The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 189

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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 189

Dark energy rose around Tesseud’s body as he quietly watched us.

“What is that now?”

“That’s black magic!”

The people gathered in the courtroom were horrified.

With this, Tesseud had proven himself that he used black magic.

Even though he could have endured longer, he made that choice because he had to silence Grace.

‘That must be it.’

As I recalled the words Grace had just spoken, my mind strangely became calm.

“Right here in this Imperial Palace, a ghost killed a maid, and another ghost jumped out the window carrying that corpse and fled!”

Deep in my consciousness, I knew the truth of the incident.

But the appearance of the real murderer I had glimpsed through the door crack was strangely blurry.

Perhaps I myself desperately denied that fact because I didn’t want to believe it.

“Princess Aristina!”

The face of the kind and gentle Empress Imelda came to mind.

The Empress was the only person who didn’t glare at me, a troublesome brat.

And…

“The Princess likes our Aldensis that much? I’m grateful. I hope things work out well.”

She was also the only person who supported my one-sided love that everyone else mocked.

I really liked Empress Imelda. Though I completely erased even that memory after that day.

That night, through the gap between the cracks of the old Imperial Palace door, I witnessed it.

The sight of the angelic Empress Imelda looking down at her own hands in a daze.

From her mouth, like someone who had lost their mind, these words kept flowing out endlessly.

“I killed her. I killed someone with these hands…”

At that moment, my heart seemed to stop.

I remembered the man who had just jumped from this room, holding a limp woman in his arms. My head spun at the thought that it was a corpse.

‘I’m having a nightmare right now. I must have fallen asleep while hiding in the Imperial Palace.’

I thought that, but it was useless.

Even though I was young, wasn’t I a child of a great noble family with access to the Imperial Palace?

I had some sense too.

Thinking I had seen something I absolutely shouldn’t have seen, I quickly ran away.

And then I ran right into Grace.

The very same Grace who was now beginning her final testimony.

“Don’t worry about anything and tell us everything from beginning to end.”

Under Ruellian’s full protection, Grace slowly began her story.

“As you all know, Empress Imelda and Lord Tesseud once firmly promised their future to each other and loved each other dearly. It was the kind of love that made you think this was what heaven-made matches meant. But when Lord Tesseud went missing during his expedition, their fates went awry.”

Lord Tesseud, who had been using powerful black magic that seemed ready to tear apart the entire space, suddenly became quiet.

His eyes became hazy and dreamy. As soon as Grace began talking about Empress Imelda, he seemed to lose himself completely.

As Grace had said earlier, he seemed to be under some irresistible spell.

“After marrying His Majesty the Emperor and bearing two Highnesses, when Lord Tesseud unexpectedly returned, the Empress was very shaken. Honestly, that marriage couldn’t be said to be the Empress’s true will.”

Come to think of it, I remember hearing about it.

At the time, the Emperor had rejected all marriage proposals and had his heart set only on Empress Imelda.

So the Empress’s family, the Imperial Court, and almost the entire nation pressured Imelda. They told her to forget Lord Tesseud since he was dead and marry the Emperor quickly.

“Even if it wasn’t a marriage she truly wanted, that doesn’t mean she disliked His Majesty the Emperor. She had cute children and was living well, growing attached to him, but overnight her heart was shaken. ‘What would have happened if I had waited just a little longer? How much must he resent my betrayal?’ Such thoughts nearly drove the Empress to madness.”

Grace continued her story slowly.

“But what could be done about something that was already over? Everyone was already watching the Empress closely as soon as Lord Tesseud returned, so it would have been terrible if her inner feelings were discovered.”

As I remembered, Empress Imelda wasn’t someone who was good at lying or had excellent acting skills. So…

“Since she couldn’t control her heart at all, the Empress decided to avoid Lord Tesseud entirely. This old woman made every effort to help ensure they would never meet at any occasion. But still, there were occasional days when they would meet, even if only from a distance. On such days, the Empress would suffer greatly, recalling old memories…”

As if remembering those times, Grace continued with a troubled expression.

“Whenever that happened, she would lock herself in her room alone and write letters to Lord Tesseud to soothe her regret. She would pour out her guilt about betraying him and her longing for the past, and only then could she calm her heart and go back to performing her duties as Empress. Those letters were, of course, burned immediately.”

Everyone in the courtroom was listening as if spellbound.

Father and Serene were the same. This was a story that even those who knew the Imperial Palace affairs inside and out had never heard.

“Then one day, a maid named Eloise came in. She was a clever and quick-witted girl. Eloise immediately noticed that the Empress couldn’t forget Lord Tesseud, and before long, she began subtly dropping stories about him. The Empress, who had come to favor Eloise, believed the girl was on her side and began to gradually open up about her inner feelings.”

Of course, it wasn’t wise behavior, but people can’t always live wisely. Especially someone who was so mentally unstable.

