I Became The Guardian Of The Future Villain

“Commander Hubert.”

Hestia stood in front of Hubert. He had been beaten badly while resisting and could barely open one eye.

In just an hour, their positions had completely reversed.

Just as Hubert had mocked Hestia in the underground prison, she looked down at him with a smirk on her face.

“You accused me of embezzlement, but it seems you’ve been buzzing off the knights’ funds yourself.”

Hubert’s shoulders twitched.

As Hestia extended her left hand, Kovil placed something in it.

“What is that…?”

Hubert’s eyes widened as he tried to get up, but he was quickly pushed back down,

“You even kept double books. You’ve really gone all out.”

What Hestia was inspecting was evidence of Hubert embezzling funds that had been allocated to the knights over the past few years.

“Whatever else you might do, you can’t touch the weapons meant for the knights. You deliberately bought only old, worn-out ones just to pocket the difference. These things aren’t worth what you spent.”

At her words, a knight recalled something and muttered.

“There was a comrade who got injured when his sword broke during training. At the time, we thought it was just the weapons manager’s negligence, and all he got was a few months’ salary deduction, but looking back, it seems the weapons were just poorly made.”

“Damn… he’ll have to live with that injury for the rest of his life!”

The knights, now aware of the whole story, trembled with anger.

“Plus, this is just the beginning. The list of assaults, abuses, and sexual harassment your crime could easily fill ten pages of standard forms.”

Hubert could only look up at Hestia, lost for words.

“Did you enjoy being king all this time? You seemed to be keeping things under control, but ever since the duke and his wife passed away, you’ve been running wild like a runaway horse.”

If Icarus had known Hubert’s true face, he certainly wouldn’t have let it go.

But Hubert had kept a tight lid on things within the knights to ensure nothing leaked outside, isolating them completely from any outside influence.

This had all happened in just two years since he became the commander.
“You’ll be dismissed, of course, and stripped of your knighthood. We’ll also punish you for all the crimes you’ve committed. But this is only a fraction of what I’ve been informed about.”
Boldly, there were simply too many wrongdoings he had committed, and sorting through all the reports would take ages.
“Going to prison isn’t the end of this, so be prepared.”

Behind Hestia, the knights who had been mistreated by Hubert opened their fierce eyes.

Seeing their eyes burning with a desire for vengeance, Hubert was overwhelmed with memories of all his wrongdoings.

He wanted nothing more than to escape from here, but he couldn’t.

Furthermore, Hestia was systematically uncovering the crimes of everyone captured here.

“Oliver, you’ve been in contact with the outside more frequently since the duke and duchess’s funeral.”

“P-please, Lady Frost, that’s…”

“Also, what were you discussing secretly with Baker?”

To be honest, Oliver wasn’t even on Hestia’s radar of suspects.

But since Leonhard had seen Baker and Oliver talking quietly before and reported it, they could be taken in too.

“Everyone had been loyal to the duke for at least two years, so how did it come to this?”

At the sound of scorn, Oliver lowered his head.

“It’s all Count Humphrey’s fault…”

Yes, he had indeed felt sad when the loyalty of the duke and duchess died in that accident.

But with the main pillar of the duke’s family gone, wasn’t his own position now at risk?

All that was left was the young lord, and it would take a long time for him to inherit the duke’s family. What was to stop the family from collapsing in the meantime?

When Count Humphrey extended his hand, Oliver had no choice but to grab it.

It was inevitable. It’s human nature to want to earn a living in a stable place, so he couldn’t help it.

“Who would’ve thought that she would end up being the guardian!”

Sure, Hestia had been doing better than expected, but that was it. He still thought it was unrealistic for a just-turned-adult lady to lead the duke’s family alone.

Moreover, he had already received a bribe from Count Humphrey and had only acted under his orders…

“Damn it! All my efforts…”

Oliver had worked in the duke’s household for at least ten years. Starting from the bottom, he had finally made it to head servant, but with one bad decision, everything he had built up crumbled into nothing. The emptiness was unbearable.

“But… I don’t see the most important person here.”

Hestia murmured as she looked around at the guilty parties, who were all bowing their heads like criminals.

“Where’s Albert?”

“We’re currently searching for him, but… unfortunately, we haven’t found him yet.”

“Did he flee when the commotion started, or was he secretly smuggled out by someone?”

When Hestia’s gaze fell on Malrus, he paled.

“I didn’t do that! He left right after I sent you to prison, saying he had something urgent to do!”

