The Villainess Hid Her Identity, and Now Everyone is Misunderstanding - Chapter 102

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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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The Villainess Hides Her Identity, and Everyone Misunderstands
Chapter 102

After the situation settled, I learned about the outside world through Genie.
“It seems the Crown Prince returned to the Palace immediately.”
The fact that he left without even receiving my farewell suggested something was terribly urgent.
‘Well, how could he accept a proper farewell in that situation?’
Just facing my expression would have made his anger burn from head to toe.
As I quietly closed the door and turned around, I saw Rakiel still standing motionless in the same position as before.
“…Your Highness?”
I called out to him with a tilted head.
“Are you alright?”
I slowly approached and examined his complexion. But he soon let out a long sigh and shook his head.
“I’m fine.”
“Is something the matter?”
“…It’s just that your lack of perceptiveness makes me deeply concerned about what lies ahead.”
I narrowed my eyes in response.
“I’m quite perceptive, actually. At the very least, I won’t become a burden to whatever Your Highness does going forward.”
“…Well…”
He slowly parted his lips.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Then what was it?
I tilted my head and thought it over from every angle, but nothing particularly stood out. I believed I had been consistently helpful to him in my own way.
Instead of asking what he meant, I gestured for him to sit down. My legs had been aching from standing all this time.
Only after he took the seat of honor could I finally sit on the nearby sofa.
“You observe etiquette in the strangest places.”
He muttered with a tone of dissatisfaction.
“Well, I am still a noblewoman, after all. I’ve received the proper education for it.”
I had lived nearly a hundred times as a noblewoman. At the very least, I understood what should and shouldn’t be observed.
What I had gained over that long span of time was the dignity of a noble lady, graceful bearing, and the ability to spend money lavishly. Of course, that standard was based on the House of Rosenthal.
Yet Rakiel wore a bewildered expression instead.
“Don’t you think your behavior is oddly strange for someone with such training?”
“What do you mean?”
“How should I put it… your bearing is clearly that of a noblewoman, but your way of thinking is entirely different. You seem like someone imitating nobility.”
I reached toward my now-cold tea but stopped short.
“A typical noblewoman wouldn’t do the things you do so casually. As someone who knows what you’ve been up to all this time, I find it nothing short of astonishing.”
“…I’ve simply done what I could.”
The immediate challenges before me. How desperately I had reached for a better future.
And finally, that future was within arm’s reach.
“Choices cannot be undone, after all.”
It was hardly the sort of thing someone who had regressed a hundred times should say, yet I meant every word.
I had always approached each attempt as though it were my last. This time would be no different.
“…You’re right. Choices cannot be undone.”
Suddenly, I felt his gaze upon me. When I turned my head, I met eyes that burned with quiet intensity.
“Duke Cashen Lupenbain came to me.”
“…!”
Cashen?
When I had seen him not long ago, there had been no hint of this.
He had asked me that strange question about whether I was pleased with my current engagement, but…
“He said he would help me become Emperor. Though his intentions seemed somewhat different…”
“The Duke himself?!”
Cashen had decided to support Rakiel?
“…That’s why I wanted to ask you. You seem quite close to him. I simply couldn’t tell if he was being sincere.”
Even as Rakiel spoke, his brow remained furrowed, as though something displeased him.
But my mind was too occupied with his words to respond immediately.
“Good heavens, if the Duke were to support us, matters would progress far more swiftly.”
“More importantly, is it true that you’re close to him?”
“As you know, the House of Lupenbain’s greatest strength lies in military might. If we could command his forces, we might even stage a coup outright if circumstances demanded it.”
Where the House of Rosenthal wielded wealth as its weapon, the House of Lupenbain wielded formidable military power.
Though Rakiel possessed his own personal forces, they paled in comparison to those of Lupenbain. They possessed the authority to command armies without imperial sanction.
I knew not why the House of Lupenbain held such authority, but it was a privilege passed down through generations—and simultaneously a shackle. Such power, once drawn, could be deemed treason.
‘That’s why in previous iterations, he rarely distinguished himself beyond direct action.’
The same would have been true in those two cycles when he withdrew to his estate after falling out with the Crown Prince.
He was not someone who could move freely. And he understood the weight of what he held.
But if such a man had truly decided to support Prince Rakiel…
“This hardly seems like a contest anymore.”
We would hold both Rosenthal and Lupenbain in our grasp. There would be no game to speak of.
‘But what is the Crown Prince banking on to be so arrogant?’
Perhaps he simply didn’t know that Cashen had turned to Prince Rakiel, but even so, it made no sense.
Cashen remained in the Capital as though his affairs were unresolved, and no one could predict his next move. The Crown Prince should not lower his guard.
Without some foundation of trust, he would never conduct himself so boldly.
“Wait, Eve.”
As I sat absorbed in thought, Rakiel pressed his palm to his forehead and sighed.
“You don’t actually think the Duke has truly come over to my side, do you?”
“What? Wasn’t that what happened?”
He had just told me that Cashen came to him directly—what was he saying now?
Yet Rakiel was gazing at me with an expression that suggested he couldn’t be stopped.
“The Duke’s target isn’t me. If I had to say, it would be you.”
“What do you mean by that….”
He didn’t continue his explanation. His expression suggested he didn’t even want to say it directly.
But it didn’t take long for me to grasp the meaning of his words.

