The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 4

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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 4
When she first possessed this body, memory loss had been her excuse for everything.
She had lived her entire life as a modern woman.
How could she possibly know how to command servants, how to walk with aristocratic grace, how to speak with the refinement of nobility?
The novel hadn’t provided such detailed instructions.
She either had to hope the Status Window would help her, or learn everything from scratch.
[SYSTEM: Return to Original World Quest]
[To return to your original world, you must kill Rayshe Flamingo.]
[Remaining attempts: 10]
[Success reward: Return to Original World]
[Failure penalty: Death]
[Do you wish to proceed with this quest? Y / N]
But the Status Window showed Aine no mercy whatsoever.
It was as if the system had simply thrown her into the wilderness and expected her to survive on her own.
And so a hellish existence unfurled before her.
“You’ll be laughed at in society. Try again.”
“Start from the beginning.”
“Again.”
The proper use of multiple forks and spoons—things that had no bearing on survival in her old world—felt utterly useless.
She wanted to collapse and surrender, but Aine endured the agony and forced herself to master it.
“The Duke said so. He insists that Miss must not step into society until she has achieved perfection in these matters.”
Not to live in this dreary world, but to escape it.
“There is no time to rest. Please get up at once.”
* * *
Aine woke from the dream with a heavy sigh and sat up in bed.
‘It must be the forced march catching up with me.’
She had lived her entire life as a duke’s daughter.
Suddenly becoming a soldier hadn’t made her body any stronger.
The battles she had won were through strategy and tactics, not through physical combat like a monster.
Her body, exhausted from days of forced marching, had finally given out and she had lost consciousness.
It unsettled her to have dreamed such a dream after Rayshe’s death, but she pushed the unease aside and focused instead on the child she had seen before collapsing.
No matter how she looked at it, the child was unmistakably Matias and Rayshe’s.
The child appeared to be four or five years old.
If Rayshe had become pregnant in the year just before Aine left, the timing fit perfectly.
Rayshe rarely visited a physician unless something was wrong with her health.
‘Was that what the last letter meant?’
Rayshe had written to her faithfully, once every day without fail.
She had shared her hopes that Aine would survive the war, and recorded the events she experienced like diary entries.
Perhaps she had hoped that through letters she could bridge the time they had lost to the war’s separation.
Yet like a thorn caught in her throat, something about it didn’t sit right with Aine.
‘But how did no one know?’
Even if kept secret, a royal heir was a matter of national importance. There were limits to what could be concealed, no matter how one tried.
Especially since Rayshe had conceived five years ago. Could she really have kept such a secret even from her closest friend for five years?
If even one person had known of the child’s existence, surely word would have reached her before she left.
‘I can understand the reasoning, though.’
Perhaps Rayshe had hidden the child away to protect him from danger.
They were at war with the Empire. If word spread that a prince had been born, they would not let the matter rest.
The Empire had already sent assassins who had murdered the Late Queen Consort. After that, several other royals had died in succession.
She might have kept it secret to prevent further tragedy among the royal family.
Yet even after arriving at the Royal Palace, everyone had remained silent—no one had mentioned the child’s existence. That was strange.
Aine wanted to leave and investigate what was happening. But as her gaze fell on the foot of the bed, she stopped.
“Mm.”
There, with soft breathing, was the child.
‘He’s been with me all this time?’
Aine remembered the child’s name clearly.
She even recalled the moment he introduced himself—introducing Aine as Wilhelm Aine Orion.
The kingdom had a custom where the Late Queen Consort named the heir, and before her death, she had chosen the name Wilhelm.
The middle name, which the parents could choose, became the most important name a child could bear.
Usually, the names of parents, mentors, or past emperors were given.
“But to use my name… I can imagine the expression on Matias’s face.”
A smile curved her lips, but tears streamed down her cheeks all the same.
Just as Rayshe had waited with the boy for the day of Aine’s return, Aine had waited equally for the day she would see Rayshe again.
She’d counted the days, eager to learn what surprise Rayshe had prepared for her.
But now that day would never come.
Aine watched Wilhelm sleep in a corner of the room, her thoughts turning inward.
Matias would be hurt to hear it, but the boy was every inch his mother—from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, he was Rayshe through and through.
“There’s no doubt whatsoever. He’s truly your child.”
She laid him carefully in the center of the bed where he could rest comfortably, drew the blanket over him, and then settled into contemplation of what lay ahead.
‘How will this small child ever come to accept all of this?’
In a single day, he had lost both his parents. And he had no grandparents to take their place.
The preceding events had made royal blood increasingly scarce, leaving only Vinet and a distant cadet branch barely worthy of the name among those who still drew breath.
‘Perhaps his uncle Vinet is the only one the child can truly rely on.’
Though she hated to admit it, the difference between blood kin and those unrelated ran deep in a child’s heart.
No matter how close Aine had been to Rayshe, a boy who had never once laid eyes on her could not possibly know her.
And yet there were certain things that troubled her.
They had happened shortly after Wilhelm appeared.
The Royal Guard had arrived not long after, and they seemed intent on taking Wilhelm away.
What she found most incomprehensible was Vinet’s demeanor. The way he’d looked at Wilhelm then—it was nothing like the gaze one bestows upon blood kin.
Especially considering the boy was Rayshe’s child. He had loved her; he should have protected her son above all else.
Had Aine not taken Wilhelm away in that moment, she could not fathom what might have occurred.
‘I must meet with Vinet again soon.’
He was Rayshe’s only remaining child.
Rayshe, who had extended a hand of salvation to her when she awaited only death.
Aine could not bring herself to turn away from her child.
Even without a guardian, the boy could become an excellent king if she, as his servant, guided him along the path.
She was about to leave to arrange another meeting with Vinet when—
“M-Mom… Dad… Papa…”
The boy seized her collar.
“Please, don’t go. Stay with me…”
A sharp breath escaped her.
He clung to her collar, tears streaming down his face, though he lacked the strength to truly hold her fast.
But Aine felt his small hand—burning hot as fire, his breathing ragged. The fever was evident.
Her brow furrowed at the sight.
“What were those two thinking, leaving a child alone like this?”
In the end, with resignation settling over her, she remained at his side, unable to free herself from his small grip, until he woke.
“Mother…”
But even as he slept, Wilhelm’s hand remained restless against Aine’s collar.
Watching Wilhelm, Aine’s attention drifted to something that had been gnawing at her.
The Status Window hanging in the empty air.
[SYSTEM: Emergency Quest Generated]
[The quest details will be revealed upon acceptance. You must accept within 8 hours.]
[If you accept, the quest will proceed. If you refuse, your soul will be annihilated.]
[Success Reward: ???]
[Failure Penalty: Death]
[Will you proceed with the quest? Y ]
The command to kill Rayshe had vanished, replaced by this new quest in its stead.
‘Come to think of it, the failure penalty had been listed as “Error” before.’
Why had it said Error? She had failed the quest.
According to what had been written, she should have died. Yet now, before her eyes, lay not death but a new quest.
Troubled by this unease, Aine looked once more at the Status Window hovering before her.
The details were hidden. There was no refusal option—only an accept button.
Why was it floating above Wilhelm’s head? And what was that ???
Everything was shrouded in mystery.
“Huh?”
As her thoughts deepened, the ??? in the success reward suddenly vanished, replaced by new text.
[Success Reward: Clue to Rayshe’s Death]
She already knew the circumstances of Rayshe’s death.
So why—why would a clue to Rayshe’s death be listed as the success reward?

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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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