The Guidebook for Villainesses

The giant of fire, a fracture of what was once a great existence, and with its great existence also came with great pride. But as it had to live with humans henceforth, the giant of fire had to do away with its old attitude.

The giant of fire quietly trembled at the sound of Lara’s more terrifying voice. Humbly bending its waist, it gathered the embers it had spat out at Konny and Valentine, and pretended to re-attach them to its body.

“I think it learned that from someone, but who could it be?”

Lara slightly furrowed her eyebrows and muttered. All the people the giant of fire had ever met with were herself, her mother Isadora, Acerus and the demon Valac, and the last ones were Konny and Valentine. It was probably not Valentine because they just met for the first time today, it would not be the demon Valac because he swore to obey Lara and even went on his knees, and Isadora was never someone to do that. If so, the only suspects left were Acerus and Konny.

“Konny.”

Lara called out Konny’s name. Konny slyly turned her head away and feigned ignorance.

“What in the world did you teach it?”

“Well… I taught the giant of fire the cutest thing ever.”

“Konny!”

“There are also others!”

Konny did not mind Lara’s criticism, she had too much experience as a maid to succumb to just this level. She also knew that Lara was not actually mad and was only pretending. So she quickly and repeatedly stuck out and puckered her lips towards the giant of fire.

The giant of fire paid attention to Konny’s actions. It soon burst into flames and nodded enthusiastically.

“What are you trying to do…”

Lara was in the middle of telling it not to do something useless when she suddenly closed her mouth. The giant of fire grabbed her earlobe with one hand, stuck to her cheek, and pushed its lips in. Though there was no kissing sound, the subtle heat still extended from her chin to her cheek.

“Did you see it, Valentine? It’s terribly cute!”

Konny repeatedly patted Valentine’s shoulders and did not know what to do. Valentine continuously muttered something under his breath, surprised that the giant of fire could learn and acquire something from humans.

Kissed on the cheek, Lara flinched her lips without saying anything and slightly turned her head away.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The Eastern Union consisted of three small countries: Sias, Lafort, and Mortan. They announced that they formed the union to keep the increasingly strong Empire in check. But in reality, they took advantage of their powerful mutual enemy, the Empire, to obsessively steal information between themselves and strengthen the sovereignty of their own individual countries.

The Emperor of Tarragon taught his son, Crown Prince Acerus:

“When dealing with the north, you must do your best to fight them. The southwest, including Hautean, does more harm than good. Intimidate them, but don’t fight them. The Eastern Union is a swindler that can only talk big, never listen to them.”

It was advice meaning to always be wary because listening to what the Eastern Union said could lead to falling in the sneaky trick they had planned.

“Greetings to Your Imperial Majesty, the high sky of the Empire.”

The delegation representative dispatched to Tarragon was the son of King Lafort among the three Eastern Union countries.

“I’m Nicholas.”

Nicholas was older than Acerus. At first glance, his body was plump and short, and his face looked well over 40. Since the King of Lafort had not let go of his crown even at an old age, there were many stories within Lafort that Nicholas’ son would be the next King instead of him.

Nicholas was known as the most diplomatic person among the leading members of the Eastern Union. His warm impression, friendly attitude, and personality that suited anyone because of his love of liquor and women played a role in enhancing his evaluation.

However, the Emperor knew very well that there was a cunning fox lurking behind his bear-like face.

“As you know, the Barbarians are not the people of Tarragon.”

The Emperor insincerely scanned through the letter of protest from the Eastern Union handed over by Nicholas. Then, he asked.

“Am I intimidating the East by moving the Barbarians?”

The Emperor of Tarragon was a man of tremendous power to the point where he could be called the owner of the continent. Nicholas did not dare to antagonize the Emperor, he just bowed politely and answered.

“That is not what I meant. If Your Imperial Majesty wants to get your hands on the East, it is possible enough to do so without having to create such a problem for us.

“Really?”

“But, Your Imperial Majesty, many different interests are entangled in the Eastern Union. Some people respect and fear you, but some people consider you a competitor they dare to overcome.

