The Ugly Woman
The atmosphere in House Holpert had been downright poisonous lately. The reason was simple: Sophia, whom they had shipped off to the villa, had flown into a rage the moment she heard the rumors calling her a cross-dressing man and come storming back to the capital. As a result, the duke was now a nervous wreck, terrified that Sophia might open her mouth and spill everything.
If Sophia really talked, it would mean the family’s complete disgrace. The duke paced back and forth, practically grinding his feet into the floor, until Jeo delivered his report.
“No answer at all?”
“Correct. It appears she’s simply ignoring us.”
“When you think about it, that’s only natural. She was exiled, after all.”
Jeo and Sein both sighed. To be honest, Jeo had never actually hated Milene. In the beginning he had even doted on her more than Sophia. He had simply been forced to follow the family’s mood. Having only learned the full story later, he hadn’t known exactly how Milene had been driven out.
“Are you saying I was wrong too?”
“We may have been fooled by Sophia, but Father, you knew the truth from the start, didn’t you?”
“You little—!”
The duke bit down hard on his lower lip. These were the same sons who had stayed silent when Milene was being thrown out, and now they wanted to wash their hands of the whole thing. Were these creatures really his children? This was the moment they needed to stand united, yet they were throwing a fit because he had hidden Sophia’s actions.
“If we had known from the beginning that Sophia was behind everything, we never would have exiled Milene.”
“Is that what matters right now? We need to sweet-talk Milene immediately so we can salvage something. If Sophia confesses everything, there’s no escape—Sophia will be punished.”
Since Sophia had gone willingly and even ended up under interrogation, punishment was inevitable. But if Milene forgave her, the situation could change. Sophia had to be protected at all costs.
“You’re still worrying about Sophia at a time like this?”
“If Sophia tells them everything, our family will suffer massive damage. At least you, Jeo—even if you weren’t especially close to Milene, you never fought with her either. Go see her yourself.”
“You want me to persuade her?”
“Exactly. That is the only answer right now. Besides, the Magic Tower is backing Milene for some reason. If we handle this well, we can turn the crisis to our advantage.”
Whether it would be that easy was another question entirely. The moment the duke had cast out his own daughter, it had become a fatal weakness for House Holpert. They might have buried it completely, but was that even possible? Especially when so many people already held grudges against them.
“She won’t agree to meet under normal circumstances.”
“Of course not. That’s why persuasion is necessary.”
Calling it persuasion was just a polite way of saying they had to strike a deal. Since he couldn’t openly say he was bargaining with his own daughter, he dressed it up as persuasion.
“What if she sets conditions?”
“Grant whatever she wants. When you consider the benefits Milene can bring the family, it’s the better option.”
For now, at least, they could endure it. Once they got past this hurdle, they would be able to reap all kinds of rights and profits through Milene. The duke was slowly going insane.
In the Royal Guard Interrogation Room
Harold, the genius mage of the Magic Tower, was having the worst day of his life. Although his eyes had been completely stolen by that woman named Milene that day, he had still intended to conduct the magical interrogation with complete seriousness, sincerity, and a clear conscience. He had believed he would never do anything of the sort for Sophia. Therefore, even if Milene was beautiful, he would handle the matter fairly.
With that resolve, Harold had cast the spell on Sophia’s mind to force her to speak only the truth.
“Y-yes. I did it all. What’s wrong with that? Why does my sister get to have everything while I get nothing?”
The truth that came spilling out was utterly shocking. To think Lady Sophia had really been behind every single incident.
“Are you actually hearing the words coming out of your mouth?”
“Everyone adored my sister and treated her well! But Father loved me more. So isn’t it only right that I should be treated better? Ever since we were children I had to sleep outside, yet only my sister received that kind of special treatment. It was too unfair!”
“So in the end you couldn’t overcome your inferiority complex and resorted to this? Ha. How ridiculous. Because of one pathetic inferiority complex, the entire kingdom has to be thrown into chaos because of you Holperts? It’s truly shameful.”
Second Prince Heintz, who had come to observe the interrogation in person, let out a heavy sigh. Yes. It was exactly that. Because of one girl named Sophia, the whole kingdom had been turned upside down. All because of a single inferiority complex toward her sister. And because it involved the powerful Holpert family, the matter couldn’t be easily buried. On top of that, Sophia had spread her love story with the prince everywhere, plunging the kingdom into uproar. And every single part of it had been this Sophia’s scheme.
“That’s right. But since she has zero womanly charm and got abandoned by her own man, wouldn’t it be fine if I became the prince’s fiancée instead?”
She was confessing everything without hesitation. Harold briefly wondered if he had cast the wrong spell and checked the magic again, but he had definitely used a truth-compelling spell. Since even Sophia herself looked startled, it had to be genuine.
“How can you say something like that?”
“Well, everything’s out in the open now.”
“We’ve already deployed people to identify the nobles who colluded with Lady Sophia at the time. They’ll be caught shortly.”
Heintz and his subordinates seemed to have already resolved to hammer House Holpert into the ground.
Once they were caught, Lady Sophia was essentially finished. The question was how House Holpert would react. As someone who mainly dealt in magic, Harold wasn’t directly involved, but still…
“Good grief. To think the Royal Guard has to step in because of such childish nonsense. It’s absurd.”
“Well, when the Holperts are involved, there’s no helping it.”
“I’m sorry. If only I had properly managed my younger sister, none of this would have happened.”
“How could this possibly be the young lady’s fault? Please don’t say such things.”
The older sister, Milene Holpert—no, Milene Loen now—was sobbing with tears streaming down her face. So this woman Milene had been the victim all along? Come to think of it, as a mage of the Magic Tower, what could he have possibly known about the villainess named Sophia? Absolutely nothing. Looking at it that way, now that everything had come to light, only Milene seemed truly pitiful.
“No. No! This is unfair! It’s not true!”
“Hmm. Just in time—new anonymous evidence has arrived. This is exactly what we wanted. Round up every noble named in this document.”
Once again, a knight had delivered evidence from an anonymous source and handed it to Heintz. There was truly no escape now. How had it come to this? Harold could only lament. To think the woman he had admired was this ugly inside.
“Still, the ones who worked with Lady Sophia are nobles too, aren’t they?”
“They’re the ones who let the entire kingdom be mocked because of children’s games. Besides, if they’re the type to be bought with money, they must be fallen nobles anyway. We need to deal with this thoroughly so it never happens again.”
“New evidence, you say. But I—”
“The crimes themselves don’t warrant death, but causing this much commotion in the kingdom over something so trivial means a heavy punishment is necessary. What does our prospective hero think?”
The interrogation room was packed with Prince Heintz and his men. While Sophia’s excuses created a noisy clamor, Heintz quietly turned his gaze toward Milene, who had been silently observing the entire proceeding.
Milene paid no attention to Sophia’s glaring eyes. Harold watched quietly to see how Milene would judge the situation and how she would react. Since this wasn’t a formal courtroom but a matter being handled directly by the royal family, and with few observers present, Milene’s opinion would carry considerable weight in deciding the punishment.
So how would this woman Milene respond?
“Hmm, I don’t have any particular thoughts on the matter.”
“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Actually, I’m grateful to Sophia. If not for her, I would have ended up married to a prince who only lusts after men. No matter that he is royalty, I have no interest in a prince who tarnishes the royal family’s dignity by chasing men. Moreover, thanks to Sophia I was able to see the true face of my father and House Holpert. If Sophia hadn’t schemed like this and gotten me exiled, I never would have learned what my family was really like. So I am sincerely grateful.”
Harold felt as if a halo was shining behind Milene. To thank the very person who had framed her and caused her exile—
“Don’t make me laugh! You’re enjoying seeing me like this!”
“I did feel pity for you. But liking a prince who prefers men? I don’t have that kind of courage.”
“So it was actually an opportunity for you.”
“Yes. Furthermore, although the matter has blown up considerably, it’s only because the families involved are Holpert and the royal family. Originally this is the kind of thing that would be dismissed as children’s play. It would be best to leave Sophia’s punishment to House Holpert.”
She was making a realistic judgment rather than an emotional one. Calling it “children’s play”—well, given their status, if they had been commoners it really would have been nothing more than kids fighting.
