The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 29

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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 29

“You speak wisely. Do you often have such conversations with your fiancée?”

Cedric looked at Rin with a troubled expression.

Artizea had already been exposed to the public far too much. The newspapers had made a fuss about the fact that Cedric had discovered a human trafficking scene while searching for an engagement gift for her.

As the case progressed, the talk seemed to die down for a while. However, when Count Eison’s affair was revealed to the world, her name began to be mentioned again on people’s lips.

Artizea seemed unconcerned about it.

However, unlike her request to strictly protect the White family, she left herself completely unguarded.

Cedric disliked that.

Regardless of trusting Prime Minister Rin both as a person and as a subject of the Empire, he didn’t want to leave Artizea to be carelessly speculated about.

However, he couldn’t refuse to answer when asked.

“This matter isn’t entirely unrelated to her either.”

“I understand that the young lady of Marquess Rosan is still quite young, yet she has remarkable insight. Well, Marchioness Rosan is also quite clever in certain areas despite her hysterical temperament. She instinctively knows how to get what she wants.”

“….”

Since it concerned Artizea’s parents, Cedric held back his words.

Rin spoke gently.

“Do you feel disillusioned with politics?”

“Somewhat.”

Cedric spoke with a sense of emptiness.

He hadn’t been unaware of it before. However, the fact that this incident meant nothing to the Emperor gave Cedric a strangely unfamiliar realization and emptiness.

When Cedric himself was being kept in check, he couldn’t fully grasp it since it was his own problem.

Originally, those who possessed military power were dangerous. Moreover, he was the child of parents who died for treason, and he was half-royal.

However, this incident had no such target to keep in check. Thanks to the situation Artizea had created, it appeared to be a completely coincidental discovery.

Rin was merely assigned to handle the revealed case, and he was the Emperor’s subject.

If anyone needed to be kept in check, it would be Cedric again, but Cedric had never been involved in domestic politics before.

So this matter was purely a civil issue.

Yet the Emperor seemed to think only of using this matter to strengthen his power.

“However, that is the politics of Kraetes. It’s not about distinguishing right from wrong to do the right thing, nor about using finances efficiently, but about weighing public opinion with His Majesty the Emperor’s will as the scale.”

“Don’t you feel disillusioned with that, Prime Minister?”

“A subject must not feel such emotions.”

“Then why do you ask me if I feel disillusioned?”

At that, Rin closed his mouth.

A moment of silence passed. Rin changed the subject.

“Having the bribery case covered up is actually fortunate for Your Highness.”

“Pardon?”

Cedric asked back. Rin answered.

“From our comprehensive view, knowing all the inside details, both Lord Lawrence and Duke Loigar suffered damage from this incident. Duke Loigar not only lost an important source of funds but also gave the Emperor a weakness to exploit. Conversely, he owes Your Highness a favor.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“The damage Lord Lawrence suffered because of Count Eison is needless to say enormous. Not only was he covered in disgrace, but he likely earned His Majesty’s hatred. Considering that Count Eison was a wealthy man, his funding sources probably took a hit as well.”

“That’s right.”

“If the bribery case had been made into a big deal, many people would think Your Highness investigated this matter for Lord Lawrence’s sake. But since the bribery case was covered up, only Lord Lawrence remains.”

Though it was coincidental, it resulted in attacking Lawrence and cutting down his power.

And simultaneously, rumors of his engagement to Artizea spread.

People would now never be able to say that the engagement was a marriage alliance between Lawrence and Cedric.

It turned out as she had promised. Cedric had made his debut in central politics by taking down an important figure from the Lawrence faction.

However, since it started as a coincidence, Lawrence wouldn’t judge him as an enemy.

Had Artizea predicted this far?

It was unknowable.

“Doesn’t your fiancée feel disappointed?”

“No. She said it has nothing to do with her and told me to follow the path I think is right. She knows better than anyone what I should be doing right now.”

“You’ve found a good wife. Don’t let go of that hand, Your Highness. For someone in Your Highness’s position, opportunities to be united by true affection and trust rather than political strategy are rare.”

“Yes, I understand.”

A stifling sigh formed in Cedric’s chest as he answered.

It was the same thing Freil had said for entirely different reasons when this matter began to escalate.

“You must not let the young lady of Marquess Rosan slip away, Your Highness. I think she would be too dangerous to hand over to someone else. Honestly, it gives me chills to think of that young lady becoming Lawrence’s strategist.”

Cedric rationally agreed with those words. However, his emotions rebelled.

Whenever he thought of Artizea, Cedric was seized by strange feelings.

It felt like his heart was being stirred up, or perhaps fluttering.

She was only eighteen years old now. Still young. She was at an age where she should be protected.

When he saw those pale, slender wrists, he thought it would be right to wrap her in a cozy flower blanket and seat her on a sunny sofa, rather than discussing political situations and seeking advice.

He wanted to take care of her. While he needed her advice, he didn’t regard her as someone to be used.

However, more than anyone else, Artizea herself treated herself that way.

It was frustrating, yet it seemed like something he couldn’t do anything about, which hurt his feelings.

* * *

Scratch, scratch.

The sensation of the quill pen scraping against rough paper was disgustingly unpleasant.