“You don’t have to give a lengthy explanation to something that goes without saying. Do you think I talk like this because I don’t know much about the union?”

“Your Imperial Majesty, you have to call back the Barbarians.”

“Why?”

“The Barbarians said that they’re hunting the demon worshippers but, in fact, what they are doing is resulting in the encouragement toward the war between the Eastern Union and the Empire…”

“You don’t know anything about Barbarians.”

The Emperor laughed. Nicholas expected the Emperor to get angry at this point. When the Emperor started to get angry, he would flat-out lie and pretend to beg the Emperor. He intended to induce the Empire to abandon the Barbarians. However, the Emperor stared at him while smiling and stroking his beard.

“The Barbarians don’t listen to me.”

“Pardon?”

“They’re not my subordinates.”

“Your Imperial Majesty!”

“They’re the subordinates of the saintess.”

Nicholas raised his bowing head.

The Eastern Union has dispatched many spies to the Empire and had been receiving news from these spies for a long time. Among them, of course, there was also news about Lara, the saintess, who had recently become the biggest topic in Dandelion.

According to intelligence, the saintess stayed close to the Barbarians. At first, Nicholas thought it was only to use her strength as a saintess for the discrimination and unfair treatment that the Barbarians received, but after hearing from the Emperor, he thought that might be possible. If the Barbarians were the subordinates of the saintess, did that mean that their purpose was really only to eradicate the demon worshippers?

After thinking that far, Nicholas shook his head without realizing it. He knew the Emperor was watching him closely but he could not help it. The Emperor was not just an Emperor for nothing. There was no way the young saintess, who had just become an adult, could have done this at her disposal when the Emperor himself was openly holding out.

He could not get his mind around it. After managing to organize his thoughts, Nicholas hung a soft smile around his mouth and told the Emperor.

“Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Yes.”

“Please allow me to meet the saintess, I beg you like this.”

‘Just look at this guy.’

The Emperor loosened his wrinkled lips.

Nicholas was requesting to meet with the saintess without rubbing the Emperor’s fur the wrong way. However, rather than the Emperor, the one that he should not irritate was Lara, the saintess.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Upon hearing the news that Prince Nicholas of the Kingdom of Lafort wanted to meet her, Lara said with a face full of annoyance.

“I’m busy.”

“Saintess…”

“Look. you can tell just by looking how busy I am.”

Lara had her desks and chairs scattered in a huge prayer room, handing out work to dozens of priests one by one. There were a lot of other things to understand, including the location and number of temples in each country, the number of believers, the name and status of the dispatched priests, and other things.

After hearing that all of the fallen priests from Dandelion had been fired, a large number of priests from each temple were coming up to the capital to meet Lara. Some of them suspected the identity of the saintess, others criticized and slandered the saintess.

“Just go tell him; I already know that the Eastern Union has been secretly joining hands with demon worshippers so stop trying to butter me up and just tell me what they really want.”

The one who came to meet Lara was Acerus. He showed infinite respect to Lara, who managed to do what he wanted to do but could not—saying her opinions in a cool way in front of the Emperor.

“Nicholas is the son of the King of Lafort, but he is also the maternal nephew of the King of Sias. The King of Lafort’s first Queen was a Princess of Sias, she’s still alive, but the King and Queen of Lafort are on bad terms so it’s been a long time since she stepped down from the Queen’s seat.”

“So Nicholas isn’t in a good position.”

“His goal is to unite the union as a nation and rule it.”

“Wouldn’t the King of Sias and Mortan think the same way?”

“Yes, that’s why we call the Eastern Union a mess.”

Looking at the hard-working priests with blank eyes, Lara led Acerus to one side of the prayer room.

“As long as they actively participate in the great demon war, I don’t care if the Eastern Union merges into a Kingdom.”

“Same here.”

“Which country has the best King among the three countries? No, it’s better if it’s a King who’s the best at self-distinguishing. He should at least be good enough to resist the temptation of demons.”

Lara asked. Then, Acerus approached and spoke very quietly in her ear.

“You can be the one to decide that.”

“What?”

“I’m going to make the country chosen by the saintess the ruler of the East.”

Acerus smiled brightly at Lara.