I Became The Guardian Of The Future Villain

“Think about it, Gallian. What do we gain from taking this to the Imperial Court?”

“If we win, we can give Count Humphrey the punishment he deserves, and no one will ever look down on the duke’s family again….”

“Yeah, ‘if’ we win.”

Gallian hesitated.

“We can’t lose this trial. We’ve got plenty of evidence and witnesses, and all the circumstances point to Count Humphrey being guilty!”

“That’s true, but charging him with treason is going to be tough.”

“What?”

“At best, we can prove that he wanted the guardian position and tried to take me down for it. But it’s hard to prove he was a real threat to the duke’s house.”

“But still—!”

“Think about it. Did Count Humphrey ever actually ‘threaten’ the duke’s family?”

“Well…!”

Gallian couldn’t respond. When it came down to pinpointing specific charges, he couldn’t find anything.

Seeing his confused expression, Hestia chuckled dryly.

“Nothing, right?”

To prove that Malrus had targeted the duke’s family, there needed to be evidence that he’d actually harmed them. 

But all he’d done was recruit a few servants and confine Hestia. He hadn’t even laid a finger on Leonhard, the duke’s heir.

‘He moved too soon, and it backfired him.’

The good thing was that Malrus never got deeply embedded in the Duke’s household, but the problem was that they didn’t have enough clear evidence to charge him with a serious crime.

“Even if we win, we’re not going to get a satisfying result. He’ll probably just have to pay me compensation, and that’ll be it. Plus, it’ll take forever to get through the court process.”

It would be an exhausting battle for everyone involved.

“So, it’s better to just get a promise that he’ll never approach the duke’s family again and squeeze some compensation money out of him.”

Besides, despite how he seems, Humphrey’s got a pretty good reputation.

He’s even close with Marquis Oz, right?

Of course, it’s hard to say if Marquis Oz will continue supporting Humphrey after all this.

‘If those two keep their connection and get even slightly involved, this trial won’t be easy.’

Better to avoid that potential mess and find a different solution.

“But if we let him off now, he’s bound to cause trouble again.”

Gallian looked frustrated and dissatisfied.

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“…What?”

“He won’t have the time to think about causing more trouble.”

Obviously, Hestia had no intention of letting Malrus off the hook so easily.

He’d tried to ruin a noble family—he wasn’t going to just walk away from that.

“He’s going to regret not staying locked up in prison.”

Hestia smiled darkly, and Gallian felt a chill run down his spine.

‘…Yeah, she wouldn’t let him off without a plan.’

From the prisoners still locked up, Gallian already had a pretty good idea of what kind of person Hestia was.

She wasn’t someone who relied purely on violence or fear.

Sometimes, she’d give a glimmer of hope, making her enemies let their guard down. And the moment they relaxed, she’d spring another trap. A terrifying person, to say the least.

This time, even though they didn’t need any more testimony from Count Humphrey, she was still letting him off.

‘That doesn’t mean she’s letting them go for good.’

They wouldn’t be out of prison until they’d paid for every crime. And even if they got out, it’d be impossible for them to show their faces in the South again.

Either way, thanks to her, they figured out the plot in time. Gallian chose not to argue anymore.

“You’ve really been through a lot. You even had to take the blame for something you didn’t do. Or… was that part of your plan too? Otherwise, why would you buy up a run-down mine?”

As Gallian took control of the situation, he got a better understanding. He realized it all began when Hestia bought an abandoned mine.

“Should I assume you’re not planning on attending the auction?”

Gallian thought the auction was part of Hestia’s plan and had intended to cancel her application.

“Ah, leave it.”

Hestia stopped him.

“It ‘was’ a bait, but I really do want to buy the mine.”

“…What?”

Gallian’s glasses slid down from his nose in shock.

━━━━━ ∙ʚ(✧)ɞ∙ ━━━━━

At the same time, after finally getting home after four days, Malrus was grinding his teeth in frustration.

“Dammit! All I did was hand her an advantage!”

He smashed a nearby vase in anger, making the countess flinch.

“Honey, are we… going to be okay? I was so scared when I heard you’d been captured.”

Who wouldn’t be scared? Just days ago, Malrus had been boasting about how he was going to take over the duke’s house, and now he’d been locked up.

After fuming for a while, Malrus sighed and collapsed onto the sofa.

“I agreed to pay a settlement.”

“A settlement?”

“They said they won’t take it to the Imperial Court if I pay.”

“How much are they asking for…?”

Malrus didn’t want to say it out loud, so he handed her the paper with the amount. Her jaw dropped.

“That’s almost as much as our entire yearly budget!”

“It’s still cheaper than going to court!”

His wife shrank back at his angry response.

“But wouldn’t it be better to go to trial? There’s not much evidence against you, and if we play it right, we could even walk away with no charges. And we’ve still got people on our side….”

“No, that’s not an option.”

