The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 77
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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 77
* * *
The guest room above the central stairs.
Eunice, who had been watching only Prince Istan with sharp eyes, finally saw him heading to the promised location with Aristina. She immediately stood up from her seat.
“Duke, I’ll take a look around for a moment.”
“Alright.”
Eunice slipped out of the VIP seating and quietly walked into the corridor connected to the 2nd floor.
One of her trusted subordinates waiting there nodded. It meant everything had proceeded without any problems.
“Really? You’re certain?”
Eunice quickly went to the study and pressed her ear against the door.
Indeed, the voices of Prince Istan and Aristina could be heard from inside. She could even feel subtle vibrations, as if the door to the secret garden was being opened.
Now everything was ready.
Eunice quickly returned down the corridor.
Meanwhile, at that moment.
Servants came running to Duke Carnel with news.
“Duke! They say the ship has arrived!”
“Oh, really?”
The Duke stood up from his chair.
“I suppose it’s about time to start the second part?”
That’s when it happened.
“Um, Duke.”
Someone called out cautiously from behind.
When he turned around, it was his daughter’s maid. He didn’t know her name, but her face was familiar. The Duke asked with curiosity.
“What is it?”
“Young Lady ordered me to deliver this to you, Duke.”
The maid respectfully presented the items on the tray. It was a small medicine bottle containing heart medication he usually took for his heart health, and a letter.
The Duke first picked up the letter. On the envelope, it was written:
No. Please take the heart medication first.
Tsk.
A clicking sound automatically escaped from the Duke’s mouth. Since it was indeed time for his medication anyway, he opened the bottle and swallowed the heart medication.
“What kind of trouble did she cause to be like this?”
Steeling himself, he took out the letter, and on the folded outer surface it read:
I didn’t cause any trouble.
“Then why did you tell me to take the heart medication first?”
The Duke unfolded the letter.
Something surprising will happen, so I thought it would be good for you to prepare.
Someone is framing me.
But I have never done anything that would damage the family’s honor. And I never will.
Please believe that much.
The letter ended there.
“What on earth is happening?”
The Duke frowned and folded the letter back up.
But then.
“Duke! This is terrible!”
Chief aide Eunice, who had gone to check the ballroom, came running urgently and shouted.
Duke Carnel asked.
“Terrible?”
“Several people witnessed Young Lady taking some man to a secluded place! They say the other party seems to be Prince Istan!”
The Duke asked back in surprise.
“What? Prince Istan? That prince hasn’t even arrived yet, has he?”
“Well… there are very many people who claim to have seen the prince. He probably entered secretly under a different identity. We failed to properly check.”
Eunice bowed her head deeply.
“Anyway, that’s not what’s important. According to the servants, Young Lady seemed to know something and took the prince into the study on the 2nd floor.”
“The 2nd floor study – you don’t mean that place? That place should be locked.”
“I don’t know either. Just in case, I looked into it in detail, and they say she threatened the butlers earlier to hand over the blueprints of this villa and all the keys…”
“What?”
Duke Carnel felt his blood rushing backward. What kind of place was that! Just as he was about to burst out shouting.
‘Wait.’
Another voice whispered in his head. At the same time, the contents of the letter still clutched in his hand came to mind.
‘Someone is framing me.’
“…”
The Duke’s gaze briefly turned toward Eunice’s face. His face, which had been about to explode with fury, suddenly calmed down.
‘Let me think calmly.’
He regained his composure with surprising speed.
From the outside, it might have looked like he had entered the calm before the storm due to excessive anger.
“First, I’ll go and see with my own eyes.”
“Yes, I’ll guide you.”
Eunice hurriedly took the lead.
Due to the effects of the heart medication and the letter’s contents, the Duke calmed his mind even more as he walked.
‘I shouldn’t believe anything until I see it with my own eyes. Still, that child has been much more sensible lately, so surely she wouldn’t have done such a thing…’
Having such thoughts, he arrived at the study.
But wasn’t his daughter’s coquettish laughter and Prince Istan’s voice really mixing together from beyond the door?
“What?”
The Duke was shocked and threw the door wide open.
* * *
When all preparations were complete.
Duke Carnel’s voice came from outside along with footsteps.
“Aristina!”
Finally, the time had come.
“Ah!”
I deliberately screamed loudly enough to be heard outside and hid behind the sofa. It was a suspicious sight by anyone’s standards.
Soon after, Duke Carnel entered the study and shouted.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
“Ah, Father…”
I spoke haltingly.
