The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 102

Benjamin muttered in terror.

“What should we do, Guild Master? I have seven younger siblings, and a house with a lot of loan payments still remaining…”

“Calm down, Benjamin!”

I hastily tore the resume into small pieces and said.

“We didn’t see anything. Got it?”

“Ah… Yes! That’s right! We didn’t see anything!”

Benjamin quickly buried the paper scraps I had thrown away in the dirt.

Evidence destruction complete.

Only then did light return to Benjamin’s eyes.

“Oh, now that I think about it, I just remembered that two applicants named Andrew and Jack also said this through an errand boy.”

“What did they say?”

“Since the matter is so urgent and important, if we can’t select a guard by this afternoon, they’ll just ignore my opinion and go to the Ducal Mansion to escort you to the Imperial Palace to prevent any misconduct. Well, it doesn’t matter, right? After all, I didn’t hear that. Hahaha…”

Wait. Did light really return to his eyes? It seems like his mind has completely collapsed?

“It’s fine. Andrew and Jack probably didn’t even realize that Benjamin was ignoring them. Of course, I don’t know those people, but somehow I get the feeling they transcended common sense.”

I hastily reassured Benjamin.

If what he said was true, now wasn’t the time to be leisurely.

No matter how I looked at it, two suspicious men coming to the Ducal Mansion, stubbornly insisting they’re ordinary guild guard applicants while looking for the Young Lady of this house?

Considering Aldensis and Zikren’s unsociable personalities, there was no way a commotion wouldn’t break out.

“Let’s part ways here. Benjamin, go to the Imperial Palace first. I need to stop by home first to prevent those guard applicants from causing trouble.”

“They said they’d wait for an answer until afternoon before going, so you don’t need to rush that much, do you?”

“No. I have a feeling that applicant named Jack will come several hours early. I don’t know him, but I get that feeling.”

To prevent trouble, one must be as thorough as possible.

Zikren once said he’d come to our house at 3 o’clock but visited before it was even 1 o’clock. There’s no law saying he won’t do that again this time.

I quickly got into the carriage and urged the coachman.

“Quickly to the Ducal Mansion!”

“Yes, Young Lady!”

The carriage began racing like the wind along the road where the rain had just stopped.

* * *

“It looked like there was a hole in the sky, but it stopped already?”

At the words of the youngest, Lord Oliver, all seven Elders of the Duke’s Family looked toward the window.

“Should we go out again then? I’m getting restless just staying inside the house.”

“Right. It would be good to take a walk at least.”

They put down their books, teacups, and trump cards and got up busily.

Although the Duke had earnestly asked them to rest comfortably, the Elders would leave their seats and wander around the Ducal Mansion whenever they had a chance.

Perhaps because they had become too accustomed to the life of riding horses and patrolling the domain every day for the past 2 years. It was also because life in the mansion felt somewhat boring…

“Is she there?”

“No. They say she went out early in the morning.”

Their real purpose was exploring the Ducal Mansion. Among that, exploring the Young Lady.

It would have been unimaginable 2 years ago. They used to avoid her because they felt upset just running into the Young Lady in the corridor by chance, yet here came the day when they deliberately investigated and followed her around like this.

‘But somehow it’s a bit strange.’

The Young Lady’s action toward Oliver at the audience with the Emperor. That incident was too impressive to just pass off as a happening.

No matter how much they thought about it, they couldn’t understand it.

If it was the Young Lady they knew, she should have tried to outshine her rival Sion and show a more splendid appearance, only to self-destruct alone.

But instead of trying to stand out, she went to the back and first mediated the long-standing conflict between Oliver and Duke Hyperion.

Wasn’t that really un-Young Lady-like behavior?

Moreover, the behavior shown by other people that day was also strange. The Crown Prince, Second Prince, the Holy Order’s Yeha, the Hyperion family, various Aristocratic Ladies… They all acted as if ‘villainess Aristina’ was their good friend.

The sight of them crowding around trying to say even one more word. If they hadn’t seen it directly, they wouldn’t have believed it.