It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it. For a moment, he’d even considered that a trial might be cheaper than paying the settlement.

‘But we don’t have anyone on our side anymore!’

Marquis Oz had left as soon as he found out Malrus had been captured.

The worst-case scenario was losing the trial, paying huge damages, and losing all his allies’ trust.

“Nobody else knows about this yet. If we lose trust at such a critical moment and investors start backing out, we’re done for.”

“Honey…”

“Damn it, ever since *she* became the guardian, nothing’s gone right!”

If Leonhard had just chosen him as guardian from the start, none of this would’ve happened, and he wouldn’t be losing money over it.

But it was too late now. What was done was done.

“Dammit, I should never have trusted that guy.”

Malrus gritted his teeth, thinking of the late Albert.

‘For now, I’ll stay quiet. I signed the agreement, so I can’t make any moves while she’s around.’

Before he left, Malrus had promised Hestia that he wouldn’t cause any more trouble over the guardianship while she was around.

‘For now. But once I’ve recovered my finances and made a fortune from the redevelopment project, I’ll strike again….’

Then, he’d kick her out of the South for good.

“Lord! We’ve got a big problem!”

Just then, the Humphrey family butler came rushing in, panic written all over his face.

“Imperial knights have raided the warehouse! They’ve received reports of embezzlement…!”

“What?!”

“And on top of that, other businesses have been caught smuggling illegal goods, and we’re taking massive losses…!”

As the reports kept coming, Malrus felt dizzy. Realizing he was about to lose as much money as Hestia had taken from him that made foam in his mouth and he collapsed backward.

“My lord…!”

But Malrus didn’t yet realize that this was only the beginning.

━━━━━ ∙ʚ(✧)ɞ∙ ━━━━━

“Whew, Gallian is really stubborn.”

Hestia sighed tiredly, rubbing her stiff shoulders.

Right up until quitting time, Gallian was totally against buying the abandoned mine.

‘This is going to make things really difficult for you, Miss! It’s going to look like you’re actually trying to embezzle! And seriously, why would you want to buy a totally worthless, dried-up mine?’

She tried all kinds of ways to convince him, explaining why we had to buy the mine, but he still wasn’t convinced.

“Not like he said no to the purchase either, though.”

After a long argument, Hestia finally managed to break Gallion’s resolve and secure the auction application.

‘Sigh, just this once. Promise me you won’t do anything reckless again. Honestly, who buys a mine based on an old legend…’

Considering all she had done for Winston, and the fact she was covering half the auction money with her own funds, Gallian eventually backed down.

“Yeah, I guess it would look like I’m just throwing money away to others.”

But knowing the future, Hestia understood that the mine had more potential than a goose that lays golden eggs.

No point in trying to convince anyone now. She’d just prove it later with results.

“Let them regret it when they see what they missed out.”

The more of her own money she put into this, the less the Duke’s household had to invest, meaning they’d get less profit when it came time to divvy it up.

‘Well, I’ll be fine as long as I make money.’

“Ahh, finally, I can stretch out and sleep in peace.”

Since the day she became the guardian, she’d been working overtime, always worried that Malrus might make a move on Leonhard. But now, for the first time, she could actually relax.

“Has it already been two months since I got here…?”

It was hard to believe how much had happened in those two months.

It was the fastest two months she had ever experienced since going back in time.

“…Two months should’ve been more than enough time for the news to spread.”

A month ago, the news about the Duke and Duchess of Winston’s death had spread across the entire Empire, so by now, Luciard should’ve heard about it.

And yet, there was still no word from him.

Not even a single letter.

He must have known that Leonhard was left alone, so not getting any contact from him was a bit annoying.

If only she knew where he was and what he was doing.

‘In the past, he cut ties with Winston early, so I had no clue what he was up to or where he was living.’

But in this life, he had entered the academy and had reconciled with Icarus, making things quite different from her past life.

So, she’d been hoping for more…

“Ugh, whatever. I’ll think about it later.”

For now, the biggest problem was sorted out, and there was nothing left that could put Winston in danger.

Hestia lay back on her bed and turned off the light.

As she tried to drift off to sleep, something suddenly crossed her mind.

“Oh, right.”

Wasn’t the room renovation finished?

Was it yesterday or the day before that Gallian said the renovations were finished and that she could move into the new room?

Didn’t she sleep here last night too, totally forgetting the renovated room?

‘I need to move next door…’

But by now, sleep had caught up to her, and her brain wasn’t functioning properly.

‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’

She thought the same thing yesterday, and as the thought crossed her mind again, she drifted off to sleep.

A light summer breeze wafted in through the open window.

Two hours later.

As Hestia lay in a deep sleep, barely making a sound, a soft *thud* echoed through the room.

Someone had opened the window and quietly slipped inside. Without a sound, they made their way toward the bed where Hestia was sleeping.