Bill groaned and looked at the original again, drawing strokes as if sewing stitch by stitch.

“Damn it….”

He had been stuck in a narrow room for nearly a month, copying an unreadable ancient text book that Artizea had given him.

His wrists and fingers felt like they would break. His eyes hurt too, and just smelling paper and ink made him feel like vomiting.

It might have been fortunate that his punishment ended at this level.

Since he was practically confined here, he could barely grasp how Rosan Manor was operating.

However, he could tell that many people had been dismissed.

Most of the servants who could be called Bill’s closest associates had disappeared.

Instead, it seemed that old employees he had tucked away in corners of the marquess family’s territories or villas had been recalled.

The maids had also changed quite a bit. Particularly, many maids who did menial work like cleaning and laundry had changed, and the number of maids dressed in fine clothes had increased.

Most of the senior maids would have gone to the separate palace with Milaire, so those maids were all newly hired to serve Artizea.

Even Jacob, who had been strutting around for a while, hadn’t been seen since a certain point.

“To think that young lady was so frightening.”

As he muttered to himself, Alice, who happened to be entering through the door, snorted.

“Hmph, it was your mistake to take the master lightly.”

“Alice, you…!”

“I don’t know why she told me to bring afternoon tea.”

Alice huffed.

Rizhe, who followed behind her, swept the papers piled on the narrow desk with her hand, scattering them on the floor, and placed the tea tray down.

Bill jumped up.

“Hey! You!”

“Who are you calling ‘hey’?”

Rizhe glared up at Bill with raised eyes.

Bill stamped his feet. However, he couldn’t bring himself to reach out and only spat out curses.

“Wow, now even this tiny thing is ignoring me? Hey, Alice, are you just going to stand there while she acts like this?”

“Why? It’s better than calling each other ‘hey’ between fellow employees. Are you a noble? Are you the employer? If you don’t like it, don’t drink it.”

As soon as Alice said that, Rizhe picked up the tray again. Bill shouted “Hey!” again.

“No, no. I was wrong. I was wrong, so put that down and go.”

“Rizhe.”

“Honestly, I don’t understand why we’re even bringing tea to a criminal.”

Rizhe spoke spitefully. Alice sighed.

“Since he hasn’t been fired yet, we have to leave him be.”

“Alice.”

Bill changed his expression and called Alice with a desperate voice.

“Please let me see the young lady.”

“What would you say if you saw the young lady?”

“First, I’ll apologize for my wrongdoings.”

“Tell me the 10 most serious things you did wrong.”

Bill shut his mouth tight. Then he chose carefully.

“Disrespecting the young lady…?”

“Wrong.”

“Then… mistaking who the master is…?”

“That would be about third on the list. Think carefully. I’ll try speaking to the young lady for now.”

“Here!”

Bill held out a paper folded four times to Alice as she was about to leave.

“What is it?”

“A letter of apology.”

Rizhe let out an openly mocking laugh, but Bill spoke seriously.

“Please tell her it’s my sincere feelings.”

“Fine.”

Alice accepted it with an incredulous expression.

Artizea, who received the letter of apology, couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Even with his base character, he’s been playing the role of head butler at the Rosan Marquess Estate for several years. There must be at least one thing he’s good at.”

“Groveling?”

“Mother is capricious. Adapting to that personality for over 10 years is a talent, if you can call it that.”

“It’s a talent that’s nothing but harmful in all things.”

Alice grumbled.

“Are you just going to leave him be? Not dismiss him?”

“I’ll leave him alone until the day I leave this house. If I just leave the head maid and head butler in place, Mother won’t pay attention to those below them. For now, I’m just preparing.”

“Still, she’ll be furious just from you taking away the ledgers and keys and making him copy books like that.”

“Even if it’s just going through the motions, we have to do it, don’t we? And Bill still has his uses.”

Artizea said this while flipping through the papers Bill had copied the day before, one by one.

As she did so, she selected the one that looked most like proper writing among those papers.

Ancient script is difficult to learn. Even if Bill copied for a year instead of a month, he wouldn’t know what he had written.

He would believe that Artizea had brought him a book written in such complex characters to torment him.

Of course, Artizea wasn’t doing this out of petty revenge.

The purpose of this task was to prevent Bill from doing other work.

And the more important purpose was to compile a book without revealing the handwriting.

Bill’s handwriting wouldn’t work either. Bill wasn’t writing letters but drawing pictures.

And finally today, she had gathered enough pages as she wanted.

Artizea bound it herself and entrusted it to Rizhe.

“Take this and place it in the study. The eastern corner would be good.”

“This?”

Rizhe tilted her head. Alice said,

“When the young lady gives instructions, you don’t need to wonder about the reason. She tells us everything we need to know.”

“Yes.”

Rizhe answered obediently and went outside carrying the book. Alice said,

“Young lady, you need to hurry now. It’s almost time for afternoon tea.”

“I know.”

“Really, this day has come. To think the young lady would be receiving guests at tea time. Come quickly. You need to change your clothes.”

Alice clasped her hands together and rejoiced as if she herself were excited.

Artizea nodded calmly and looked out the window. It was perfect sunny weather for holding a tea party in the garden.

It was a very good day to set things in motion.

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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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