‘It’s strange. Strange.’

After finishing the audience with suspicion and returning to the Ducal Mansion, only then did it start to become noticeable.

The changes in the Ducal Mansion that they had been seeing with their eyes but hadn’t noticed until now.

“Did the Young Lady really praise you? Saying you’re quick-witted?”

“I’m jealous that you got recognition!”

The sight of the maids, no, the Young Lady’s advisors genuinely bragging and genuinely envying each other.

“The Young Lady said this was delicious and asked what it was called.”

“Oh, really? I just grated potatoes, mixed them with Breyou cheese, and fried them crispy. Since she enjoyed both potato fries and this cheese, I thought I’d try it once.”

Such conversations naturally heard from the kitchen.

“Hey, where did you get such a nice watch?”

“Hahaha. The Young Lady got angry telling me to keep time better and bought it for me. Since I always come a few minutes early, she was annoyed that it might look like she deliberately ordered me to do that.”

The sight of the coachman showing off his watch with an awkward smile.

Overall, everything looked far too normal.

The atmosphere they had felt was so painful and burdensome, like walking on thin ice, had completely cleared away.

Moreover, the Duke had changed too. Setting aside that his complexion looked much healthier, the words coming from his mouth had also changed.

“To be honest, it’s true that I raised her wrong, and that child was more peculiar than other children, but…”

He used to frown and avoid the topic whenever his daughter came up in conversation, but now he would bring up the story first like this.

That wasn’t all.

“Here, I’ve gathered all the articles where the Young Lady’s name appeared.”

“Let me see. What trouble was she trying to cause yesterday?”

The sight of the Duke and his advisors all looking at the newspaper together and chattering about this and that was also visible.

The scene that had been continuously visible for the past few days was still unfolding today.

“…”

The Elders quietly exchanged glances, then came out to the garden outside the Ducal Mansion.

“Hmm, how should I put it…”

Lord Bane took out his notebook and said while skimming through what he had recorded up to today.

“In a word, it’s a complete transformation.”

Everyone felt that his words accurately expressed their feelings.

Changes had been gradually occurring here all along, so the people of the Ducal Mansion didn’t seem to find it particularly surprising.

But to their eyes, having been away for 2 years and returned, it really looked like heaven and earth had been transformed. It was like entering a strange land.

They couldn’t shake off that unfamiliar and bewildering feeling.

“What on earth happened?”

“There’s only one conclusion.”

Lord Wilford spoke up.

“Combining all the results we’ve observed so far, it appears the Young Lady has been acting very diligently 24 hours a day without missing a single day for the past few months, pretending to be a new person.”

“I see.”

The stocky Lord Sid nodded and asked.

“Then didn’t she just become a new person?”

“…”

“Isn’t that right? Usually in such cases, don’t we say ‘the person has changed’?”

Silence flowed.

“Perhaps that might be the case.”

Lord Oliver cautiously spoke up.

“Don’t her words and actions themselves seem different? Probably in a positive direction…”

“Enough.”

Helmut, who had only been silent, spoke up.

“Didn’t we decide not to be fooled anymore?”

And he turned his gaze with a sullen face.

The Ducal Mansion’s vast lawn came into view.

“Grandpa!”

A baby with brilliant blonde hair tied in pigtails seemed about to come toddling across that lawn any moment.

“Oh my! Young Lady! You’ll fall if you do that!”

When Helmut quickly ran over and picked up the baby, short chubby arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

A time when he thought he could do anything for this child.

‘There was such a time.’

Everyone glanced at Helmut, who pressed his lips together with a bitter expression.

“The Young Lady lied to us again. We trusted her one last time and even went against the Duke’s wishes to side with her…”

“No matter how I think about it, this really isn’t right. We can’t keep falling for the Young Lady’s words anymore. You need to come to your senses.”

Even when everyone turned away in disappointment, Helmut had sided with her until the end, saying to watch over her a little longer. But he too eventually turned away.

However, everyone knew well that deep in his heart, affection for the Young Lady still remained.

It would be nice if the Young Lady knew that too.

“…”

It was when everyone was lost in thought with bitter expressions.

“Hmm?”

Sir Felsi suddenly turned his head sharply.

Everyone followed his gaze and was startled. Behind the elm tree in the garden, two men wearing black robes were standing.

“Who goes there!”

The elders immediately snapped out of their reverie and rushed over there. The two unidentified men were flustered.

“We’re just visitors. Visitors who just wanted to enter quietly.”

“Do you have an invitation?”

“Well, not exactly…”

“Then you’re uninvited guests?”

The elders glared at the two men.

Ordinary people wouldn’t have noticed, but…

Being so experienced, and having further honed their senses fighting monsters in the Northern Region, they could immediately sense it.

Some strange aura surrounded these two men.

Because of that aura, the faces and builds revealed under their hoods appeared very unclear. It seemed they had used some method to absolutely avoid having their true appearance discovered.

‘These are no ordinary people!’

The elders exchanged glances and placed their hands on their sword hilts. Then they shouted.

“The Duke has a chronic illness. We absolutely cannot let uninvited guests inside!”

* * *

The carriage stopped abruptly as soon as it entered the Ducal Mansion.

“Young Lady! You’ve arrived…”

The Head Butler approached to greet me, but was startled and stepped back as the door flew open and someone burst out.

“Sorry! I’m in a hurry!”

I ran across the garden.

Since the entrance to the Ducal Mansion was quiet, I had been relieved thinking no one had come yet.

Suddenly the inside of my wrist throbbed and glowed faintly.

It was the exact spot where the magic wand pattern had been carved when I accepted the baby dragon’s request last time.

‘What’s this? Is it telling me that Aldensis and Zikren are here?’

Finding it strange, I jumped out of the carriage. As I crossed the path leading to the manor and looked around, I could indeed hear people’s voices from beyond the garden.

I hurried over there and was surprised.

“The Duke has a chronic illness. We absolutely cannot let uninvited guests inside!”

While one Elder Knight was shouting loudly, two suspicious people in black robes were really there. One of them spoke.

“We didn’t come to see the Duke. We came looking for the Young Lady of this house.”

The voice was different, but the way of speaking was unmistakably Zikren’s.

I knew they would do this. It was worth hurrying over. I timed it perfectly.

‘Of all things, to run into those elders directly – let me quickly mediate before things get more complicated.’

Just as I was thinking that and about to step forward.

“What are you to be looking for the Young Lady?”

Someone shouted thunderously.

“Just which family sent you? I don’t know what mistake our Young Lady made to clash with your master, but isn’t this clearly a crime? Get lost while I’m still talking! No matter how strong you are, do you think you can harm even a hair on our Young Lady’s head? This old man will absolutely not step aside!”

Huh?

I was surprised once again.

The person shouting angrily with a face red from excitement was none other than old tiger Helmut.

The one among the elders who regarded the Young Lady most unfavorably.

From what I could see, they were misunderstanding.

They thought the Young Lady had caused some trouble outside, and someone had sent these suspicious people for revenge. Helmut, being a knight, seemed to instinctively sense how strong the opponents were.

Yet he showed his resolve to block their path with all his might. The other elders were also adamant, as if they absolutely wouldn’t retreat a single step.

Finally, I realized.

‘I was misunderstanding too.’

I had thought they were people who despised the Young Lady to their bones and had left this place. But the Young Lady was still the Young Lady.

‘Right. They had watched over her since birth. Though they turned away in great disappointment at her behavior, they still lose their reason immediately when the Young Lady is in danger.’

I felt somehow solemn.

I had only thought of them as people who had gone to the other side and needed to be quickly pulled back to my side. But that wasn’t it.

Watching from my current position, I could see it. Though they had grown apart due to misunderstandings, affection still remained at the bottom of each other’s hearts.

In particular, the one who had shown the greatest affection was that very Helmut.

The memory was vivid of that scary face breaking into a bright smile when she toddled toward him.

Strange. Why does my heart ache when I recall that?

‘I’m sorry…’

Before I knew it, I was murmuring.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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