“I was just looking for a quiet place to rest alone for a moment. I got tired from dealing with people…”
“Really?”
The Duke said coldly.
“There are people who say they saw you bringing some man in here. Are you really alone? Why don’t you come over here?”
“A, a man?”
I hesitantly stood up from behind the sofa. With a clearly flustered expression on my face, covering my neck with both hands.
“…!”
Eunice’s expression, standing behind the Duke, changed.
The department store impostor and sales manipulation. Having been defeated by me twice like that, did she think she would finally get her revenge?
A cruel anticipation seemed to flash in her eyes.
Eunice stepped forward and asked.
“Young Lady, why are you covering your neck?”
“Huh? What, what?”
“Aren’t you covering your neck right now? Did you get hurt? Or did something happen to the ‘Heart of the Rose’ you were wearing?”
“What are you talking about!”
While pretending to be startled and frightened, I subtly turned my gaze toward the curtain.
Duke Carnel and Eunice finally noticed it then.
The silhouette of someone hiding behind the curtain.
“Who is it?”
As Duke Carnel tried to go there, I urgently pleaded toward behind the curtain.
“Give it back quickly! I made a huge mistake! I take back everything I said earlier! That’s something I absolutely cannot give to others, so return it quickly!”
With this, Eunice became completely convinced.
A thrilling elation appeared on her face. It was the expression of someone who had finally achieved a long-cherished desire.
“It’s useless! No matter what you say, it won’t change the fact that you’ve already handed the heirloom over to someone else!”
Eunice walked triumphantly toward the curtain.
“For the Young Lady, a princess of the Empire, to fall for a foreign prince’s temptation and hand over the ‘Heart of the Rose,’ one of the family’s three great heirlooms, as a token! Young Lady, you have committed a tremendous sin against the House of Rosen! A sin that can never be washed away by any means! Now the only fate left is excommunication!”
Then she swept the curtain aside with a flourish.
The heavy fabric fluttered as the person who had been hiding inside was revealed.
It was Serene with her black hair.
“…?”
It wasn’t Prince Istan?
Both Eunice and Duke Carnel were dumbfounded.
Serene fumbled in her pocket and pulled out the lace ribbon, saying.
“I just wanted to play hide-and-seek, so I snatched this and ran away. I didn’t know it was such an important item. Sorry, Miss Aristina.”
“It’s fine. Thank you for returning it.”
I replied calmly.
“But what on earth is Eunice talking about? Me handing an heirloom over to someone else? Then what is this?”
As I lowered the hand that had been covering my neck and shook my hair gracefully, the necklace with the red gemstone revealed its brilliant appearance.
“…!”
Eunice’s shock was beyond description.
She finally seemed to realize that something was rather strange. But it was already too late.
In order to dramatically sweep aside the curtain just now, she had come too deep inside the study.
Since I was already blocking the door area behind me, she had become a rat trapped in a jar.
“How strange.”
I looked straight into Eunice’s eyes and said.
“Falling for a foreign prince’s temptation and handing over an heirloom as a token. For a guess based merely on the fact that I was covering my neck, don’t you think it’s excessively specific? What exactly made you come to such a conclusion? It seems like there’s no basis for it at all.”
“…”
Eunice was at a loss for words.
But didn’t they say she went inside here together with the prince?
Her eyes, which had been frantically looking around the study in confusion, stopped at one particular spot.
Hmm?
She finally discovered it. The figure of a man hiding behind the bookshelf in the back. Judging by his build and attire, it was definitely Prince Istan.
“No basis, you say? There’s a man hiding over there! Prince Istan!”
Eunice shouted.
“Duke! Look! The Young Lady fell for the prince’s seduction and was having a secret rendezvous in this study, and now that she’s been caught, she’s trying to get out of it by spouting nonsense and picking a fight with me! As if I had made some false accusation!”
Then she spoke toward Prince Istan in the darkness.
“Isn’t that right, Your Highness? Please come out here and tell the Duke the truth!”
The prince who had been hiding behind the bookshelf walked forward. He crossed the study, stood before Duke Carnel, and said.
“I am wronged.”
The Duke’s eyebrows shot up.
“Is that so? Then are you saying my daughter really seduced you?”
“No.”
The prince turned around.
“This is all that woman’s scheme!”
His finger pointed at Eunice.
At words she never could have imagined coming from the prince’s mouth, Eunice froze completely pale.
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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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