The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 263

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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 263

Jacob replied readily.

“She’s a woman who received an oracle that she would become Empress. There’s no way I wouldn’t be interested.”

“You think you could become Emperor if you kidnapped her and made her your wife?”

Lawrence said.

Even though it wasn’t particularly a sarcastic tone, Jacob’s face contorted.

He was fifty this year. Even if Lawrence didn’t mean it that way, talking like that about a young woman who was barely in her twenties made him feel ashamed.

Even if he actually had such intentions.

“I have a son who’s come of age.”

He said like an excuse.

Lawrence swirled his wine glass.

“Well. When there’s a shortcut, why bother taking the long way? Maybe you could gain another excellent child.”

“Isn’t it too cold of you to act like a stranger when it’s your younger brother’s matter?”

Jacob frowned and looked at him.

Jacob also had siblings. They weren’t particularly close. In fact, Jacob was a tyrant to them too.

However, he still clearly recognized them as family. He regarded them as bothersome burdens, but he had the awareness that he should help or save them when difficult situations arose.

But the person in front of him seemed to lack even that awareness.

Lawrence chuckled softly.

“What you feel isn’t brotherly affection but pride.”

“…”

“In that sense, I could also say that my pride isn’t hurt because I know you have no chance.”

Jacob was about to ask what he meant.

Before that, Lawrence’s hand moved.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

Jacob was dazed for a moment, not knowing what had happened.

Soon after, terrible pain shot up from his stomach.

“Ugh, ughhh…!”

Lawrence put down his wine glass and slowly rose from the sofa.

Jacob rolled on the floor, gasping for breath. Somehow, even though gunshots and screams were heard, no one came running.

“How did…, how…”

How did he eliminate the guard forces that should have been protecting outside the study.

How did he bring in a weapon.

He had given Lawrence many conveniences. However, he hadn’t allowed him to bring weapons into the study.

And until now, Lawrence had seemed completely uninterested in getting his own hands dirty.

There was no need for that. There was nothing to gain from doing so.

Lawrence had no stake in this castle.

Jacob had provided Lawrence with quite a lot of conveniences. He had even lent him troops. In return, he received wealth and information.

This was a fairly well-matched trading relationship.

He couldn’t make a sound. Jacob wheezed, breathing heavily with blood-mixed foam.

“‘Why?’ would have made for more interesting conversation.”

Lawrence replied indifferently while waiting for the gun barrel to cool.

Revolvers weren’t reliable weapons. When there was time, it was better to use them as single-shot rather than risk an explosion.

“If you ask how, I could say it’s because you’ve reigned like a king for too long.”

Then the door opened, and someone entered.

Lawrence turned that way and shrugged. It was Jacob’s son Olven who had entered.

“Still not finished?”

Lawrence didn’t bother to reply. Instead, he aimed the loaded pistol at Jacob’s head.

Bang!

That was the end.

Olven trembled his hands as if excited. His face was bright red, and cold sweat beaded all over.

Lawrence looked at Olven indifferently.

People are evil. On that point, he completely agreed with Artizea.

Self-control is created by circumstances.

When given the opportunity to reveal their inner ugly desires, people would always cast off their human shells.

In his tedious life, that alone was quite good entertainment for Lawrence.

“Well then.”

Lawrence opened the revolver’s cylinder to check the bullets.

The man who had no courage but plenty of greed looked back and forth between his father’s corpse and Lawrence with eyes mixed with avarice and fear.

Intense anguish crossed his pig-like face.

Lawrence smirked.

“Why? Do you think you could betray me and pin this crime on me to receive power as an innocent victim?”

“I, I didn’t say that. The, the price is…”

Olven stammered.

Lawrence pulled back the hammer toward him with a click. Olven’s eyes widened.

But Lawrence released it and threw it on the floor.

“I don’t need it. Handle the rest yourself.”

And he leisurely left the study as if nothing had happened.

Because foolish Olven had cleared away the guards in advance, the corridor remained quiet even after the gunshots.

At the end of the corridor, a middle-aged man stood with guards.

“There was an assassination attempt on the lord.”

“Thank you for informing us.”

The man answered in a heavy voice.

He gestured. Trustworthy guards quickly ran to the study to catch the assassin.

Lawrence leisurely left the castle.

There was one more thing he had learned from Artizea.

You should trust the situation rather than trust the opponent.

Olven wasn’t the only one eyeing power in this castle. Olven, those who wanted to set up Olven as a puppet and seize real power, and those who wanted to frame him as an assassin to become lord themselves would fight each other.

