The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 19

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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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Chapter 19
His string of victories against the Empire wasn’t solely because he possessed fragments of knowledge from the original work.
The System Window had guided him through ambushes and camp formations alike.
‘Once I enter the Imperial Palace, I’ll truly understand the extent of my own power.’
Meanwhile, Kleid watched Aine as she paid little mind to his words, and he imagined.
He pictured the countless souls within the Imperial Palace who would be waiting desperately for her arrival.
‘By now, I wonder if that subordinate has received my reply.’
Kleid smiled inwardly at the thought.
He had sent a rather forceful letter before they departed.
* * *
Meri Stewart gazed at the two letters laid out before her.
The first had come from the commander to whom she had devoted her unwavering loyalty: Aine Klaine.
Until the moment she confirmed the contents of Aine’s letter, she had been in excellent spirits.
The letter was brief and sparse.
She was safe; the Empire was treating her well; she would cooperate with them until the Prince recovered his health; and she entrusted Meri with the leadership of the 1st Legion.
To receive such trust from the person she respected most filled Meri with profound joy, and she had resolved to keep the letter as a family heirloom.
But what troubled her most now was the second letter.
‘That scheming fox.’
The other had come from someone scarcely different from an enemy general.
Kleid Hertz. The governor-general at the forefront of the Empire.
Every soldier of the Kingdom, save Aine, had tasted defeat at his hands at least once.
Meri was no exception. She had nearly died in a trap he had laid.
Fortunately, Aine had dispatched reinforcements, allowing her to escape unharmed, but among all the Imperial forces she had faced, Kleid remained the one she despised most.
Irritated already, the contents of his letter only deepened her displeasure.
Though it observed courtesy and propriety, the substance could be distilled thus:
—I shall promise to care for Aine Klaine with utmost sincerity during her residence in the Empire, yet understand that should you initiate any invasion or provocation, her position would be compromised—
A threat, pure and simple. A warning not to assume the offensive if she wished Aine Klaine to remain safe.
Upon reading it, Meri exhaled sharply and tore the letter to shreds.
Displeased as she was, she had already resolved to suspend combat for the time being—his point was well taken.
“Deputy Commander. Forgive me, but the royal palace has sent another messenger.”
There were reasons to consider Aine’s sake, but a far graver crisis was unfolding in the Kingdom itself.
“If they want to squabble among themselves, let them. I will not attend the Coronation Ceremony.”
* * *
The journey from Brantport Fortress to the Imperial Palace took nearly a week.
“We have the wounded to consider, and the palace will need sufficient time to prepare as well.”
Had they pressed forward without rest, four days would have sufficed, but as Kleid had reasoned, there was no need to overexert themselves.
Mane’s wounds risked reopening, and Wilhelm had only recently stabilized.
“Please send word to the Imperial Palace that I do not wish for any extravagant reception.”
“Why is that?”
Yet Aine found herself unconvinced by Kleid’s talk of preparation.
“If such funds are available, would it not be better to provide relief to those people instead?”
As they traveled, they passed through several villages.
The Prince’s passage meant every villager had to abandon their work and rush forth to kneel, and through this, Aine saw plainly.
Their threadbare clothes, their skeletal frames wasted to bone, their faces shadowed and hollow.
“Years of warfare must have forced them to bear crushing taxation with every fiber of their being.”
Under the pretext of serving their homeland, the nobility had been compelled to open their purses, yet the funds that flowed forth came at the expense of those at the very bottom.
They would have been conscripted for supplies under the guise of war, burdened with ever-greater levies.
These five years would likely be remembered as the most terrible span in their entire lives.
“I expected you would rejoice at this sight—that our enemy nation has been so thoroughly devastated.”
It was an inescapable vision, confronting them as they passed.
Kleid had anticipated her reaction, curious to see how she would respond to such a scene.
And what came was entirely unexpected.
Kleid regarded Aine with a face utterly devoid of mockery.
“They are someone’s parents, someone’s children. We are the ones at fault, yet how could I hate them or rejoice at their suffering?”
Aine kept her gaze fixed upon the villagers as she spoke.
“I beg Your Highness to take pity upon them.”
At her plea for mercy, Kleid fell silent for a moment, studying her face before responding.
“I shall send word to the Imperial Palace. I will tell them to keep the ceremony as modest as possible, just as you have suggested.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Aine seemed unmoved. To her mind, it was simply what ought to be done.
But Kleid’s thoughts ran differently.
‘No one had ever dared to speak like that.’
He kept turning over the words Aine had just spoken.
‘I thought even the sane had been driven mad and foolish by this war.’
Those who had once been brilliant and sharp-minded were all tainted by the madness of conflict, all broken in some way.
But Aine seemed untouched by any of it, and the words she had spoken struck him with a freshness he hadn’t expected.
The common people bear no guilt. If there is guilt, it belongs—
‘to us, who brought things to this point.’
Everyone knew it yet turned away, refusing to acknowledge it. But Aine had faced it and reflected upon it.
Kleid found that aspect remarkable and deeply intriguing; he watched her as she departed, turning it over in his mind.
He wondered if in peacetime, there would be others who thought as she did.
* * *
After the relentless journey, the carriage had at last entered the Capital, though it did not head directly to the Imperial Palace.
“This is my residence.”
“Your Highness’s residence, you mean.”
The carriage had stopped before a grand mansion.
Aine cast an uncertain glance toward Kleid.
Aware of her look, Kleid answered calmly.
“You and your people have already been marked as Persons of Interest.”
If he went to the Imperial Palace, eyes and ears would follow him wherever he went.
His reasoning was that staying in his own residence would be more comfortable than spending a weary night in that place.
“Word has been sent that we will visit the Imperial Palace after daybreak. So please rest comfortably here in the residence until then.”
Before he finished speaking, the household servants appeared.
Since it was customary for all the servants to come out when the master returned home, Aine felt no unease.
‘But where are the maidservants?’
Not until she examined their faces more carefully did the strange familiarity strike her.
Even as Aine was seized by that uncanny feeling, the elderly butler who stood foremost stepped forward and spoke to Kleid.
“We offer our deepest gratitude for Your Highness’s safe return.”
He showed no sign of surprise, having apparently already heard that Aine would be arriving.
Aine hesitated briefly, but when Kleid extended his hand to help her down, she reluctantly descended from the carriage and whispered to him.
“I would like to show you the interior of the residence, but there is somewhere I must go immediately upon arrival.”
“Please do not concern yourself with me; attend to Your Highness’s affairs as planned.”
“We shall depart around tomorrow afternoon, so rest at your leisure until then.”
Kleid left at once, saying he had somewhere he needed to be.
He climbed back into the carriage with Richard and departed for some unknown destination.
As Aine continued to watch him go, the elderly butler approached her.
“I am Hamilton, butler of the Chesher Residence, and I have been ordered by the master to welcome you on his behalf.”
“Thank you for your warm reception, Hamilton.”
“Please, I beg you to lower your speech. You have come here as a distinguished guest on behalf of our master.”
“I shall do so once I grow more at ease.”

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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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