“Once Eloise judged she had found a weakness, she quickly revealed her true intentions.”

Grace said with a bitter expression.

“First, the girl began demanding various things from the Empress. The Empress had no choice but to grant those demands. Money, jewels, work assignments, promotions… anything at all. As the demands became increasingly excessive, the Empress finally suffered and confided everything to me.”

Grace was probably the only person the Empress could trust. I could feel the bond and trust between them in her tone.

“I was shocked and tried to kick that girl out immediately. But Eloise appeared perfectly well-behaved on the surface, so it wasn’t easy to suddenly expel her. Since she threatened to spread malicious rumors about the Empress right away, I tried to get some medicine to seal her mouth so she couldn’t speak and secretly give it to her, but that wasn’t easy either. While I was struggling with this, I happened to encounter Lord Tesseud.”

Grace’s gaze turned toward the knight before her.

“Seeing that I had harmful medicine containing toxic substances, Lord Tesseud found it strange and questioned me persistently. He said he had already noticed that something was wrong with the Empress recently. Even though they couldn’t meet at close distance, he had been watching her constantly.”

Though he himself had become the topic of conversation, Tesseud still listened with a blank expression. His consciousness seemed already deeply buried in the past.

“Under the command to tell everything truthfully, I confided everything. Lord Tesseud, upon hearing the story, was furious. Thanks to that, I was able to dismiss that impudent maid with his help by making appropriate excuses. At the time, I thought it was as refreshing as if a ten-year burden had been lifted…”

Grace continued calmly.

“There was one thing I had misjudged. If she had never tasted the sweetness of wealth and power, it might have been different. But having tasted it once, Eloise had gone half mad. Thinking that being expelled from the Imperial Palace would end the brilliant future she had almost grasped, the girl harbored vicious intentions. And that day came. The spring ball.”

Grace’s eyes became dreamy for a moment, as if searching through memories.

“Though her heart wasn’t at peace due to the Eloise matter, the Empress still handled everything very calmly that day. Then some ladies requested to see the Windfearer to liven up the atmosphere, and the Empress gladly accepted their request and went to get the sword. I should have followed her…”

Grace’s wrinkled face contorted with anguish.

“Since only the Empress could enter the room where the treasured sword was kept in principle, I decided to follow her only to the main building and wait there. I was so preoccupied with thoughts of the Empress that I had no idea someone was following us. That person was Lord Tesseud, who was still freely engaging in social activities at the time.”

Grace paused there and looked around at the people.

“What follows is content I didn’t witness directly, but pieced together as close to the truth as possible through the words of the Empress, Lord Tesseud, and various other people.”

Her serious tone made me tense as well. Everyone was looking only at Grace without making a single sound.

“When the Empress opened the door and entered, someone was already there waiting. It was Eloise. The maid who should have already left the palace was hiding there. In fact, the ladies had fallen for Eloise’s manipulation when they requested the Empress to show them the sword. Eloise had orchestrated such a thing to meet the Empress alone in a secret space.”

Grace’s voice echoed in the silence.

“At Eloise’s presumptuous and bold behavior, the Empress became angry. Then Eloise took something out from her bosom and showed it. Those were letters.”

Letters?

Oh right, come to think of it, didn’t they say the Empress wrote letters to Lord Tesseud to soothe her heart? But they said she burned them every time?

“How on earth did she steal those letters that the Empress had secretly written while thinking of Lord Tesseud? Perhaps she suddenly said His Majesty the Emperor was looking for her, made her hastily hide the letter and leave, then lied that she had burned it herself? It’s just speculation, only the dead person would know the truth…”

Grace shook her head.

“Anyway, seeing the passionate letters she had written while thinking of her former lover in the maid’s hands, the Empress fell into a state of panic. Though nothing had happened between them, who in the world would think so?”

That’s right. Even if I were a member of high society, I would have guessed those letters were just the tip of the iceberg. That the two had a very deep relationship.

“His Majesty the Emperor had already suspected that the Empress had been unable to settle her heart since Lord Tesseud’s return. In such a situation, if these letters were also discovered? Both would face the crisis of losing everything including their honor and falling from grace.”

Grace’s voice began to tremble again.

“Eloise frightened the Empress by threatening to take those letters to His Majesty the Emperor immediately. It was intended to make her obey. The Empress was indeed terrified, and thinking of Lord Tesseud who would lose his brilliant future and be disgraced due to her mistake, she lost her mind… Thinking she had to somehow snatch those letters away, she swung the nearest weapon at Eloise.”

The Windfearer.

She had lost her reason to the point of forgetting that it was a national treasure under her care.

“Eloise died immediately from that sword. But the Empress, having lost her reason, didn’t even realize this fact and stabbed Eloise several times. As if she had become a madwoman.”

Grace continued with a devastated expression.

“Right then, Lord Tesseud, who had sensed something was wrong, entered that room while perfectly concealing his presence.”

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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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