* * *

That evening.
“What? Those people are in the basement of our mansion?”
I asked back with a dumbfounded expression.
“I had no idea.”
“Of course you didn’t know. Father and I didn’t tell you.”
Killian muttered with a frown. The Duke beside him kept his mouth shut, radiating clear displeasure.
It was about those lackeys captured in the Northern Region. After Rakiel apprehended them, he brought them directly to the Ducal Mansion alive.
Well, where else would he have brought them?
The dungeon beneath the Imperial Palace couldn’t be used, not with Ludwig there.
‘When exactly did he bring them here… Oh.’
Now that I thought about it, on the very day Rakiel returned to the Capital City, his men had come and gone from the mansion several times.
I’d assumed it was when they brought Genie, but recalling it now, there seemed to be far more people coming and going than I’d thought. And they’d spoken with the Duke in serious tones.
‘Damn it, so Killian stayed in the Capital City all this time because of that?’
From the looks of it, the Duke and Killian had intended to keep this hidden from me until the end, but unfortunately, Rakiel thought differently.
Now that he knew I was the same person as Eve, he couldn’t possibly keep it completely concealed. Besides, I’d played no small role in capturing those people in the first place.
I opened my mouth with a displeased expression, my face furrowed.
“So? Did you find out anything?”
“That’s….”
Killian glanced at the Duke and Rakiel.
He clearly didn’t want to answer, but eventually Rakiel sighed and spoke.
“What we found out is… that they had already made contact with the Valter Empire and were on their way back, and that they’re plotting something at the welcoming reception for this delegation.”
“…That’s all?”
“Unfortunately.”
Nearly two weeks had passed since then.
And all they’d discovered in that time was ‘they’re plotting something.’ It was far too little.
‘Of course, just capturing them was impressive enough….’
They must have been trained to commit suicide the moment they were discovered, so bringing them in alive was something impossible with ordinary skill.
“They appear to have been trained to endure pain as well. There’s no way to make them talk using ordinary methods.”
So torture wouldn’t work.
I’d climbed one mountain only to find another waiting beyond it. We’d hit a dead end in extracting information.
Then a familiar sound effect reached my ears.
Ding!

[A linked quest for “Master of the Throne” has been generated.]
[Quest Name: Gathering Clues
Objective: Obtain information from the captured spies.
Reward: Main Quest Clue Acquired / Charisma +20]

Hmm? They’re actually giving me a quest for this?
…Well, it’s something I’d have to do anyway, and they’re offering stat increases, so I might as well participate.
I paused briefly in thought, then my eyes gleamed as I spoke.
“Where is the Dungeon located?”

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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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