The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 127

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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 127

19.

Lawrence and Artizea were unable to attend the banquet.

While Artizea was one thing, when Lawrence failed to appear, the guests began murmuring somewhat.

Everyone knew he was supposed to present the Empress with a red jeweled crown modeled after carnations. In fact, many of the banquet guests had been waiting for that event.

If Milaire had appeared and gone mad, clawing at the Empress’s hair, it would have been the thrilling spectacle everyone wanted.

However, Lawrence had suddenly left Luminous Hall.

The Empress came out wearing not that red jeweled crown, but a modest tiara made of blue crystal.

Of course, the jewelry was modest compared to the Empress’s status and age. That tiara was one she had inherited from her grandmother when she was unmarried, a tiara for the daughter of Duke Riagan.

The one who escorted the Empress was a young boy who was only 14 years old. He was extremely nervous and clumsy with etiquette. It was clear he had never attended even small social gatherings, let alone grand banquets.

The Empress looked at the boy affectionately.

Rather than being escorted, it seemed more like the Empress was protecting him and teaching him how to escort a noble lady.

It took time to figure out who that boy was.

“The son of Viscount Pesher? He was alive?”

It didn’t take long for small whispers to fill the banquet hall.

Some people knew the situation more accurately.

“Viscount and Viscountess Pesher committed suicide and their family went missing. The young viscount was probably around the same age as Countess Unise.”

“My goodness, so he survived and even had a child?”

“What happened to the title? Even without a succession ceremony, inheritance is automatic. It wasn’t confiscated by the Imperial family.”

“What happened that he didn’t appear until now?”

It wasn’t a newly risen noble, but a descendant of a family thought to have disappeared. Moreover, it was a family where the couple had committed suicide after incurring the Emperor’s wrath, though they weren’t charged with treason.

He hadn’t just appeared anywhere, but had made his social debut holding the Empress’s hand, so it was impossible not to be surprised.

“Has Her Majesty the Empress been hiding and protecting him all this time?”

“Did His Majesty the Emperor know and turn a blind eye? More importantly, what happens to Lord Lawrence?”

“What do you mean what happens?”

“Hasn’t Her Majesty the Empress just made it clear that she has no intention of adopting Lord Lawrence?”

Not many guessed that a much more serious problem was occurring.

Duke Loigar urged his subordinates to hurry and find out what was happening, any story would do.

This incident was too big to be covered up. People with solid information networks began learning the news one by one.

It was the Empress’s birthday celebration. No one could act rashly.

However, there was turmoil beneath the surface.

* * *

What Milaire had done was never something that could be taken lightly.

The Emperor received this report on his way back from Luminous Hall to the Imperial Palace.

He wasn’t someone who couldn’t feel primal fear itself. He feared the consequences of his actions returning to him.

Having lived at the pinnacle of the Empire for decades, he had watched how the world moved. That’s why he believed in karma.

However, he wasn’t someone who directly believed in things like evil spirits, curses, or necromancy like Milaire did.

So he didn’t take the fact that Milaire had tried to curse the Empress too seriously.

Ancient magic? The Emperor didn’t even think Milaire could succeed at such a thing.

He would have liked to cover it up. But the incident was too big to cover up.

Magic was forbidden by the Temple. Moreover, it actually possessed power.

So it was different from dabbling in necromancy for fun or paying small money to seek prophecies from self-proclaimed prophets.

Most importantly, the attempted human sacrifice couldn’t be hidden. This time, it was reporters from Belmond Magazine who helped Hazel uncover the truth.

It’s impossible to silence the press. No matter how much you block and block again, it eventually leaks out somewhere.

To keep a secret, you must ensure the people don’t know about it from the very beginning.

The Emperor knew this well.

So he didn’t meet with Milaire at all. He didn’t even attempt to cover it up.

“Please don’t worry too much.”

Henry Kishower spoke as if comforting the Emperor.

“I will guard the Grand Duchess of Rosan so she won’t be uncomfortable while under investigation. I won’t easily hand her over to the Temple.”

Conversely, that meant this incident was under the Temple’s jurisdiction, beyond even the Emperor’s control.

“I’ll trust only you.”

That was all the Emperor could say.

All he did was have Lawrence informed first. Lawrence would face the greatest crisis because of this incident.

The Temple quickly dispatched a priestly order to investigate the magic circle. The long-dormant position of Inquisitor gained new power.

The investigation began under the leadership of Archbishop Akim, who was well-versed in ancient languages.

The Emperor dispatched scholars. It was to defend Milaire even a little.

The scholars tried to make the old woman the main culprit and Milaire a victim deceived by a fraud, attempting to minimize the problem.

But the evidence was too clear. The words carved in the magic circle were curses wishing for the Empress’s misfortune and hoping she would die quickly.

And it was confirmed that those words were sentences from old history books that had been in the Rosan estate.

The reason the magic circle’s text wasn’t clearly written as “the Empress will die” was because the sentences were copied verbatim.

Even that became circumstantial evidence that this was Milaire’s doing.

It was proven that the child was bought by the old woman.

The human trafficking case was reignited.

Since the major human trafficking incident last year, buying and selling people hadn’t been easy.

