How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

This spell would have no effect on Eve.

 

[Thank goodness.]

 

To be honest, Bayan was ignorant about this magic. When the saint, his contractor, was overcome by powers beyond her own power, he was unable to help. He was fortunate that the saint was able to see her future, so she was able to prevent this evil power in advance. By the way, they developed such a strange technique with the flowers of the sacred tree. It was a unique magic that could not have been imagined during Bayan’s time. After seeing it for himself, he seemed unable to stop Eve’s plan to cut down the Holy Tree. Even if they had prevented it now, if they left that tree alone, there was a possibility that something like this would happen again someday.

 

After confirming that Sorel had returned to prison, Bayan left the imperial palace and headed to the Grand Duke’s mansion.

 

* * *

 

“Good. I’m glad.”

 

Bayan returned to the mansion at dawn on the second day after leaving the fake flowers. Bayan had returned after personally seeing Sorel casting a spell.

 

[The blonde saint seemed to be unwell.]

 

“It must be bad since she was tortured by Vilos.”

 

She once again realized how despicable a person Vilos was. A man who directly tortured his half-sister to kill her.

 

‘If the emperor dies, that guy will have to pay the price too.’

 

While she was thinking that, Bayan shook his head.

 

[No, not only that, but the aftereffects of the spell seem to have been severe as well.]

 

Bayan said that after Sorel finished the technique, she lost her strength and collapsed.

 

“Well, it was said that an average shaman would die if he cast a strong spell.”

 

Sorel was a saint and sorcerer, so she had no idea how much damage she would suffer. So the emperor probably didn’t know exactly whether her spell was successful or failed. In the original case, the shaman would have died, and the scapegoat, the saint, would have slowly become sick and died along with the object of her curse. Sorel was unique because she was both a saint and a shaman. Actually, this was something she had never guessed.

 

“Is Sorel going to be okay?”

 

She had lost most of her sacred power, and now her health had suffered greatly. She wasn’t really worth her sympathy, but the way it turned out, she kind of cared.

 

[I do not know. After all, the blonde is a saint, and as long as her vitality is alive, she will recover to some extent.]

 

Bayan tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then spoke again.

 

[She may get better with time. If she doesn’t get over it, she’ll die. Even if she survives, she won’t be as healthy as before.]

 

Right. she hoped she didn’t die.

 

“If the spell was successful, when will it take effect?”

 

[The effect will appear after about 15 days. You will start not feeling well and you will start lying down sick.]

 

If she hadn’t known it was witchcraft, she would have thought her physical strength was weakening and ate health food to slowly die. In the future, when she had her first prophecy, she said that she had been under witchcraft while she was pregnant. If she had been pregnant, she would have thought it was just an ordinary aftereffect and would have left her hand in a daze.

 

“Then I guess I’ll just have to lock myself in the room from then on.”

 

In the meantime, she must come up with a plan to kill the emperor in earnest. For the next 15 days, she went about her daily life as if nothing had happened. It was still chilly so there wasn’t much to go outside. Other than taking walks with Lot, she stayed inside the mansion. She also checked for news from the imperial palace, but there was nothing special going on inside the palace. The emperor returned to state affairs a few days later, and Sorel continued to postpone leaving for the villa because she was unwell. And exactly one month later, she said she was sick and locked herself in my bedroom.

 

“Maybe we should call another doctor?”

 

Nell asked with a worried look on her face as she made up her blanket.

 

“No, it’s okay. Cough, I guess it’s just a cold.”

 

She fake coughed and snuggled into the blanket. No other doctor should come. The Grand Duchy’s doctor was taking Terence’s orders and turning her, who was fine, into a patient. Instead of cold medicine, he decided to bring healthy nutritional supplements. If another doctor came, they would immediately find out that she was faking it.

 

At that time, the bedroom door opened with a short knock. Terence opened the door himself and came inside. Nell quickly bowed down.

 

“I greet you, His Majesty the Grand Duke.”

 

Terence approached her with his worried face.

 

“Eve, are you okay?”

 

“Yes, I’m okay. It’s just a cold.”

 

She sat up in bed and waved her hand at Nell.

 

“Nell, you can leave.”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.”

 

Nell politely bowed and went out. For some reason, she felt like she was looking at both of them with pleasure. There was no way that Nell and Chloe hadn’t noticed that they weren’t really spending the night. Then, they seemed to be relieved because they knew that they were now living like a real couple.

 

‘We are a real couple.’

 

Since the day they made the fake flowers and they spent the night together, Terence had been coming to her bedroom every day. After Nell went out, Terence sat down on her bed.

 

“It will be safe if you just stay in the bedroom. Right?”

 

“It’s okay. I can read books from the library, whatever. Or I’ll learn knitting and yarn crafts from Chloe.”

 

If she did that, wouldn’t time pass quickly? When she thought about it, she hadn’t really been able to lounge around comfortably since she came here. She was always chased by a case and running around trying to solve it. So, it would be okay to take a break while pretending to be sick for the first time in a while.

 

A smile as beautiful as a picture appeared on Terence’s neat lips.

 

“If you need me, I will come visit you often.”

 

Hearing the secretive tone in his tone, she turned her gaze elsewhere and tried to ignore him. For some reason, her ears feel hot.

 

“…Well, I don’t really need it.”

 

After that night, she felt like she had become closer to Terrence, but at the same time, there was a more subtle atmosphere every time they were alone like this. As she blushed and pulled the blanket over her, Terence placed his hand on her forehead.

 

“You have a fever. Aren’t you really sick?”

 

“…I’m fine.”

 

It’s not because of fever, it’s because she was embarrassed because he approached her without hesitation.  It was a time when such a dreamy atmosphere was being created.

