The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 153

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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 153

The fake thief’s hair revealed beneath the mask was red.

“Ugh…”

As he stirred and raised his head, golden light flashed brilliantly from his eyes.

A refreshingly handsome face that anyone in the Empire would recognize was clearly revealed.

The Empire’s Second Prince Zigfriedren.

The fake thief’s true identity was none other than Zikren.

Though he looked somewhat unfamiliar without the large gold earrings and gold necklace he usually wore as part of his disguise, that face was unmistakable.

“Second Prince?”

Everyone stared at him with dumbfounded expressions. I too was incredulous as I asked.

“Zikren! What are you doing here? Didn’t you say you were going to some dance performance today? Now I see you were the performer?”

“That’s not it…”

Zikren shook his head vigorously as he spoke.

“I went to see the performance but it was boring. If you had been there, we could have at least exchanged wordplay. I was getting bored when I happened to receive a mission…”

“A mission? What mission?”

“That’s a secret.”

He replied like that while raising his upper body from among the broken debris.

“Anyway, I want you to understand one thing. I wasn’t defeated – I deliberately let myself be caught after spotting you. Though I didn’t expect such brutally forceful methods would be used…”

Zikren dusted off the dirt on his body and stood up briskly.

An ordinary person would have needed at least 10 weeks of treatment. But being a transcendent, his resilience was impressive as expected. He didn’t seem to have a single scratch.

“But this is strange. Why is an ordinary guild employee so incredibly strong?”

“…!”

At Zikren’s words, Benjamin froze.

To strike the Second Prince with a giant wooden board and make him fall from the roof. It was indeed a situation that would make one’s heart shrink to the size of a bean.

Poor Benjamin. He keeps getting strangely entangled with the Empire’s highest authorities because he met the wrong guild leader.

‘It’s okay. I’ll handle this well.’

I sent Benjamin such a look while pointing to the gloves he was wearing.

“Give me those.”

“Ah, yes.”

Even in his unfocused state, Benjamin released the imprint and returned the gloves to me.

‘Anyway, this proves the power of these gloves.’

Before anyone else could touch them, I quickly imprinted my name first, then grabbed Zikren’s arm.

“Shall we go over there and talk over some cold chocolate? I’ll buy.”

“Huh? Uhh…”

Zikren couldn’t say anything more and was dragged along by me.

According to my memory, he liked sweet things.

I seated Zikren at a quiet table, then bought two cups of cold chocolate from a nearby stall.

“Benjamin did nothing wrong. When someone who looks like a thief suddenly appears at a festival site, it’s natural to be on guard.”

After first asserting our guild employee’s innocence, I immediately turned the arrow toward Zikren.

“Why were you running around on rooftops in such suspicious clothing? Who on earth made you do such a crazy thing?”

“Actually, Mother…”

“You mean it was such a wonderfully crazy thing to do. Indeed, only the Empress could come up with such an excellent plan.”

Damn. Of all things, it had to be the Empress’s idea. I quickly covered my slip of the tongue, and fortunately it seemed natural.

“Right. I am suffering quite excellently.”

Zikren grumbled.

“This time Father and Mother seem to be very concerned about safety issues. So they told me to disguise myself as a thief and test the security situation. I’m the only one who can somewhat imitate that guy’s movements. But seeing how quickly I was caught, I suppose we can say there are fortunately no major security problems?”

He spoke while finding and removing straw still stuck to his cloak.

“Anyway, this worked out well. I want to stop now and go back. Mother told me to bring you if I met you. She said she has something important to discuss.”

“Right. She would.”

It was indeed time to meet the Empress.

Since I said I would fully cooperate, I need to get what I can get.

After drinking our chocolate, we went straight to the Imperial Palace.

The Empress was said to be in her private room at the pavilion mansion, just like last time.

Zikren decided to wait outside for now, and I entered the room alone.

“Princess Aristina!”

The Empress was doing something alone at her desk when she looked up and welcomed me.

I held the hem of my dress with both hands and curtsied to show respect.

“Your Majesty, I heard you were looking for me? I was actually planning to visit you anyway.”

“That’s good. I was worried I might be interrupting when you’re busy…”

The Empress lowered her voice.

“I called for you because I wanted to do a progress check. First, I’ve started working on what you requested. The investigation into the palace maid who died around the time Windfearer disappeared 11 years ago.”

“You have?”

My ears perked up at the Empress’s words. I quickly asked.

“Did you get any results?”

“I asked around everywhere, but strangely, no one remembers anything at all. The death of a maid should be quite a big deal. So I had them thoroughly search through the records from that time, and also…”

The Empress opened a drawer and took out several sheets of paper. They were portraits depicting various faces of a young woman.

