The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 37

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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 37
“Vermin like these—where on earth are they hiding?”
“They’re gone now.”
“Aren’t you frightened, Commander? You nearly died.”
“I’ve faced this sort of thing often enough. It’s left me numb to it.”
“You’re not quite normal either, are you?”
The two of them were darting through corridors to evade the Mysterious Assailant, desperately searching for anyone who might come to their aid.
If they could only gather enough people to help, the odds would shift in their favor—after all, they faced only one attacker.
“Do you see it, Countess?”
But as Aine glimpsed the candles scattered throughout the corridors, her hope of receiving aid withered away.
There was a reason why calling for help would prove useless.
“Leigt Incense has been lit everywhere.”
“That’s a Grade 1 Imperial Prescription Medicine. It’s something no ordinary person can obtain.”
“Which means our opponent is far from ordinary, Countess.”
It was a treatment prescribed only for those suffering from insomnia who could not sleep.
Those who breathed in the scent would fall into deep slumber within moments, and once asleep, they would scarcely wake—that was its defining characteristic.
Recognizing that they had been exposed to this incense, Aine resolved on a new plan: to escape the Mansion.
She believed that stepping outside and seeking help from beyond would be the safest course.
“Everything’s locked.”
But every door was secured. The windows were too narrow for anyone to pass through.
“Are we trapped with no way out, Commander?”
“Don’t worry, Countess. There must be a way.”
While Emilia stood in despair, Aine refused to surrender, determined to find another path forward.
Even when the heavens fall, there’s always a crack to slip through. As this thought flickered through her mind, something else surfaced in her consciousness.
“Come to think of it—isn’t the Main Building connected to the Greenhouse?”
She had walked through the Greenhouse with Clede so many times that the memory had risen unbidden.
Emilia, too, recalled the Greenhouse and clenched her fist.
“How could I forget? You’re right, Commander. We can reach the Garden through the Greenhouse.”
If they could only make it from the Main Building through the Greenhouse and into the Garden, they could escape.
A fragile hope kindled in her chest—but it guttered out just as quickly.
“Bingo. I wondered where you’d gone, and here you are.”
* * *
“If you hadn’t changed your shoes as you said, it would have ended badly.”
“I don’t think now is the time for thanks. Let’s discuss it after we escape this place, Countess.”
They had been spotted by the Mysterious Assailant, but as if blessed by fortune, a large Picture Frame hanging on the second floor had crashed down, blocking his path.
After fleeing further, they had finally put distance between themselves and their pursuer.
‘This won’t do.’
Knowing another confrontation could come at any moment, Aine pressed forward through her unease. In a Corridor lined with the corpse of a dead soldier, she recovered a sword.
‘I’ll borrow this for now.’
Should they meet again as they just had, she needed a means to resist. At the very least, she had to buy time.
If the moment came when escape became impossible, her plan was to save Emilia at any cost.
“Just a little longer, Countess. We’re almost at the Greenhouse.”
“I’ve never run like this before. I’m sorry for being a burden.”
But the real problem was Emilia. She had lived a life of comfort her entire life, and this situation was utterly alien to her.
She had never run continuously as she was doing now, and her Dress kept catching beneath her feet.
Emilia bit her lip, wanting to speak—to tell Aine to abandon her and flee if she became a weight.
The cold truth was that between the two of them, it was not she but Aine who deserved to survive this place.
But Aine shook her head.
“On the battlefield, I’ve never once thought of an injured comrade as a burden.”
“So you call yourself a Great Commander and I expected better? If anything, it’s better that one of us lives than both of us die.”
“Countess—no, Emilia.”
They shared the same thought. Seeing Emilia’s resolve, Aine curved her lips upward and spoke.
“It’s fine. I have no intention of dying in a place like this.”
The Mysterious Assailant likely didn’t know that a prince of the Orion Kingdom was in this Mansion.
