The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 85

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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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Episode 85

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The bitter winter wind swept into the Imperial Palace.
“Has the Crown Prince’s condition improved?”
In the bedroom of the southern tower of the Imperial Palace, only a sparse handful of close-lipped attendants had gathered.
Duke Craitan, who had entered the chamber, asked the gaunt Emperor before him.
The Crown Prince, who was supposedly studying abroad in a foreign land at such an inopportune time, was in fact lying in the southern tower bedroom of the Imperial Palace.
It had been Duke Craitan’s suggestion.
“My son must be quite the sleeper. He’s been doing nothing but sleeping for a month now.”
Just as Rudeuum had said, the Crown Prince was poisoned. Everything was so thoroughly damaged that it seemed strange the Emperor hadn’t discovered it sooner.
The Crown Prince had not wanted his condition known to anyone—not his siblings, not even his father the Emperor.
That was the same as saying no one trusted him. It made sense, since he had been consuming poison for years within the Imperial Palace and had become addicted.
Everything was proceeding according to Rudeuum’s words.
If things continued as he had predicted, the Crown Prince would die before the New Year Festival, and the Emperor would die after it.
The Emperor could not become the one who had poisoned the Crown Prince.
Thus, Duke Craitan had told only the Emperor. The Emperor immediately confirmed the Crown Prince’s condition through his personal physician and had him hidden somewhere safe.
After spreading the ridiculous story to his other children that the Crown Prince had been sent to study abroad, he moved him to the southern tower bedroom of the Imperial Palace.
He had considered sending him outside the palace entirely and hiding him at Duke Craitan’s estate, but he had heeded Rudeuum’s opinion that moving him to the outside might be even more dangerous.
“I met with a doctor before coming here.”
“Yes, I heard. There’s been no major change.”
“Still, since the Crown Prince’s condition hasn’t worsened, we can’t say the treatment has been entirely ineffective.”
The Emperor, his face haggard, gazed at the Crown Prince, who had not awakened for a month.
Duke Craitan, watching his back, broached the subject carefully.
“Is the Empress doing well?”
“My wife thinks only of our son studying abroad. Last night too, she shed tears asking whether we might bring him back, and I had to comfort her.”
“Do you intend to keep this hidden from the Empress as well?”
“She is tender-hearted. She would blame herself for not knowing our son was so ill, and she would grieve at the thought that it was one of her own children who made him ill. I don’t wish to see my wife sink into such sorrow.”
“When she learns of it later, I fear the Empress will resent you.”
At Duke Craitan’s words, the Emperor laughed weakly.
“If I alone bear her resentment and the matter ends there, it will be fortunate. I can spend the rest of my life at my wife’s side, begging her forgiveness.”
“Have you discovered whose doing this was, Sire?”
“I personally interrogated every servant of the Crown Prince’s Court who attended to the Crown Prince over the years. All of them were loyal to him, and there was no other suspicion to be found.”
At the Emperor’s mention of personal interrogation, Duke Craitan’s brows twitched slightly.
Though age and the presence of many children to protect and a beloved wife had made him merciful now, in his youth he too had been ruthless. There were even rumors that when the Emperor personally interrogated someone, none returned alive.
“If Your Majesty has personally interrogated them, then there is no need for me to investigate further.”
“Indeed.”
The Emperor nodded.
“As you say. To carry out such a thing quietly for years without catching my eye… only—”
The Emperor’s eyes turned cold and grave.
“—my own children could manage it.”
Struggle over the Imperial Throne was no rare occurrence. The Emperor himself had fought endlessly with his brothers over the throne because of his cruel father, and had become Emperor after killing them all.
That is why he had hoped his own children would not repeat that cycle. From childhood, he had made efforts to keep his siblings on good terms with one another, and he had always taught the Crown Prince, who would inherit the throne, to value brotherhood above all.
To the other children, even if not the throne, he distributed what he could and created sufficient paths for them to thrive.
And yet.
“Duke Craitan. Leonhard. My oldest friend.”
The Emperor, his face exhausted, held the hand of his son who would not open his eyes, and let his gaze fall.
“Leonhard. You must help me.”
“Greype.”
They spoke each other’s names as if they were young once more.
“It pains my heart that I must endlessly doubt and investigate the children I love. I know I cannot do this well.”
……
“I will transfer the investigation to you, Leonhard.”
Duke Craitan exhaled slowly. Then he drew near and steadied the Emperor’s shoulder.
“When my wife died in that carriage accident, when my newborn daughter disappeared. You helped me through those days when my mind was not my own—protected my sons and the Craitan Clan from those snarling vultures, and sent the Imperial Palace Knight Order across the empire to find my lost daughter. I remember how you even coerced foreign nations into compliance in the hope she might have been taken abroad.”
“Of course. That newborn was so beautiful when she was born. I remember asking your wife whether we might betrothing her to one of my sons when she grew up. Your wife refused me quite firmly, and I still remember it.”
“That’s right. …And so, Greyf, I’ll help you as well. Both as a friend and as your subordinate.”
“Thank you, my friend. …But there’s something I wanted to ask.”
Duke Craitan nodded.
“Is it truly necessary to forgo calling Fretes or the Temple priests? The physician mentioned there would be improvement if we used Holy Power for treatment.”
Duke Craitan hesitated. The objection wasn’t without merit—aid from the Temple, as servants of the divine, would undoubtedly prove more effective than mere physicians.
But.

