How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

Sorel’s silver-white eyes held a contempt as cold as a frozen lake. Vilos became even more angry when he saw those eyes. Usually, Vilos hated Sorrel as much as Eve. He was reluctant to be trusted by his father, the emperor, just because she was gifted with healing powers. Yes, she had, but she was just a promotional saint for the image of the imperial family. The Emperor trusted and cared for Sorel more than he could understand.

 

He seemed to reveal secrets to Sorel that he did not share with Vilos. He did the same with this plan. The reason why such a reckless undertaking was pushed forward was all because of the emperor’s excessive trust in Sorel. But Sorel’s humble plan ultimately failed miserably.

 

“Look what happened now because of your stupid plan!”

 

Vilos looked at Sorel and burst out the anger he had been suppressing. Since Eve’s wedding day, his mother, the Empress, has been confined to her abandoned palace. Vilos knew very well how terrible that place was. This was because he went to see it for fun a few times when he was young. It wasn’t an abandoned palace, but it was just a prison in an old, shabby little building with a high wall. It was dusty, had no proper furniture, and the outside of the building was overgrown with weeds like a forest. The Empress was locked alone in a place as miserable as her grave, without anyone to attend to her.

 

Vilos couldn’t visit his mother because of the public attention. When he thought of his poor mother being put in such a miserable situation, he felt like his heart was burning black. And it was all stupid Sorel’s fault.

 

“Say something! Because of your foolish plan, only my mother will become the deposed empress! This is all because of you, right?”

 

Sorel was still like her clam and said nothing. She just stared at him with his icy silver-white eyes. His face was as pale and expressionless as a wax doll. Basically, what annoys an angry person the most is the other person’s indifferent attitude. Vilos wanted to break Sorel’s indifferent face and crush it. So he deliberately gave an exaggerated sneer.

 

“Well, you didn’t get through safely either. Do you know what rumors are going around right now?”

 

At the word ‘rumor’, the corners of Sorel’s eyes trembled slightly. Vilos showed a bitter sneer and continued his explanation leisurely.

 

“People are saying you tried to frame Eve with my mother. You were stupid enough to point out Eve as the culprit as soon as you woke up. Some people say you made it up on your own and blamed it on my mother.”

 

The last opinion was also a rumor actively spread by Vilos himself. He thought that if he did that, there would be a chance for the Empress to be reinstated later. It would also be an excuse to restore his mother’s honor after he became emperor.

 

“Ha, you pretended to be nice with a pretty face and pretended to be a saint, and you earned your own money, is not it?”

 

After saying that, a change began to appear on Sorel’s pale face. Sorel’s thin lips moved slightly and a low voice was heard.

 

“…fool.”

 

“what? What did you say just now?”

 

For a moment, cold anger seeped into Sorel’s silver-white eyes.

 

“I said you were a stupid fool. The only thing my brother could think of was to set fire to his sister’s dorm? Oh, he failed even at that.”

 

“W-what is it?”

 

“If the information hadn’t leaked in advance, my plan wouldn’t have failed. This is all because of my brother and the Empress who leaked the plan. It’s not my fault. Why don’t you take care of that light tongue before you criticize me?”

 

Vilos was dumbfounded by the rude words coming from Sorel’s mouth. Belatedly he realized what he had heard and her face blushed and he raised his hand to smack Sorel.

 

“How dare this insolent cloth…!”

 

But at that moment, a stern voice came from behind.

 

“What are you doing now?”

 

It was the emperor’s voice. Vilos froze in shock, just as he was about to hit Sorel. He came inside, with the emperor looking at the two with a puzzled expression.

 

“In a situation like this, we end up fighting with each other. Why is the man who will become the emperor so generous and narrow-minded? He couldn’t control one of his younger sisters and tried to kill her.”

 

After hearing the emperor’s reprimand, Vilos quickly became depressed and lowered his head.

 

“…I’m sorry, father.”

 

The emperor looked at Vilos and sighed silently.

 

In fact, Vilos was a more affectionate child to him than Sorel. He was the only child born to the beloved empress, and he was the son who would become the future heir, so it was natural for him to do so. The emperor quickly relented and comforted Vilos.

 

“Your mother will be very heartbroken. I will use my hands to get the guards off tonight, so you can go and comfort her secretly.”

 

“…Yes, father.”

 

Vilos realized that his father’s words were in effect a congratulatory decree. He glared hatefully at Sorel before leaving, then turned and walked out. After Vilos left, the Emperor approached Sorel’s bed.

 

“Are your wounds healed?”

 

“…yes.”

