The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 211

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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 211

Cadriole’s forces moved like lightning.

The key was to secure the King and Duke Loigar before the King’s Guard and the Cratese Imperial Army could notice.

‘It’s possible.’

Inside the royal palace were only the royal guards and Duke Loigar’s escort guards.

The closest forces were the King’s Guard troops.

However, the King’s Guard had been in complete disarray since the Queen’s death.

Originally, their employer and object of loyalty was the Queen.

The Queen had given them instructions to follow the King’s orders when she was absent.

However, the King had never been involved in the Guard’s organizational structure, training, or discipline establishment. Though they were called the King’s Guard, they had no rapport with the King whatsoever.

After the Queen’s death, the King had ended the national mourning period too quickly. Though he spoke of grief outwardly, few believed he was truly heartbroken.

Probably within a year, talk of remarriage would arise again.

For the guards who loved the Queen, this was an unbearable disappointment.

Moreover, their wages were in arrears as Cadriole attacked House Riagan. The King’s Guard’s finances had been maintained through the Queen’s salt business.

Naturally, the King’s Guard was just sitting in their barracks. The only reason they hadn’t disbanded was that there was nowhere else suitable to go, and their mourning for the Queen wasn’t yet finished.

If the King’s Guard didn’t defend the King and Duke Loigar and buy time, it would be a success.

Everything would be finished before the Cratese Imperial Army at the harbor could arrive here.

Cadriole had been continuously planning in his head since returning to the past.

No, he had thought about it every night before sleep since being betrayed by his father and imprisoned.

How to seize the royal palace in one stroke. How to overturn everything with minimal damage. How to prevent civil war and maintain future royal authority.

And the day to actually execute it had come.

‘If it were someone else’s business, it would be so easy.’

He considered that Milaire and Lawrence had not just held back Artizea but had eaten away at her, essentially cutting off her legs.

If she wanted to live, she needed to abandon her attachment to those two.

However, hadn’t he himself failed to abandon his attachment and nearly lost his head?

The father-son bond had already been severed then. And this time too, his father had tried to make the same choice.

The gunfire didn’t last long.

The royal palace guard captain was already Cadriole’s man. The King’s and Duke Loigar’s escort guards resisted, but their numbers weren’t great to begin with.

Cadriole’s soldiers seized control of all key locations. The nobles were all gathered in the ballroom, so they just needed to seal it off.

Soldiers ransacked the royal palace searching for a few nobles who had escaped the ballroom. Non-attendees would also be confined to their homes tonight.

“What about the King’s Guard?”

Upon hearing that they had secured the King and Duke Loigar, Cadriole asked as he headed in that direction.

“Suppression complete. The Guard Captain has surrendered. Casualties are only three minor injuries on both sides combined.”

“They had no intention of fighting at all, it seems.”

“They seem to understand it was already too late. With the Queen gone, there was no reason to risk their lives in resistance.”

Cadriole clicked his tongue.

“What about the Cratese Imperial Army?”

“Combat has broken out at the harbor.”

“Raise the gates and focus purely on defense. It’ll be troublesome if this escalates. I’ll bring Duke Loigar’s answer within two hours.”

“Yes.”

The centurion who gave the report answered crisply and ran outside.

“What about Ientz’s spies?”

“Still searching. My apologies.”

“They’ve probably escaped. Never mind. They’ll return soon once they assess the situation.”

Cadriole first visited the Duchess Loigar’s quarters.

It wasn’t Gannett who came out to greet him, but Baroness Weave, pale as a sheet.

Maids and servants were resolutely blocking the bedroom door.

Cadriole ordered his soldiers to lower their weapons and step back.

He had already completed his investigation of Gannett’s attendants. There would be no real resistance.

None of them knew how to handle weapons. In fact, for noble women of the east and central regions, being gentle was considered a virtue.

Unlike the central region which was influenced by the north and south, the conservative eastern noble families still frequently used the word “tomboy.”

“There will never be any harm done to Her Highness the Duchess Loigar, so please don’t worry.”

“Do you think you’ll be safe after committing such an outrageous act?”

Baroness Weave spoke with veins bulging in her neck.

Cadriole smiled.

“Please tell her that His Highness Duke Loigar won’t face even the slightest danger, so she needn’t be alarmed.”

Baroness Weave glared at Cadriole with her lips pressed firmly together.

Cadriole left Gannett’s side alone and went to meet Duke Loigar and King Eimel.

The two men had moved from Gannett’s reception room to the King’s sitting room. It was to have a more comfortable drinking session.

When he opened the sitting room door, the smell of blood and alcohol mixed together hit him. The guards’ corpses were still being carried out.

Blood pooled on the marble floor was still red and sticky. Broken bottles rolled on the floor.

Despite their faces being flushed from alcohol, both men looked pale. King Eimel had completely lost his composure.

“You, what is the meaning of this!”

King Eimel shouted, foaming at the mouth.

Cadriole scratched near his ear with his pinky finger. It looked like he was playing around.

“Cadriole!”

“Your Highness Duke Loigar.”

