The Villainess Hid Her Identity, and Now Everyone is Misunderstanding - Chapter 33

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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 33

The soldier let out an incredulous chuckle and continued speaking.
“We soldiers are content to stay posted here, scraping by on our measly wages, but in all my years, I’ve never once seen anything clean enter this place.”
“That, that’s… the reports clearly stated…!”
“Ah, enough of this talk about papers. Can’t you believe what your own eyes see?”
He gestured with one hand toward the landscape behind us.
Filth scattered everywhere, tents that had collapsed with people lying helplessly on the bare ground, those who had lost an arm or a leg gazing up at the sky with eyes full of despair.
‘This is a world away from the Capital City.’
The Capital City at least received support, however superficial it might be. Unlike this place.
I glanced at Killian’s face. His eyes, clouded with bewilderment, trembled ceaselessly.
‘Hmm, perhaps this will be the catalyst for change.’
Killian, the young duke, was quite competent. He managed the Estate’s operations without any issues.
But if there was one weakness he possessed…
‘It was his reluctance to move.’
He had an almost pathological faith in documents. He overestimated statistical data and believed he could resolve everything without personally investigating matters.
Ludwig Bernhardt had departed for the Capital City the moment the war ended, so everything that occurred in the interim fell under Killian’s responsibility. In other words, this Tent Village situation arose precisely because he failed to examine it properly.
‘Even if the Imperial Palace provided support, he should have inspected it himself.’
I surveyed the surroundings while observing his despairing expression.
And in that moment, a Quest window materialized before my eyes.

[Quest Name: Relief for the Impoverished
Objective: Establish a temporary distribution network for food and essential supplies in the refugee zone created by the war.
Reward: Reputation +500 / Stat acquisition rate for refugee and impoverished-related Quests +5%]

What?! What is this?!
I rubbed my nearly falling eyes and checked the system window again.
‘It grants 5% more stats?!’
For someone like me who was desperate for freedom points, there was no system window more welcome than this.
That meant if I cleared the Quest, I could increase my efficiency by 5% compared to usual! Since slums existed in the Capital City as well, this was an incredibly useful reward for the future.
I barely managed to stifle the cry of joy that nearly escaped my lips.
‘…I need to work like hell!’
I clenched my fists tightly.

Two weeks passed in the midst of such hurried activity.