—I don’t know who it was either. If I knew the perpetrator, I’d have told you already. Since you’re cutting off outside contact to save the Crown Prince, make sure it stays hidden. Keep him from meeting anyone he’s contacted until now. Whether he’ll survive if we do that, I can’t say.

Those words from Rudeuum lingered in Duke Craitan’s mind.
The Crown Prince, already aware of his own condition, had visited not just physicians but also the Temple, where he’d received Holy Power treatments from high-ranking priests and even the High Pontiff himself.
At first there had been some improvement, but even that effect had faded quickly, and the Crown Prince had apparently stopped visiting altogether.
So, according to Rudeuum’s reasoning, it was best to avoid contact with the Temple that had already been approached.
“It appears His Highness the Crown Prince underwent treatment directly, but showed little improvement and discontinued his visits, does he not?”
“…True. But circumstances differ now, don’t they? His condition has worsened since then—shouldn’t we attempt something more?”
“The more his condition becomes known outside these walls, the greater the danger. For now, having moved him to the Tower and confirmed his state hasn’t deteriorated further, we should observe and wait, Your Majesty.”
“…Very well. I understand.”
The Emperor nodded wearily. Duke Craitan merely patted his old friend’s shoulder once more.

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Time passed.
The bitter winter was drawing to a close. Thanks to Havelian’s thorough preparations, the fiefdom’s people suffered minimal hardship that season.
The Empire grew busy with New Year Festival preparations, and Duke Craitan too found himself away from his estate on increasingly frequent occasions.
Meanwhile, Rudeuum missed his lessons more and more often.
Snow had blocked the carriage from entering on several days.
But beyond that, rumors had spread that Rudeuum had attended counseling sessions at the Academy alongside Duke Craitan, prompting various hostile factions to exert pressure on him in numerous ways.
Some nobles deliberately disrupted trade routes using fishing vessels, while others approached Rudeuum offering pirate protection services at cheaper rates.
There were nobles who denounced him loudly, claiming that because he only protected merchants who paid their taxes, those who didn’t were left unprotected and became targets for pirates—and that he should compensate them for a situation entirely of his own making.
Of course, Rudeuum didn’t bat an eye.
Everyone kept watch over him.
Then rumors began to circulate that he’d been surveying Stone Mountain—a place where not even crops could grow, truly nothing but bare rock and stone, devoid of any plant or animal life.
The pattern resembled his purchase of the unnecessary island before. The nobles who’d been monitoring him moved with the determination not to be outmaneuvered this time, matching or exceeding his offers to snatch up Stone Mountain before he could acquire it.
The nobles formed alliances among themselves, buying up the desolate, barren Stone Mountain again and again.

As such rumors continued through the winter, a new year dawned for the Empire.
“Six years old!”
“Miss Reponya, you’re six today! Congratulations!”
“Yaaay!”
“Let’s make sure you’re the cutest and most precious six-year-old at the New Year Festival today!”
It was the day Reponya turned six, and also the day the New Year Festival was held at the Imperial Palace.

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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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