From Trash to Villain Master of Card: With Harem of Evil women-Chapter 100: Vestria is a good kingdom

Morning arrived with low fog and the smell of imported coffee.

The Vestria palace woke slowly.

Nobles slept in.

Servants did not.

Kaito was already on the balcony when the sun barely touched the rooftops.

Cup in hand.

Processing.

Dreisburg. Evacuation underway. Estimated citizens: four hundred twelve. Carriages sent. Drake’s escort. Timeline: three days.

Variables: Avernor’s movement speed. Information Aldous has about our resources. Probability he’s already sent agents toward Dreisburg.

Not controllable from here.

Only wait.

He didn’t like waiting.

Before, it caused him anxiety.

Now it was just... another variable.

That bothered him too.

A little.

---

Adelheid appeared beside him silently.

She had looked for him in his room first.

She knew him well.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

A brief silence.

The kind they’d shared for months.

Comfortable. Heavy with unspoken things.

"Did you sleep?"

"Four hours."

"Kaito."

"It’s enough."

Adelheid didn’t argue.

She knew when it was useless.

"Elara confirmed at dawn. The evacuation began at sunrise. Drake has the carriages moving."

Kaito nodded.

"Problems?"

"Some citizens resisted. Two families refused to leave."

"What did Drake do?"

"He explained the situation. The real threat."

Pause.

"And when they still refused... he put them on the carriages anyway."

Kaito processed.

"Good."

Adelheid looked at him.

"That’s it? Just ’good’?"

"It’s the right decision. They’re alive. That matters."

Adelheid wanted to say more.

Held back.

"And today? Two days left in Vestria."

"Today: meeting with the Sorenth ambassador. Lunch with Duke Phillipe. Afternoon, free."

"Free?"

"Naporia organized something. I don’t know what."

Adelheid raised an eyebrow.

"And that doesn’t worry you?"

"A little."

"Only a little?"

"That should worry you more."

"I know."

---

Grand Hall — Noon

Lunch was a political thing disguised as food.

Phillipe of Calvados presided at the table.

Twelve nobles. Three ambassadors. Kaito at the far end.

Naporia to his right, dressed in dark red, uncomfortable with the fork.

Lilith to his left, smiling at no one in particular.

"Your kingdom has grown notably in a short time," said Phillipe, with the tone of someone asking a question without asking directly.

"We’ve worked hard."

"And with... unconventional methods."

"Conventional methods were already tried by others. They didn’t work."

Phillipe laughed.

Genuinely.

"I like that answer."

Naporia poked something on her plate she didn’t recognize.

Smelled it discreetly.

"Is it dead?" she whispered to Lilith.

"It’s confit duck."

"Does confit mean it’s dead?"

"Yes, Naporia."

"Good."

She ate it.

---

Aldous was three seats down.

He didn’t speak directly to Kaito.

But he watched him.

Kaito knew it.

Let him watch.

Aldous is waiting for news from his agents in Dreisburg. Every hour without information makes him more cautious. Or more aggressive. Hard to predict which.

The mine hasn’t exploded yet. Elara said three days. Today is the second.

Tomorrow.

Kaito drank wine.

Listened to the conversation around him.

Nothing urgent.

Minor politics.

Low-priority alliances.

---

Vestria Gardens — Afternoon

What Naporia had organized turned out to be an informal sword tournament.

No full armor.

No real betting.

Just young nobles testing their strength against whoever wanted to participate.

Naporia discovered it and was the first to sign up.

Aurelia followed, enthusiastic, with a notebook to "collect biomechanical combat data."

Valeria watched from a side bench with a calculating expression.

Kaito sat beside her.

"Are you going to participate?" he asked.

"I see no tactical benefit in revealing my capabilities in a non-essential context."

"So no."

"Correct."

They watched Naporia enter the circle.

Her first opponent was a knight from Calvados. Tall. Broad shoulders. Confident.

He lasted forty seconds.

The second lasted twenty.

The third didn’t even manage to raise his sword in time.

The nobles applauded with a mix of admiration and discomfort.

"She’s extraordinary," said Valeria.

"Yes."

"Does it concern you that she might reveal too much of our capabilities?"

Kaito considered it.

"No. Avernor knowing Naporia is dangerous only confirms what they already know."

"Deterrence has value."

"Catalogued."

Naporia won the seventh match and looked through the crowd for someone.

Found Kaito.

Gestured to him.

See that?

Kaito nodded once.

Naporia smiled.

It wasn’t the smile of someone seeking approval.

It was someone sharing something that mattered with someone who mattered to them.

That, I still feel.

That kind of thing. It still reaches me.

Small.

But real.

---

Kaito’s Room — Night

Lilith entered without knocking.

She always did.

Kaito no longer commented on it.

He was reviewing maps.

Return routes. Avernor’s positions. Resource distribution.

Lilith sat on the edge of the bed and watched him work.

"What do you want, Lilith?"

"Nothing urgent."

"Then it’s urgent."

She laughed softly.

"When did you become so perceptive about my patterns?"

"You’ve been living in my castle for months."

"That’s a fair point."

Silence.

Lilith looked at the ceiling with that expression of hers that could mean anything.

"How are you, Kaito?"

"Fine."

"I didn’t ask if you’re functioning. I asked how you are."

Kaito set down the maps.

Looked at her.

How am I?

I proceed. I make decisions. The decisions are correct. The results are acceptable.

Is that being fine?

"I don’t know."

Lilith nodded.

Without surprise.

"I didn’t know either, for a long time."

