The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 27

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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 26
Odin explained the situation concisely.
“Hmm, involving oneself in another nation’s succession doesn’t paint an especially favorable picture.”
“Even so, if we can purchase peace at this price, it hardly seems extravagant.”
“Yet it remains temporary. To restore the throne, we would still need to depose the current king—wouldn’t we?”
“We need peace immediately. The people are exhausted, yes, but so are the nobility. More troubling still, other nations are sharpening their blades, waiting for an opening to strike at the Empire.”
The ministers had shown initial resistance, but gradually they bent toward acceptance—so long as they could end the war and secure peace at once.
If no further objections arose, the arrangement with Aine seemed destined to conclude smoothly.
“I wish to demand one or two things more.”
All eyes turned toward Odin.
Did he want something beyond peace? Clred and the others exchanged uncertain glances.
“The mere fact of Aine’s presence here could make it appear as though we abducted her—and the Orion Kingdom will almost certainly make precisely that claim.”
Odin smiled once more at Clred.
“So we must act far more boldly to forestall such talk.”
“More boldly, you say?”
“We’ll disguise abduction as an elopement born of love.”
“Your Majesty—Your Majesty, I fear my wits have abandoned me. Did I hear you correctly?”
The ministers had maintained a grave atmosphere even at the suggestion of appearing to be abductors.
If Orion truly made such a claim, no matter how earnestly Aine protested, every word would seem coerced by the Empire.
They awaited his next words with anticipation, but that anticipation soon curdled into alarm.
“An elopement born of love? That she fled here because she loves the enemy—is that what you’re proposing?”
“It’s unbelievable. People cannot be so foolish as to accept such a thing.”
“Surely Your Majesty jests.”
So they all moved to dismiss it as nonsense, but Odin remained silent, holding his place.
Only then did they realize he meant every word, and cold sweat began to bead on their foreheads.
“Do you truly believe the Orion Kingdom would accept it?”
“Love renders even the rational irrational, and therein lies its very power—it lends credence of its own accord.”
“And what do you hope to achieve?”
Clred, who had remained silent until now, spoke for the first time.
He wanted to know precisely what Odin hoped to gain from this.
“If word spreads that the hero of Orion and the princess of the Berona Empire have fallen in love and wish to end the war, who would dare demand it continue?”
The Orion Kingdom was no less weary of prolonged war than the Empire—both sides desperately yearned for it to end.
A tale of two lovers reaching their ears would seem almost like a portent of peace itself.
The relationship between them would become the very symbol of peace.
The ministers’ expressions froze at this unforeseen proposal, but Clred’s reaction differed entirely.
‘So that’s why he summoned me.’
Understanding at last why Odin had called for him, Clred smiled bitterly to himself.
The conclusion was clear: Odin intended to use him to seal peace so firmly it could never be easily broken.
In any other circumstance, when an emperor commanded him to the battlefield, Clred would have accepted without hesitation.
In the Empire, an emperor’s word was absolute, and absent any desire to cross Odin, one simply obeyed.
But this time, Clred did not answer as he had before.
“If she refuses, might we consider this matter settled and forgotten?”
“General.”
Clred asked plainly whether, should Aine object, the whole proposal could be discarded without trace.
He wanted to ensure she retained her choice, and his question betrayed his concern that their relationship might fracture if forced.
Odin lifted the corner of his mouth and replied.
“If she is unwilling, then there’s nothing to be done. Proceed as she wishes.”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”
“Then I shall take my leave.”
As Clred rose from his seat, Odin reflected.
Love was indeed irrational.
‘I need not press forward myself, it seems.’
* * *
“Tell me—do you have a beloved waiting in your kingdom?”
“Cough, cough!”
“I’ve already investigated, of course, but one never knows. Love can bloom even on the battlefield, or so they say.”
The answer that emerged from his lips was utterly unexpected.
Seeing her bewildered gaze, Clred chuckled and carefully cut the slice cake before him, spearing a piece with his fork.
“Though love between allies hardly exhausts the possibilities, does it? In famous literary works, lovers often find each other across enemy lines.”
Then he brought the cake to Aine’s lips, as if they were an intimate couple.
But Aine did not eat it at once.
Though it looked appetizing and she desperately needed the sugar, it felt as though the pastry were laced with poison.
“What is it that you want from me?”
Clred found Aine fascinating. Cast into the heart of enemy territory by fate itself, she ought to have been afraid—yet she never was. She remained composed, always measured, always wise.
“As I said before, the Empire wishes to end this war. To do so, we believe above all else that we need a symbol of peace.”
Clred’s eyes held a calculating gleam as he looked at her. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“That being the case, the Empire’s condition is this: would you be willing to pose as my beloved for a time?”
A romance of the century, they would call it—the hero of Orion Kingdom and the noblest blood of the Berona Empire entwined together.
For Aine, there was nothing to deliberate.
She herself longed to end this wretched war as soon as possible, and considering Wilhelm’s circumstances in particular, she could consent to this without hesitation.
Though the condition was absurd, mere pretense seemed manageable enough.
Yet despite her thoughts, Aine found she could not answer at once.
‘Why is that there?’
She swallowed hard, her eyes lifting to the space above Clred’s head.
Why on earth was it floating there, above his head?
[SYSTEM: Romance of the Century Quest]
[Reveal to all the romance of the century between the hero of Orion and the Crown Prince of the Berona Empire.]
[Success Reward: Status as Empress of the Empire]
[Failure Penalty: Resumption of war between both nations]
[Will you proceed with the quest? Y / N]
How was it possible that a System Window hovered above his head, just as it had above Wilhelm’s?
How? Why? In what way?
Ever since awakening in this world, System Windows had followed her everywhere—but quest windows had appeared for only one person before.
Only for Laecy, the fate she had been forced to kill.
It had appeared later for Wilhelm as well, but recalling that he was of Laecy’s blood made that comprehensible enough.
‘But why yours?’
Why did a quest window appear above you?
Clred Hartz. A man who existed for one purpose: to annihilate everything Orion Kingdom held.
A tool far more dangerous and terrifying than any threat Aine herself posed. And now that man bore a quest window above his head—identical to the one that had appeared for Laecy.
Aine swallowed. Perhaps she was seeing things that were not there.
Or perhaps she was dreaming.
“Your complexion has grown pale.”
But if this were a dream, the wind that brushed past her would not feel so cold, nor would the sun bearing down upon her feel so scorching that it might melt her away.
[SYSTEM: This is not a dream.]
The System Window itself made that clear. The moment doubt crept in, it appeared and jolted her back to awareness.
It would not let her escape. It forced her to confront the reality before her eyes.
Her heart raced wildly, her breathing ragged as though she had just run without pause. Yet her gaze remained fixed upon the quest details suspended in the void.
[SYSTEM: Romance of the Century Quest]
[Reveal to all the romance of the century between the hero of Orion and the Crown Prince of the Berona Empire.]
[Success Reward: Status as Empress of the Empire]
[Failure Penalty: Resumption of war between both nations]
[Will you proceed with the quest? Y / N]
‘The quest content is the same as what Clred is offering me.’
The success reward was status as Empress—a reward that held no appeal for Aine, whose ambitions had long since waned. But the failure penalty was the true problem.
War between both nations would resume. Aine was exhausted by war. And so she could only acquiesce to the peace the Empire offered.
She had no more stomach for bloodshed, nor for the grinding poverty of oppressive taxes.
‘I doubt I’ll have time to speak on this later.’

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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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