The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 251

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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 251

Count Nicholas Aison was not alone.

Three nobles stood behind him. There were many more who shared their cause.

If this accusation failed to work, there would be a second accusation. After that, a third accusation was prepared.

“You only need to win once at the very end, and you win everything. There’s nothing to fear, Nick.”

That’s what the one who sent him had said. Count Aison agreed with those words, which is why he had gathered those who shared their cause.

Even so, his body trembled with fear.

Count Aison was a typical petty man who only knew how to raise his voice at those of low status and no power.

The Aison family had tradition, honor, and wealth.

His great-grandfather was one of the meritorious subjects who helped when the previous emperor ascended the throne. However, he withdrew from politics early and lived enjoying the rest of his life.

And he left teachings to his descendants.

“Power is gambling with your life on the line. It may seem like glory awaits, but in the end, you’ll lose all your stakes. Since I’m already leaving you wealth and honor, you don’t need to dabble in gambling.”

His children didn’t particularly treasure those last words like golden rules.

It was just fortunate that up until Nicholas, there wasn’t a single descendant with ambition.

The Count Aison family enjoyed pleasures without stepping on any dangerous paths.

The current emperor also encouraged such tendencies. If they praised the emperor’s authority, paid taxes, and enjoyed entertainment, the emperor would bestow appropriate rewards. As long as their antics didn’t go too far and disturb the nation.

A considerable number of the nobles who had gathered around Milaire were such people.

Since they thought such a life would last forever, they never threw themselves into politics risking their family’s fate.

To borrow the words of Count Aison’s ancestor, they would gamble with money but not with their lives.

Count Aison had been friendly with Lawrence but didn’t actively help when he was expelled.

He didn’t actively support Duke Loigar either.

In their view, Duke Loigar’s faction were foolish people who had fallen after being greedy beyond their station.

They were uncomfortable when Sedric was appointed Crown Prince. Sedric wasn’t close to any of them and despised the entertainment they enjoyed.

But even so, they didn’t think the long-standing peace would be broken.

They were nobles. Even if they had stepped back from politics, they were the ruling class that supported the monarch and solidified the status system and power structure.

No matter how much the emperor employed and valued commoners, the Empire’s governing system was based on hereditary succession by bloodline.

The imperial family stood at the pinnacle of that system.

Therefore, denying the nobility was no different from denying the imperial family.

That’s what they thought. Until they heard these words.

“Why do you think that? That bastard has plenty of forces that can replace the nobles.”

“What are you talking about? With the eastern nobles losing power from this incident, without our cooperation…”

“Northerners.”

That meant both region of origin and bloodline.

“Do you think Sedric has forgotten his grudges? He might say so now. He’ll try to win His Majesty’s favor to ascend to the throne. But when he reaches the pinnacle where he doesn’t need to mind anyone, will he still feel the need to endure?”

To Count Aison, those words felt much more realistic and logical than talk of someone trying to suppress and forgive grudges.

Still, he spoke of the positive things he knew.

“But didn’t Duke of Evron marry your sister and start a new family?”

“You think starting a new family will soften his heart and make him seek stability?”

Lawrence smiled mockingly.

“Nick, believe me. My sister is the most excellent person in this world at inciting and exploiting others’ grudges.”

“…Your sister?”

“What about those who raised Sedric? Haven’t they whispered any grudges about his parents’ death into his ears until now? Will Sedric cut off the northerners completely once he becomes Crown Prince?”

Lawrence spoke with a smooth smile. His tongue, glimpsed between his soft cherry-colored lips, moved like a serpent’s.

That couldn’t be. Count Aison nervously moved his lips.

“That bastard may have received only half his blood from the north, but his heart is entirely northern. He’s lived for the north until now, so if you put the emperor’s crown on him, do you really think he’ll suddenly become your lord?”

He’ll probably sweep you all away and fill those positions with northerners.

Lawrence whispered.

That observation also made them aware of something the mainland nobles secretly feared.

The north would retaliate as much as they had been oppressed. Northern nobles alone might not be enough, but if you added knights and the semi-noble class, they could completely replace the ruling class.

If the north came to rule the Empire, they would all be massacred.

Not just the north. Count Aison recalled that Sedric also had support from western warlords.

“We should attack first before being isolated, right?”

At Lawrence’s words, Count Aison finally nodded.

Of course, even if there was necessity, Count Aison would never have undertaken such a thing if there were no chance of victory.

However, when he investigated as Lawrence had instructed, decisive evidence literally emerged.

“This man has already confessed everything.”

Count Aison spoke vehemently, pointing at the witness.

His face was so swollen with scabs from whatever had been done to him that it was hard to recognize his features.

He couldn’t even stand properly, requiring two soldiers to hold him up on both sides.

“Who is that man?”

The emperor frowned and asked.

“It’s Karam, captured from Evron Duchy Mansion.”

Saying that, Count Aison personally approached the man and roughly pulled off the hood he was wearing.

A third eye was revealed.

“Gasp!”

“Good heavens!”

“It’s a monster!”

Screams erupted from all directions.