“How merciful.”
“Since the true hero is you, Prince, why don’t you deliver the punishment yourself in your capacity as hero?”
How could there be such a merciful woman? Harold felt like he was seeing an entirely different world. As expected, you really couldn’t judge a woman by appearances alone.
“As expected of Lady Milene. So benevolent, unlike certain other people.”
Benevolent my ass. This was pure image-making. Of course I wanted to deal with that idiot Sophia right this second, but for now I was the prospective hero, and more importantly the situation had changed. Because the royal family was realistically investigating the mess that moronic Sophia had created, it was no longer simply about punishing Milene—Sophia had also committed the crime of insulting the royal family. On top of that, the king seemed determined to completely crush House Holpert. In that kind of atmosphere, simply seeking “Milene’s” revenge would feel too subtle.
Above all, with the rumors about the gay prince and the Holpert family’s rotten character spreading together, people were already saying things like “Milene’s exile was actually a blessing.” For a more dramatic production, I needed a different approach.
So I decided on this: As Milene, the prospective hero, I would show only the utmost mercy. But as Keira, the one who had suffered the kidnapping attempt, things would be different.
“I didn’t do anything wrong! It’s all my sister’s fault!”
She kept showing her pathetic side without pause. No matter how I looked at it, this was… almost pitiful. There was no need for me to lift a finger; she was destroying herself all on her own. Hmm. It really had become pitiable. At this rate, even catching her would be nothing more than a confirmation kill. That was exactly why my identity as Author K remained effective.
“My younger sister still doesn’t realize her own faults and probably won’t until the moment she dies. That very ignorance will be the worst punishment possible for her.”
“I see.”
How’s that? Sounds pretty good, right? My sister keeps desperately denying everything, and I’m not the one spitting fire and saying I have to kill the bitch. One side is blaming me, yet I’m not even attempting revenge. What a perfect image of a merciful hero.
“And I believe this matter should be handled by the person who directly faced a threat to their life, rather than myself.”
“You mean Author K.”
“Yes. From what I’ve heard, those kidnapping perpetrators were originally members of an assassination guild.”
The assassination guild was indeed connected to Sophia. Just not at this particular point in time. The guild members were sharp; in the original story, once Sophia started doing well alongside Schwald they had traded with her and quietly eliminated anyone who might hinder her. But approaching her now was impossible—especially when Sophia was already on the brink of ruin. There was no way the guild would step forward for a woman like that.
When you thought about it, it was simple. It wouldn’t even be a tail-cutting operation. Heintz was an extremely thorough man; someone like him would have already looked into the assassination guild.
“The guild denied any involvement. They said if they had acted, they wouldn’t have handled it so sloppily. Besides, they know when to get involved and when not to, and they claimed they didn’t.”
“Then it must have been the work of some nameless trash who simply tried to borrow the guild’s reputation. How obvious.”
Thanks to that, things became much easier. Because they had claimed to be from the assassination guild, no matter what the truth was, it now looked like Sophia had tried to kill me by mobilizing the guild. Logically speaking, ordering a kidnapping from an organization literally called an assassination guild was ridiculous anyway.
“Exactly.”
“Since I know Author K, I’ll bring her here.”
“I’d appreciate that. Then what about Lady Milene?”
Ah, right. If I appeared as K, Milene would naturally be excluded. In that case… Hmm. I’d need an excuse.
I shook my head with an expression of genuine distress.
“It’s a little difficult for me to watch my younger sister in this state.”
“That’s understandable.”
And when I returned as Author K, I cried buckets. Since I’d never done it while living as a man, I even pinched the flesh of my thigh to force the tears out for the performance. After all, there’s no better evidence than a woman’s tears. Of course, since the culprit was also a woman, I’d have to make a scene about my appearance as well.
“My head is pounding, my hands and feet won’t stop shaking… Sob. I was truly lucky that day. I might have died if things had gone even slightly wrong.”
I even made a show of dabbing at my eyes with a handkerchief.
“It’s your fault for writing such garbage! You unlucky bitch, just like your sister!”
Look at that. She was throwing open insults now without even bothering to hide them anymore.