 

A pitch-black foot appeared beyond the glass window leading to the garden. Bayan easily opened the glass window with his small paws and entered the bedroom.

 

[Eww…]

 

Bayan, who was calmly coming inside, found the two of us on the bed and frowned.

 

“Why are you so disgusted?”

 

[No. The two go really well together.]

 

Every time she heard those words, she felt strangely bad. She frowned, but there was a satisfied look in Terence’s purple eyes.

 

“Isn’t that right?”

 

“…”

 

Why was he happy? Bayan also shook his head and jumped onto the bed.

 

[I’m sorry for interrupting the two of you sticking together like a pair of pigeons.]

 

“You didn’t disturb us. It’s okay.”

 

She concentrated her mind while stroking Bayan’s forehead.

 

“Now, I’ll give you today’s Holy Power.”

 

She realized that it was better to give away little by little each time she gathered her holy power, rather than collecting it all at once. The maximum amount of holy power she could charge into her body was always the same, but Bayan was able to store more power than her. For example, it was a saving of holy power. If it was stored carefully like this, Bayan would be able to use sufficient holy power on the day of assassinating the emperor.

 

“How is the imperial palace?”

 

She asked after giving away all of her holy power. They should know what the emperor was doing so they could set a target date.

 

“The Emperor often visits the Empress Dowager, but it seems he rarely sleeps there because of the public attention.”

 

“Well, that’s a shame.”

 

Their plan was to cause an accident and assassinate the Emperor while he was with the Empress. For that to happen, the emperor would have to sleep there. Well, no matter how much he loved a woman, the emperor couldn’t give up his reputation and sleep in an abandoned palace every day.

 

“But there will be an opportunity soon. It will soon be the Empress’s birthday.”

 

“Oh, I see.”

 

They would be together on her birthday. After the Empress was dethroned, she had been lonely. When she imagined these two people getting along so well, she became disgusted like Bayan. It felt like watching a creepy bug couple.

 

“Those two get along really well. That is both admirable and disgusting.”

 

She only muttered sarcastically, but Terence quietly retorted.

 

“Well, even evil people have someone they love.”

 

She looked around blankly and he smiled slightly.

 

“I understand how you feel.”

 

It was a calm tone, but she felt ashamed because it was said with her in mind. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to abandon Terence under any circumstances.

 

She asked with a mischievous smile.

 

“If I were locked up in an abandoned palace, would you come see me every day?”

 

“No way.”

 

Terence laughed as if it were something absurd.

 

“I would never send you to a place like that. I would have kept you by my side even if I had to kill all the nobles who rebelled.”

 

“…”

 

Once again, she thought that she was lucky that this person was not the emperor. In some ways, he would be more of a tyrant than the current emperor. Suddenly she remembered the first future, when she died and he destroyed the imperial family for revenge. Terence’s eyes looked lonely and vain.

 

She smiled, shaking the scene out of her head. Because now that future has completely disappeared.

 

“Do not worry. I will not be locked up obediently.”

 

She had to get out of prison somehow. Terence smiled lowly at her words and came a little closer.

 

At that time, Bayan, who had been sitting still, jumped down from under the bed and walked towards the glass window again.

 

“Bajan, where are you going?”

 

[I just want to go out to the garden.]

 

Was he leaving now because of them? It was ridiculous, but she didn’t really want to stop him. If it’s cold like that, he would go to Nell or Chloe’s room and sleep. Maybe he could go to Lot’s room. Anyway, Bayan used every part of this mansion as if it were his own room.

 

Terence asked her, ignoring him.

 

“When you recover your health, shall we go to the spring festival together?”

 

“Ah, it’s the spring festival soon.”

 

Winter was already over and spring was coming. Spring was coming, but she stayed indoors… It was frustrating to be there. Still, she had no choice but to stay like this for the time being.

 

As Bayan closed the window and disappeared, Terence grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards him. Her lips touched with his familiar embrace. At the end of the sweet kiss, he said with a smile.

 

“In the meantime, I won’t bore you.”

 

A few days later, she wrote a short letter on a small piece of paper.

 

[Mikhail, you said you could help me, right? On the day when His Majesty the Emperor sleeps in the abandoned palace, can you place the guard knight I designated near the bedroom?]

 

Below that was a carefully selected list. It was the name of the knights belonging to the Imperial Guard.

 

[Of these, two people are sufficient.]

 

All of the people on the list were children of prestigious families. She folded the letter neatly and hung it on a string around Bayan’s neck. Bayan headed straight to the imperial palace. An hour later, a reply came back. Instead of a letter, it was a reply delivered directly to Bayan by Mikhail.

 

[The silver-haired knight said, ‘Don’t worry.’]

 

“I see. Great job.”

 

If so, it seemed like the plan could now be put into action.

 

* * *

 

As the emperor walked down the path through the garden, he looked at the flower beds where the snow had melted. As the weather got warmer, traces of snow that remained here and there until a few days ago disappeared. As the ice melted, dampness filled the flower beds in the garden. The emperor walked slowly, looking at the scenery on the border between winter and spring. He was feeling satisfied these days.

 

A few days ago, he received a report that Eve was sick. The doctor said it was an ordinary cold, but Eve would never regain her health.

 

‘Once we get rid of the most dangerous Eve, we can slowly resolve the rest.’

 

He could think about getting rid of Arentine or driving out the Grand Duke after Eve died. He planned to spend this spring quietly watching Eve die. He took time to visit the abandoned palace where the Empress was. To comfort the Empress, he wanted to stay there all day today if possible.

 

“Your majesty.”

 

Perhaps because she heard good news, the Empress’s expression became much brighter than before.

 

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