The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 3

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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 3
From the moment Aine heard the news through the messenger, she moved without rest, day or night.
Rain fell and turned the roads to mud, and even the officers who followed her began to lag behind, but Aine had no mind for such things.
Her entire focus was fixed on a single point.
‘I thought it would be a lie.’
At first, Aine could not believe it. Or rather, she could not bring herself to believe it.
Just days ago, she had received a letter from Leishy.
Leishy wrote that she was waiting for the day they would meet again, and if that day came, she had a surprise to share with her.
And then, suddenly, she had met her end.
In the safest place in all the Orion Kingdom.
On the way here, Aine had thought perhaps it was a lie meant to surprise her after all.
Both Matthias and Leishy were accomplished at such pranks.
“The Commander has arrived!”
“Commander. We have grave news. His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen……!”
“It is unprecedented. To lose two such figures at once, in a single night…….”
But that was merely hope.
The person who ought to emerge with a bright smile, calling it all a prank, was nowhere to be found.
Before her lay only two coffins. A pale man and woman sleeping among white flowers.
A somber atmosphere, nobles whose very faces she despised, and rain falling from above.
[SYSTEM: Return to Original World Additional Quest Failed]
[The quest has been automatically marked as failed due to the death of Leishy Flamingo.]
[Next quest is being prepared.]
[Quest Status: Failed]
[Failure Penalty: error!]
Only after seeing Leishy at rest in that quiet repose could Aine accept the reality.
She saw the error written after “Failed.” It puzzled her. Why was she still alive? She had failed to kill Leishy.
But now her mind would not turn.
“The Grand Duke wishes to see you.”
In the midst of her daze, someone came to find Aine.
When she turned to look, it was someone she knew.
Linus, the Grand Duke’s chief aide.
They were hardly on good terms. Had even a shred of reason remained in her, she would have simply left or ignored him.
But she was in no state to be reasonable.
“Lead the way.”
* * *
Grand Duke Vinet Orion was Matthias’s younger brother and a prince of this realm. He was also one of the men who admired Leishy.
Since Leishy’s final choice had been Matthias, Vinet remained merely a secondary love interest, yet he had never abandoned his love for her.
Vinet despised Aine for her attempt to harm Leishy.
Aine loathed Vinet for clinging to his love for a married woman to the bitter end.
Because they despised and loathed each other, they were ever ready to snarl whenever they met.
“That repulsive face of yours looks no different than it always did.”
“I had hoped you’d die on the battlefield, yet you’ve clung to life like the vermin you are.”
As they entered the Reception Room, instead of a warm welcome, his gaze was laden with revulsion.
Almost without thinking, Aine felt the urge to laugh. She was oddly comforted to see the one thing in this place that had not changed.
“How did the two of them die?”
Watching his bright blue eyes gleam with lethal intent, Aine asked.
Despite her arrival, no one had yet told her how the two of them met their end.
“The Empire bought off the chamberlain. He poisoned their food. We tried everything to save them, but they both fell victim to the Empire’s poison.”
“What happened to the chamberlain?”
“As befits those wretched Empire dogs, we tried to capture him, but he took his own life first.”
“So that’s how it was.”
The moment Aine learned how they had died, she moved to return to the battlefield at once.
She intended to exact a blood price from the Empire for accomplishing what she herself had not.
“The war is in its final stages. I’ll handle the rest, so why don’t you get some rest?”
Before she could act on it—before Vinet’s voice could reach her.
Aine’s brow furrowed.
“Is that an order from the next king?”
Matthias had no heir.
Unless something unforeseen occurred, the next king would be Vinet standing before her.
“Just obey me quietly. Don’t make a mistake on the battlefield in that pitiful state of yours.”
Yet Vinet laughed—a cold, dismissive sound.
“I still don’t understand Leishy. Why on earth did you keep such an ugly thing alive, insisting to the end that she was your friend?”
Aine’s hand flew toward the hilt at her waist, but the Reception Room door suddenly swung open.
“You’re in the way. Leave.”
Until that moment, Aine had assumed it was just a servant coming to pour tea.
But instead of retreating, as small footsteps drew closer, she turned to see who it was—and her face went rigid.
There stood a child.
“That child is…”
“I—I am Wilhelm Aine Orion.”
A very young child with a face identical to Leishy’s.
“Please, please save me!”
[SYSTEM: Emergency Quest Triggered]
[Quest details will be revealed upon acceptance. Accept within 8 hours.]
[Acceptance: proceed with Quest. Refusal: your soul will be annihilated.]
[Success Reward: ???]
[Failure Penalty: Death]
[Do you accept the Quest? Y / N]
Vinet rushed forward toward the child, whose eyes glistened with tears, but Aine’s hand was faster.
“I’d like to know what this is all about.”
Holding Wilhelm’s hand, Aine fixed Vinet with a piercing stare.
She demanded an explanation of what was happening.
But the moment her gaze returned to Wilhelm, her resolve shifted.
The child’s small shoulders trembled visibly—fear radiating from every part of them.
“I’ll be taking this child with me.”
“Give the child back! Aine Klayne!!”
A furious shout came from behind, but when Aine drew her blade, he dared not advance.
“Any hand laid upon me will be treated as a challenge to my authority.”
Her eyes gleamed with cold warning as she led Wilhelm from the room.
Yet Aine’s mind remained turbulent.
Who was this child claiming to be royalty, what was Vinet’s behavior just now, and what was that new Quest window that had appeared at the end?
“Ngh…”
“Commander!”
“Fetch the medical officer, quickly!”
She had reached her limit. Aine lost consciousness near her quarters.
“Commander! Come to your senses!”
* * *
“I told you to watch carefully—how could you let one child slip away and cause this disaster?!”
Left behind in that room, Vinet was seething.
Wilhelm’s unexpected arrival had thrown the entire plan into disarray.
Vinet had been prepared to salvage the situation, but Aine’s announcement that she would take the child had ruined everything.
He’d ordered the guard to retrieve the child, but none of them dared approach Aine.
As Vinet paced nervously back and forth, Linus’s lips curved upward.
“It appears those we failed to eliminate still exist.”
Vinet’s eyes narrowed at the remark, but Linus maintained his composure.
“Yet isn’t this fortunate? Those unpredictable ones are now locked away in the Underground Dungeon, so perhaps you needn’t be so displeased.”
Though still dissatisfied with Linus’s words, Vinet knitted his brow and clicked his tongue.
He’d discovered too late that Wilhelm’s chamber had a secret passage. The child had slipped past the guards through that route and reached the Reception Room.
“That woman—she hasn’t woken yet?”
“Apparently not.”
“A woman so weak commanding the Kingdom 1st Legion—how absurd.”
He’d wanted to follow Aine and demand the child back, but unfortunately she had fallen asleep the moment she entered her chamber.
“According to those close to her, she spent the night preparing for the final battle.”
“She despises me, Linus. The moment she learns of the prince’s existence, she’ll turn against me.”
He’d planned to handle it quietly and discreetly, but Wilhelm’s intrusion had spoiled everything.
Vinet bit his lip, betraying his anxiety over how the situation was unraveling.
“Do not worry. Even the commander will surely accept what we have to say.”
Linus answered with confidence, but Vinet’s face remained ashen.
“Do you truly think she’ll feel that way after learning the entire truth?”
“As you know, our people already control the Royal Palace.”
Linus smiled coldly, still certain of their position.
“Even if she were to learn the whole truth, there is nothing that could be changed. The prince’s life, after all, is no different from a countdown to the end.”

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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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