How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

As Terrence stared at the table for a while, Kamion was taken aback. He couldn’t understand why the lord, who would normally have given him a brief admonition and taken him to his office, suddenly acted like that. Kamion narrowed his eyes and asked cautiously.

“Are you going to play for the first time in a while?”

“…”

Card games and drinking were old vices of military officers. Terrence was not in the mood to gamble, but when there were lulls in battle, he would occasionally play games with his men to pass the time. However, when he was not in wartime, he never took part in gambling, even as a pastime.

It was an unexpected question, but Terrence, who had been standing still, sat down without a word.

Kamion was even more flustered.

“Are you sure you want to?”

“Only once.”

When unclear suspicions arise, it was better to confront them directly and see the results. After seeing the results with his own eyes, she would definitively prove that what she said was bullshit, and he’ld be able to put it off cleanly.

Kamion, who sat across from him, looked at him and shuffled her deck of cards. Cards were exchanged, and the remaining stacks of cards were placed in the middle. The two of them picked up their cards and started playing.

Kamion looked at Terrence as he picked up a new card.

“I heard you went to the temple during the day?”

“I didn’t know you were spying on me.”

Kamion smiled softly and said.

“I heard that the princess asked Your Highness to accept flowers.”

“Did it spread that much?”

“Yes. And rumors are already spreading that Your Highness took flowers with an annoyed expression and came out.”

Kamion glanced at Terrence’s calm expression and said,

“Everyone is talking about how His Highness is very angry with this marriage.”

“Well, that’s not wrong.”

Camion watched Terrence carefully and comforted him.

“Still, didn’t the Emperor say he would give you the Lenz family’s old territory in exchange for marrying the princess?”

As Terrence picked up the card, he hesitated slightly.

Okay. That part was just weird. That territory was lost to the Imperial family when the Renz family was incorporated into the Empire. It must have been an important area at the time, but now, as the years have passed, it has been virtually useless. Still, Terrence had long wanted to reclaim the land of his ancestors. Sensing his feelings, the Emperor promised to return the grand duke’s former land in exchange for marriage. He declared that he would do so in front of his ministers, though he had not yet formally announced it.

‘Why am I pushing this marriage so far?’

Others thought the Emperor was throwing him prey and leaving his troubled daughter behind. For the Emperor, it would be far better for Terrence to marry a stupid princess than to ally with the daughter of another powerful family.

The problem was that once the princess became the Grand Duchess, the Emperor could legally plant spies in the Grand Duchy’s mansion. He couldn’t expect Eve to act as his spy, but when the princess got married, she would bring her maids of honor and her attendants. Among them, the Emperor would be able to insert spies to keep an eye on the Grand Duke. He said that marrying the princess did not give Terrence the power to become involved in the imperial household. After all, the prince also hated Eve, his younger sister. Just because Terrence married Eve, he wouldn’t be able to hold hands with the crown prince.

By all accounts, it was a marriage that benefited the emperor and was full of losses for Terrence. He would never have accepted this marriage if the emperor had not pleaded in front of his ministers, citing the former lands of the Grand Duke’s family.

‘But Princess Eve said all of this was the Emperor’s trap.’

Even if it was real, he wasn’t too surprised. Because the Emperor had been the enemy who had been aiming for his life since he was a child. Even so, it was hard to believe that the Emperor would even use the life of his own daughter. It wasn’t a particularly grounded story, but the current imperial political world was a tense battlefield.

You’d better be careful with anything.

“Kamion.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Find out if there is any suspicious activity on the Emperor’s side. Especially Sir Kairen, the commander of the Imperial Knights.”

If the Emperor moved someone, it would be his limb, the knight commander.

Camion obeyed his orders without a word.

“Yes, I will investigate thoroughly.”

After a few more cards were exchanged, the hand was over. Kamion unfolded the five cards he was holding.

“I won.”

Terrence also laid down his hand. There was one 7. It’s not hearts or clubs, it’s spades.

Even’s vision was wrong. He had a little hope, but it was useless.

