How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

“…”

Mikhail’s green eyes trembled with shock. He was about to say something, but when he saw the Gand Duke, he immediately shut his mouth. He seemed to realize that she deliberately forgot to say the exact location out of concern for the Gran Duke.

She said with a leisurely smile.

“If that fact were known, the other person would be in trouble?”

She didn’t say the name because she was afraid the Grand Duke would understand, but as this story became known, Sorel was of course the ‘one who would be in trouble’. A scandal would spread if the fact that the unmarried princess secretly exchanged love letters with the vice-captain of the knights was discovered. More when that vice-captain was from a family of commoners.

“…”

A faint rage flashed in Mikhail’s green eyes. She, no, Eve threatened him by mentioning Sorel’s name, so he was restraining himself on the outside, but he must have been very angry in his heart.

Eve was a bad sister who always bullied Sorel.

“Don’t worry. If you keep a secret, I will keep it too.”

“How can I…”

“How can you believe that? Can’t you believe me even though you know I’ve been keeping it a secret?”

Mikhail didn’t want to retort, but shut his mouth. There was a look of confusion in his green eyes as he looked at her. Well, he couldn’t believe it.

Eve of the original story would have informed everyone as if she had waited as soon as she found out information unfavorable to Sorel. She must have been screaming all over town.

Mikhail nodded his head after a short thought.

“All right. For my honor, I will be completely silent on this matter.”

“Thank you.”

Mikhail’s gaze wandered anxiously between her and the Grand Duke.

“I will take you to your bedroom.”

“I’m fine. I can go back alone.”

Since everyone was trying to take her there, the imperial palace felt like a really dangerous back alley. Anyway, if she walked a little, she would arrive at the princess’s palace in no time. Mikhail looked worried for a moment, but eventually he politely bowed and turned around.

“Then excuse me.”

She watched his back slowly move away from her towards the end of the hallway. According to the original story, Mikhail was originally the illegitimate son of a high-ranking nobleman. Abandoned by his father, he lived alone with his poor mother. It was a setting that he trained to become a knight in his free time after earning living expenses by doing chores from a young age. He was a very sincere hard worker, suitable for such a background setting, and he had a personality that valued trust and honor more than his life. In a way, he was an upright person that was a bit frustrating.

“Amazing. You posses the weakness of the vice-captain of the knights trusted by His Majesty.”

…It’s a world apart from the arrogant man over here.

She was looking at the spot where Mikhail had disappeared when she heard the voice of the Grand Duke from behind. There was a feeling of interest again in his gaze. Once again, in that handsome face, the features of Mikhail, whom he had just met, overlapped. Even though the atmosphere was completely different, there was a part where the features were similar.

‘Come to think of it, these two…’

Belatedly, the relationship with the original came to mind. These two were obviously half-brothers. The secret of the birth was revealed only in the second half of the original story. The fact that Mikhail, the male lead, and Grand Duke Terence, the second male lead, were actually half-brothers. The setting was that the former Grand Duke, a womanizer, half-forcedly impregnated Mikhail’s mother, who was a maid, and abandoned her.

Until then, the Grand Duke had kept it a secret to himself, and no one except him knew about it. Even Mikhail himself did not know. This was because Mikhail’s mother did not tell anyone who the father was since she was kicked out of the grand ducal family for being pregnant.

She quickly told the Grand Duke.

“Sir Sheldon is a man of high fidelity, so you don’t have to worry. He will never divulge what happened today.”

She was afraid that this man would assassinate Mikhail to shut his mouth. Even in the story, the Grand Duke was deeply displeased with Mikhail. He’s an illegitimate half-brother, so he might not look pretty.

‘What is Mikhail guilty of…?’

Mikhail was only guilty of discovering his father by mistake. Rather, wasn’t he a sincere man who overcame his unfortunate birth and worked hard to rise to the rank of vice-captain of the knights on his own? Besides, he was the male protagonist of this world, and if he was killed in this way, the original work would be shattered.

As if reading her mind, the Grand Duke asked with a cynical look.

“Are you afraid I will kill him?”

“Yes, I am concerned.”