All had dark red hair and blue eyes, with freckles scattered across their faces.

“I thought it might help with the investigation, so I decided to create something like portraits. But with the existing information, it’s still vague. Were there any other features, like face shape or other characteristics?”

“Let me take a look.”

I still clearly remembered the appearance of the dead maid I saw in the maze.

So I looked at the portraits one by one and chose the one most similar to that palace maid’s appearance.

“This portrait seems most similar to the description I know. You should be able to investigate using this.”

“Good.”

The Empress set that portrait aside separately. She clearly seemed very diligent.

I lowered my voice and casually asked.

“I see you’ve been diligently laying groundwork, even mobilizing Prince Zikren.”

“That’s right. I spread word in advance that since it’s been a long time since the last tournament, there are safety concerns, and my dreams have been somehow unsettling. That way, even if I mobilize several knights to catch the thief, people won’t think it’s too strange.”

As expected of someone who entered the palace as a second wife and gained experience, her intuition is extraordinary.

I thought this while speaking secretly.

“Well done. I was actually planning to ask Your Majesty today anyway. To create a very strong encirclement that that person absolutely cannot escape from. How far is possible with Your Majesty’s authority?”

“Hmm…”

The Empress thought for a moment before answering.

“The Imperial Knights, the Empress’s Guard, up to 8 mages, up to 5 defensive magic circles and up to 10 offensive magic circles…”

“That’s tremendous. But besides magic, would physical means also be possible?”

“You mean things like cannons and defensive walls? Those can be mobilized too. If I insist strongly, even if they might think otherwise privately, no one would dare oppose me openly. I’ll try to mobilize new weapons as well.”

The Empress wrote several imperial internal documents that ordinary people could never even see, right there on the spot.

Watching her imposing appearance, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

“You really are amazing.”

“I’m not amazing – it’s the authority that comes with position that’s amazing.”

The Empress replied as if it were nothing.

“It’s not bad if used appropriately. But it doesn’t really suit my personality. I should hand it over quickly and step down.”

Her gaze turned toward one corner of the desk.

Come to think of it, there was some unusual object there. A glass bottle containing mysterious liquid.

It sparkled brilliantly like melted pearls mixed with opal, and once I saw it, I couldn’t look away.

I asked the Empress.

“What is that?”

“You said we need to find out from the beginning who the Crown Prince’s soulmate is, right? And let’s find out about the Second Prince at the same time. It would be wonderful if we got some results for at least one of them.”

The Empress said this while sighing softly.

The pressure regarding her sons’ marriages seemed considerable.

“This time we decided to try a more direct method used in ancient times after discussion. This is paint made by processing mysterious substances extracted from amaranthia flowers, mixed with clairvoyance magic related to our royal bloodline.”

Dipping the brush slightly in the paint and showing it to me, the Empress continued speaking.

“With this, I’ll draw patterns on the faces or backs of hands of various aristocratic ladies. If someone is destined to be the fated partner of the Crown Prince or Second Prince, mysterious changes will occur in the pattern. What do you think?”

“That’s a good idea. Everyone will be eager to try it.”

“That’s the problem. Since there was already one mistake, I want to proceed quietly this time. Therefore, I want to make everyone draw patterns while keeping the true nature of this paint a secret…”

The Empress turned her gaze to look at me.

“Could you perhaps help me? Of course, I know that the Princess isn’t particularly interested in the Crown Prince or Second Prince. But you’re a trendsetter. If you start it, everyone will follow. How about it? Won’t you start this trend first?”

For the Empress to make such a request of me.

I had been thinking I should build a good relationship with the Empire’s second-in-command anyway.

If I could follow my heart, I’d eagerly accept and declare ‘I prove my loyalty!’ while painting it all over my body.

But…

‘Of all things, it had to be something like this.’

I looked at the mysterious paint in the glass bottle with a troubled expression.

I clearly remembered. Amaranthia flowers have the power to see into souls, so they use that to find fated partners.

‘What if that thing looks into my soul and something strange happens? What if my secret gets exposed?’

Such thoughts made it impossible for me to answer readily.

Seeing that I only remained silent, the Empress asked again.

“Is it difficult? Did I perhaps make too unreasonable a request?”

“No, it’s not that…”

Just as I was breaking out in a cold sweat, not knowing how to respond and feeling troubled.

I heard murmuring sounds from outside, then suddenly the door burst open.

“Hm?”

Both the Empress and I turned around in surprise.

Through the wide-open door, I could see Zikren striding in with large steps. His face was rigidly hardened.

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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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