The Villainess Hid Her Identity, and Now Everyone is Misunderstanding - Chapter 14

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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 14

Whoosh, flutter flutter!
Snow-white documents cascaded down like a blizzard.
Through the falling papers, I could see Jonas’s vacant expression.
“Wh-what is this….”
I curled my lips upward, brimming with contempt.
“How amusing—did you really think you wouldn’t get caught?”
“M-Miss…? I truly don’t understand what you’re saying….”
Click. My crimson heel came down firmly on one of the scattered papers—the cover sheet with its title written in large letters.
Jonas’s eyes widened as he looked down at it.
“This is…!”
“If you have eyes, you can see it. Can’t you?”
Yes, this is the ‘real’ document you’ve been hiding all along.
Watching her face turn ashen, I let out a low chuckle.
“Wh-what, I, I, I don’t know what this is, Miss! Surely you’re not suggesting I deceived His Grace the Duke?”
“Oh my, so you do recognize what this is?”
“Gasp!”
She frantically clapped both hands over her mouth.
There’s no way she could have read all these tiny letters in that moment—but this reaction was precisely the evidence that she was the culprit.
“Th-this is a false accusation! I, I…!”
“A false accusation?”
I smirked and tapped one of the fallen documents with the tip of my heel.
“This signature is yours, isn’t it?”
“Th-that is….”
“Or did some ghost sign it for you?!”
I raised my voice sharply, and the piercing sound echoed through the corridor, but no one seemed to pay attention.
Jonas’s face drained of all color.
“M-Miss…! No! Please, just once…!”
“Quiet! I don’t want to hear your voice, so shut your mouth!”
I waved my hand irritably.
How much information had she been leaking all this time? And to the Crown Prince, of all people—the one I despise most.
“Miss! Please… N-no, it’s a misunderstanding! It’s a misunderstanding! If you would just listen to what I have to say….”
Jonas crawled forward on her knees and seized the hem of my skirt.
“Let go!”
I pushed her away with my foot, but Jonas clung to me persistently.
This isn’t going to earn my forgiveness anyway, so why is she doing this!
“Please! Please just listen to me once! This is a misunderstanding, I’ve been framed!”
“Let go already! Do you really want to die?!”
Hey, aren’t you going to help?
When I glared at the knights with wide eyes, they finally began to move.
Just as they were about to pry Jonas away, who was clinging to my skirt hem.
“Stop.”
A low, cold voice echoed from the end of the corridor. Ludwig Bernhardt approached down the hallway with a chilling expression, drawing everyone’s gaze.
The knights who spotted him immediately bowed their heads.
“Y-Your Grace!”
The moment Jonas saw him, she shoved me away and threw herself flat on the ground. Thanks to her, I stumbled back a few steps and glared at her with raised eyebrows.
“Your Grace! I truly did nothing! This is someone’s trap! Please, please believe me!”
As if he would believe that.
Sharing my thoughts, the Duke didn’t even glance at her.
Instead, he walked slowly over and picked up one of the scattered documents from the floor. A cold smile played at his lips as he briefly scanned its contents.
“…Jonas Kramer.”
“Y-Yes! Your Grace!”
“You still don’t realize that everything you’ve done has already been exposed.”
“…!”
The color drained from Jonas’s face in an instant. I watched with amusement, arms crossed.
“N-No…”
“It was ten years, wasn’t it? The time you spent by my side, swearing your loyalty and serving.”
He dropped the document in front of Jonas. The paper rolled helplessly across the floor.
“Do you know how much money you’ve been skimming off during those ten years?”
“…”
“Over 500,000 Gold. An amount equal to the Rosenthal Duchy’s annual operating expenses.”
Oh, that’s more than I expected?
Probably only the directly calculable amount is 500,000 Gold. The future value that can’t be measured in money, like the Conrat Mine, must be excluded.
‘Tsk, she really did rake in quite a bit.’
No wonder the Rosenthal household’s finances had been declining steadily despite my doing nothing.
The missing 500,000 Gold is regrettable, but what’s done is done. At least we’ve rooted out the spy now.
‘So the Blue Diamond is preserved.’
That alone would be a significant achievement.
Now next…
“Drag her to the dungeon. I’ll interrogate her personally.”
…Extracting information about the Crown Prince, perhaps.
“…! Your Grace! That’s not right! Your Grace, you truly don’t trust me!”
Jonas gasped in horror and crawled on her knees, clinging to the Duke’s leg.
The Rosenthal Ducal Underground Prison was infamous.
A place from which, once you enter, you can never leave. Even as a corpse, you would never depart from it.
So her reaction was hardly surprising. Everyone reacted the same way.
The knights, acting on the Duke’s orders, began dragging Jonas by the arms. She resisted, but that was all she could do.
“Ugh… Y-Your Excellency! I’m innocent…! L-Let go of this! You bastards, am I not scary to you?! Your Excellency!”
“….”
“Your Excellency! Your Excellency!”
Jonas’s screams echoed down the corridor and faded into the distance.
Hmph, finally it’s getting quiet. That extra who disappears midway talked far too much.
As I brushed my hands together with a satisfied smile, the Duke, who had been standing still, turned to look at me.
“…?”
I tilted my head in confusion at his peculiar gaze, delivered without opening his mouth.
It was as if… he were observing someone he was seeing for the first time.
“Father?”
“…Where did these documents come from?”
He pointed to the papers scattered on the floor—the ones I had handed to Jonas moments before—and asked.
Anticipating this question, I immediately responded with a shameless smile.
Speed was everything with questions like these.
“You said you wanted the Blue Diamond, didn’t you? Then I remembered what Jonas had mentioned… so I went into her room to check!”
“…Into Jonas’s room?”
“Yes! She might have hidden one away secretly, after all. Hmph, but there were only useless documents and no jewels. Father, when do you think you’ll be able to obtain the Blue Diamond?”
I clasped my hands together and murmured dreamily, as if I truly desired the diamond.
“Ah, if only I had that, I could crush that wretched Princess Meyer! Of course, His Highness the Crown Prince would look at me again too!”
The Duke, who had been watching me quietly, let out a sigh.
It was the expression of someone thinking, ‘Of course that’s it.’
“…Do you still fancy His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“Of course! Just wait and see—soon His Highness will come to his senses and court me.”
This was the first time I wanted to slap my own mouth…
…Actually, it was a lie, and I think I’ve done it about a thousand times before.
In any case, the Duke sighed heavily as he watched me, then turned away.
I watched his back with gleaming eyes.
‘Where is the dungeon located again?’
I searched my memories, but Evelyn didn’t know the location of the dungeon.
…Well, finding the location of a prison isn’t difficult. Should I move around a bit more?