It was either the Emperor or this person who conspired and assassinated people there. Even in the original work, they scheming toward each other while giving back and forth throughout.

‘I think I know why the heroine chose Mikhail over this man.’

As a husband, the sincere and trustworthy Mikhail was much better than such an arrogant and treacherous man. He was a diligent and hard worker man.

The Grand Duke approached her with a strange look.

“Is that why you stopped me a moment ago?”

He was talking about her holding his wrist in the hallway.

“I have no choice but to stop you. If you kill someone inside the imperial palace, how are you going to deal with the aftermath?”

“Who said I would kill him?”

The Grand Duke spoke indifferently to the point of being nasty.

“I was just trying to stun him briefly with a dagger dipped in a sedative.”

“Is that so?”

Stab it with a dagger to stun it? If he did something wrong, the other person would die, right? Even if he woke up alive, they would thoroughly investigate who attacked the vice-captain of the Knights in the middle of the night.

The Grand Duke just stared at her without saying anything for a while. There was a slight displeasure in his numb purple eyes, but it was gone in an instant.

“I will admit that the princess’s method was more effective.”

Surprisingly, he readily admitted it.

“I want to stop. I might meet someone else here.”

The Grand Duke followed her without a word as if he agreed with her words. She walked down the quiet corridor with him and went out into the corridor. Fortunately, after that, she was able to get out safely without bumping into anyone else.

She parted ways with the Grand Duke in front of the garden road leading to the back gate of the princess’s palace.

“I hope to see you again soon.”

Instead of answering, the Grand Duke looked at her for a few seconds before turning around. She watched him go back and went inside the palace.

‘It was a stormy night.’

When she entered the bedroom, she was completely exhausted. So she collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

The Milky Way flowed across the pitch-black night sky. After leaving the imperial palace, Terrence returned to the mansion in a carriage that had been prepared in advance. He swallowed an annoyed sigh as he got out of the carriage.

‘I wasted my time needlessly.’

The tryst with his fiancée left only a bad feeling. Common sense told him there’s no way he would be playing card games at a time like this. From the beginning, the word vision was absurd when talking about the princess.

But, somehow, he felt uncomfortable. Could it be that the princess seen in the dark left a strangely deep impression?

‘Anyway, I need to investigate the Emperor.’

With that thought in mind, Terrence walked toward the office.

“Your Highness, Colonel Kamion has been waiting for you for several hours.”

Even before entering the office, the old butler followed Terrence and reported.

“Kamion came?”

“Yes, he is waiting for you in the break room.”

Kamion has long been Terrence’s closest friend, working as his right-hand man.

Terrence opened the door himself and entered the break room. As soon as the door opened, the men sitting at the table hurriedly rose from their seats.

Two young knights in military uniform. And a dark brown-haired man sitting between them bowed his head respectfully at Terrence.

“His Highness the Grand Duke.”

Terrence stepped inside without much thought and was startled when he saw the table. On the round table in the middle of the break room, cards were scattered here and there. Terrence hesitated for a moment as he looked at the deck of cards, but quickly came to his senses and went inside.

“Kamion. What are you doing in my break room?”

At Terrence’s stiff tone, the tall Kamion let out an embarrassing laugh. Kamion was an excellent soldier and a loyal follower of Terrence. He was a fairly compliant handsome man with dark brown hair and dark red eyes, but a scar across his left eye added a dangerous impression to his handsome face. His solid and strong-looking physique also created an intimidating atmosphere.

Kamion hastily made an excuse.

“I’ve been waiting here for two hours for Your Highness and it was so boring that we couldn’t bear it. While we were waiting, we were playing for a while to pass the time.”

The other officers who were playing games together bowed their heads politely and hurriedly went outside. Instead of answering, Terrence turned his gaze to the table littered with card cards. He thought he would never go anywhere near a gambling house, let alone a card game, but as soon as he returned to the mansion, cards appeared in front of his eyes.

‘It must be a coincidence.’

It was certainly coincidental, just a coincidence. However, even though he judged as rationally as possible, he couldn’t hide his uneasy feeling. At the bottom of his heart, a little doubt began to bloom.

No way. Talking nonsense like that…

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Translator Note:

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