The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 2

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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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Episode 1
When I opened my eyes, my friends were chattering endlessly about what I’d do if I suddenly became a villainess.
Everyone had a different answer.
Some said they’d twist the original story and become the heroine instead; others claimed they’d live peacefully without playing the villainess role; still others swore they wouldn’t chase after the male lead but would get together with their favorite gentle man instead.
I’d thought it was peaceful, the way my friends answered—each one bright as sunshine.
But my thoughts were different from theirs.
‘If I’m going to become a villainess anyway, I might as well become a proper one.’
I’d always believed that a world where everyone was happy didn’t exist.
I thought only winners existed; losers were inevitable. So whether I wanted it or not, in the end, someone had to disappear.
It was something I’d been taught all my life, brainwashed by my parents.
So if I was destined to be a villainess, I swore I wouldn’t foolishly suffer like an idiot—I’d become a vicious, cruel villainess and ultimately claim victory.
A trick of fate, perhaps? The very next day after that conversation, I woke up as a villainess.
Aine Klaine. The villainess from “Everything for Lacey.”
I had loved Matthias, the crown prince and future king, but as the title suggested, he loved Lacey, not me.
Consumed by jealousy, Aine convinced herself that if she killed Lacey, Matthias would finally look her way.
She tried to murder Lacey, but her attempts failed miserably, and she was eventually executed.
I was certain that the original Aine had met that fate because she was foolish, dull, and incompetent.
I was sure I wouldn’t end up the same way.
[SYSTEM: Return to Original World Quest]
[To return to your original world, you must kill Lacey Flamingo.]
[Remaining Attempts: 10]
[Success Reward: Return to Original World]
[Failure Penalty: Death]
[Do you accept this quest? Y / N]
Though I didn’t particularly hate Lacey, I had to kill her if I wanted to return to my original world.
To the world where my parents and friends waited, where everything I’d built existed.
But looking back now, I was laboring under a tremendous delusion at that time.
To try to kill her in a world that had been created for her by the gods themselves.
[SYSTEM: Return to Original World Quest Failed]
[You have failed to kill Lacey. No more attempts remain.]
[Remaining Attempts: 0]
[Quest Status: Failed]
[Failure Penalty: Death]
Lacey with her radiant golden hair, her kind lavender eyes, beloved by everyone—a beauty cherished by all.
While people praised and exalted her, they pointed fingers at Aine, cursing and condemning her.
I was beginning to understand why the original Aine despised Lacey so deeply.
She had been born with noble blood, possessing everything, while I had nothing—less than a vagrant on the streets.
With each failure, I wanted to abandon the quest. But whenever I tried, a terrible agony and the terror of death seized me.
“I hate you. I hate you enough to kill you.”
I never wanted to show my weakened state before Lacey. It was my last shred of pride.
I hated Lacey the way the original Aine had.
The elaborate traps I’d set fell apart so easily, slipping through the heroine’s fingers like nothing, and it nauseated me.
I was certain this jealousy and resentment would persist until the very moment of my death.
“But Aine, I like you. We might even become good friends, don’t you think?”
I thought she’d lost her mind. I was the one who’d tormented her with every method imaginable—confinement, poison, murder attempts.
Good friends? My tongue, not yet severed, was ready to spill cruel words once more.
Until I saw her expression clearly.
“Perhaps I was hoping for your success all along. I truly wished you would end my life.”
On the face of a woman who should have possessed everything and been happy, there was bitterness and anguish.
“Would you listen to me? To the life I’ve lived all this time?”
That was when a miracle came.
[SYSTEM: Return to Original World Additional Quest]
[To return to your original world, you must kill Lacey Flamingo.]
[Quest Condition: Eliminate Lacey Flamingo]
[Remaining Attempts: 1]
[If you accept, the quest proceeds. If you decline, your soul will be annihilated.]
[Do you accept this quest? Y / N]
The remaining attempts had changed from 0 to 1 on the system window that had reappeared.
Even without fulfilling the quest, no more agony followed.
* * *
‘Five years have passed since then.’
Aine paused, lost in memory, and looked around the tent.