* * *

Glug, glug.
After draining an entire bucket of well water, Lina finally exhaled.
Her stomach, which had been loudly growling just moments before, had finally fallen silent.
“Ah, I’m full.”
That’s what she said, but truthfully, Lina didn’t really understand what being full meant.
Now eight years old, Lina had almost no memories from before the war began.
She simply knew that drinking plenty of water made her stomach hurt less, and when her belly felt heavy and sloshed around, this was just what people said.
“Lina, if you’re done, come out now!”
A Shopkeeper standing directly behind Lina in line shouted irritably.
She lived in the tent right next to Lina’s family’s tent. She had a son who was twenty years old, and he had been dragged off to war and lost both his legs, or so the story went.
Perhaps because of that, the Shopkeeper was always angry. No matter what she did.
“Ma’am, if you’re always complaining like that, people won’t like you!”
“What? You little brat…!”
“Hmph, you’re the only one who doesn’t know!”
Shouting thus, Lina quickly twisted her body and fled.
She heard the woman’s voice calling after her from behind, but Lina kept her eyes forward as she ran.
Her skeletal, emaciated legs nearly stumbled with each step.
Her unwashed hair was so tangled it was difficult to discern its original form, and her neck, belly, and entire body constantly itched.
After just a few steps, exhausted Lina gasped as she entered her home.
It was nothing but a dirty, sagging tent, but it was her family’s refuge.
Lina’s father, conscripted as a Soldier, had died on the battlefield, and the rest of the family had fled a village engulfed in flames, suffering severe burns in the process. Even after the war ended, they couldn’t return home and wandered through countless villages before finally settling here, in the Western Refugee Camp.
No place would accept her Mother, who was covered in burns and had lost an arm.
Every day, her Mother held her Younger Sister, now only three or four years old, and cried herself to sleep from exhaustion.
“Mother! Mother, where are you!”
Lina called out, looking around the small, worn tent, but no one was there.
Lina felt a sudden chill of fear.
“Um, Mother? Mother!”
It was the moment she turned her body, biting at her fingernails with her teeth.
“Lina! Lina, are you there?!”
An urgent voice called out. A Thin Woman rushed in from outside the tent. In her one remaining arm, she cradled a small life—Lina’s Sibling.
“Mother!”
Lina called out joyfully.
“Lina! This is no time for that!”
“Why?”
“Hurry and bring me clothes or a bucket—something to carry things in!”
With a bewildered expression, Lina followed her Mother, holding the largest piece of cloth she could find in her hands. Though it was dirty and tattered, fluttering about.
Following Mother to that place, Lina’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“What is this?”
A long queue stretched out as if everyone from the Tent Village had rushed outside. Lina had never seen so many people in her entire life.
“Come on, come on! Form a line! There’s plenty for everyone, so please don’t fight!”
Armed soldiers at the front of the line were shouting with kind faces, scooping something from enormous sacks and distributing it to the people. The massive sacks were piled up like mountains around them.
“Mother, what’s happening? Huh? What is that?”
Everyone’s eyes were gleaming with unprecedented brightness, as if they had just found hope.
At that moment, Mother, who had been standing in line just like everyone else, finally knelt down and met Lina’s gaze.
“Supplies! The supplies have finally arrived!”
“Supplies…?”
“Prince Rakiel has come to help his people!”
It was the first time since the war that I had seen Mother’s face so full of joy.
That day, Lina experienced the feeling of being full for the very first time in her life.
From the next day onward, endless praises of Prince Rakiel erupted from every corner of the streets.
“I knew the Prince would do something like this! Didn’t he achieve great deeds in the war as well!”
“That’s right, that’s right! Who knows if the war would still be going on without him!”
The hearty words of the adults spread in an instant among the children as well.
“Prince Rakiel should become king!”
Mila, a girl the same age living in a tent across the way, said this.
Mila was a shrewd child. She had an older brother who died on the battlefield, or so they said.
At Mila’s words, Lina tilted her head in confusion.
“But there’s the Crown Prince! My mother said the king is supposed to become the Crown Prince, right?”
“I don’t know much either. But they said Prince Rakiel gives money. They said he gives it because my brother died…?”
“Wow!”
Lina blinked her eyes.
She didn’t know people received money when they died. Prince Rakiel must be such a good person! After all, the soup she’s been eating every day lately was given by Prince Rakiel.
“Prince Rakiel gives money, gives food, and must be an angel! The adults said so, and they said his face is incredibly, incredibly handsome!”
“Really? I wish someone would tell me that story too.”
At the voice that suddenly interjected, Lina turned her head.
Upon discovering the owner of that voice, she slowly opened her mouth.
A face with silken black hair and skin so pale it seemed untouched by dust came into view. Within it were two gleaming crimson jewels that created a mysterious atmosphere.
It was a face so beautiful—or rather, so handsome—that she had never seen anything like it before. Without realizing it, Lina parted her lips.
“Wow, an angel…”
If angels truly existed, it might be this person!
At Lina’s words, that sculpture-like figure moved and let out a soft laugh. Even that small laugh was so reverent that Lina swallowed hard. She could feel Mila beside her tensing up as well.
The angel offered a harmless smile, then spoke again.
“That story about Prince Rakiel—would you tell me about it too?”

* * *

“So did you find anything out?”
Rakiel asked as he climbed into the carriage.
I had just finished handing out a few candies to the little boys I’d been speaking with.
‘Nothing particularly noteworthy, though…’
Well, what children know is all much the same anyway.
Hagen, who had been holding the door open for him to board, followed him into the carriage.
Hagen settled into the seat across from Rakiel and slowly opened his mouth.
“It was the Rosenthal Estate. That’s where the rumors originated.”
“…So it was the Duke’s doing after all.”
Rakiel murmured.
It had started about two weeks ago.
Supply distributions began in villages near the border, particularly those most devastated by war, and gradually expanded to nearby cities, focusing on the smaller settlements that had been neglected until then.
Several of the Empire’s famous large merchant guilds had been involved, and they busily traveled about distributing food and necessities to the refugees.
It was a good deed. Until the strange rumors began to spread, that is.
“There’s no way to stop rumors spreading from the west. Besides, there’s no reason to stop them.”
“Are you serious? People are harboring such hope over something I didn’t even do?”
The rumor was that the one behind the relief efforts was Prince Rakiel Bernhardt himself.
Though Rakiel himself had no idea what was going on.
Rakiel frowned deeply as he spoke, but Hagen shook his head instead.
“You say you didn’t do it, but hasn’t Your Highness been doing similar things all along, albeit unknown to others?”
If Evelyn had heard this, she would have been astonished.

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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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