For now, he was after her alone. Aine steadied her nerves and adjusted her thinking.
Remembering Leisy’s child, she could never afford to die in a place like this.
“How dare you address the Royal Family by name.”
“You’re about to become my savior, so wouldn’t you grant me that liberty, Master?”
“Fool. The savior isn’t you—it’s me. I’m the one who pulled you back from death’s door. Don’t forget that.”
So she won’t deny the title of Master. Aine followed after Emilia, who strode ahead into the darkness.
Ahead of them, the entrance to the Greenhouse came into view.
Emilia, who had been walking in front, turned back to study Aine. More precisely, she studied Aine’s feet—bare as they were.
“If we survive this, you may call me by my name. Aine.”
Watching Emilia open the door and step into the Greenhouse, Aine smiled.
* * *
When they reached the Greenhouse, Aine felt a wave of relief. All they had to do now was cross through it, slip out via the Garden, and they’d be free.
But it was a cruel miscalculation. As if the Mysterious Assailant had anticipated their path, he stood blocking the entrance that led from the Greenhouse to the Garden.
“Stop hiding and come out! I already know you’re here!”
“What do we do, Aine?”
Without that passage, there was no way to escape him.
And still the Mysterious Assailant held the entrance firm.
“We’ll have to lure him away. There’s no other choice.”
“Aine. I won’t abandon you.”
Emilia caught Aine’s meaning instantly and pinched her arm.
Aine felt a sharp look from beside her, but she pressed on.
“Your strength is already spent. If someone has to act as bait, it should be me.”
She was confident in running—she’d done it countless times. This time would be no different. She was certain of it.
Yet Emilia still refused. There was no negotiating on that point; her stance was absolute.
As the argument threatened to spiral endlessly, Aine tried to think of another way—
“What’s all this chattering? Trading farewell jokes while you’re at it?”
“Look out!”
“Kyaaah!”
The Mysterious Assailant, who should have been guarding the entrance, appeared and struck.
With a sharp metallic ring, Aine barely managed to deflect his blade, but the force behind it sent her sprawling to the ground.
“Aine!”
Emilia cried out in alarm and tried to rush toward her. But the Mysterious Assailant was faster.
“This ends now! You cursed wretch!”
His blade raised high, ready to strike the killing blow. It should have been a moment of absolute desperation, yet somehow, from sheer accumulated experience, Aine remained oddly calm.
She grabbed a handful of soil from the ground and hurled it into his eyes.
“You think I’ve only been cornered once or twice?”
“My eyes! My—!”
The blow landed true, and blinded, the Mysterious Assailant’s blade came down in the wrong place.
Aine seized the moment. She meant to cut him down with his own blade and end this wretched chase once and for all.
‘Whether fortune favors me or not…’
But the impact of that last strike shattered it into pieces.
“Follow me, Emilia.”
“Y-yes, Aine.”
Aine took Emilia’s hand—checking frantically that she was unhurt—and pulled her toward the Garden entrance.
“I won’t let you escape!”
Behind them, footsteps thundered as his vision returned. And now she had no weapon left to resist with.
‘If I’m caught now, that’s truly the end.’
After crossing the labyrinthine Garden, two paths branched before them.
“We split up here.”
“Emilia—”
“This way, our chances of surviving both increase.”
Aine reached out to stop her, but Emilia was already gone.
Aine considered following the direction Emilia had taken, but she respected her choice.
“But I won’t let you die.”
If there was even a chance the Mysterious Assailant went after Emilia instead, she wouldn’t last long before being caught.
Her strength was spent. She could no longer run at full speed.
So Aine took the other path, starting just a moment after Emilia had gone.
“Aine Klaine!”
For a moment she worried she’d chosen the wrong direction, but fortunately the Mysterious Assailant was still chasing her.
Aine kept running, holding onto a fragile hope that if she kept going, she might encounter someone outside—someone who could help.
“You miserable rat. At last, I’ll finish this.”

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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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