Terrence brushed off his seat and got up. In any case, marriage would be re-examined. He just found out just how terribly erratic the mental state of his fiancée was.

It was when he stood up from his seat after thinking about it. Suddenly the door opened and a little boy ran inside.

“Brother Terrence!”

“Rot?”

It was his younger brother, Rotbert. His little brother who turned 9 this year.

Rot hurriedly ran over and fell into Terrence’s arms. Terrence stroked his little brother’s silky blond hair.

“Rot. What are you doing tonight?”

“I came because I wanted to see you!”

“Without an attendant?”

“Yes… I came alone.”

Rot’s bedroom was further away from there. He must have sneaked out, seeing as he came here alone in the middle of the night. Terrence smiled helplessly at the sight of his little brother teasing him in his arms.

“Brother, are you playing card games?”

Rot belatedly looked at the table and smiled broadly.

“Let’s do it!”

“What?”

“I want to do it! Mau Mau, I can do it too.”

Mau Mau wais a game played by three or four players with five or six cards. The remaining cards were placed face down on the table and each person turned them over one by one. If a card with the same shape or number matches the card you were holding, discard it along with the card you were holding. It was a very simple game in which the first person to shake off all the cards in their hand in that way won.

Originally, it wasn’t such a game, but he changed the rules to make it simpler while playing with Rot when he was young. 

Rot grabbed the hem of his clothes with both hands and hung on.

“Huh? Brother, play together with me.”

“Hmm…”

Terrence put on a slightly perplexed expression, but couldn’t help but say no to the sight of his brother, his eyes twinkling with anticipation.

To little Rot, Terence was his only family. However, Terrence spent more than half of the year on the battlefield, so he had little time to spend with Rot. Seeing the two brothers like that, Kamion laughed.

“Then, shall we do it with the three of us?”

“Huh!”

Rot quickly found a seat in an empty chair and sat down. Terrence was forced to return to his seat.

Kamion skilfully shuffled the cards, and he dealt a few to each of the three. Then, in order, the remaining cards were turned over one by one from the deck. Terrence had a matching card, but deliberately pretended nothing hit and took another. It was a long-awaited play together, so it was the intention of losing so that the younger brother would have fun. Kamion, who accompanies him, also noticed the heart, and when it was his turn, he smiled and added one more. The only person who eagerly discarded cards was young Rot.

Purple eyes sparkling like amethyst seriously looked at the card. Terrence smiled wryly as he looked at his rather serious younger brother.

Rot was only three months old when his mother, the Grand Duchess, died. Because of such a past, Rot has always been a dear brother to Terrence.

Terrence threw away a few cards and picked up a few more until the Rot won. He didn’t even look carefully to see which cards were there, just keeping a rough count of the cards. After a few more rounds, Rot put down the last remaining card.

“I won!”

“Haha. You’re doing well, little lord.”

A short knock cut off the friendly atmosphere in the room. The door opened and an elderly butler entered. He was holding a small coat in his hand.

“Little Rot, you are here. You suddenly disappeared and I searched the whole mansion looking for you.”

As soon as Rot saw him, he grabbed Terrence’s arm and clung to him.

“I am not sleepy… I want to play with you more.”

“It’s getting late, you should go to sleep now.”

After hearing the butler’s words, Rot lowered his head helplessly. Rot, who had been touching the end of the table with a sullen face, looked up at Terrence and asked.

“Brother, will the princess come to the mansion when you two got married?”

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

Rot, who was not old enough to enter the social world, had never met the princess in person, as he lived only in the mansion. He was deeply curious about Princess Eve, who was to marry his older brother thanks to him. But Terrence didn’t tell his brother about Eve in detail.

The servants were ordered not to talk to Rot about the princess.

If they got married, he would find out anyway, but he didn’t need to know in advance that his brother was marrying such a strange woman. He thought that even if the princess came to live in this mansion, he would strictly keep an eye on the young Rot so that she would not lay her hands on him.

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Translator Note:

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