The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 48

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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 48
“What is this?”
“Something’s happened in the Capital, it seems.”
“Has the war finally ended?”
News that had erupted from the Imperial Palace and set the entire Capital ablaze began spreading across the Empire at remarkable speed.
In quiet, remote villages, people dared to hope that perhaps the war had truly come to an end.
“Most folk can’t read, so nobody knows what it says.”
But those who could read and write in the countryside were exceedingly rare.
Even when newspapers arrived, most people heard the news only after considerable delay.
“Ah, but there’s that one person! The only apothecary in our village!”
Meyri Village, however, was different.
There was someone who could read.
The villagers swarmed toward the apothecary’s residence like a cloud.
“Apothecary, please read this for us! Is my son finally coming home from the battlefield?!”
“Don’t make such a fuss—the apothecary can’t even get a word in!”
“It’s no trouble. Let me see what it says. Please, give it here.”
Though he might have been flustered, the apothecary welcomed those who had sought out his home and took the newspaper they offered him.
Until that moment, he had thought nothing unusual of it.
He had simply assumed some development had occurred on the battlefield.
“… Aine Kleine, Imperial Grandson Kleid Hartz’s lover?”
But the instant he read the first line, everything changed.
“Aine Kleine? Isn’t she the hero of Orion Kingdom?”
“How can she have a lover relationship with His Highness the Imperial Grandson?”
“Perhaps the newspaper made an error.”
“Not likely—this is an Imperial newspaper, after all.”
The villagers each offered their own commentary, but none of it reached the apothecary’s ears.
‘What in the world has happened?’
His gaze remained fixed solely on the newspaper.
He checked the words repeatedly, fearing he had misread them, but the letters printed on the page did not change.
Having confirmed this, the apothecary exhaled a long breath, worry settling over him.
‘What trouble have you gotten yourself into now, sister?’
* * *
The crowds that gathered did not limit themselves to Chesher Mansion alone.
“When do you think His Majesty will issue a statement?”
“I’m dying of curiosity, I’ll admit.”
“Look there, will you? All the major newspapers are gathered in front of the Imperial Palace.”
The space before the Imperial Palace had become a sea of humanity.
The reason for their gathering was simple.
They had come to hear a statement from Odin, the head of the Imperial Family and master of the Empire.
“Surely His Majesty didn’t know. This concerns Imperial Grandson Kleid Hartz himself, after all.”
“True. Especially if there’s already a child involved…”
The most pressing question was whether Odin had known.
These two held exalted positions despite their nations being enemies.
Given that they already had a child together, it seemed impossible he could be ignorant of the matter.
And the question that followed was about the child’s existence itself.
“He’ll have to acknowledge him. His Majesty would be getting a grandson for the first time, wouldn’t he?”
Before the crowd gathered in the plaza, Kleid had openly declared the child to be his own.
The moment Odin himself acknowledged the boy’s existence, Wilhelm could become an Imperial Grandson.
“If the child belongs to none other than His Highness Kleid…”
“And the Kleine Family is counted among the noble houses of Orion Kingdom, so there’s no deficiency in his bloodline either.”
Odin had many children.
Among them, Philip was the only one to have borne a child, but it was a daughter.
The moment Odin gave his acknowledgment, this would be a momentous occasion—the birth of his first grandson.
“Will someone not open the gates at once!”
“It seems he’s lost his composure.”
“Good heavens, when will he ever mature?”
But there was one who could not accept this so readily.
“Father! It is I! Your son, Philip Hartz, has come to see you!”
Philip Hartz had appeared at the entrance to the Imperial Palace.
“Your Highness. Stand aside.”
“You fools, have you already forgotten who I am!”
“Your Majesty must grant permission before he may enter the palace.”
After the incident where he’d caused a disturbance within the Imperial Palace, the only way he could gain entry now was through Odin’s approval.
“Father! Father, I’ve brought Sonelopi, your only grandchild!”
Of course, the restriction on entry applied only to Philip and his wife.
Sonelopi, still too young to have committed any wrongdoing, could enter as freely as she wished.
But Philip would never send his daughter in alone.