Count Aison spoke with a triumphant attitude.

“They say there are others in even more horrible states who meet the Duke directly.”

“Hmm.”

The emperor made a contemplative sound.

“This is the only one that can speak, so we only brought this one, but there are more terrible beasts! If you permit it, we’ll bring them immediately.”

The emperor glanced at Sedric. Sedric had a frighteningly expressionless face.

The witness looked at Sedric once, then lowered his head and closed his eyes. He only shed tears from his three eyes and couldn’t speak.

“Speak quickly.”

Count Aison said to him.

“Confess to His Majesty what you admitted!”

Slap!

He swung his hand and struck the witness’s cheek. Blood burst from the witness’s mouth, whose wounds were still fresh.

When the Evron Ducal retainers standing behind started to surge forward, Sedric gestured for them to stay put.

And he looked at Count Aison with dark eyes.

Count Aison had been acting triumphant, but when his eyes met Sedric’s, he flinched and froze.

His frightened body unconsciously stepped backward.

As if refusing to acknowledge this, he made an even more aggressive sound and confronted Sedric.

“Won’t you make any excuses?”

“You haven’t yet told me what charges you’re accusing me of.”

“Ugh! With such clear evidence right here, what more do you want me to say!”

Count Aison shrieked in a shrill voice.

“With disgusting monsters that have four arms or are covered in hair from crown to tailbone freely entering and leaving the mansion!”

“We witnessed and captured it at Evron Mansion.”

At that point, leather merchant Negil, who had been standing back, stepped forward.

It seemed that leaving it to Count Aison wouldn’t produce any logical statements.

The other three nobles also seemed just as stupid to Negil. They probably didn’t even understand how to use Karam’s shocking appearance to brand Duke of Evron as a heretic.

“Your Majesty, may I have the opportunity to say a word?”

“Speak. Instead of that fool.”

“That creature is not a simple mutant, but a half-breed between Karam and human.”

“Evron Duchy has bordered Karam territory to the north for hundreds of years. Though it’s a disgusting matter, it wouldn’t be strange for half-breeds to exist.”

The Emperor looked toward Sedric and narrowed his eyes.

“The North is a barren place with a sparse population. Though the previous Emperor abolished slavery, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Duke captured such creatures and used them as slaves.”

There was a subtle nuance in the Emperor’s tone.

So it was difficult to tell whether he meant it was tolerable, or that using slaves was a crime against imperial law.

Perhaps he intended to clear the major crime of collusion charges while leaving behind the lesser crime of slavery.

Count Eison jumped up in agitation.

“Those who colluded with demons and their demon spawn should all be burned to death! How does it make sense to keep them alive and use them! The fact that the northern temples turned a blind eye to this means they’re all in cahoots!”

Negil also spoke calmly.

“The Duke of Evron didn’t spare the mother and child who communed with Karam out of soft-heartedness. He was actively using them to communicate with Karam.”

Negil presented another piece of evidence. It was several sheets of hand-copied paper, a cultivation journal of some plant that included drawings.

Thinking Negil alone wouldn’t carry enough weight, Viscount Conor, who had been standing behind Count Eison, stepped forward to speak.

“This is a cultivation journal for crops brought from Karam. They say he created an entire village to research cultivation methods. Beyond Told Gate, mixing Karam and humans together.”

“This person is from that village and was captured while frequenting even the fortress.”

Negil added.

“There are many suspicions about the war two winters ago as well. There were too few casualties for there to have been a war.”

Negil knelt before the Emperor and raised his voice. It was clearly intended to create dramatic effect.

“For over ten years, I regularly visited Evron Mansion as a merchant. But in none of the years when there was supposedly war was it ever as calm and vibrant as two winters ago.”

“Shut up.”

Sedric responded for the first time in a low, strong tone.

Negil flinched. He tried not to look back at Sedric.

However, while he succeeded in not looking back, he failed to not be overwhelmed by that presence.

The Evron Ducal retainers standing behind Sedric looked ready to rush out and kill Negil at a moment’s command.

Negil’s body trembled. Even though he hadn’t taken the full brunt of that presence, Count Eison and the other three nobles also broke out in cold sweat.

“Was it so strange to you that people in Evron weren’t dying?”

All inflection had completely disappeared from Sedric’s frozen voice.

“Did it seem so natural to you that young people would die en masse and disappear every time Told Gate was struck?”

“Your Highness the Prince.”

Prime Minister Lin interjected as if trying to stop him. Sedric didn’t stop.

“Is a life of cutting down large trees in summer and stacking them neatly in warehouses for fear of running short of wood for coffins the natural order of the North?”

Sedric clenched his fist. It seemed like a cracking sound could be heard.

“How many people living in Evron land do you think have lost parents and children to Karam? Do you think there’s even a single person who hasn’t lost relatives and neighbors to Karam? In this place stands one who lost both grandparents and parents to Karam and witnessed his son’s arm being severed before his very eyes.”

In his voice were layered all the voices of the retainers standing behind him. And beyond that, the voices of Evron land as well.

“How dare you drag Karam into your attempts to find fault with Evron?”

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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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