The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 116

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 116

“By the time this letter arrives, the weather there will be starting to get warm.

It’s still cool here. You would still call it winter. Still, I saw flowers bloom not long ago.

There’s a flowering tree inside Told Fortress. I never knew that before.

No one planted it, but somehow it sprouted on its own, so they left it alone. It’s about knee-high now.

A messenger arrived before His Majesty’s envoy and brought news from the capital. Freil’s reports have also come several times.

I can guess that you’re moving busily. I also heard that you’ve taken charge of the western granary project.

I’m sure you’ll handle it well. However, don’t think about overexerting yourself.

I’m not talking about risks, but about your health. If there’s a suitable person, consider delegating everything to them and stepping back.

Are you living comfortably and in good health? Are you eating properly and keeping regular sleep hours?

Since it’s a warm place, it must be better than the north. Ansgard must be better off than me too. Still, you’re someone who doesn’t know how to take care of yourself, so I worry.

I’ve sent separate letters to Lisia, Hailey, and Sophie as well, saying that when it comes to matters concerning your health, Ansgard’s words take priority over everything else.

Even if those three happen to disobey you, don’t get angry, and please listen to them, thinking of it as my words.

There’s no major change in the war situation.

Reinforcements arrived from Karam and a localized skirmish occurred. However, both sides fell back into a stalemate without major casualties.

Rather, there are some who argue that we should take this opportunity to push all the way up north.

The war faction’s opinion is that we wouldn’t have to worry about war for several years, or even decades if we’re lucky.

They should know that humans can’t live beyond Told Gate anyway, and considering Karam’s growth rate, such efforts would be meaningless. It would also be difficult with the Evron Army alone.

Escalation is not what we desire. And fortunately, I’ve met someone who shares the same view.

I hope you can meet with them together. But coming north again won’t be easy. I’ve only made a promise with the condition of ‘within a few years.’

We’ve decided to think about various issues slowly. Life isn’t as long as eternity, but that doesn’t mean we need to rush as if today is all we have.

I know you’re someone who looks far ahead and thinks there’s much to prepare for the future. However, we have 20, 30 years, or even longer ahead of us.

And this is just the beginning. It hasn’t even been a year since we met, yet we’re already in a situation we couldn’t have imagined back then, aren’t we?

I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.

Since this letter will travel a long distance, there are many more things I cannot write. But I trust that you, being a wise person, will guess what stories I couldn’t put down.

We should be able to meet in the capital around summer.

There’s something I must tell you.

Please stay healthy until then. When we meet again, I hope you’ll be a little heavier than what these arms remember.

With deep sincerity,

Sedric.”

The letter paper was white and clean, without a single smudged character.

The sentences written in neat, aligned rows showed that it had been rewritten several times. It was probably out of concern that confidential information or Evron’s situation might leak out.

As he said in the letter, it was correspondence traveling a long distance. There was risk of loss, and it wouldn’t be strange if someone secretly opened and read it.

There was nothing that could be called intimate conversation or sweet words. Sedric wasn’t someone eloquent enough to craft such words into sentences.

Yet somehow, Artizea couldn’t look at that letter properly.

Sedric was right. She could understand what he hadn’t fully written in the letter.

Not just that the person he wanted her to meet was probably from Karam, but also about being in an unimaginable situation now…

‘…’

Artizea folded the letter in half and lowered her head. It hurt around her heart as if something was pressing and rubbing against it.

A book had arrived along with the letter. It was an ordinary almanac that Artizea also owned.

At first, Artizea wondered why he had sent that book. Was there some code hidden in it?

But once she opened the book, she immediately understood the reason. A pressed flower branch fell out from inside.

She could immediately tell it was a flower from the flowering tree that grew inside Told Fortress that Sedric had mentioned. It was the first flower he had seen this year.

Simply stuffing it randomly into a book doesn’t make a proper pressed flower.

The thick flower stem had been pressed, causing moisture to seep into the paper and making the ink bleed. Thanks to that, stains had also gotten on the flower petals that would have originally been white.

She should have smiled bitterly, but now she couldn’t. Heat rose to her cheeks. Even trying to ignore the fact that it was her heart fluttering wasn’t easy.

But acknowledging it wouldn’t make things better either.

Artizea wasn’t sure how she should react.

She brought a white cotton handkerchief, placed the flower branch on it, picked up even the fallen petal and put it back in its place. She covered it properly, but having nowhere else to put it, she placed it back in the book that had been sent.

She wondered what to do with the letter too.

It wasn’t a letter that necessarily needed to be burned. But if she were to keep it, how should she do it?

Artizea had rarely exchanged personal letters with anyone.

