The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 76

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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 76

The beacon fire was raised.

It was after sunset that evening when Cedric, having seen it, hurriedly returned to the castle.

The knights and soldiers who had departed for the hunting grounds came pouring into the fortress without removing their armor.

The sound of military boots trampled the castle, and the red shadows cast by torches blazed throughout the fortress.

The residents of the fortress didn’t even think to open their doors and held their breath in their homes.

Corpses were laid out in rows on the stone floor of the hall. Fourteen guards who had died by the sword, and four unfamiliar Southern Sea people.

Cedric personally covered the bodies of the guards with sheets bearing Evron’s crest. The corpses of the Southern Sea people were bound with rope and dragged out after inspection.

And Cedric sat in the seat of honor in the Grand Hall with his sword still at his side, not even untying the strings of his winter cloak worn over his coat.

Alphonse knelt before Cedric. He still bore the bloodstains from the day, unable to wash them off.

He laid down his sword and removed the insignia from his chest, placing it before him.

“For my failure to protect Your Highness, I will repay with my death.”

To Alphonse’s words, Cedric replied with anger in his voice.

“Do not speak so easily of death. Before talking of life and death, there are things that must be accomplished.”

“I am sorry.”

The situation had been assessed.

A group of Southern Sea people had entered last month and stayed at the temple for nearly a month. It was just before the harbor froze.

Aubrey, who met them at the temple, had drawn them a detailed layout of the fortress structure.

The Southern Sea people who escaped to the river through the passage of the saint’s statue boarded a small boat they had waiting and went down the river to the estuary.

The boat was said to be modified to run on ice like a sled. The merchant who had lent them the warehouse to store the boat prostrated himself, saying he had committed a mortal sin.

“The one who modified the boat was also a Southern Sea person. They said there were damaged parts and they would repair it themselves, coming and going, but we didn’t suspect anything.”

The servant who had been watching Aubrey when the Southern Sea people contacted her, along with his family, were all found dead.

Cadriole had held the family hostage to prevent word from leaking from their mouths, then killed them before departing.

Cedric coldly commanded.

“Close the temple and detain and investigate all residents who had contact with them. Make sure to completely collapse and block the secret passage. Since it’s been exposed to outsiders, it must be made unusable ever again.”

“Understood.”

“What about the harbor?”

“We’ve issued a complete closure order by beacon fire for now.”

“If they can attach sled runners to a boat and go down the river, it should be possible at sea too. Don’t be careless just because it’s frozen, and control the supply warehouses. No matter how impressive the Southern Sea people’s ships are, they can’t venture into the open sea without any supplies.”

“Yes.”

Only then did Cedric say.

“Bring Aubrey here.”

Soon Aubrey was dragged in. She had been in a room at the temple, unaware of her situation, when she was captured.

Aubrey wasn’t surprised even seeing the ominous atmosphere of the fortress. Rather, she wore a refreshing smile as if pleased and asked.

“That woman, she ran away after all, didn’t she?”

“Aubrey Jordin. Did you inform the Southern Sea people of the fortress structure?”

Cedric asked in a cold voice.

“What? Oh, yes.”

Only then did Aubrey’s shoulders shrink. She knew that was wrong.

“They said they absolutely had to meet that woman. Um, did you know that woman abandoned her original lover she was supposed to marry and married Your Highness instead?”

Cadriole had never said such a thing. However, in Aubrey’s mind, the story had already been transformed that way.

“I knew that from the beginning. All cheap women like that are the same.”

“….”

“Don’t be too sad. She wasn’t a woman worth Your Highness’s concern.”

Aubrey approached Cedric.

She wanted to comfort him. How much sadness and betrayal must he be feeling.

He had been so good to that lowly woman who didn’t even know her birth father, even giving her the position of Grand Duchess, yet she betrayed him like this and ran away with another man.

What a ridiculous woman, Aubrey thought. Whether she had a change of heart or had other reasons, shouldn’t she have first asked Cedric for a divorce and begged for forgiveness?

But when Cadriole spoke on the premise of escape, she had guessed. She must have committed some great sin too shameful to speak of.

Even while thinking this and getting angry, Aubrey was deeply satisfied in her heart. With this, Cedric would also know Artizea’s true nature.

As Aubrey thought, Cedric was indeed angry with sadness and betrayal.

However, the difference was that the target of that betrayal he felt was not Artizea, but Aubrey.

The air in the Grand Hall froze at Aubrey’s presumptuous words.

Margaret, greatly alarmed, came running out wailing, embraced Aubrey, and prostrated herself on the floor.

“Please spare her life…! Please spare her life!”

Aubrey said irritably.

“Ah, Mother. Really, why are you like this? That woman is gone now, so it’s fine. She’s not a woman worth making such a fuss over.”

Aaron collapsed, pressing both hands to the floor and bowing down. He couldn’t even dare to ask for her life to be spared.

Following Aaron, the daughters of Count Jordin all came forward and knelt in unison.

