How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

The light hanging at the entrance to the mansion dimly illuminated Mikhail’s pale face. She belatedly saw a small gift box in his hand. He looked very nervous. When she saw that, a question suddenly occurred to her. What was Mikhail trying to say? Could it be that he was trying to tell her the emperor’s plan?

 

At that time, Terence wrapped his arms around her shoulders and led her into his arms.

 

“My wife is not feeling well. If it’s not important, we’ll talk about it later.”

 

“It will only take a moment.”

 

“What do you mean? Can’t we do it here?”

 

“This is something that must only be conveyed to Her Highness.”

 

She got out of Terence’s arms and walked over to Mikhail.

 

“If it’s that important, there’s nothing we can do. Please wait here for a moment.”

 

Terence had a disgruntled look on his face, but he didn’t catch her. It was natural. Because they already promised to do this.

 

“I’ll wait for you, so please come back quickly.”

 

She left Bayan in the care of Terence and followed Mikhail. Mikhail took her to the waiting room near the entrance. All the guests had gathered in the banquet hall, so it was empty.

 

As soon as the door closed, Mikhail quickly got to the point.

 

“Princess Sorel asked me to deliver a gift of apology to Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”

 

“Sorel? How’s Sorrel doing?”

 

She asked him as if she knew nothing.

 

“I don’t know either. I could not see the princess, but only heard her words.”

 

As Mikhail explained, he handed her a gift box.

 

“This… She told me to convey it in a visionary way.”

 

What Mikhail was holding was a seemingly ordinary gift box. He wrapped the square box in gold wrapping paper and even placed a white ribbon around it. There’s a bomb in there. When would it explode? Was there a timer or something?

 

“Thank you so much. I’m fine, so don’t worry, go to the villa and tell Sorel to take care of herself.”

 

She smiled naturally and held out her hand to receive the gift. But Mikhail avoided her hand instead of handing over the gift box.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

Mikhail looked at her with a serious expression and said.

 

“Princess Sorel asked me to tell you something else as well. ‘This is the answer to the question about the sacred tree’s flowers that His Majesty the Queen was curious about before.’”

 

“Flower of the Holy Tree?”

 

It wasn’t an unfamiliar word. Oh yeah. This was a story she heard on her wedding day. Even then, Sorel tried to call her to the greenhouse, telling her about the flowers of the Sacred Tree. Within this gift was the answer to the Flower of the Sacred Tree. She wondered what on earth that means.

 

Mikhail hesitated and then said one more thing.

 

“The person who delivered those words to me is His Majesty the Emperor.”

 

“I see.”

 

She didn’t know what it was, but even the Emperor knew it. Mikhail added an explanation, still without handing over the gift box.

 

“Princess Sorel… She is currently trapped in the princess’s palace. She is not in a state where she can meet other people.”

 

She looked closely at Mikhail’s neat face. Mikhail was trying to tell me as much as possible that this gift was suspicious.

 

“Thank you for saying it like that.”

 

This was probably the best for Mikhail. He couldn’t refuse the emperor’s orders, so he obeyed them obediently, but he was also trying to give her a hint somehow. At that time, the door to the waiting room opened. Mikhail turned his gaze at the sound of the door opening. Terence was coming into the waiting room.

 

“I think the conversation is over.”

 

“Your Highness…”

 

She said to Mikhail, seeing him confused.

 

“Mikhail, there’s a bomb in here.”

 

“…yes?”

 

She also told him the Emperor’s true purpose.

 

“The emperor plans to make you hand over this gift and then hold you responsible if we die in an explosion.”

 

She opened the gift box in front of a shocked Mikhail. The gift inside was a flower bud-shaped decoration. It was a very familiar flower. It was the bud of a sacred tree. It was a decoration made with gray crystals, each petal delicate, and when she looked closely, it turned out to be a storage box that could be opened inside the petals. But there was nothing inside.

 

Nothing?

 

“I will look for it.”

 

Terence reached into the bottom of the box and tore off a thin sheet from the bottom. Inside was a rectangular glass bottle with a mixture of light golden powder.

 

“You were here.”

 

The glass bottle was small enough to be held in one hand. When she looked closely, she saw a finely braided red string wrapped around the mouth of the bottle. The string was red overall, but it was stained white near the stopper. What was that?