It was late in the evening, yet few had sought their beds.
Inside the barracks, lit bright by torch-fire, dozens of officers sat gathered.
“Commander Aine. The Empire’s forces have fully retreated from the Hessen River!”
“Rimundorf Village as well, sir! The First Cavalry Brigade has succeeded in repelling them, just as you commanded!”
“Once we take that Brontfort Fortress, this endless war will finally be over. Commander.”
Despite the solemnity of the moment, joy and anticipation shone on every face.
[SYSTEM: Empire Subjugation Quest completed.]
[Next Quest preparing.]
[Quest Status: Success]
[Success Reward: Brontfort Fortress Weakness provided]
Aine felt it too.
‘I can finally go home.’
Five years had passed since the war began. Aine thought of her friend waiting in the Royal Palace, counting the days until her return.
‘What expression will she have when she sees me?’
Who could have predicted it? That she and Lacey would become best friends.
Aine herself hadn’t expected it. Her parents had told her that only one of them could survive, and she had believed them.
But Lacey was the one who showed her that belief was wrong.
Aine had decided to live for Lacey, who had given her that chance, and enlisted in the army that very day.
To resolve the war arc with the Verona Empire where, in the original story, Lacey would fall into peril.
‘Without the System, I could never have survived this far.’
She had brushed death countless times.
The kingdom had come to the brink of ruin, but she rose again and turned the tide, pushing the Verona Empire to the edge of defeat.
Aine closed her eyes and conjured the image.
The only person in this world she could truly call a friend.
As she imagined their reunion and the joyful tears Lacey would shed for her once more, a massive Golden Bell suddenly appeared before her eyes.
As the bell swayed and its deafening sound rang out, a pain like her skull was being crushed flooded through her, and the cup in her hand clattered to the ground.
Then the sound vanished as if it had never been.
“Commander, are you well?”
“…My apologies. A moment of carelessness.”
“It’s nothing, sir. You haven’t been sleeping properly lately, have you?”
Though those around her offered reassurance, Aine’s eyes remained fixed on the cup that had fallen to the floor.
Cold sweat gathered in her palms. Why had the bell appeared so suddenly?
In all her time with the System, nothing like this had ever happened, and an inexplicable sense of dread seized her.
As she wondered what catastrophe might be unfolding, a commotion erupted outside the barracks.
“An enemy raid?”
“That’s impossible. The Empire no longer has the forces to mount a surprise attack….”
Everyone rose from their seats, fearing a night ambush, but the figure who entered the barracks was a messenger from the Royal Palace.
Aine and the other officers exchanged puzzled glances. A messenger had been here only days ago.
In so brief a span, there seemed no pressing reason for another to be sent.
“I bear urgent news for Commander Aine Aine!”
“What is this about that you seek the Commander so urgently?”
“Has something befallen the capital?”
“This is a matter I must convey to the Commander first!”
Exhaustion etched into his features, the messenger’s eyes sought only Aine.
The officers, sensing something amiss in his frantic tone, pressed him to speak, but the messenger held his tongue firm.
“I am here.”
As Aine stepped forward, the messenger rushed to her side and whispered urgently into her ear.
Upon hearing his words, Aine’s eyes widened in disbelief, but having delivered his message, the messenger lost consciousness.
With all eyes upon her, Aine bit her lip until blood came, and spoke.
“We depart for the Royal Palace.”
“Commander?”
“To the Royal Palace, you say?”
“What did the messenger tell you?”
That night, when hope had swelled in her chest at the thought of reunion so near at hand—
“Both His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen have passed.”
Aine had lost the only friend who had ever reached out her hand to her.
Before the words had even finished, a System window appeared.
[SYSTEM: Lacey’s Death Quest Failed]
[The Quest has been automatically marked as failed due to Lacey’s death.]
[Preparing the next Quest.]
[Quest Status: Failed]
[Failure Penalty: error!]
At the time, I’d been too focused on Lacey’s death to notice anything amiss.
If Lacey had died, the Quest failure window should have appeared immediately—why had it taken so long?
‘What in the world is happening at the Royal Palace?’

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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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