His purpose was to see Odin no matter what, using his daughter as a means to that end.
“One does pity Princess Sonelopi.”
“Being used so by her own parents.”
Those who witnessed this behavior found themselves frowning in disapproval.
If one cared for propriety, this was the moment to stop—yet Philip paid no mind to the watching eyes around him.
To him, the term “person” applied only to nobles of his own elevated station; common commoners were beneath such consideration.
* * *
‘The imbecile.’
When word of Philip reached him, Odin’s brow furrowed.
He found Philip’s conduct deeply offensive—the man behaving so outrageously under the eyes of all.
It was clear he ought to reprimand such reckless disregard for position, yet there were other matters demanding his attention first.
“Your Majesty. Would you explain what has transpired?”
News of the plaza had reached the nobility, and they had come before Odin to understand precisely what had occurred.
The Retarian nobles in particular fixed him with expressions of barely concealed menace.
Though this audience was unwelcome, Odin had anticipated their arrival and revealed nothing of his thoughts.
“Is there truly anything to explain? You have all heard what happened, have you not?”
“Your Majesty!”
Unable to contain himself, Alex raised his voice.
His face had twisted into an expression of outrage, as though such a thing could never be permitted.
“I fail to see why you wear such an expression, Lord Marquis Rodman.”
“I cannot fathom it myself, Your Majesty. That the Imperial Prince should share love with—and bear a child by—one we ought to have destroyed is incomprehensible.”
Retaria had taken this situation as though it were a disgrace beyond bearing.
A woman of the inferior, debased Orion Kingdom—and Aine Kleine at that, she who had trampled the Empire’s greatness underfoot.
“We must seize her at once and execute her, then prepare for total war with the kingdom!”
They demanded that Aine be hanged in the public square, that morale be rallied through her death, and that this time they finally drive the kingdom to ruin.
“Why must you be so extreme?”
But the Imperial Faction did not sit idle in response.
“Are you unaware that we are exhausted by prolonged war? Our finances have been crippled by the fighting, and the Empire itself has suffered grievous losses.”
“The Minister of Finance speaks truly. The sentiments of the people in the provinces are deeply unsettled. They await the return of sons sent to the battlefield.”
Grown weary of such extreme rhetoric, the Imperial Faction spoke in kind.
Aine must not be executed under any circumstance. Instead, they argued, this was an opportunity to foster a current of peace.
“Traitors! Do you truly claim to be loyal servants of the Empire!”
“If we are traitors, then you are parasites that consume the state!”
“Have you finished speaking!”
The chamber had grown heated; it had become a battlefield unto itself.
Spittle flew, and it seemed only a matter of moments before someone seized another by the collar and blows began to rain down.
“Perhaps you might all conduct yourselves with some restraint?”
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“People who claim to represent the Empire, and you show me such a pitiful display—right before my eyes, no less.”
But Odin was not one to observe such behavior passively.
He drew the personal dagger from his belt and drove it into the podium.
Whether Retarian or Imperial Faction, all eyes turned to him.
Confirming that attention had fixed upon him, Odin fell silent for a moment.
“I have already met with Aine Kleine.”
The words did not land as a mere statement of fact.
The nobles understood it to mean that he had accepted her.
“And you told us nothing of this, Your Majesty.”
Yet Alex pressed forward undaunted, his jaw still clenched in defiance despite standing before the Emperor.
He questioned how such a thing could be done without so much as a word to them.
“Had certain individuals not interfered with my affairs, I would not have been forced to reveal it in such manner.”
“Your Majesty!”
But Odin dismissed them with a snort, utterly unmoved by the pressure in the Retarians’ eyes—or Alex’s.
“The reason I have appeared before you is to make one thing unmistakably clear.”
Odin ignored what Alex was saying and turned to address the nobility.
“Aine has already eaten the food prepared by the Imperial Palace. That means the girl is indeed my daughter-in-law.”
He was making clear his acceptance of Aine.
“Therefore, the son she bears will be more than worthy of recognition as Imperial Grandson.”
He was declaring that he would recognize Wilhelm not as an illegitimate son born to Aine, but as a legitimate Imperial Grandson.

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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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