesper, others seemed to take notice.
‘The fact that this man is a notable figure hardly helps.’
Slipping quietly past the attendants, Henry clicked his tongue. The path to the Emperor’s Reception Hall would be more difficult than he’d anticipated.
* * *
Lucas stood in the center of the largest square in Lein. He slowly raised his head, his robe falling back to reveal his face.
The people around him glanced his way. Even without knowing who he was, his appearance commanded attention. A figure of such striking beauty standing motionless in the center of the square with a cold expression—something was clearly afoot.
Lucas drew his sword. He stepped forward, blade in hand, its very appearance menacing.
He stopped before a statue. The monument of Anareо’s current emperor gleamed with ostentatious grandeur.
Without the slightest hesitation, he raised his sword.
Then he severed the statue’s head from its neck.
Thud—
The emperor’s head tumbled to the ground. The onlookers gasped, all eyes fixed on Lucas.
Lu… Lucas Maxim, isn’t it? The Crown Prince of Tirnes!
Someone who recognized Lucas clapped a hand over their mouth in shock.
The name “Crown Prince of Tirnes” carried tremendous weight. Compared to Anareо’s rather lamentable Crown Prince, the Crown Prince of Tirnes was said to be exceptionally valiant, practically ruling in the king’s stead.
But even so, this was outrageous…!
Walking into the heart of an enemy nation and revealing his identity so brazenly—was he in his right mind?
“I, Lucas Maxim, Crown Prince of Tirnes, hereby declare this to the Emperor of Anareо.”
Lucas spoke with absolute flatness.
“Come out here at once.”
* * *
The Imperial Palace fell into complete chaos. Lucas Maxim had appeared in the Central Square and summoned the Emperor.
Faced with this surreal situation, Anareо’s knights and mages let out hollow laughs.
“We’ll take him alive!”
“Leave it to us—we’ll bring him in!”
The knights and mages raised their voices as though the challenge was beneath them. Yet the Emperor fell into deep thought.
There was only one reason he had summoned Lucas Maxim to the Reception Hall: the Emperor himself lacked the courage to face him directly.
He’d planned to lure him into a secluded space and overwhelm him with legions of mages and knights. No matter how formidable Lucas Maxim was, he couldn’t overcome sheer numbers.
Once Lucas Maxim was subdued that way, the Emperor would announce that he had personally captured him.
But Lucas Maxim appeared in the Central Square as though he’d read the Emperor’s very thoughts.
‘If I suppress Lucas Maxim with superior numbers, my honor will be utterly destroyed.’
He was already regarded among the people of Anareо as lacking courage, as unfit to be emperor. Now Lucas Maxim had challenged him directly. If he brought a legion of knights and mages to overwhelm him, the whispers would be damning.
‘He’s thought this through brilliantly. Audaciously, even.’
Lucas Maxim had grasped the Emperor’s psychology perfectly—his temperament, what situations he most despised. The Emperor hated admitting it, yet he could not deny it.
‘So I must go out there.’
The Emperor rested his chin on his hand. He had no confidence in facing Lucas Maxim one-on-one. Yet sending in the legions of knights and mages to overwhelm him through numbers would wound his pride mortally.
‘Then.’
The Emperor of Anareо rose from his seat. Either way, he had to make a decision.

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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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