“Tsk, lucky him.”

Hestia clicked her tongue, and only then did Malrus feel relieved.

“Hestia…”

At that moment, Leonhard tugged at the hem of her dress.

He looked scared and stuck close to her, glancing at Count Humphrey and the familiar faces of the servants.

“What did these people do wrong? Why are they getting scolded by Hestia?”

Hestia hesitated for a moment.

‘This isn’t a good scene for a kid.’

Honestly, she didn’t want Leonhard to see things like this.

Even if they were spies, to him, they were probably just people he’d been friendly with until yesterday, laughing and joking together. It would be a shock in many ways.

‘But he needs to see reality at least once.’

It’s not good to keep him sheltered. If she thought about the future, he had to understand the position he was in right now.

Hestia wrapped her arm around Leonhard’s shoulder to reassure him.

“You’re curious about why these people are like this, right?”

“Uh-huh…”

“They’re traitors.”

“Traitors…?”

“Yes. They tried to remove me from the guardian position without the young lord’s permission.”

“They tried to take Hestia down?! But Hestia didn’t do anything wrong!”

“There are people who will try to frame you even if you haven’t done anything wrong. And the ones standing right in front of you are exactly that kind of people.”

As Leonhard looked at them with wide eyes filled with shock and betrayal, the guilty parties couldn’t raise their heads.

“Honestly, you can’t just call those who tried to remove me from the guardian position traitors.”

“What do you mean? Hestia is the one I chose!”

“I’m the only one they betrayed, but they didn’t betray the duke’s family itself. However, these people leaked information about the duke’s family to outsiders without permission and wielded power as they pleased. Especially the fact that knights acted on their own without the young lord’s command could lead to serious problems later on.”

“So, are Hubert and Oliver also traitors?”

“Yeah.”

“A little while ago, Albert’s name came up. You don’t mean to say that Albert…”

As Hestia silently nodded, Leonhard felt his legs go weak.

Was it such a shock because Albert had taken care of him since the death of the Duke and his wife?

“Now that you mention it… Albert has been acting strange for a while.”

Then an unexpected comment came through.

“Strange how?”

“He was badmouthing Hestia and insisting that we should trust Count Humphrey.”

At Leonhard’s words, Hestia widened her eyes.

“On top of that, he kept asking me to tell him everything I discussed with you… But still… Albert has looked after me in place of my parents. Can’t we ask him why he did those things? I want to hear about Albert, too.”

Even if he had betrayed her, she could easily forgive him, not knowing the seriousness of the situation.

‘He’s probably confused since he’s never experienced anything like this before.’

Leonhard was the only son and heir of the Winston family.

How many people had loved him since the moment he was born?

He probably had never experienced anyone trying to frame or dislike him.

So it made sense that his heart was softened.

‘It’s not like I can just push my opinion without thinking it through.’

If Albert’s sweet words somehow made him weak enough to forgive him, what should she do…?

“Your Highness, that doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

Just then, someone barged in.

“Daisy!”

It was Leonhard’s nanny, Daisy. She was entering through the front door with Hilde.

“While it’s true that Albert looked after you, he’s also been doing vile things behind the scenes. Keeping someone like that close to you will only bring trouble.”

“What do you mean by vile things?”

“It would be better to hear it directly from the person involved.”

As Daisy and Hilde stepped aside, a figure standing behind them was revealed. The surrounding servants buzzed with surprise.

“Is that Gillian?”

“Oh my, it’s been a while. But how did Gillian end up here…?”

Hestia realized who he was from the whispers around her.

“Long time no see, Your Highness. Do you remember me?”

Leonhard shook his head, and Gillian forced a smile.

“Well, considering you were only three when I left, it’s understandable that you don’t remember me. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gillian, and my father was the former head butler of the Duke’s household, Leitner.”

“Oh! I know that name!”

She had heard stories about Leitner from her parents and other servants. It was said that working was easier when he was around than with Albert.

“I heard you quit with your father a long time ago?”

“Yes, that’s right. My father suddenly fell ill, and I had no choice but to leave as there was no one else to take care of him.”

“I see… But what does Albert’s vile actions have to do with you, Gillian?”

“…Albert poisoned my father.”

“Poison…?”

As Leonhard’s eyes widened, the other servants were also shocked.

Hestia, who hadn’t heard the report yet, looked back at Hilde, who nodded as if to confirm the truth of the claim.