The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 23

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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 23

Positive Evaluation: 53%
Negative Evaluation: 20%
Neutral: 17%
Extreme Negative Evaluation: 10%
Cled had spoken the truth. Nearly half the population viewed her favorably.
Though it astounded her that so many regarded her positively despite her origins, Aine’s focus lay elsewhere.
‘Why is the negative evaluation split into two categories?’
Negative evaluation and extreme negative evaluation—Aine pondered what this distinction might signify, and a single conclusion emerged.
“It stands to reason that while some admire me, others harbor resentment toward me.”
Aine posed the question to Cled, her eyes meeting his.
“Among them, might there exist an organization or faction that despises me with particular intensity?”
Unlike ordinary citizens, she meant to ask whether there existed organized bodies—institutions with collective will—arrayed against her.
Cled fell silent for a moment upon hearing her question, yet because this was a matter she would inevitably confront, he chose to inform her.
“With the onset of war, a faction known as Retaria emerged.”
* * *
Retaria was a faction born anew with the outbreak of war.
Initially, the Empire paid it little mind.
Its numbers were modest, and its activities themselves consisted merely of collecting donations to supplement the soldiers fighting on the battlefield.
Yet as the war dragged on, the true nature of Retaria began to transform gradually.
“All those now crying out for a Peace Treaty are traitors to their homeland!”
“Your Majesty! We must pressure our allies to fund the war effort!”
“The savage dogs of the Orion Kingdom are surely exhausted as we are—they cannot endure much longer.”
Every problem stemmed from the Kingdom.
Our current losses were the fault of those preaching Peace Treaty—nothing more.
We must see war through to a successful conclusion, stripping the Orion Kingdom of everything it possesses.
Voicing such extreme views, Retaria pressed forward with fierce insistence that the war must continue.
Retaria’s battle cry had become: “All for the glory of the Empire.”
‘This is absurd. Has the caliber of youth truly degraded to this level?’
According to the Empire Intelligence Agency’s estimates, Retaria’s numbers remained small, yet it could not be dismissed—for a significant influx of young nobility had been drawn into its ideology.
While the heads of great houses took care to discourage their members from joining Retaria, to Odin’s eye, they did not appear to be actively opposing it.
‘Had they truly wished to stop it, they would have expelled members or taken measures of equivalent severity.’
But they had done no such thing, and Odin understood why.
They were using Retaria—without exposing themselves—as a counterweight to the imperial authority.
Yet Odin felt no genuine threat from them.
Their proposals were so extreme that they won no public sympathy, and they even distinguished by bloodline, which isolated them further.
A faction destined not to grow but to devour itself—hardly worth soiling one’s hands over.
“Your Majesty. Have you heard the rumors circulating?”
Meanwhile, Retaria attributed its inability to expand not to internal failings but to external forces. Perhaps for this reason.
At the mere mention of rumors, all eyes turned toward the speaker.
He was Baron Peltain, who had joined Retaria only recently.
Odin suspected that whatever rumor Peltain was about to recount, everyone in this chamber already knew.
“A rumor has spread that the Orion Kingdom’s First Legion Commander, Aine Cled, is currently within the Capital.”
As Odin’s suspicion proved correct, he exhaled a silent, bitter laugh.
“I am aware of it myself—but what prompted you to raise it now?”
Baron Peltain, seized by nervousness, hesitated before answering.
The silence stretched tediously until, from another quarter of the chamber, a voice broke it.
“Your Majesty. If the rumor holds truth, should we not immediately apprehend Aine Cled and subject her to public execution?”
* * *
Retaria was dissatisfied with the recent current within the Empire favoring peace.
What they desired was not peace but the Empire’s absolute victory and the Orion Kingdom’s utter defeat.
To achieve this, the war could not be allowed to end as matters stood.
Though they currently faced an unfavorable situation, they believed that if the conflict became protracted, the Orion Kingdom too would falter and gradually crumble.
Retaria hoped for continued resistance to the bitter end, and to achieve this, they would stop at nothing.
It was then that Retaria received critical intelligence.
“To bolster the morale of soldiers on the Front Line, the enemy commander must fall.”
That Aine Cled had surrendered and was now within the Capital—the Orion Kingdom’s hero, perhaps revered even more than their own sovereign.
If she were killed, the Orion Kingdom would never agree to a Peace Treaty, and the Empire would be locked in endless war—of this there was no doubt.
Odin’s gaze fixed upon the speaker. It was not Baron Peltain, but Marquis Alex Rodman.
He had risen to third rank within Retaria and was a figure of serious concern.
“I’m not certain this is a matter we should be debating based on hearsay alone.”
Yet not all the nobility agreed with Retaria’s ideology.
Before Odin could speak, the elder nobleman Morn, who had remained silent until now, answered in his stead.
“If an enemy commander has surrendered, then all of us here should know about it immediately. Especially if we’re talking about someone of Aine Claine’s caliber, not some common soldier.”
Morn wished to conclude matters there, but Alex pressed forward.
“There’s no smoke without fire. The Empire’s various newspapers wouldn’t publish such reports day after day without some basis, would they?”
Though his words were directed at Morn, Alex’s gaze remained fixed on Odin.
His eyes burned with deep conviction—as if to say that Odin, of all people, must know the truth beneath the surface.
“Your Majesty is a great emperor of this realm. I beseech you to share your thoughts on this matter.”
Before such bold certainty, Odin replied with a smile.
“The Marquis Rodman’s concern for the realm pleases me greatly. Your passion overflows—I’d almost like to show it as an example to others.”
Yet the atmosphere had grown cold and tense.
“Still, perhaps you might ease your shoulders a little? I suspect you’d be able to work much longer if you did.”
There were only two occasions when he smiled.
One was when he was in an exceptionally good mood; the other was when he found something utterly absurd.
“Just as you say, the moment one steps outside, two in three people are busy talking about Aine Claine.”
Aine Claine—the merciful woman from the enemy side who returned our children to us alive.
Some speak of her as a goddess of compassion, a true hero.
“If she truly deserved execution, the common people would have cried out for it themselves first—called for the witch to be put to death.”
Yet among those who had read the newspapers, only a tiny fraction actually demanded her execution.
Had they followed such calls and executed her, a tremendous backlash would have swept over them.
Even those who did not view Aine favorably would have clearly found grounds to condemn the execution of such a great noble by an enemy commander.
“I think we should conclude matters here for today. I have somewhere I need to be, as it happens.”
As if there was nothing more to see, Odin withdrew without so much as a glance at them.
The others did likewise. Without hesitation, they departed from the table that their master had abandoned.
But the Retaria faction remained seated.
“His Majesty is mistaken. She is a true enemy of the Empire!”
Alex struck the table.
“You should have spoken first! Now the Marquis Rodman has been humiliated because of you!”
“Which is precisely why I said one should never accept a viscount without proper lineage.”
“What kind of disgrace is this!”
All eyes turned to glare at Baron Peltain, who sat crumpled in the corner.
Faced with such savage stares, Baron Peltain trembled and could not utter a single word.
Sharp tongues clicked in disdain, and a torrent of cutting reproach poured forth.
“Fool.”

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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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