"When did you know?"

"When someone asked me. And I didn’t have an immediate answer."

Kaito considered it.

"And was that good or bad?"

"It was honest."

Silence.

"Lilith. Do you think the fifth summoning changed me permanently?"

She didn’t answer immediately.

Which was her way of saying the answer was complicated.

"I think it gave you something we already had."

"What thing?"

"The distance necessary to survive being what we are."

Pause.

"But you weren’t born with that distance. You acquired it all at once."

"Is that a problem?"

"It depends on whether you find the way back."

Kaito looked at her.

Her eyes were the color of fog over the sea.

"Does that path exist?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"Because I found it."

Kaito didn’t respond.

But something in that answer stayed.

Small.

Warm.

Enough.

---

Vestria — Day Three. Dawn.

The last day.

Tomorrow they would return to Neudämmerung.

Kaito breakfasted alone.

Adelheid found him twenty minutes later.

Her expression was different.

Controlled, as always.

But with something underneath.

Kaito read it before she spoke.

"News?"

Adelheid sat across from him.

Spoke quietly.

"Elara confirmed an hour ago."

Kaito waited.

"The evacuation is complete. Four hundred twelve citizens. All out."

"The last carriages reached Neudämmerung before dawn."

Kaito nodded.

"And the mine?"

Adelheid looked directly at him.

"Detonated. Three hours ago."

Silence.

"Dreisburg no longer has strategic value."

Four hundred twelve people. Alive.

An Adenite mine. Destroyed.

Avernor will arrive at an empty town and a crater.

Variable eliminated.

"Well done."

Adelheid exhaled slowly.

"Drake wants you to know the citizens are upset. Some are furious."

"Understandable."

"Their homes will be rebuilt. They’ll have work. They’ll be safe."

"That’s also understandable."

"Kaito."

He looked at her.

"They’re going to need more than logic when they arrive."

"I know."

"Do you feel it?"

Long pause.

"Intellectually."

Adelheid closed her eyes for a moment.

Opened them.

"Then I’ll feel it for both of us, for now."

Kaito didn’t know how to respond to that.

So he didn’t.

But he reached across the table.

She took his hand.

Without words.

---

Grand Hall — Noon. Final Ceremony.

The king of Vestria hosted a farewell lunch.

Short speeches.

Exchange of diplomatic gifts.

Kaito received an ancient tapestry he didn’t know where to hang.

Naporia received a ceremonial sword, which she evaluated with a professional eye and silently approved.

Aurelia received a catalog of Vestria’s medicinal plants and nearly cried.

---

Aldous was in the hall.

Standing with his advisors.

One of them was whispering something in his ear.

His expression didn’t change.

But his hands did.

Knuckles white.

Kaito watched him from across the hall.

He knows now.

The advisor kept speaking.

Aldous nodded once.

Dismissed the man with a small gesture.

Then looked up.

Found Kaito.

Their eyes met.

Three seconds.

Four.

Five.

Aldous smiled.

A cold smile. Perfectly constructed.

With nothing behind it.

Kaito didn’t smile.

Just held the gaze until Aldous looked away.

Dreisburg no longer exists as a resource.

Avernor arrived late.

He won’t say it here. He can’t. It would be admitting he sent agents. That he planned sabotage.

He’ll swallow this.

And look for another angle.

Naporia appeared at his side.

"He saw something in his face when the advisor spoke."

"Yes."

"He knows?"

"Yes."

"And?"

Kaito took his glass.

"And there’s nothing he can do about it."

Naporia looked at Aldous.

Aldous was already conversing with another noble, with perfect composure.

"What a disgusting man," said Naporia, with something like involuntary respect.

"He’s dangerous."

"I know. That’s why I dislike him so much."

---

Outskirts of Vestria — Afternoon. Departure.

The carriages were ready.

The luggage, loaded.

Duke Phillipe came to bid farewell personally.

"It’s been an honor, Lord Kaito. I hope the alliance is the beginning of something lasting."

"I do too."

"You have... a particular way of moving through the world."

Kaito looked at him.

"Is that a criticism?"

"No. An observation. Men like you are rare."

"What kind of man am I?"

Phillipe considered it.

"One who already knows what he’s going to do before the problem arrives."

Kaito didn’t respond.

Phillipe extended his hand.

Kaito took it.

"Safe travels."

"Thank you."

---

The six climbed into the carriages.

Adelheid reviewed the route maps.

Lilith closed her eyes almost immediately.

Naporia looked out the window with that expression of someone storing everything up to tell later.

Aurelia already had the plant catalog open and was taking notes in the margins.

Valeria sat beside Kaito.

Said nothing.

Just was there.

Kaito watched the road open ahead of the horses.

Neudämmerung.

Four hundred twelve people waiting for them.

Homeless.

Afraid.

Furious, some of them.

I have to speak to them. Carriages and logic aren’t enough.

Adelheid was right.

They’re going to need more than a correct equation.

He looked at his hands.

Black gloves.

Five active cards.

Five women who had destroyed kingdoms.

Now building one.

Is this what I am now?

A man who evacuates cities before they burn?

Who loses resources so the enemy doesn’t gain them?

Who doesn’t feel the weight of that until someone reminds him?

Valeria took his hand.

Without looking at him.

Just did it.

Kaito didn’t let go.

Maybe.

But I’m not alone in this.

That still matters.

That, I still feel.

The carriage moved forward.

Vestria was left behind.

And Dreisburg, turned to ash, waited to stop being a wound and become something else.

The road back to Neudämmerung began here.