* * *

The easiest way to discover the location of the dungeon was to monitor the movements of the knights.
Especially when someone was imprisoned, knights would be specially assigned to guard the entrance.
In that sense… that assigned knight must be you!
Upon spotting the Brown-Haired Disheveled Knight, I began trailing behind him.
Fortunately, the manor was spacious enough that I didn’t stand out much wearing the Maids’ robes turned inside out.
With my conspicuous silver hair pinned up and the hood pulled deep over my face, I kept my head lowered as I followed the knight’s footsteps.
He appeared to be heading toward the West Wing to change shifts.
‘Hmm, the West Wing is practically closed off… so it was there after all.’
Come to think of it, that was the only suitable location. One couldn’t keep a dungeon where guests and servants frequently came and went.
Before the door where the knight had stopped, two other knights were already standing guard.
“Time for the shift change.”
“Good work.”
With a brief greeting, one knight left his post. However, the Brown-Haired Knight and the one who had been on duty before him still remained guarding the door.
From what I overheard, it seemed another knight who should have been relieved was unable to come due to urgent business.
‘Tch, even with the shift change, two of them are still standing guard.’
I concealed myself behind a nearby pillar and observed the situation.
What should I do?
A frontal approach was impossible. No matter how convincing my maid’s outfit was, I couldn’t descend without a valid reason.
‘Sigh, that Brown-Haired Knight seemed rather dim-witted… if I could just deal with the other one….’
While I waited for an opening, one of the knights spoke up with a troubled expression.
“Say, could I step away to use the lavatory for a moment?”
The Brown-Haired Knight tilted his head and replied.
“Now?”
“My stomach’s been bothering me. I’ve been stuck here the whole time, you see. I really can’t hold it any longer.”
“…Tsk, hurry back.”
“Much obliged!”
He hastily left his post.
…Now’s my chance!
I quickly surveyed my surroundings. I spotted cleaning supplies stacked in the corner of the corridor.
‘Bingo!’
I swiftly approached and grabbed a bucket. Fortunately, it was empty, so I carefully moved to the opposite side of the corridor.
After confirming no one was nearby, I hurled it with all my might down the passage.
Clang! Splash!
At the loud noise, the knight startled and turned his head.
“W-who’s there?!”
The knight placed his hand on his sword and moved toward the source of the sound.
Right now!
I burst out from behind the pillar and dashed toward the door. The moment the handle came within reach, I pulled it without hesitation.

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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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