 

Normally, a wound like this would have taken less than a day to recover, but this time it took longer than expected. This was because the dagger contained holy power. The Emperor looked at Sorel and sighed.

 

“I sent someone to question the Empress’s maid and her four maids, but they say neither of them revealed the plan anywhere.”

 

The two maids were being severely interrogated in prison. The emperor barely sent someone to hear their answers. But after receiving the answer, his doubts only deepened. The only people who knew what happened were Sorel, the Empress, Vilos, the Emperor himself, and Gairen. In fact, Gairen did not know the details of the plan, so the only people who knew the details were the Emperor, Empress, Vilos, and Sorel. However, the Grand Duke and Eve were clearly seeing through all the plans.

 

“I can’t tell if it’s true.”

 

“…”

 

Sorel, on the other hand, was confident. This was because the Empress and Vilos leaked information. He said he never told her complete plan to her maid. However, there is no way the Emperor or Gairen would have told anyone about this. In fact, Vilos wasn’t stupid enough to spread the word about this. So it was probably the empress’s fault. But Sorel had enough sense not to say something like that in front of her father, who loved the empress deeply. The emperor pondered for a moment and then asked again.

 

“You said there was no change in Eve’s holy power at all, right?”

 

“Yes, she is the same as before.”

 

Eve’s sacred power was to predict the future. It’s unlikely, but could it be that Eve used that ability? However, even with her precognitive abilities, Eve could not see the future with such accuracy.

 

“Is there any possibility that Eve has regained some ability?”

 

“That won’t happen. You know.”

 

Sorel answered confidently. It felt like Eve’s holy power had become a little clearer these days, but that level of change couldn’t be called a change. When it comes to sacred power, it usually got a little dull when she was not feeling well. She guessed her mood improved because her relationship with the Grand Duke was going well.

 

“My sister’s abilities completely disappeared after I took them away. You don’t have to worry about that.”

 

Sorel herself paid a heavy price for it. So there was absolutely no way anything could go wrong.

 

“Okay. If that’s you, then that’s probably it.”

 

After hearing Sorel’s answer, the emperor came out. Then he gave the order to the knight waiting in the hallway.

 

“Thoroughly monitor what Eve is doing. You have to find out as much as you can about who she meets and what conversations she has.”

 

It may be difficult to inject a spy into the Grand Duke’s family, but if you dig into the other people Eve meets, you might be able to find some information.

 

* * *

 

Ten days have passed since the whirlwind marriage process ended. Meanwhile, she was adjusting to her new duties as hostess of the mansion.

 

“This… Add… Share it here…”

 

She checked the ledger, writing down calculations in a small notebook. It was an extremely thick and massive ledger containing the mansion’s budget for the next month. On the second day after the wedding, the butler handed her a stack of documents and reported on the financial situation of the mansion.

 

‘From now on, Her Highness will have to manage it herself…’

 

Starting with the introduction, she listened to a lecture for nearly three hours about the mansion’s money management methods, income, and expenditure details.

 

‘I thought I would be able to have fun when I became the Grand Duchess.’

 

No, she didn’t really just hang out, she thought she just went out into social circles, made friends, had tea parties every now and then, and lived like that. Those easy thoughts turned to dust the moment she received the key to the warehouse where dozens of ledgers were stored. It turned out that the mistress of the family was like the general manager of the mansion. She had to oversee everything from managing the mansion and employees to entertaining guests and accounting. There were a ton of things she had to deal with from the time she woke up until she went to sleep. The most important thing was managing the finances of the mansion, but since it was such a large mansion, there were a lot of things to worry about. In addition, the ledgers were written in an incredibly complex manner, so it took a lot of effort just to understand them. She started organizing her budget in a new notebook to at least make it easier to read for the next day.

 

‘I’m glad I learned simple accounting in the original world.’

 

Thanks to this, she was able to easily organize her financial details.

 

…Of course, it took three days to organize it like that. Through all of this, she realized one obvious truth. Regardless of whether Terence became emperor in the future, she never wanted to become empress. Managing a mansion was this difficult, so how did they manage an imperial palace? When she became empress, she would die while organizing the accounts.

 

“Ha…”

 

She closed the ledger and sighed. Her relationship with Terence was still uncomfortable and dry. After the wedding day, she received such a strange confession in the garden. Ten days have already passed since then. From that day on, Terence declared that he would not bother her.

 

“I’m fine, so don’t worry about it, just relax.”

 

And he didn’t come to her unless it was really necessary. Thanks to this, all the servants in the mansion were watching them. At first glance, it was a look of concern. They must be worried because the newlywed Grand Duke and his wife have been living in separate rooms since their first night, living as if they were guests. Fortunately or unfortunately, Terence was so busy with the Empress’s affairs that he could hardly return to the mansion. Thanks to this, she stayed alone in the mansion and spent her days just organizing the books and occasionally playing with Lot.

