The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 198

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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 198

Skyla finished her meal early.

Despite her position as Camellia Viscountess, Skyla was not among the most important of the maids.

She was favored as Gannett’s niece. However, she was young and had not been a maid for very long.

There was also the fact that Countess Camellia, the head maid, deliberately treated her strictly because she didn’t want to be accused of favoritism.

Countess Camellia had also asked other maids, including Baroness Weave, to do the same.

Thanks to this, when Skyla got up from her seat first, no one bothered to stop her. Only Duke Riagan’s secretary, who was sitting next to her, asked.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m worried about some luggage I haven’t organized yet.”

Even if the packing itself was left to the maids, a superior couldn’t completely neglect their duties.

Since such menial tasks were usually handled by the youngest, the secretary didn’t find it strange. The daughter of Count Dellerway sitting across from them only nodded.

Skyla left the banquet hall. She returned to Gannett’s toilette room first, then came back out wearing a modest shawl.

To make Gannett stand out, she was deliberately wearing a modest gray-green dress, and her skirt wasn’t puffed out either.

Thanks to this, she could disguise her status by covering the ruffled top.

Skyla took an undecorated bonnet and went outside again.

The guard watching the corridor tilted his head slightly.

“Where are you going, Camellia Viscountess?”

“Just getting some fresh air.”

Skyla answered only that and went out of the corridor.

Once she left the vicinity of Gannett’s quarters, Skyla put on her bonnet.

Duke Riagan’s manor was currently mixed with Duke Loigar’s party and Prince Cadriole’s party.

There were also people who had come to report news from other cities and ended up staying, making it chaotic.

So no one particularly suspected an unfamiliar woman passing by. They glanced at Skyla’s modest bonnet and dress and simply thought she must be some unimportant person’s attendant.

Skyla headed to the top of the manor. After looking around several times in front of a wooden door, she inserted a key.

Whether it was well-oiled, the key turned without a sound.

Skyla went inside. It was a storage room for miscellaneous items. There were several chairs placed there, as if employees rested there.

An elderly maid who had been sitting there was startled to see Skyla and stood up.

“No need to act.”

Skyla held out the key to the maid.

Since it was a storage room, the key would only lock from the outside. If she wasn’t being bullied and confined, a colleague must have locked it.

This meant she had been waiting for Skyla to come. The maid’s acting skills weren’t particularly outstanding to begin with.

The maid bowed respectfully and accepted the key from Skyla’s hand.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Camellia Viscountess.”

“Identify yourself.”

“I’m called Pelona from Ientz.”

Skyla knew that name. Pelona Trading Company was a famous textile merchant that even Skyla knew about.

“Are you saying you’re the owner of Pelona Trading Company?”

“That’s correct.”

Pelona showed her identification papers.

Skyla had no way to verify Ientz identification papers here. It was something she would have to look into separately later.

Regardless, she could at least tell that the other party would cooperate with identity verification and had no hostile intentions. If so, it was probably true that she was from Ientz.

Skyla sighed inwardly.

She hadn’t been without worry when she received the note and came out secretly alone.

Of course, if she, as Gannett’s niece and Camellia Viscountess, were to be murdered in such a complicated situation, that would escalate into a tremendous diplomatic problem.

There was no guarantee that no one was aiming for that. Even if the possibility was low, Skyla only had one life.

Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the purpose.

“What’s the reason you called me out?”

“There’s something I want to petition Princess Consort Loigar about.”

“I’m just a young, youngest maid. If you’re trying to exert influence on Her Highness through me, I’d like to tell you that you’re mistaken, President.”

“But you are Princess Consort Loigar’s niece. And you are Camellia Viscountess.”

Pelona said kindly. Her attitude felt almost servile.

Initially, they had tried to approach Countess Camellia from Ientz Kingdom.

Both considering her influence on Princess Consort Loigar and her position as Duke Loigar’s advisor.

When Countess Camellia suddenly dropped out of the entourage due to the Camellia Marquess family’s problems, their initial plan collapsed.

Contacting Skyla was an alternative they had no choice but to select. Sufficient information hadn’t been prepared.

So they decided they should avoid offending her first.

Skyla noticed this.

If she was the president of Pelona Trading Company, she would be no different from nobility in Ientz Kingdom. She probably would have shown respect even to Countess Camellia.

For such a person to approach so carefully couldn’t be an ordinary matter.

“Tell me what you want. If it’s something worthy of Her Highness’s attention, I’ll arrange a meeting.”

“Thank you.”

Pelona bowed her head. Then she said.

“Our Ientz Kingdom was not involved in the assassination of Queen Eimel.”

“That’s Ientz Kingdom’s official position.”

Skyla said coldly.

“The assassin was an imperial citizen, and his status was indeed imperial nobility. But the money he used to buy his title came from Ientz. Rather than a powerless lower noble doing such a big thing on his own, it would be right to say it was the will of the backer who provided the money.”

