The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 255

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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 255

“Bring cold tea.”

The Emperor strode into the drawing room and spoke coldly.

“No, cold water first.”

The Chamberlain hurriedly brought water and offered it. The water was not cold but lukewarm.

They said drinking cold water wasn’t good for him, but today he felt suffocated. The Emperor slammed the water glass down on the floor and said.

“Bring ice!”

The Chamberlain gestured to a young servant.

The young servant quietly rushed away. He had to hurry to bring ice from the ice house.

The Emperor collapsed into his armchair. Then he personally loosened the collar that was choking his neck.

The Chamberlain rushed over and personally removed his shoes and socks. It didn’t seem like the Emperor would tolerate even being told to change into comfortable clothes.

Instead, he carefully removed the heavy gold ornaments and insignia attached to the ceremonial robes so as not to be bothersome.

“Bring Kishower.”

The Chamberlain quickly gestured. Another servant ran out.

The Emperor closed his eyes.

He realized he had been cornered.

The Emperor had thought he was controlling the situation until now.

Even if Cedric was the only member of the imperial family worthy of being his successor, it was still the case.

Cedric had a weak political foundation. The Emperor could have rejected him if he wanted to.

Power was now being reorganized around Cedric, but that was ultimately because he had allowed it.

The Emperor could have overturned the succession structure by putting forward his two illegitimate daughters or their children instead.

Even if the Empress didn’t agree, it wasn’t like there were no means he could use.

What could the Empress do if he captured and threatened the young children of the Peshier family and the Empress’s old friends?

He decided to pass the throne to Cedric instead.

There were various reasons, such as Leticia receiving God’s grace, or for his daughters’ future.

But above all, it was because the Emperor himself wanted to peacefully conclude his reign.

He was acutely aware that he had grown old.

This feeling had become even stronger since losing Milaire. He had been lonely in his own way.

The Emperor thought the political events that had occurred over the past few years were also due to that.

His solid power had been damaged.

Each time, he felt his own aging.

In the end, choosing Cedric was because of that.

The Emperor himself also wanted peace. He didn’t want to be recorded in future history books as having lost power due to senility and failing to properly select the next ruler.

But now the problem had changed.

‘Tia is a saint?’

It could only feel like nonsense.

The Emperor considered himself to know Artizea well.

She moved by calculating profit and odds of winning.

She wasn’t ashamed to flatter the powerful, and didn’t consider becoming servile a humiliation if it meant victory.

She would join hands with those she needed and betray those she didn’t. She would have calculated the value of loyalty and faith with the same formula.

Yet the reason she could put forward this oracle was only one.

‘Even if I get angry, it’s too late to overturn it.’

Since she thought it was more advantageous to rely on the oracle than on his favor, she revealed what she had hidden.

Indeed, the Emperor had now lost the right to choose his successor.

Even if he changed his mind now, he couldn’t stop the Crown Prince investiture ceremony.

It wasn’t a matter of it being just days away, or foreign envoys having already arrived.

Rather, it was a matter of legitimacy.

An oracle had come down that the saint would become Empress.

Then the saint’s husband would be Emperor. If that person was a direct member of the imperial family, there was nothing more to say.

Cedric’s legitimacy no longer lay in being the Emperor’s adopted son.

Even if he broke the adoption and sent him back to Evron instead of Cratese, the temple and the people would believe without doubt that Cedric was the next Emperor.

‘Impudent thing.’

There was nothing the Emperor could do at this point.

It was right after the oracle had been proclaimed. If he tried to bring down Cedric here, he would only become an apostate.

No matter how much of an Emperor he was, he couldn’t confront the temple backed by an oracle.

So it would be better to be grateful and relieved that he had adopted Cedric as Crown Prince before the oracle was revealed.

At least it wouldn’t appear that he had decided on the Crown Prince because he was pushed by the oracle.

Just because there was an oracle didn’t mean his reasons for choosing Cedric as successor disappeared.

For his daughters, for a peaceful succession, for a stable reign, he knew there were no other alternatives.

A servant brought tea filled with ice. The Emperor gulped down the tea.

He felt heat boiling and aching deep in his head.

The servant announced.

“Count Kishower has arrived for audience.”

“Let him in.”

Kishower entered and knelt on one knee in a proper posture.

“Did you summon me, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor looked at him with reddened eyes.

Nothing in the world could be completely trusted. The Emperor no longer believed in personal loyalty or devotion.