 

“…It would be nice if a guest came to visit.”

 

But for ten days after the wedding, no one came to the mansion except Mikhail. It turns out that the ten days after marriage are the honeymoon period, so it was polite not to visit the mansion unless something special happened. It seemed like they were allowing people to enjoy their honeymoon in this way instead of not being able to go on a honeymoon. But for her, she hoped that anyone would come and interfere.

 

Fortunately, as soon as ten days had passed, the Duchess of Rohan finally visited the mansion. Diane and the Duke of Rohan were also there.

 

“After the wedding, I waited for the date to pass quickly. I want to see the princess quickly.”

 

“I was also looking forward to Miss Diane and her mother visiting.”

 

That’s not an empty word, she really waited eagerly. Because she had spent all this time just working in the stuffy mansion. Diane asked with curiosity as she glanced at her.

 

“How have you been?”

 

She seemed to be asking if she had been a happy newlywed with a flood of sesame seeds for the past ten days. Instead of being a happy newlywed, her marriage was ruined from the first night, but she pretended to be full of happiness as much as possible.

 

“Sure. It was a dream-like day.”

 

Diane smiled shyly, her white cheeks turning pink. Upon closer inspection, Diane appeared gaunt and paler than before. Her pure white skin was so pale that it took on a pale complexion, like that of a corpse. Were there any aftereffects from being tired from the wedding? As she was looking at her with some concern, the Duke of Rohan, who had taken her seat, asked her carefully.

 

“Isn’t the Grand Duke at the mansion?”

 

“I said you’d be back soon, but you’re late.”

 

The servant informed her of the visitation time of the duke and his wife, but it appears that they are late due to unfinished work. She found it so uncomfortable to face Terrence that she wished she had just not come. Still, her relatives came to visit after the wedding, so I shouldn’t have to welcome them alone. Fortunately, Terence arrived a little while later.

 

“Forgive me for being late. I finished work late.”

 

Terence apologized to her guests and then took a seat next to her. He looked back at her and smiled sweetly, but she suppressed her nervousness and slowly looked away. After the confession in the garden, she felt this awkward whenever she saw Terence. An unknown emotion mixed with shame and confusion arose. Terence seemed to know this as well and kept avoiding her. The Duke of Rohan, who knew nothing, smiled happily when he saw Terence.

 

“You two really get along well. To be honest, I was worried when I heard about the wedding. Now I see that they are a very good pair.”

 

The Duke said that with a sad smile.

 

…Every time she heard people say she looked good on them, she felt a little different. She hid her feelings and said thank you.

 

“Thank you for visiting, Duke. I couldn’t even say hello to you properly on my wedding day.”

 

On the wedding day, only formal greetings were exchanged and there was no time to have a proper conversation. The Duke of Rohan was a middle-aged man with his brown hair neatly combed and a well-trimmed mustache. When he smiled, his expression was bright and he seemed like the good-natured guy next door. However, his brown eyes, embedded in his deep eyelids, showed the unique determination of a warrior. Although he was a little shorter than the emperor, his broad shoulders and sturdy upper body gave him a sturdy impression. Just looking at his appearance, she thought he looked like a typical middle-aged nobleman. The duke seemed very surprised to hear what she said. It seemed strange that she was being so polite.

 

Well, since this is the Duke’s first time seeing her, he must have been thinking of Eve, whom he had met before, so it must be unfamiliar and strange. He muttered with an awkward smile.

 

“The princess has changed a lot since she became the Grand Duchess. Even though my wife said so… Actually, I didn’t believe it.”

 

…What an overly honest man.

 

“Isn’t it natural for things to change over time?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

The Duke roughly agreed with what I said and then smiled at Diane and said,

 

“Diane, why don’t you show Lot your new dolls?”

 

“A doll?”

 

“I’m learning knitting because I’m bored these days.”

 

Diane pulled out a small stuffed animal the size of her finger from her pocket.

 

“Oh my, it’s so cute.”

 

It was similar to the doll Chloe used to make out of yarn. It’s amazing that she made something like that as soon as she learned how to knit. Diane stood up with a meaningful look on her face, as if she realized that we had something to talk about.

 

“Then I’ll go up to Lot’s room.”

 

As soon as Diane left her drawing room, the smile disappeared from the duke’s face. After a moment of silence, he looked at her and spoke.

 

“Princess, this is a presumptuous thing to say, but please do not ask my wife such favors from now on.”

 

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