 

“The string…”

 

“Yes, there is not much time left.”

 

Terence wasted no time in pulling off the red string.

 

‘Ah, this was like the wick of a bomb.’

 

It appears that the golden powder was gunpowder and this red string was the wick. As she looked at the fallen string, she realized one more thing. It was originally a white string, but over time it turned red. Then, if everything turns red, a bomb will explode. The bombs of the world she lived in were ugly from the outside. She had no idea what kind of bomb was made so pretty with gold powder and finely braided white string in a glass bottle. While she was looking at the pretty bomb that looked like an ornament, Mikhail’s pale face belatedly caught her eye.

 

Mikhail looked as if he was lost in an unfamiliar place.

 

“Your Highness…”

 

He muttered helplessly. He must have felt that something was suspicious, but he probably didn’t know that the emperor would abandon him so mercilessly. Michael was loyal to the Emperor in his own way. Well, it’s strange that you would expect good faith from someone who tried to kill your own daughter.

 

“Your Majesty gave me this gift a few hours ago and asked me to quietly call Her Highness to the waiting room of this mansion and hand it to her.”

 

Mikhail looked at the glass bottle with a confused expression.

 

“I had no idea there was a bomb inside. I thought something was fishy.”

 

“I think the Emperor was trying to use Sorel to blackmail you.”

 

Mikhail looked at her with blank eyes. Terence spoke to him in a calm voice.

 

“We will handle this, so you can return to the imperial palace.”

 

His attitude was much more relaxed than before. He may had heard Mikhail advised her to be careful with gifts. Terence also gave Michael an excuse to convey to the Emperor. This was what they thought: Terence, who was worried that she was talking alone with Mikhail when she was not feeling well, suddenly burst into the waiting room and found out about the gift. Terence was wary of the word that it was a gift from Sorel and kicked him out. The reason the bomb didn’t explode was because Terence discovered the hidden bomb while examining the gift. Although Mikhail failed to properly carry out the emperor’s orders, she couldn’t blame him alone as her plan went awry because she was sick and tried to return to the mansion midway.

 

“All right.”

 

Mikhail also agreed with Terence’s words.

 

“See you next time. I hope you both return safely.”

 

After saying those words, Mikhail went out.

 

“Anyway, it worked out well.”

 

Left in the waiting room, she looked at the gunpowder bottle Terence was holding and asked.

 

“Is this type of gunpowder easy to obtain?”

 

“No, gunpowder cannot be traded without the emperor’s permission.”

 

Well, if anyone could buy and sell gunpowder, the country would be in shambles.

 

“Then you should keep this carefully.”

 

It might come in handy later. Throwing it at the emperor. After hearing what she said, Terence smiled slightly and handed me the gunpowder bottle.

 

“Can I just keep it like this?”

 

“I’ve removed the string, so it should be safe. Still, if possible, store it in a warehouse away from the main building.”

 

She also had no intention of leaving such a dangerous bomb near her bedroom. She should keep it in a safe place. She reached out to take the vial he gave her. Their hands were intertwined over the glass bottle. The moment her hand touched his fingers, the scene in the waiting room disappeared and darkness came. When she opened her eyes again, acrid smoke and dust were filling her surroundings.

 

‘Where am I?’

 

She looked around, brushing away the cloudy dust with her hand. The dust and smoke covering the surroundings slowly disappeared, revealing the inside of the room. Torn and broken furniture was seen here and there. Pieces of shattered glass landed on the floor. She realized where it was and stopped. This was the waiting room near the entrance to the Duke’s House. Where she was now with Terence. The waiting room was a mess. It looked as if something had exploded inside it. She looked around blankly and found that the door to the hallway was completely torn off. And the two people lying down in front of them.

 

A man was lying unconscious on the floor, holding a woman. The moment she saw those two people, her body trembled slightly. It was her and Terence. Both were wearing the same clothes they had just worn. What that meant was clear. This was going to happen today. And right after a while. Just as she was gasping in surprise, a flash of light brought her back to reality.

 

“Eve?”

 

In front of her was Terence, who had a surprised expression on his face.

 

“Eve, what’s going on?”

 

As soon as she came back to reality, she grabbed him and screamed.

 

“We have to go outside!”

 

This glass bottle wasn’t important right now.