The eldest daughter, who served as a knight, removed her sword and took off her cloak. The second and third daughters, who worked as administrators, also removed their hats and took off the insignia indicating their status.

Following them, all the collateral relatives bearing the Jordin name knelt down.

Only then did Aubrey realize that the situation was completely different from what she had thought.

Before her as she looked around bewildered, Cedric sighed.

“I can’t believe it. That such a thing would happen in my castle.”

“Your Highness…”…”

“When she had been here for only a few days, Bi gave me advice. She said that people betray for reasons you’d never expect, so I should be more careful. Do you know what I answered then?”

“Y-Your Highness…”

Aaron called to him with a trembling voice.

“I laughed it off! I said it would be fine in my territory, that it was safe! Because I trusted you all! Because I never once thought there would be betrayal in my castle! So I told her she would be safe too!”

Cedric shouted angrily and stood up abruptly.

“I always only worried about being breached from outside! I worried about being swept away by Karam, worried about the Imperial Court’s schemes! I feared winter coming, and death, and fighting, always considering them to be ever-present, but still, just one thing, only in my castle, my home, I could sleep peacefully! Because I trusted you all!”

The knights and administrators, unable to bear his anger, all knelt on the floor in unison.

“Aubrey Jordin! For the sake of your parents’ faces, I’ll give you just one chance to make an excuse. Why did you do such a thing!”

“Y-Your Highness…”

Terrified, Aubrey muttered through tears.

“Your Highness only… only looks at that woman… I love Your Highness. But Your Highness…”

Those words would have been better left unsaid.

Clang!

Cedric drew the sword from his waist and threw it before Aaron.

“Insubordination toward the Grand Duchess, treason for colluding with the enemy and leaking the fortress’s secrets, high treason against Evron – all are unforgivable.”

“Please, please, spare her life…”

“Though the three generations should be executed, considering Count Jordin’s merits, I’ll give the family a chance to clean up its own shame.”

It had become irreversible.

Margaret held Aubrey’s head in her arms and wept endlessly.

Aubrey looked up at Cedric in a daze. Then she looked around with a face that showed she didn’t understand the situation, going “Huh? Huh?”

No one took her side.

Aaron couldn’t dare say he would behead his own daughter and remained prostrate without moving.

Instead, the eldest daughter stood up and took Cedric’s sword.

Following her, the second and third daughters came running. The two of them seized Margaret and dragged her out.

“I’ll die instead! I’ll die instead!”

Margaret’s wailing echoed from outside as she was dragged away.

Thud!

Blood spurted without even a scream.

Lisia turned her head away.

Cedric continued.

“I strip Aaron Jordin and Margaret Jordin of their titles and command them to serve in white clothes at Told Gate. After a three-year probation period to confirm their loyalty, I will decide on future punishment.”

Tears fell drop by drop from Aaron’s eyes.

“Viscount Agate.”

“Yes.”

“Temporarily take charge of managing the fortress. I’ll return to restore military discipline.”

Cedric gave that order and turned around, adjusting his cloak.

“Where are you going? We’ve already sent search orders to the harbor, so news should come by tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’m departing now.”

He headed outside with determined steps. The knights rushed out following him.

It was the middle of the night, and snow had accumulated. Even for northerners accustomed to the cold, riding horses all night would be too much.

However, Cedric mounted his horse without hesitation.

The Southern Sea people were said to have taken ships modified into sleds. There was no way to guess how far they could travel in a day, or where in the frozen sea they had moored their real ship.

‘It’s my fault.’

He thought.

It wasn’t that he had been complacent just because it was his own castle.

It would have been better if he had fully heeded Artizea’s warning. Even in the fortress, he shouldn’t have been at ease and should have properly assigned guards.

Believing that his subjects’ hearts would be the same as his own heart was arrogance.

It was also a mistake to believe that everyone would respect and regard her as they did him, since she was the companion he had chosen.

He should have expelled Aubrey much sooner.

He already knew that Aubrey was disloyal. He had deliberately refrained from interfering, thinking that managing the maids was Artizea’s responsibility.

But Artizea had acted softly considering the relationship between the Jordin family and himself, and that was one of the causes of this incident.

He found it difficult to forgive himself.

If she couldn’t firmly dismiss her, he should have done it. If he had sent her far away without waiting for the snow to melt, today’s incident wouldn’t have happened.

At the very least, he should have been by her side.

Only regret remained bitterly.

“Your Majesty!”

Lisia came running out urgently.

Cedric pulled the reins and said.

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to Tia.”

Those words were closer to what he was telling himself.

“That’s not it. This is…”

Lisia respectfully held up a diamond bracelet to him with both hands.

Cedric stared down at it blankly.

“It was placed beside Her Majesty’s bedside. She always wore it… Please make sure to return it to her.”

“I understand.”

Cedric took it and put it in his chest.

Then he spurred his horse. A group of knights followed behind him.

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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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