The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 5

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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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Episode 4
Wilhelm had been living in happiness all these days.
‘Should I go on another adventure today?’
‘Your Highness! Where are you planning to go today?’
Each morning he would wake, share breakfast with his parents, and then explore the Royal Palace.
His small legs could not carry him through every corner of the palace at once, but he gradually expanded the territories he had yet to visit, drawing his own map as he went.
Exploring uncharted regions filled him with endless joy.
The people he encountered while mapping were varied and numerous.
‘Your Highness. Good morning.’
‘Good morning to you too, Minister!’
‘I happened to bake some cookies—would you like one?’
‘Thank you so much, Gardener!’
The magnificent knights who guarded the palace, the officials who constantly aided his parents, the gardener who made the grounds beautiful, and even the maids who adored him.
They always smiled warmly at Wilhelm and would secretly slip him treats.
After eating his snacks and as the sun began to set, Wilhelm would take the hand of his governess and make his way to his final destination: the Glass Greenhouse.
It was his favorite time of day.
‘Wilhelm. Where did you explore today?’
Because it was the hour when he could see his mother, the kindest and most reliable woman in the world.
His mother, who was beloved by his father, the nobility, and commoners alike—by everyone without exception.
Wilhelm loved his mother just as deeply in return.
‘Today I explored the gardens searching for the flower you told me about before! Though I’m afraid I didn’t find the flower you mentioned.’
Nestled against his mother’s chest, Wilhelm spoke in a hushed voice.
His mother then answered him with a warm, gentle tone and a tender smile.
‘It must be that you couldn’t find it because it blooms in autumn. Since it’s only late spring now, you’ll surely see it once more time has passed.’
Wilhelm remembered why his mother loved that flower so.
She said it reminded her of a friend whom she cherished more than anyone.
She had even said this friend was more precious to her than his father, which made Wilhelm deeply curious.
‘Do you think your friend will like me?’
Since his birth, everyone had loved him.
Though he had never met them, they would beam and greet him warmly.
Yet for some reason, Wilhelm felt afraid—afraid that perhaps his mother’s friend might not like him.
‘Of course she will. Because she loves me dearly, and so she will surely love you too.’
His mother answered with confidence, her smile bright, as if to dispel his anxiety.
She would certainly like him, she assured him.
‘Wilhelm! Run!’
And not long after hearing those words, the days of happiness came to an end.
* * *
“His fever won’t break.”
“It certainly seems that way.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Aine had summoned the Royal Palace’s personal physician.
Wilhelm’s fever was not subsiding—it was growing steadily worse.
“Perhaps it would be best to simply observe his condition as it stands?”
Yet the physician delivered his conclusion with an air of indifference.
“If word spreads that there is unrest, and that the Prince himself has taken ill, it will surely stir up controversy.”
“That is your answer?”
“Yes, that is my answer.”
Aine was a soldier who had faced death countless times on the battlefield.
He thought that someone so devoted to the Kingdom would agree with his words.
The Orion Kingdom was currently at war with the Verona Empire.
Any action that would further cloud the people’s minds had to be avoided at all costs.
Yet there was one thing the physician and all the people of the Kingdom had miscalculated.
“Lock this madman in the dungeons immediately.”
“Yes, sir!”
“C-Commander?!”
She had never once fought for the Kingdom.
“A physician stands there spouting nonsense while the child stands at death’s door? What possible excuse could there be?”
“I found myself doubting my own ears—I could not believe those words came from the Royal Palace’s personal physician.”
“We leave for mere moments and the palace falls to ruin. Unbelievable.”
The officers beside her watched with grim, twisted faces as the physician was dragged away.
They had believed that with the physician here, Wilhelm’s health would surely recover soon enough.
But the answer that came was entirely unexpected.
As if death itself were of no consequence.
‘If I had my way, I’d cut out that tongue this very moment.’
Aine felt the displeasure as keenly as Wilhelm did, but her attention had to remain on the child struggling on the bed.
Watching him, she felt a familiar unease settle over her.
That the royal physician—the one person most responsible for the prince’s welfare—would adopt such an attitude.
She bit her lip and turned to the officers with a command.
“Daniel. Summon the military physicians to attend to the prince. I don’t think we can entrust him to these men.”
“Mane was already on her way here.”
Aine felt relief knowing that Mane had kept pace with them and not fallen behind.
The young woman, only twenty-one, had volunteered as a military physician while living near the Border, and proved herself a prodigy of her craft.
Being the most skilled healer in the camp, she would have no difficulty treating Wilhelm.
Aine saw the Quest Window hovering above Wilhelm’s head. There was less than an hour remaining—a reminder she could no longer ignore.
‘What on earth are you trying to make me do?’
Reluctantly, Aine pressed the Accept button, half-hoping the Quest would not ask her to kill this child as it had Reisey, while also desperately wanting to understand what “Reisey’s death” listed in the reward actually meant.
‘At least this time it’s the opposite.’
When the Quest details finally became legible, Aine’s expression hardened.
“From this moment on, no one but me and the officers is to be permitted near the prince.”
“We obey your command.”
It risked being misconstrued as confinement of the future king, but no one voiced objection to her order.
The seasoned officers, hardened by countless campaigns, had already sensed that something strange was unfolding.
“Commander. The state council has requested your presence at their session.”
Yet no one truly grasped her intention.
* * *
Strictly speaking, Aine’s post was a field commission.
With the campaign against the Verona Empire demanding her immediate attention, she had neither the time nor inclination to attend councils at the Royal Palace.
Even given the opportunity, there were enough faces she wished to avoid that she would have made excuses, but circumstances had changed.
“The commander has arrived.”
“You have labored tirelessly for the good of the Kingdom.”
“Ha, how you’ve changed from those wild days. Once you were quite the reckless one.”
“How dare you speak so to one doing such great work!”
The council chamber was thick with acrid tobacco smoke, as if it had been waiting for her arrival.
She ignored all the greetings offered her way; awkward laughter rippled through the room at her discourtesy, but Aine paid it no mind and found her seat.
In the state council, status determined position—the closer to the king’s elevated seat, the greater the honor bestowed.
By that measure, Aine’s place had always been at the far end. Her relationship with Matthias had never been particularly warm.
Yet something was amiss.
“Where is my seat?”
No matter how carefully she searched, her usual chair was nowhere to be found.
Only two seats remained empty: the elevated throne reserved for the king alone, and the seat of the prime minister—the king’s foremost counselor.
She wondered if they expected her to stand through the entire session, but a familiar voice reaching her ears explained everything.
“Where else? Don’t you see the empty seat right there? Surely you can tell where your place is.”
When Aine turned, she found Vinette dressed in clothes as ornate and gold-trimmed as the king’s own.
He had entered not through the side entrance used by councilors, but through the central doors reserved for royalty—and without a trace of hesitation, he proceeded directly to a single destination.
The king’s designated seat.
“Now let us begin the session. Be seated.”
Vinette gestured toward the prime minister’s chair as he spoke.

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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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