I’m a Villainess but So Popular

Episode 94

Translator : Missme

Editor : Aru

‘What, where is this?’

When I woke up, I was in the forest.

It was a forest of green trees, mossy rocks.

‘I don’t think it’s near my mansion.’

But I’ve never seen a forest like this near the Academy.

There was no such atmosphere in the woods around the Academy.

“Huh?”

Looking closely, I could see a white object in front of me.

‘What the hell is that?’

The light wind fluttered the object slightly.

Only then did I know that it was human hair.

And at that moment the man turned his head.

‘Wow……….’

A woman with white hair and white skin like snow.

She was wearing a thin white robe with a gold band, with a slight shine on her sleeve.

Perhaps if the mythical fairy of the forest exists, it might refer to such a person.

[Hi.]

I flinched in amazement at the soft voice I could hear in my head.

When I raised my head, the woman smiled at me.

A veil on her head covered her face half-way.

Nevertheless, her smile shone brilliantly.

“Oh, uh….”

Apparently, the voice in my head belonged to that woman.

I felt like she was talking to me, but somehow my head was stiff and I couldn’t think of an answer.

As I rolled my eyes, the woman laughed, covering her mouth with her hands, as if she were having fun.

Her charming red eyes painted lines.

[If anything bothers you, come see me anytime.]

A calm voice rang in my head again.

“Yes?”

That’s how I asked back, but the woman just smiled still.

It was the moment when I was about to say something to her beautiful white hair.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar battlefield.

It was the front yard.

‘It was a dream again.’

This time again, it was dark outside as I woke up at dawn.

And someone sitting next to me.

And the moment I saw the familiar shape of someone sitting next to me, all my memories came to life.

It only came to my mind that I fell asleep because I was injured by a monster and couldn’t wake up from drowsiness.

“………Cassius?”

“Yerine!”

He immediately hugged me and continued to call my name. Saying he was sorry.

Fortunately, my left eye, which had been bleeding, seemed to look normal.

I breathed a sigh of relief into the fact.

Somehow, I couldn’t feel any scars at all.

“It’s all right, Cassius.”

I knew.

He must have been nervous for hours when I was asleep.

And he must have blamed his healing spell and himself. Even though he had done nothing wrong

The fact that I couldn’t do anything was sometimes heavier than anything said.

“I’m sorry to worry you.”

When the cold bodies exchanged warmth with each other, the night turned darker.

***

When I woke up, the wound on my side was gone without a trace.

The left eye was also as clean as if something had happened.

The doctor said the scar would remain, but it didn’t happen.

It was a good thing, but everything was the worst except that.

[The Duke of Spade’s raid by mysterious creatures, seven bodies secured, called for an emergency meeting.]

This was the official letter I sent to the Housekeepers.

One week after the accident, A meeting was arranged, and I had to submit a report on what happened in the mansion and conduct an independent investigation of the monster.

And due to safety issues, Cassius, Erica and Eugene all had to be sent back.

“Yerine, Ugh, I’m sorry.”

Erica, who ran to tears as soon as she heard that I had woken up, did not stop crying until she got on the carriage back home.

“Erica, it’s not your fault.”

And I hugged her tightly.

“I’m rather sorry. I just wanted to make you happy memories.”

But Erica shook her head, clasped the box of gifts I had given her in her arms and climbed onto the carriage.

“I’m sorry, it seems like what I’ve done has been made up for nothing.”

It was what Eugene said just before returning to Ace territory.

“No. Don’t think so.”

When he said with a bitter smile, Eugene glanced out his right hand.

Looking at his hands floating in the air for a moment, I nodded slightly and held out his right hand.

Before long we held each other’s hands.

“You must get along well during the rest of the vacation.”

Eugene spoke in a low voice.

Then I stared at him and burst out laughing.

“Hey, who am I? Don’t worry about it. I’m going to have a better vacation than you.”

It was Eugene, who would have lost a word normally, but somehow he smiled reassuringly at my words.

At the moment when each other’s hands were falling apart, Eugene was looking at his fingertips with a look of lingering regret.

“……see you at the Academy.”

It was a generous greeting.

Neat, but sincere.

The last one who left the mansion was Cassius.

He couldn’t walk away easily even when all the preparations were complete.

“Now that they knew I was there, the Housekeepers wouldn’t let you go.”

“Well, they must be. It’s not that I’m not responsible.”

I should have known what responsibility it carries to bring in the imperial family and Trump’s son in the mansion.

There was nothing I could do because I met a monster that passed through a solid wall and a shield.

It was true that there was a lack of boundaries.

“I’m afraid you’re going to suffer too much.”

Cassius said with a genuinely worried look.

“There can’t be only an uphill road in life.”

As I said so, I pressed down on the snow piled under my feet.

“It’s rather good. They can’t really ignore this problem anymore.”

As I tried to smile and speak, the steam came out white.

“It’s cold, so make sure you stay warm, Cassius.”

I couldn’t keep standing here, even if my steps didn’t fall off.

Cassius knew he had to leave now.

“……you too.”

“Now get in the carriage. I’ll be watching until the end.”

Nodding my words, Cassius turned to the carriage.

The horseman opened the door for him, and Cassius trudged toward the door.

“Ah.”

But he uttered a single sigh and came back to me.

“Cassius? The carriage…”

It was a momentary moment.

Soft lips touched my forehead and then fell off.