It wasn’t completely absent. Factories that could manage with unskilled workers didn’t want to pay even minimum wages.

Some guilds used the format of apprentice education, but in reality bought children and worked them like slaves. When debt repayment deadlines approached, many came asking how much they could get for bringing their own children.

However, public opinion boiled over upon learning that the child was bought not to be worked, but to be offered as a sacrifice for curses.

Moreover, the mastermind of this incident was Milaire.

Lawrence’s involvement in the previous human trafficking and human hunting case was dragged out once again.

“Burn the Emperor’s mistress and her son at the stake!”

The protests started in front of the Rosan estate and spread to the separate palace.

“Did the Emperor really not know about this?”

“Drag out those beast-like mother and son!”

There were several arson attempts at the Rosan estate. Henry Kishower surrounded the estate with layers of guards to protect it. The protesters faced them with torches and oil barrels.

Milaire was trapped in the estate, terrified. Even her periods of pathological excitement that used to come regularly had disappeared, and now she only trembled.

“Your Majesty, please let me see Your Majesty.”

Milaire grabbed Henry Kishower and pleaded like this.

She needed time and opportunity to make excuses to the Emperor. Then the Emperor would surely forgive her.

If the Emperor forgave her, everything would work out well.

However, Henry Kishower shook his head.

The Emperor couldn’t stop this.

This case was different from when she had poisoned the direct bloodline of the Rosan Marquess family.

That time it was a problem between nobles. There were few people involved, and most of them were nobles anyway. Through deals and interests, compensation and fear, he could solve all problems.

Moreover, most importantly, there was one direct bloodline member left named Artizea. As Emperor, he could roughly muddle through and make the situation disappear.

If she had tried to poison the Empress instead, he could have easily protected Milaire.

But no matter how much he was the supreme ruler, there were two things he couldn’t completely crush. One was public opinion, and the other was the Temple.

The Emperor feared public opinion. Even if he suppressed protests, manipulated public opinion, and turned people’s attention elsewhere, it would eventually return as a weakness in legitimacy. It was cause and effect, karma. People’s mouths could never be completely silenced.

The Temple was even more burdensome. Even if he oppressed the Temple, it was impossible to uproot it completely. The Temple also held part of the legitimacy of the throne. An excommunicated king was no longer a king.

Unlike the formless public opinion, the Temple was an organized power.

And the Temple had no intention of taking this incident lightly. Not only was magic itself a taboo, but this was also a great opportunity for the Temple.

The criminal was the Emperor’s mistress. With the world’s attention focused, it was an opportunity to widely spread the Temple’s authority.

Archbishop Akim thought the Temple had been too oppressed by secular power until now.

Even the Emperor was ultimately just a human being under God. He should rightfully respect the Temple and follow its will.

Because the decisions of bishops were carrying out God’s will. He decided to make this fact widely known through this opportunity.

“I’m sorry.”

At Kishower’s words about letting her see the Emperor, he simply bowed his head. Milaire initially looked dazed and bewildered.

“I see.”

However, soon after, with a strangely clear face as if she understood, Milaire spoke once more.

“I see.”

Of course it would be so. Though Milaire had received the Emperor’s love, she had never been an important existence.

And the Emperor knew very well what should be taken and what should be discarded.

“I won’t be able to meet Lawrence either, will I?”

“His Majesty said it would be better not to, for Lord Lawrence’s sake. Right now, not only Lord Lawrence but Lady Artizea is also in a dangerous situation.”

“I see.”

Milaire only said that much. And after that, she didn’t plead to meet the Emperor.

The protesters piled up firewood in front of the Rosan Estate and brought a scarecrow made to resemble Milaire and burned it.

It was Archbishop Akim who calmed those protesters.

He dressed in pristine white liturgical vestments and entered alone among the excited protesters. And he made a promise.

“Buying children with money to use them as sacrifices is, of course, an incomparably terrible thing. However, this matter is not just about that alone.”

Archbishop Akim removed the embroidered silk stole draped over his shoulders and threw it into the burning pyre.

“The corruption of the Imperial family has reached its peak. Do you know what kind of woman that woman is?”

“The Emperor’s woman!”

“The Emperor kept by his side, merely because she was beautiful, such a wicked woman who covets her own gain by making innocent children victims of evil magic. How can a servant of God stand by and watch such reality?”

Archbishop Akim then bowed. It seemed as if he was bowing toward the protesters, and also as if he was doing so toward heaven.

“The Temple will never overlook this matter. So trust in the Temple and return home.”

By doing so, he imprinted the existence of the Temple and himself upon the protesters in an instant.

That day, the protesters offered prayers with the Archbishop at that very spot and held a simple service.

Since the death of Saint Olga, the Temple had never been so revered.

Becoming targets of the Temple was something Lawrence and Artizea could not avoid either.

The protesters, out of respect for the Duke of Evron who had wisely handled the previous human trafficking incident, did not attack the Evron Ducal Residence.

But the Temple was different.

When Archbishop Akim visited leading the clergy, the Evron Ducal Residence responded firmly. They mobilized the knight order to guard the manor like an iron fortress and did not let the clergy inside.

Artizea called for Ansgard and said.

“I will follow Archbishop Akim.”

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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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