Cadriole ignored King Eimel and looked at Duke Loigar with a kind face.

“I apologize for involving you in such matters.”

“What is all this about?”

Duke Loigar looked at him with a stern face. Cadriole smiled.

The reason this man maintained his dignity unlike King Eimel was probably because he was confident that Cadriole could never harm him.

And that was also true.

Though rebellious spirit and mischief surged up inside him, Cadriole suppressed it. And he spoke with a deliberately serious face.

“It is both a national disgrace and a family disgrace, so I am ashamed to tell Your Highness. However, it’s not unrelated to the Empire either.”

Cadriole placed a hand on his chest and bowed his head respectfully.

“Knowing that His Majesty Emperor Gregor strictly forbade it, my father interfered with Riagan salt distribution, creating this disturbance, and by persistently trying to hide it, he caused Your Highness to make the difficult journey to the south. I apologize. Had I known earlier, I would have properly reported to His Majesty the Emperor first and followed proper procedures.”

Duke Loigar realized he was cornered.

His plan had been to call in the Imperial Army before dawn tomorrow and attack Cadriole together with the King’s Guard.

However, he had been counter-attacked. With the situation overturned by force, pointing to Cadriole as the Queen’s assassin would be difficult to make effective.

It would become a war. The Emperor would avoid that. From the beginning, something like the Queen of Eimel’s death was nothing at all from the Imperial capital.

Moreover, Cadriole had undoubtedly already sent word to the Emperor about the salt business.

If he sent evidence of the salt business, offered King Eimel as a scapegoat, and paid appropriate compensation on top of that, it would be a result that achieved the face and profit the Emperor desired.

Including the fact that Duke Loigar had made a blunder instead of an achievement.

“Your Highness should return to your quarters and rest. Tomorrow morning when the situation is settled, I’ll visit again to pay my respects.”

Duke Loigar clenched his fists tightly. Then he turned his gaze away from the King and quietly left the room.

King Eimel looked at Cadriole with a face full of rage. He too now understood what was happening.

“Do you think a crown seized by killing both parents won’t break your neck?”

“I do think about it sometimes. Why is killing one’s father a heavier sin than killing one’s son?”

Cadriole lightly kicked a glass shard at his feet.

“You bastard…!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t assassinate or depose my father. Well, I can’t guarantee what the greedy Emperor of Cratese might demand.”

“I know nothing about that business!”

“You should know something, father.”

Cadriole said with a bitter smile.

“At least you should have known why the Queen feared me.”

“How could I have imagined my own child would be such an outrageous scoundrel! I should have followed her wishes long ago!”

King Eimel shouted angrily. Cadriole’s subordinates bristled.

“Please don’t speak carelessly, Your Majesty.”

“Why have we endured until now!”

“Who was it that tried to kill His Highness the Prince by bringing in foreign forces!”

The simultaneous outbursts were stopped by Cadriole’s gesture.

“You too, do not speak so carelessly.”

Cadriole spoke in a low voice. The resentment built up inside him was not something that should be spoken by others’ mouths.

The King of Eimel became slightly frightened and lowered his voice.

“What do you intend to do? Duke Loigar is someone who will become the Emperor of Kratese. Are you really going to war with the Empire?”

“Do not worry. Duke Loigar will never become Emperor. You need not regret being foolish even in the future. Even the Kingdom of Ientz cannot predict such things now.”

Cadriole said this and gestured to his subordinates.

Two of Cadriole’s close associates moved personally and linked arms with the King on both sides.

“Escort him to the prepared room. His quarters must be cleared.”

This did not mean clearing away corpses, but rather clearing out the King’s servants and overturning all furniture to find every secret that might be in the room.

The King was dragged away shouting curses.

Cadriole looked down at the bloodstains on the floor for a moment and said.

“Give them a proper funeral. They were loyal retainers.”

“Yes.”

The atmosphere was far from bright.

* * *

Albert, an exchange student from Ientz, bowed his head respectfully and asked.

“How did you judge that Prince Cadriole would endure until now?”

“It would be strange to have such doubts.”

Artizea looked at the ripples forming in her teacup and asked.

“Why were you holding back when you knew a sure way to advance your career?”

“…That was a foolish question. I apologize.”

Albert bowed his head.

“Compared to you, Prince Cadriole’s inability to strike first had clear reasons. If he had exposed the salt trade business and blamed the King immediately after the Queen’s death, his justification would be weak and he would ultimately be criticized for a son attacking his father.”

Therefore, Cadriole expanded the situation. So that even the villagers of the southern fishing villages of the Empire would know that Prince Eimel had started a war to find the Queen’s assassin.

So they would also learn that as a result of that war, the King of Eimel had stepped down.

While at it, he attacked the south and seized as much practical benefit as he could.

He swept through large merchant guilds and traditional families once, and even plundered the Imperial Army’s supply depots.

Resources aside, merchants and nobles in the south could no longer form cartels. Solidifying a governing system like in the eastern region would be impossible for the next half-century.

‘He must have thought that far ahead, if it’s Prince Cadriole.’

Turbulent times were always more favorable to Eimel than to Ientz.

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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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