I opened my eyes wide in surprise and looked up.

“I was so happy to be here with you.”

His golden eyes were growling before my eyes.

“Thanks for giving me such a precious memory, Yerine.”

The moment I saw his eyes, the vacation with Cassius passed through my head.

The frivolous jokes. The story we shared in front of the fireplace. His eyes glowed like the sun at night.

Something was popping up from the throat.

“I had fun, too.”

For some reason, my voice seemed to be hoarse.

“Thank you, Cassius.”

Only then did Cassius smile broadly.

“I’ll be in touch.”

Then I waved my hand at him quietly.

I didn’t leave the seat until the carriage carrying Cassius had left the gate.

“Come in now, Duke.”

“Yes.”

There was only cold air in the parlour room of the mansion when I got back.

I used to live alone.

How can it look so lonely just because someone came and went for a while?

“I liked the noise.’

I looked at the fireplace, feeling the bitter aftertaste left in my mouth.

***

“So, you’re saying that a great deal of mana was detected inside the monster’s body, Duke of Spade?”

I nodded to the question of Duke Joker.

“Yes, it is.”

“And some of the mana has been identified to belong to the nobility, right?”

“Yes. The Duke of Jacqueline here could confirm.”

In my words the Duke of Jacqueline regrouped his voice, coughing in vainly.

Then he got up from his seat and looked around the conference room once and said,

“The Duke of Spade is right. The owner of the mana found on the body of a monster was Count Krat, who died in my estate a few months ago.”

The Duke of Joker nodded with his arms folded when he heard the Duke of Jacqueline.

“This proves the theory of the Duke of Spade, isn’t it? I don’t know exactly what the monster is, but I think it’s clear that the monster is stealing people’s mana.”

The Duke of the Ale club nodded at his remarks.

“Mr Trump, may I speak?”

When the Duke of Jacqueline raised his hand and asked, the Duke of Ace nodded silently.

It was a sign that he could speak.

“I suggest that the agenda be to review the opinion of the Duke of Spades, which was dismissed last time. How is it?”

“I’m for it.”

The Duke of Ale club and the Duke of Joker said at the same time.

“No, isn’t there something you have to do before that?”

The Duke of Leonhart snapped.

“We should ask for the fault of being irresponsible by letting a monster break into your estate even with the royal family and the heir of 7 imperial families on your own land, let alone the centre of the territory.”

“Duke Leonhart.”

At my call, the Duke looked back with an unpleasant face.

“Let’s start with setting the agenda. After this, I’ll be damned with criticism.”

“Shameless, Duke of Spade.”

The Duke of Leonhart said, putting his index finger on the table.

“Did you say you’d take the criticism sweetly? Wasn’t there a death in the Duke’s estate last time?”

It was already expected.

I wasn’t surprised at all. Rather, it would have been more surprising if the Duke of Leonhart and the Duke of Ace had not attacked me.

“Yes, it was.”

“So you concluded that the Duke’s estate would enhance security?”

The Duke of Leonhart said in a crooked voice.

‘Oh, I really want to hit him once.’

I had to grind my teeth inside, but I did not show it on the outside.

“Yes.”

“Where on earth did you reinforce? Does it make sense that an unidentified object breaks into the mansion of the lord of the land, the core of the territory, so easily?”

“We have strengthened security forces around the castle and in the suburbs. Even at the time of the incident, the security device was working properly.”

The Duke of Leonhart snorted openly at my protest.

“A security device that can’t stop an outside intruder, that’s a proper security device.”

The Duke of Leonhart spoke with thin eyes.

“You don’t know the meaning of ‘properly’ differently than I do, do you?”

I’m getting angry at this point.

‘No, how could the device even detect the monsters when the monsters come through the wall?’

And that Duke, he’s talking very annoyingly.

“It looks like you were having guests at the time, but aren’t you throwing security away and enjoying yourself?”

This is useless.

I didn’t feel the need to listen any more.

“Have you tried to raise the wall or strengthen the shield? Not even that–”

There you go. This person seemed to have no idea what the problem was right now.

“Duke Leonhart, may I ask you a question?”

My voice rang out in the spacious Sacred Hall.

“Do you know what can kill those monsters?”

The Duke hesitated at the remark and said with a frown.

“Don’t change the subject, Duke. Walls and defence magic systems………”

“I’m sure I wrote it in the report.”

A silent voice echoed through the Sacred Hall.

“Up to now, the only way to kill a monster is definitely light and heat. And those monsters go through all the walls and shields.”

At my words, the Duke hesitated and put on a puzzled look.

‘No wonder you’ve been saying weird things for a while.’

With my sharp eyes, I glanced at the Duke of Leonhart, who had no idea what he was talking about.

“Duke Leonhart, how many monsters broke into my territory this time?”

“……….”

Yeah, there’s no way he can answer that.

The Duke of Leonhart couldn’t speak for a while to my question and kept rambling.

His stupid face gave me a sigh.

“He, I mean, was it four, was it five?”

“Eight, Duke. There’s eight this time.”

I put my hand on the desk and said in a steady voice.

“Duke, you must have read the report properly before the meeting, right?”

I patted on a pile of papers in front of me.

“I wonder if the great Duke of Leonhart doesn’t know the meaning of ‘properly’?”

A monotonous voice filled the conference hall, and the atmosphere quickly cooled.

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