There would also be fools who were truly loyal to Jacob.

The competing neighboring counts and bandits wouldn’t just watch this unfold.

What Lawrence needed was that chaos.

A subordinate approached.

“What about over there?”

“The information has been delivered. It will start soon.”

“Let’s go.”

He spurred his horse.

* * *

Lisia had established herself at the temple.

There was no way to deal with the plague without divine power.

Purifying the land could be done without attracting attention. But people were different.

However, Lisia wanted to hide her divine power.

After Artizea announced that she was a saint, there was even more need to hide it.

So Lisia borrowed an old sacred relic from the temple. She was copying what Artizea had done when she saved Mielle and disguised it as the grace of Saint Olga’s statue.

She was concerned about the temple’s influence growing too large. Having experienced what she did as a saint herself, Lisia couldn’t help but be wary of the temple.

She also thought it wasn’t right for the future for patients to rely on faith instead of doctors.

It also took too much time. Work that could be finished in a few hours by gathering patients in one place and purifying them by touch had to be done one person at a time with proper reverence to the sacred relic.

In the meantime, there would be those who died as their condition worsened.

Nevertheless, Lisia had no choice but to do so.

The chaos that would arise when she revealed herself as the Saint could cause even greater problems.

When the time came that she as the Saint was needed, Artizea would contact her.

Until then, she had no choice but to endure.

The last patient offered his thanks several times over. Lisia only responded by telling him to give thanks to God, and sent him away.

Then she slumped into her chair.

Before she knew it, the sun was setting.

“Withdraw.”

Lisia spoke in extreme exhaustion.

Since this had become routine, the priest and guards quietly withdrew without a word.

No one questioned the identity of her healing power, nor did they suspect Lisia.

While wandering the western regions dealing with the plague, only those who believed in her sincerity remained.

Finally, Alphonse left and closed the door.

Lisia closed her eyes and burst forth her holy power like shooting it upward.

The light of purification that began at her feet exploded outward like a burst, spreading as it rushed outside.

Lisia felt her purification power reach beyond the village. And it stopped at an area just past the quarantine line.

‘There are no more places to go in this vicinity, right? Though that’s probably due to the cruel controls…’

Now she should go back and rest.

Early at dawn, when the sun rose, she would wake and move to the next location. There were over ten villages waiting in closure while maintaining quarantine lines.

It was when Lisia was lifting her heavy body.

The ground vibrated with a rumbling sound.

Lisia jumped out in surprise. Alphonse came running in and met her face to face.

“What’s happening? Is it an earthquake? Monsters?”

“No. It’s bandits!”

Alphonse shouted.

Lisia stared blankly over Alphonse’s shoulder. A dust cloud raised by cavalry approached like a storm.

Those terrified in the village screamed and ran here and there.

“Lisia! This isn’t the time to be spacing out!”

“What’s going on? What about the lord’s army?”

There should be no one in this vicinity who could oppose Jacob.

Even if there were bandits, they wouldn’t attack like this without fearing Jacob’s retaliation.

Lisia and Alphonse didn’t know.

Jacob was scheduled to be assassinated and internal strife would break out at the fortress, so there would be no time for retaliation.

Those who heard this information had disguised themselves as bandits and sent an army.

The goal was plunder. To steal property and people, and burn the village.

This was both expanding their own power and weakening Jacob’s forces.

Alphonse said.

“Whatever Count Jacob does, we need to take cover now!”

“Abandoning the village like this?”

Lisia gritted her teeth.

“If those people aren’t real bandits, it might be better for us to stay and negotiate.”

“Your life isn’t something to gamble on ‘what ifs’!”

“The Evron Knight Order and the Empire’s bureaucrats would be fleeing and abandoning the people. Besides, even if we flee by ourselves on this plain, can we actually avoid those bandits?”

“We have to try!”

Alphonse grabbed Lisia’s arm and pulled. He couldn’t let her be sacrificed meaninglessly here.

But Lisia’s words were right. They barely succeeded in getting out of the village. But their escape route was already blocked.

Click!

About fifty gun barrels glinted coldly in the sunlight.

The ten knights who were closest blocked Lisia’s front. But she frantically pushed through people and stepped forward.

She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs felt torn and her heart felt like it would burst, so Lisia clutched her chest.

Lawrence smiled affectionately.

“It’s been a while, Lisia.”

“Are you insane?”

“I came to get you.”

He extended his hand.

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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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