Nevertheless, a hot lump formed in his chest. He thought of it not as a sense of betrayal, but as a sense of failure.

He had failed both in understanding Kishower and in securing his loyalty.

“You must have known, right?”

“….”

“I never believed in Saint Olga’s miracles from the beginning. Rather, I thought Tia had probably obtained some excellent medicine from somewhere.”

The Emperor spat out.

“It was healing by holy power.”

“I don’t think you’ll believe me, but… I didn’t know either.”

Kishower said respectfully.

“When the Duchess of Evron saved my daughter, she made me promise beforehand not to ask about the method. She said to just consider it all a miracle of the saint.”

“….”

“So I followed that promise and never asked what method was used, only thinking of it as a miracle of the saint as I was told.”

“Still, you must have had some suspicions.”

“The last saint appeared over a hundred years ago. Moreover… it’s difficult to say this, but she’s not particularly devout either…”

Kishower said with his head bowed.

“When she asked me to keep it secret, I rather thought she might have done something forbidden by imperial law.”

The Emperor closed his mouth and looked down at Kishower.

His anger hadn’t subsided, but he couldn’t find fault. The Emperor himself had thought exactly the same thing.

Nevertheless, it was unacceptable.

“I trusted you because you weren’t close to anyone.”

“Yes.”

“Now I can no longer trust you. Stay in that position only until the investiture ceremony.”

Kishower didn’t make excuses. Instead, he said this.

“I’m truly sorry for disappointing you.”

The Emperor gestured for him to withdraw.

Fatigue suddenly overwhelmed him. The Emperor buried himself deep in his armchair and glared into empty space.

“An oracle?”

Such a thing couldn’t be true.

But that holy power was real.

‘I wondered how she persuaded Father Colton, but this matter was entangled from that time.’

Then Artizea hiding that she was a saint was quite an old affair.

The Emperor gritted his teeth.

‘She’s been moving to target the throne since Archbishop Akim’s time. She wasn’t defeated, but used that as an opportunity to sweep away an entire faction within the Church.’

Perhaps even her collapse had been an act.

And the events before that too.

The depths of his eyes felt tired, so the Emperor covered his eyes with his palm.

“Milaire….”

He didn’t know how long it had been since he called that name.

The reason the Emperor hadn’t suspected her until now was because he thought that whatever means Artizea used, what she ultimately wanted was her parents’ recognition and love.

Her ambition for power wasn’t incompatible with that either.

At least that’s what he had thought until now.

That premise was completely wrong.

What he had thought was someone to cherish was actually his most threatening enemy.

* * *

Artizea had a dream.

In the dream, she was hanging in the Underground Prison.

「Tenacious. She’s still alive.」

「It’s the Empress’s power.」

「Shh. If the new Empress hears that story….」

One guard stopped his colleague.

「Damn it, let her hear. My Empress is only the Holy Lady.」

「Why did she bestow a blessing on such a woman.」

「That must have deep meaning too. Rather than dying quickly and getting off easy.」

「Well, that’s true too.」

At the time, she didn’t have the strength to think about it.

But thinking about it now, they were right.

The karma was truly vicious. Lisia’s blessing to her would have been forgiveness, but it was only prolonging her painful time.

‘Why does the Divine give oracles and such?’

Thinking about it now, she couldn’t understand why the Divine gave Lisia an oracle either.

Lisia possessed tremendous holy power, but she wasn’t a being who transcended humanity.

Can one person save the world?

If they can save it, must that one person be sacrificed?

Artizea didn’t know. She was neither a philosopher nor a believer.

Artizea dreamed of the ruined Eastern Region and the destroyed Western Regions.

「Is it necessary work, or unnecessary work.」

Cedric had said.

「Does that person have no consciousness of wanting to cherish, treasure, and make excellent what is theirs?」

Lisia had said.

「Please tell them that Lisia went without regret.」

Come to think of it, Artizea didn’t know what the real oracle she had received was.

When she woke from sleep, her body felt tired like waterlogged cotton.

“My lady, are you alright?”

Sophie looked at her face in surprise.

Artizea tried to say she was fine, but her voice was hoarse and wouldn’t come out properly.

Holy power was too inefficient. There was no way to know how much life force it consumed.

Magic was much better in that you could calculate the price accurately.

If she could have used magic, she naturally would have. She would have brought greater effect by healing the Karam Half-blood on the spot.

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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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