The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 80

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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 80
“Is that really true? The Minister of Military Affairs has truly agreed to join our side?”
Philip had his doubts.
For some time now, he’d repeatedly urged Reina to bring Dunkin into their camp, but each time she returned with disappointing news.
Because of this, he’d been trying to lower his expectations again, believing it wouldn’t work this time either—but according to Alex, who had just returned to the estate, success was all but assured.
“However, there is a condition.”
“A condition?”
Of course. Nothing worth having comes cheap. But he wasn’t frustrated. After all, this represented a golden opportunity to bring Dunkin to their side.
“We must prepare ten billion Beneto.”
“…Has the Duke lost his mind?”
The moment those words left his mouth—ten billion Beneto—Philip wondered if the man had gone mad.
Ten billion Beneto wasn’t a trivial sum. Where on earth could such a fortune be raised?
Philip himself possessed barely over three hundred million Beneto. Even that was a considerable fortune.
Many barons didn’t have even ten million Beneto, let alone one hundred million. So how was one supposed to produce ten billion?
“If we hand over that much money, we’ll all become paupers!”
Philip had resolved to do anything to seize the Imperial Throne, but this—this was different.
The demand for ten billion Beneto was almost impossible to accept.
But Alex Rodman saw it differently.
“Should Your Highness the Crown Prince become Emperor, ten billion would be mere pocket change. Once you are master of the Imperial House, everything will be yours—what could possibly be the problem?”
It was a reminder that if one wishes to gain much, one must risk much as well.
Alex Rodman spoke thus and produced a check, laying it before Philip.
It was a check for five hundred million Beneto, drawn on the Rodman Ducal House.
“I am prepared to do whatever it takes to seize what I desire.”
It was nearly all the money the venerable and distinguished Rodman House could muster.
Witnessing such resolve, Philip could no longer resist. And trust began to take root.
This man would truly help him become Emperor.
He would cast aside Odin, cast aside Kleid—and secure the throne for himself alone.
“It feels like making a pact with the devil.”
“The victor is righteous, and the defeated are wicked. We shall be the victors.”
Philip handed over every coin he had to Alex.
* * *
“So that’s how things are unfolding, then.”
Kleid, who had been tending to Odin with devoted care, finally collapsed from exhaustion.
He came to consciousness roughly three days later.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince. You must address this at once. Deploying the Capital Defense Force like this is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”
Even the Imperial Faction expressed concern. Wasn’t this an overreaction?
Did they truly need to deploy the full force of the Capital Defense to provoke their opponents more than necessary?
Divided in their opinions, they eventually went to Kleid and suggested pausing the operation and handling it directly instead.
Now that Kleid had appeared, all responsibility naturally fell upon him.
“I am still in a state of collapse.”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince?”
“So if my wife has resolved to act thus, it is as good as the will of the Imperial House itself.”
Yet Kleid did not object. If Aine had made such a decision, he harbored no desire to dispute it.
‘It is better to strike preemptively than to lock the barn after the horse has escaped.’
To kill a pest, one must be thorough. One must smash it completely so it cannot survive to lay eggs.
Only then would vermin cease to infest the house.
“All authority rests with Aine. I ask that you follow her lead.”
“…Can she truly be trusted?”
Even the Imperial Faction’s own people worried about this. They knew well enough that Aine had struck some manner of bargain with them.
A win-win situation, they’d called it. Yet they had only ever seen her as a trophy—never imagining they would actually place a blade in her hands.
“If she were to massacre the opposition faction and then turn her blade upon us, it would become rather troublesome.”
More than troublesome—if the central government were to collapse entirely during this most perilous and chaotic period for the empire, it would mean the end.
Should she truly be someone who came here to destroy the empire, or should her heart change and she decide to bring ruin upon it all—the outcome would be catastrophic.
“If she has made such a decision, then I have failed to care for her properly until now.”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince?”
Yet Kleid held conviction. In all his years meeting people, he had found not a single soul he could trust completely.
Inevitably, when opportunity arose or circumstance demanded it, there would always be those who turned away.
Aine was different. She was always brimming with confidence, acting according to her beliefs.
‘Had she been someone capable of compromise, she would not have come here to suffer as she does.’
With Wilhelm abandoned, power could be consolidated all the more securely.
According to the rumors circulating, public sentiment toward the King of Orion and his ministers had completely collapsed.
Had Aine continued to hold firm, she would have become the true ruler of the Orion Kingdom.
Of course, she could hardly have been unaware of that reality.
Yet despite this, Aine had chosen this place, struck a bargain with him, and placed her complete trust in him.
If asked to name the one person in this world she could truly rely on, Aine was everything to him.
“Please, I beg you—don’t push yourself too hard.”
* * *
Power shifted swiftly into the hands of Aine, now wielding full authority.
According to some accounts, even Kleid had directly urged his trusted associates to support Aine.
As a result, the Imperial Faction was rapidly consolidating around her.
Yet not all was without unease.
“The Military Minister has failed to report to duty again today.”
The minister of the Military Authority—the very man who currently held power over the Capital Defense Force—continued to refuse to appear.
Naturally, people grew anxious. What if the Military Minister harbored intentions of Insubordination, or had turned entirely to the Nobility Faction?
Or worse, if he sided with Retaria, no one could predict what might unfold in the Capital.
“The Military Minister must be removed, and another appointed in his place!”
“Indeed, Your Highness. To do nothing while the Imperial Decree stands is a breach of loyalty.”
Aine was troubled as well. She had long since learned what sort of man he was through Emilia.
She had believed that as one of the neutral faction, he would act solely in the Empire’s interest.
But contrary to expectation, he had shown no inclination to move at all.
Neither mobilizing the Defense Force in obedience to her command, nor declaring Insubordination on the grounds that the order was unjust.
While the Imperial Faction continued to demand his immediate removal amid this ambiguous silence, Aine shook her head.
“Precisely at times like these, we must act with care. The moment we hastily remove someone over a grave matter, we risk provoking the Military Authority’s resistance.”
Advocating for caution, Aine chose to wait a little longer.
“Besides, if he truly has decided to stand with them, it’s not just him alone who must be purged.”
Dunkin’s blood relatives, subordinates, and close acquaintances—all those with whom he was intimate—would need to be struck down in one swift blow, without even granting them a chance to resist.
“We need not decide hastily. We can move against him after Dunkin makes his own play.”
Depending on how Dunkin moved, Aine was prepared to immediately shift to Plan B.
A contingency, should the worst come to pass.
It was at this very moment that Rotein appeared.
At the appearance of the Lord Chamberlain, Aine dismissed all the gathered Imperial Faction members, and only after they were alone did Rotein open his weighty lips.
“Crown Princess, Your Highness. The Imperial Consort begs an urgent audience at the Imperial Palace.”
“The Imperial Consort?”
To enter the Imperial Palace at such a time—was she truly coming to spy out the atmosphere, to gauge the mood?
‘Whether bold or foolish, I cannot yet say.’
Since that banquet, Aine had wished not to face her again, yet now she hesitated.
But considering she might yet glean information from the woman, Aine told Rotein she would receive her.

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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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