Villainess
Villainess
What followed were the screams of five or six men.
Perhaps because the spot where I fixed the drop of blood was the butler's sole.
Due to tension, his pulse and breath were transmitted clearly.
'Adel-nim. Your clothes got blood on them.'
The woman called Adel replied calmly as she passed by the butler.
'Let me change clothes. Please prepare them.'
The woman went out first.
The butler looked around at the servants who had begun to dismember the corpse and let out a faint sigh.
After that, there were no notable incidents.
After removing the smell of blood that had seeped into his clothes in the bathroom, the butler walked straight to the room where we were.
Before the butler opened the door, I removed the blood from his sole.
I let the blood seep into the red carpet laid in the corridor and moved it as is to examine the mansion's structure.
Meanwhile, the butler who had entered the room talked with Helsi.
"Have you eaten?"
"Yes."
"Then I will prepare tea. If you have a preferred type, please tell me."
"Anything blended in the Nuthorf style is fine."
"Understood."
The butler went out again, and after a while.
A maid came and guided us to the reception room.
It was just when I had obtained an interesting piece of information.
'The master and the servants alike, this family has a lot of stories.'
The door opened.
Two maids entered the room first, and when they stood on either side of the door, the master of the house finally appeared.
At the same time.
Upstairs.
A sick person lying in bed.
A servant standing by the bed muttered like this:
'You will soon be at ease.'
Immediately after, one of the pulses that the drop of blood had been detecting disappeared.
The master of the mansion, who had no way of knowing that, approached us and greeted.
"Hello."
Bright blonde hair neatly tied up.
Eyes with a clear blue like sapphire.
A blunt face that seemed to freeze such a bright appearance coldly.
A beautiful but never enchanting, empty voice introduced herself.
"I am Marisa Adel, head of the Adel family."
Brighton Port, the largest port in the Rehingel Union.
News of the Lord Tania, which should have been in a military port, anchoring there drew a huge crowd to the dock.
Leon was looking down from a tea room in one corner of the control tower at the welcoming crowd waving handkerchiefs.
Beautiful women throwing bouquets at the sailors disembarking from the ship.
Elderly people shedding tears and chanting the king's name.
It was a scene that always brought a smile to his face.
"If all the people were even half like them, the world wouldn't be this chaotic."
To him muttering as if humming, the staff officer who had just entered the tea room asked.
"Are you okay on time?"
Leon turned to him with a bright smile.
"Of course. I can't even go out since I'm the captain."
The staff officer smiled awkwardly and apologized.
"I'm sorry. I'll prepare so you can return as quickly as possible."
"It's fine. It's nice to see people after a long time."
Seeing his playful smile, the staff officer handed over documents with a relieved face.
"This is the list of civilian volunteers. As you instructed, I've only compiled those who invested 30 gold or more."
Leon's eyes widened as he took the documents.
"Fast? You didn't lose sleep because of me, did you?"
"No. The sailors going on leave took care of odd jobs, so I had a lot of time."
"As expected, popular. Our department heads."
Leaving the staff officer smiling shyly, Leon walked to the sofa and sat down.
Palrangpalrang
His eyes moving at a very fast speed.
The staff officer did not leave.
He thought that soon Leon would finish his analysis, set up a perfect plan, and then give him a command that could not fail.
But Leon stopped his analysis in the middle.
The words coming out of his mouth were not a command either.
"Go take care of your business. Before you go, throw me that communicator."
The momentarily flustered staff officer hurriedly caught the communicator.
Unable to bring himself to throw it, he approached the sofa and handed it over politely.
"Is there some problem?"
And when he asked, a chilling answer came back.
"Yeah. Political problems."
Leon asked playfully.
"Curious?"
The staff officer smiled awkwardly and shook his head.
"No. Then I'll be going..."
Leon watched him leave in a hurry and smiled contentedly, but when he looked back at the documents, his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
'Why haven't these vermin died yet?'
The name written where his gaze landed.
[Head of Adel and 32 others: 500 gold | Contract agency: ...]
It was a name so unpleasant it felt like reading it dirtied his eyes.
The names of foolish humans who, lacking even the minimum ability as ruling species, refuse to be docile sheep.
The Adel family.
For him, now ascended as the heir of the Billiwords Ducal House, it was a group too insignificant to even ignore.
But the face of one woman that crossed his mind activated his sensitive crisis detection sensor.
'Marisa Adel.'
The last time he saw her, her face wore a smile so bright it was stupid.
Unaware of what fate awaited her, she had liked the clear air at the grand country mansion she moved to as if chased out.
Even though she was only a 10-year-old child at the time, Leon had known.
'So that's why they'll fall.'
He clearly realized that their harmony, tranquility, forgiveness, and mercy were the cause of their downfall.
So it was all the more unsettling.
The daughters of the Adel family running around the garden, laughing and chattering.
Among them, Marisa, who was desperately pretending to be happy, had always bothered him.
'I don't think they paid all that money back, but...'
Just in case, he activated the communicator.
"Hello? Appa. I'm at Brighton Port right now so I can't move, but something came up that I need to check urgently."
Appa privilege.
For his family, and furthermore for the ruling species that support the nation, Leon borrowed the information network of the Billiwords Ducal House, which could be seen as their representative.
Duke Billiwords grumbled as soon as he turned off the communicator.
"When one thing blows up, they come out in droves. Even ghosts that should have rotted away."
The Duke's study.
The person sitting on the sofa in front of the table, sipping tea, was Morgan, who had been summoned by the Duke.
The reason his expression was contorted like a troublemaker called to the teacher's office was, of course,
"With the situation like this, what the hell are you doing? The academy is on break, isn't it? Why aren't you participating in the subjugation?"
Because he was actually being scolded.
"I need to find the test subject Zenon left behind first."
"So did you find it? It says in your report too! That you have no clue!"
"That's why I..."
"You should be out there! On foot! There are units all over the place that need you right now!"
Hearing that, he realized it was true.
...The problem was that this thought showed on his face.
Realizing his anger was justified, the Duke raised his voice even more.
"Your problem is that you take too long to prepare. Have I ever complained about the results? I always point out your excessive worry and hesitation. How many opportunities have you missed because of that? Same in Hamington. If you saw the test subject, you should have quickly cleared the scene and chased after it. Why were you thinking about saving those guys?"
He was about to let it go since it was a reasonable point, but then the Duke chose the wrong example at the end.
Morgan, with veins bulging on his forehead, seized on that.
"Because of that, we were able to execute those Department of Genesis bastards. Can you say that when, if it weren't for me, you would have started a war with a time bomb around your neck?"
The Duke, looking stung, averted his gaze.
"Anyway, why is a mage doing search work? I'll leave that to our intelligence agents, so you go support the subjugation side."
Even if he never apologized, being able to clearly show he was wrong like that was one of the Duke's strengths.
His irritation, which had flared up for a moment, subsided, and Morgan sighed and stood up from his seat.
"Where should I start?"
The Duke changed his face, which had shown embarrassment, back to a serious one and said:
"Cutting off supply routes is the most urgent. It's obvious who's supplying the rebels, and anyway, because of the test subject, we need to blockade the sea."
"You're not thinking of blockading Brighton Port too, are you?"
"If necessary, we have to."
"Will the others agree?"
"If I say the Royalist Faction will suffer more damage, they'll gleefully agree."
From this conversation alone, Morgan knew which unit he should support.
'I hate getting on ships...'
As expected, Morgan's business trip destination that the Duke mentioned was,
"Nice to meet you. I am Groslin Mailock, commander of the 2nd Fleet."
On top of a huge battleship floating on the vast ocean.
Marisa Adel.
Even I found it hard to understand the content of the request she was proposing.
To roughly summarize, she wants to start a big business that involves the country, but to do that, she needs to prove her loyalty to the entrenched old-timers, and if the business succeeds, she'll be able to own a trade ship that visits foreign countries... or something like that...
Is that right?
She speaks so roundabout that it's hard to understand.
How much more so for Helsi.
"I'd like to hear more details."
She said that as if trying hard, but it was a mistake.
Adel, in addition to her explanation, proposed moving to personally show us the 'reward' that would be given to us.