“I know that’s the Empire’s position. But why would Ientz Kingdom involve the Empire to assassinate the queen? There’s no reason for that, but if, hypothetically, there was a reason to do so, it would be much more advantageous to handle it among southerners without involving the Empire.”

Pelona spoke quietly.

The first thing revealed about Countess Lexen’s identity was that she was a merchant from Ientz Kingdom.

Naturally, Ientz Kingdom had been putting all their efforts into tracking Countess Lexen’s background since then.

The money Countess Lexen used to buy a title in the Cratese Empire and create a trading company had indeed passed through Ientz Kingdom.

However, the source led back to the Cratese Empire again. Though it went through several routes, that’s what Ientz Kingdom’s merchant association had tracked.

They couldn’t track beyond that. They judged it was too dangerous to search inside the Empire now.

The conclusion Ientz Kingdom reached was as follows.

Queen Eimel’s assassination was due to internal power struggles within the Cratese Empire.

If so, the culprit was either truly Duke Riagan’s family as Prince Cadriole claimed, or someone who could benefit by destroying Duke Riagan’s salt trade business.

However, it was hard to think it was the former. Countess Lexen had too openly met Queen Eimel through Duchess Liagan’s introduction.

If it was the latter, that was troublesome.

No matter how they thought about it, the only one who could intervene in such massive interests as the salt trade business with this kind of boldness was Duke Loigar.

If not Duke Loigar himself, it would be one of his close associates.

Either way, it was equally troublesome.

He was already someone Ientz Kingdom couldn’t dare touch. But he had even been entrusted with handling this matter by the Emperor.

From Ientz Kingdom’s perspective, it was like entrusting the investigation to the culprit. But they couldn’t petition Emperor Gregor either.

That would truly be driving away the wolf only to invite the tiger.

In the end, Ientz Kingdom could do nothing more than assert their country’s innocence.

“We hope Her Highness will convey our petition to His Highness the Prince.”

“Why don’t you visit His Highness the Prince directly? If that’s truly Ientz Kingdom’s will, that goes without saying, but even with President Pelona’s status, you should be able to communicate directly with His Highness the Prince.”

Then Pelona smiled. She knew Skyla was testing her.

“With Prince Cadriole present, how constructive a conversation could we have if we stepped forward?”

Ientz merchant association didn’t fully understand Prince Cadriole’s actions either.

Whether he had risen using the queen’s death as an opportunity, or whether he had been in conspiracy from the beginning.

There was also that reason for wanting to meet the Princess Consort first. At least the Princess Consort was definitely not a conspirator.

Skyla fell into thought for a moment.

She understood Ientz Kingdom’s intention to make a backdoor deal.

Who killed Queen Eimel was no longer an important issue at all.

It was a matter of who would join hands with whom, and who would devour whom.

‘Uncle will be on the devouring side no matter which side he takes…’

Gaps tend to emerge in complex deals.

Skyla felt dizzy.

Artizea had decided to challenge her. When she thought of her mother, there were many times when she felt an inexplicable hatred toward Gannett.

However, when she actually thought about making a hole with her own hands, her affection rolled around in her stomach like grains of sand.

But in the end, Skyla spoke.

“I will speak to Her Highness about this.”

“Thank you.”

“How should I contact you?”

“If you put a blank piece of paper between your pillowcase in the morning, we will come to see you.”

“I understand.”

Skyla nodded her head.

She returned the key and quietly left the warehouse.

And as she had originally stated, she headed toward the carriage that Duchess Loigar had arrived in, both to organize her luggage and get some fresh air.

* * *

The dinner continued in a generally light atmosphere.

Though from the Liagan Duke and Duchess’s perspective, it must have felt like standing on the edge of a precarious needle.

Cadriole conversed with Duke Loigar with an amused feeling.

In his previous life, he had contributed to Duke Loigar’s downfall. However, he had never actually spoken with the Duke before.

It felt ironic that the Duke didn’t even know who had destroyed him, offering friendly smiles and raising his wine glass.

‘This time, well.’

Cadriole had not yet made his decision.

He knew well enough that opposing Artizea was dangerous—so well that he wouldn’t forget it even if his head were cut off.

That also meant that keeping Artizea in the Imperial Center would be dangerous for a long time to come.

But thinking differently, Cedric was based in the North and Western Regions. It would take time for him to extend his reach to the South.

If Duke Loigar became Emperor, the high nobility and merchant magnates of the Eastern Empire would infiltrate the South like a pack of hyenas.

However, politically, they would be more manageable.

In the end, the problem was Artizea.

Artizea was right. Cadriole did not trust her.

They had briefly cooperated implicitly due to temporarily aligned interests. However, the moment she judged that he was detrimental to her lord, she would try to tear Cadriole apart.

‘Still, I’m not inclined to ally with that Evron bastard.’

While he was having such thoughts, he overheard what Duchess Loigar was saying to the Duchess Liagan.

“Duchess Evron will soon give birth. Since we’re relatives, I wanted to show some care, but I haven’t been able to…”

“Was that really true?”

Cadriole found himself interrupting to ask.

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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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