 

“There’s another bomb! This place is going to explode!”

 

Did someone hide a bomb here? Since she was only monitoring Mikhail, she didn’t have the energy to monitor who came and went here. But how did they know exactly when to get in here? When her thoughts reached that point, a clear bell rang in the room. A rope bell pulled to summon servants. It was making noise. On the contrary, it meant that they were pulling it from downstairs. At that moment, she saw a thin string attached to the line. There was a translucent white string attached underneath the rope.

 

“Eve, this way…!”

 

That was when Terence hurriedly opened the door and grabbed her hand.

 

Bang!

 

A loud explosion erupted and her vision was covered in darkness.

 

* * *

 

The light from the fireplace flickered in the dark office. Near the stove, the emperor who was sitting looked back at Gayren next to him and asked.

 

“Is there any news from Duke’s office yet?”

 

“The dinner is not over yet. There will be news soon.”

 

The emperor seemed satisfied with the answer, leaning back in his chair and letting out a low sigh. For someone who could see the future, using a plan was a very dangerous and uncertain thing. The emperor wondered if Eve had noticed what was in Mikhail’s gift. If Eve could only glimpse the future by meeting a person in person, he would have noticed it the moment he met Mikhail. He hoped that Eve would realize in advance that Mikhail’s gift contained a bomb. That way, she would feel like the danger was gone and she would be able to relax her guard.

 

‘If Eve can see the future, all she has to do is hide one plan inside another.’

 

The Emperor had set up a very special trap in advance for Eve to meet Mikhail. It was an elaborate device designed to explode when the string was moved. Of course, it won’t be used once Mikhail safely delivers the gift to Eve. But if something goes wrong at all. Before the two can leave the room, a spy who has infiltrated the Duke’s residence will explode a bomb and kill Eve.

 

“I wonder if Eve will get out of that safely.”

 

* * *

 

As soon as she came to her senses, she felt a dull pain throughout her body. She opened her eyes with difficulty. She saw a hallway full of broken debris and dust. Even if she moved her body even a little, she felt a throbbing pain.

 

She heard people screaming next to her.

 

“Your Highness!”

 

When she came to her senses and turned her gaze a little, she saw Terence’s face embracing her body. The moment she saw him, she remembered what had happened.

 

They were in the waiting room. The bell rings and there’s a bomb… She also remembered Terence’s voice pulling her to the door. At the same time, an explosion sounded and they seemed to be pushed out into the hallway. And she remembered Terence wrapping his arms around her to protect her.

 

“Terrence…”

 

Terence was losing his mind. Blood flowed down his pale cheeks. It was blood flowing from the forehead. The wound was severe, as if he had hit his head against the wall.

 

“Your Highness, are you okay?”

 

Many people heard the explosion late and ran to them. Servants and knights. The dinner guests were also coming this way one by one.

 

“Grand Duchess!”

 

“What on earth is this…?”

 

“Hurry and get a doctor!”

 

There was a commotion in the hallway, but no one else was in sight right now. Terence still couldn’t come to his senses. With his pale, bloodless face, she could barely hear him breathing. Even as someone who knew nothing about medicine, she could see that there was no hope.

 

“No…”

 

When she realized that Terence could die, she felt terrible fear and sadness. It was scary when she saw him get hurt by the vision, but now it was a thousand times more scary. She quickly took out the sacred water sap that she had kept in her arms. The glass bottle had broken due to the impact just now, and more than half of the sap had spilled out. With trembling hands, she opened the bottle and poured all the remaining fluid into Terence’s mouth.

 

‘Please, please, I hope this works…’

 

The moment the sap was poured down to the last drop, a bright light slowly surrounded the surroundings.

 

“That…”

 

Terence’s wound slowly began to heal as people looked at them in amazement. However, perhaps because of the insufficient amount, it could not disappear completely. When the wound was half gone, the mysterious light also disappeared. Terence still couldn’t open his eyes. Regret and self-blame flooded me in this despairing reality.

 

‘I wish I had the same abilities as Sorel.’

 

At this moment, she desperately needed healing power that she could use right now rather than foresight. She wished she had that ability too.

 

Why did she only have mediocre foresight? It was a time when she was feeling sad and thinking like that. She began to feel a strange sensation near her heart, different from before.

 

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Translator Note: