Why Is My Husband the Villainous Schemer! - Chapter 92

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 92
Something unexpected had happened.
“Carcel, did you put this handkerchief here?”
“What handkerchief are you referring to?”
He asked back, his face bearing the confused expression of someone freshly roused from sleep.
I tilted my head as I spoke.
“It wasn’t you?”
I felt as though I’d received a Christmas gift from nowhere.
Had someone stolen it and then brought it back?!
‘Did I dream that I lost it yesterday?’
“Thank goodness.”
I clutched the handkerchief to my chest and turned to face Carcel.
“Actually… that handkerchief is what I said I lost yesterday.”
“Is that so?”
Carcel looked at me, his eyes crinkling lazily at the corners.
* * *
‘Asha had smiled.’
Carcel’s heart soared at that single smile.
The man who had brushed past Asha yesterday was a pickpocket.
There was no way he could leave unpunished someone who dared to steal a gift that Asha had made for him.
So Carcel had given a subtle nod to the knights who had been following them and standing guard nearby.
No matter who Carcel was, he would never bring his family into the crowds without protection.
And that very night, when Asha was sleeping soundly.
“We’ve found him, sir.”
“And Asha’s belongings?”
“We’ve recovered those as well.”
With those words, the guard knight handed Carcel the handkerchief.
The pickpocket had already torn the wrapping paper to shreds. Probably to verify the item’s worth.
“Bury that wretch deep. Make sure he doesn’t see daylight for at least ten years.”
“Understood.”
The knight bowed his head, thinking the punishment perhaps a touch excessive, but complying nonetheless.
Carcel then gave instructions to Uni.
“Rewrap it so Asha doesn’t notice anything.”
“Understood! I’ll restore it perfectly so that the lady won’t suspect a thing!”
The next morning, after they had all worked in concert, Asha handed the gift to Carcel, none the wiser.
“Here, take this!”
* * *
“Here, take this!”
I thrust the gift at him first thing in the morning.
Carcel, looking at the present wrapped in paper, asked me a question.
“May I unwrap it here?”
“It’s for you, Carcel, so of course! Go ahead and unwrap it!”
I had put in considerable effort with the embroidery myself, so I was confident about it.
‘Once the income from the quarry comes in, I’ll pay off the debt first, then buy gifts for Carcel, Linea, and Mother.’
While I was thinking this, Carcel carefully unwrapped the paper so as not to tear the seams.
“Just give it here!”
Growing impatient, I snatched it back and tore it open with a snap.
At that, he gazed at the wrapping paper with a wistful expression.
I found his face amusing and shook my head.
“You don’t need to treat the wrapping paper itself with such care.”
“But it’s from Asha…”
“Still, please treasure this handkerchief. It may not be much, but I made it thinking of you.”
Carcel gently caressed the handkerchief as I spoke and nodded.
“I shall guard it with my life.”
“Just don’t disappear on me—the handkerchief can be replaced.”
Then I suddenly remembered something and spoke up.
“But there’s something I wanted to ask. You went to see His Majesty yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me what was discussed between you?”
The Emperor had not summoned me.
It was clear that Isaar and Carcel had handled things on their own, but now that I had already revealed a certain amount of information about myself to Carcel.
‘It’s time to tell him.’
Carcel replied to my question.
“His Majesty was enraged, of course, and commanded us to uncover the conspirators at all costs.”
“No leads at all this time either?”
He shook his head.
“Thanks to you, Asha, we’ve obtained a few clues.”
I drew in a sharp breath.
“The culprit must be an Internal Collaborator who knows about a brief gap in security measures. Someone with access to Imperial Household security information, at that.”
“That seems likely enough.”
Carcel spoke to me with a thoughtful expression.
“As for the assassins themselves, we attempted to extract what they knew through Confession Magic, but…”
“They didn’t know much either, did they?”
“That’s correct.”
The imperial heir had experienced countless assassination attempts since childhood.
Yet the conspirators behind them could not be readily uncovered?
Carcel and the Imperial Household were not foolish.
It was simply that Dishulié had not let clues slip easily, and his hand showed no mercy.
Truth be told, I didn’t like my head getting too complicated, so I’d ignored some unresolved plot threads. I simply enjoyed the fact that the original work had a happy ending.
‘Surprisingly, there are many gaps in the story, aren’t there?’
The current Emperor trusted very few people.
Naturally, he distrusted his younger brother, with whom he had never been close since childhood, and had him barred from entering the Inner Palace.
‘Only those close to the Emperor, including Carcel and Isaar, would have access to internal information.’
In other words, this incident could not have occurred without information from an Internal Collaborator.
So the crucial question was: which of these internal people had joined hands with Dishulié and sought to kill Lusian, and why?
“…Asha?”
Belatedly noticing Carcel calling my name, I nodded.
“Is something troubling you?”
“Well, since I’ve already told you everything anyway, I’m sharing this with you… but please don’t suspect me, alright?”
“Don’t worry. Even if you turned out to be someone else entirely, I would believe you.”
At those words, my lips parted in shock.
‘How did he know? That I’m not actually Asha Delmore?’
Seeing my eyes widen in surprise, Carcel gave a soft laugh.
“I was only joking.”
“…Actually, the truth is, there’s a mastermind behind this Assassination Attempt Incident—Dishulié.”
“Dishulié, you say…?”
I didn’t expect him to accept my claim outright.
So I added more, rambling slightly.
“Of course, you know him better than I do, but even if you don’t believe me, I hate being left hanging, so I wanted to share this with you…”
“I believe you. Dishulié is precisely the sort of man who would do such a thing.”
“Really?”
“He’s been a thorn in my side anyway. I’m delighted that our opinions align as husband and wife.”
Carcel’s eyes crinkling lazily at the corners.
His smile was sinister, as if he might bury Dishulié for decades on this very occasion.
“Wait! That’s not how this ends with Dishulié!”
Though Dishulié is a villain, there’s an Internal Collaborator involved.
If we don’t root out that collaborator, what good does dealing with Dishulié do?
“Do you have a vision of the future, Asha?”
“Something like that. But I’m not omniscient—I don’t know who Dishulié’s internal accomplice is.”
Three mysteries about this Assassination Attempt Incident.
First: the Imperial heir’s schedule is classified, so who leaked it?
Second: how did the assassins manage to breach the strict security and reach the Inner Palace?
Third: how did they obtain the Explosive Magical Devices?
“Without an internal collaborator, this couldn’t have happened. From the assassins entering the Inner Palace to the creation of the counterfeit magical devices.”
“Those devices were homemade?”
“Crude as they were, they packed considerable firepower. But if the Information Guilds had any knowledge of illegal magical device production, they would have brought those responsible in already.”
Indeed, whenever I went to the Information Guilds requesting information, they produced it readily.
Carcel then told me,
“However, Isaar said he would conduct a separate investigation regarding the devices.”
“Is that so? Then we’ll leave that to Isaar… But the Inner Palace isn’t somewhere anyone can enter. How did the assassins manage to infiltrate it?”
In fact, though this incident occurred when Lusian was fourteen, the reason I remember it so clearly is.
‘The entire Inner Palace is covered with Security Magic, so you can’t approach by flying through the air or by Teleport.’
In other words, it’s an intimate space accessible only by walking through security legitimately.
Of course, it might be possible to break through the Security Magic, but that would require a mage more skilled than Isaar.
‘And no such talent existed in the story.’
Then Carcel answered that part clearly.
“That was because, during the Festival Period and with the Diplomatic Mission arriving soon, the personnel department temporarily increased hiring.”
“Surely they didn’t hire just anyone.”
“According to the assassins, they were pre-arranged appointments, and vacancies were created and filled.”
Finally, a lead?!
Just as my eyes began to gleam with excitement.
“However, after interrogating the assassins yesterday, we tried to conduct a search and seizure at the personnel manager’s residence using this newly obtained information, but…”
I had a bad feeling about where this was going.
Sure enough, Carcel continued with a bitter smile.
“The entire family had been assassinated, and all documents in the residence had been burned.”
“Clear evidence that someone is working behind the scenes.”
“Indeed. Though these are people who have no intention of easily exposing themselves.”
The truth was, Carcel wasn’t incompetent—that’s why there were so few leads.
The assassination attempts on Lusian in his childhood had all been recorded as accidents.
Not because someone was acting systematically, but simply the kind of accidents that could happen to a careless child.
At first: nearly choking on food lodged in his throat, or accidentally slipping on a rock, and things like that.
‘But the Emperor, who had already lost his wife, never let go of his suspicions.’
The Emperor believed these were assassination attempts on his son and ordered Carcel to investigate.
Remarkably, from ages seven to eight, once the investigation began, the incidents ceased entirely.
To unravel this mystery, clues are ultimately necessary, and
‘once they learned that an investigation had begun in secret, the assassination attempts vanished without a trace, as if the conspirators knew.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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