If it were about treasuring it preciously, she felt she could think of various methods, regardless of whether she could actually carry them out. But she didn’t know how to store it normally.

She was randomly thinking about other people’s studies while pulling her juice glass closer when there was a knock at the door.

Artizea neatly put the letter back in its envelope and placed it on top of the book.

It was Freil who entered. He was holding a plate of bite-sized fried croquettes.

“Have you now fallen to being a snack errand boy?”

“Fallen? This is a precious opportunity to have a private audience with Your Highness.”

“Even if I personally became Emperor, I would treat you more preciously than a bathroom attendant, so you don’t need to worry about such things.”

Freil shrugged his shoulders.

“Ansgard’s orders have more authority than Lord Sedric’s words, limited to this manor.”

That was true.

Artizea moved the book and letter envelope to prevent any oil stains and picked up a fork.

She carefully bit into the crispy fried food, making sure not to burn her mouth. She hadn’t realized it, but her stomach must have been a bit empty. It went down well.

Freil watched her and then asked.

“Come to think of it, have you seen a doctor recently?”

“No.”

“Your Highness can’t be said to be in good health.”

“Meeting with a doctor regularly doesn’t really offer any other solutions. They’d tell me to get sunlight, exercise a bit, eat well, and rest well.”

Artizea said this nonchalantly while chewing on her second croquette.

Freil sighed. Both Ansgard and Marcus had said that putting her mind at ease should be the priority for now.

Since it wasn’t even certain, it wouldn’t be good to make a fuss unnecessarily and burden her.

Still, having heard what those two had told him, Freil couldn’t help feeling frustrated.

Either way, this mistress didn’t seem likely to rest as peacefully as the old butlers wished.

Seeing him sigh, Artizea asked.

“You didn’t really come just to bring snacks, did you?”

“No.”

Freil straightened his posture solemnly. Then he said.

“I’ll be direct. Please give me Hailey.”

“Propose to her yourself.”

Caught off guard, Freil’s mouth fell open.

“Who said anything like that? Give her to me as a colleague, as a colleague.”

Artizea said nothing. Freil’s face turned bright red as he raised his voice.

“Your Highness is trying to bury me alive under a pile of work! How am I supposed to suddenly gather information from the south?”

“You built the organization.”

“I’m the only one managing it! It’s not like I only do what Your Highness orders me to do – my main job is managing information from the north and Evron’s communication network!”

Freil spoke rapidly and breathed heavily. But Artizea said coldly.

“Hailey won’t do. Find someone trustworthy.”

“Finding such people is also my job, isn’t it? I even need to get Your Highness’s approval! Don’t you have any intention of reducing the burden on me?”

“You can work energetically for another 30 years, so it’s fine.”

Artizea looked at the complaining Freil with a smiling face.

“Hailey won’t do, not yet.”

She had been able to entrust him with secrets in such a short time because she had already known Freil before returning to the past. But Hailey was different.

Freil understood her meaning and sighed again.

“Your Highness is strange. You seem to readily trust some people, but you also have a habit of testing people.”

“Testing is the fastest way to know whether someone is suitable for a task or not.”

“That may be fine for retainers, but please moderate your testing of employees now. You’ve cast a very tight net throughout the Duke’s residence.”

“Someone who accepts my bribes could also accept bribes from others, so I was just confirming that.”

“I’m troubled by learning the results.”

“Just pretend you don’t know. It’s not your concern, is it?”

“Your Highness speaks of everything so easily.”

Artizea tilted her head.

“So?”

“So?”

“News must have come from the south, right? You’re the type who thinks you should request leave after achieving results to get it approved.”

“And Your Highness is the type who won’t give leave to those with results, but gives permanent leave to those without.”

Freil grumbled but spoke obediently.

“The person Count Harper recruited made contact with Countess Lexen.”

“The one Count Harper recruited was Viscount Hoden’s subordinate, right?”

“Yes. A stable hand who has been caring for his horses since Viscount Hoden was a boy.”

“I see.”

“Shall we monitor them?”

“There’s no need. Count Harper would have handled things properly. I was just curious.”

Freil muttered about how she assigned work just out of curiosity.

“Is there nothing unusual in Told?”

“Don’t you know better than I do? Information from the Evron Duchy comes to your hands.”

Though it was a sarcastic remark, Freil countered with a serious expression.

“I haven’t been opening Prince’s letters. Or are they full of non-informational content?”

Artizea’s face reddened. Freil delivered a satisfying follow-up attack.

“Or perhaps you two have some kind of code that only you understand?”

“You are…”

Just as Artizea was about to say something, someone knocked twice on the door and opened it.

“Your Highness, I have something to tell you. Oh, Count Freil is here.”

It was Hailey.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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