The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen-Chapter 363-364

I feel bad.

I was so angry about how to break those guys that I couldn't get any work done.

"Ricardo..."

"Young Lady."

"Ung."

"What do you think a person should do when they're really angry?"

With a cotton swab in hand, I carefully asked the young lady who was lying with her thigh as a pillow. What to do when one gets angry.

"Are you mad, Ricardo?"

"No."

"Hmmmm."

The young lady, with her arms crossed, rolled her eyes and said to me.

"Eat chocolate. Then you'll feel better."

"What if I don't feel better even after eating chocolate?"

The young lady, frowning, rummaged through her treasure pouch, then held out a piece of chocolate and said.

"Eat it."

"Young Lady."

"Ung?"

"I'm cleaning your ears, so you shouldn't move."

"Eeeeek..."

I took the chocolate the young lady offered into my mouth and let out a faint sigh. Because even eating chocolate didn't make me feel better.

The young lady said that eating chocolate would relieve anger, but.... I gave an awkward smile as my anger didn't easily subside.

"It's sweet."

"How is it?"

"I think I feel a little better."

"Eek... wait a minute. Chocolate is always right..."

I carefully asked the young lady, who was holding out a larger piece of chocolate, what she would think if I had been insulted.

"Young Lady."

"Ung."

"What would you think if someone said to me, 'If you're a butler, act like a butler and don't get ahead of yourself, just stay at home'?"

"Eek?"

The young lady, with a cold expression, said in a chilling voice.

"Who is it?"

"What?"

"Who said that?"

"No one did."

"Heek?"

The young lady pouted and muttered to herself. 'Tell me if something like that happens, I'll pay them back threefold.'

'Ah...'

I see.

Hearing the young lady's reassuring words, I felt a little better. Because it felt like I had a grasp on what to do.

I can't make it obvious that it's the Desmunts. But I couldn't be too subtle either. Because people can only realize when they are made to understand, 'You're suffering because you did something wrong.'

If it were up to me, I'd go to the Wolfgang family right now and turn it upside down, but I had to be careful and move cautiously.

Darbav had told me. That now is the time to hide my sharp fangs.

-It is not yet time.

-I can handle it without anyone noticing.

-There were too many eyes watching.

-...It doesn't matter.

-I think so too, but shouldn't we look to the future? We also have to consider Kyle's position, who will have to lead the Desmunts.

-...

-You also know that the commoners' view of the Desmunts is not good. If public opinion gets any worse, it's like feeding the prey.

-Your words are right, Lord.

-Yes, on the other hand, Wolfgang has overwhelming support from the citizens of the West, so we can't touch them carelessly.

-...

-The moment a rumor circulates that Wolfgang died in the capital, a war could break out if we're not careful.

-Are you, the lord who says so, thinking of a territorial war?

-...Meteor is always right.

-...

Yes, as Darbav said, now is the time to hide my fangs. Darbav wasn't wrong. Perhaps from a lord's perspective, Darbav's rational thinking is what is maintaining the current peace.

So.

I thought that if I showed my molars instead of my fangs, it would be a different story.

Slowly.

It won't be too late to show them after I've slowly gnawed away at them.

"Phewwooo..."

Still.

"This is annoying."

The desire to teach a lesson to the fearless noble who touched someone they shouldn't have did not disappear.

If they had touched Kyle, I wouldn't have been this angry. If they had touched Darbav, I wouldn't have been this angry either. Because they are people who can take care of themselves. Rather, they are strong people who might scold me for being nosy if I try to help.

But the young lady is different.

"Hieeeek...! My ears are melting..."

From the moment they called the young lady, my lord and the treasure of the Desmunts, a cripple, the family was as good as exterminated.

Because I decided so.

I smiled faintly as I stroked the young lady's hair.

"As expected, the young lady is smart."

The young lady smiled bashfully and replied.

"I know."

After the commotion, in the room where darkness had fallen, I softly called someone's name.

"Elysia."

Space distorts.

Lightly breaking through the layers of the Desmunt family's barrier, space began to distort.

"..."

With a familiar voice, the face of a pale woman began to appear.

Elysia, who had jumped through space with her long black hair that reached her waist, calmly knelt before me and smiled.

"Elysia, the apostle of the Saint, greets the Saint."

On Elysia's face, with her hand on her chest, the worries of the past could no longer be found. The sorrow of losing her son and the madness of revenge had also faded a little.

Looking at Elysia who had come, I bowed my head and greeted her warmly.

"You look well."

"It is thanks to the Saint's grace."

"I have done nothing."

"The Saint's very existence is a grace to me."

An awkward smile formed on my face at Elysia's calm expression, who spoke the embarrassing words without hesitation. Just like with Hans, I don't know how to react whenever I'm called a 'saint'.

"Ahaha... I'm embarrassed."

All I could do was laugh awkwardly.

Elysia looked at Caliburn, which was leaning against the desk, and bowed her head.

"...You have tamed the Demon Sword."

"No. We are just getting along like friends."

"You are humble. The aura I feel is so powerful."

"Ahaha... no."

I smiled as if I was embarrassed by Elysia's words and let out a soft sigh.

"Actually, I called Elysia to ask for a difficult favor."

"I can do anything if it is the Saint's request."

"You don't have to do anything."

Thinking of Wolfgang in the capital, I whispered to Elysia in a low voice.

"I would like you to look into a certain family in the West."

The moment the word 'West' was mentioned, Elysia's eyes began to waver greatly.

"Ah... ahh...!"

"What is it?"

"Is the Saint truly someone who knows everything?"

"...What?"

"I heard that the Archbishop of Lust is in the West. He disappeared the moment Temperance was gone..."

"Oh..."

"But...! This too was part of the Saint's plan."

"..."

Receiving Elysia's admiring gaze, I smiled faintly and shook my head.

"Then I hope you can take care of my business and also catch the Archbishop of Lust."

Elysia opened her cold eyes and said.

"What would you have me do?"

"Just investigate..."

"Shall I make a follower for the Apostle?"

"..."

"Or shall I turn the West into a sea of blood?"

"...N...no?"

Flustered by Elysia's reaction, which showed more enthusiasm than I expected, I let out a hollow laugh and expressed what I wanted without hiding anything.

"I would like you to look into the family called Wolfgang. As much as possible in the bad parts."

Elysia nodded and replied, as if she understood the meaning.

"As the Saint wills..."

"The word 'saint' is a bit..."

"Then I shall bring down the hammer of judgment where the Lord's wrath is directed."

"Hahaha... just call me a saint."

Feeling it was a waste to let her go like this, I asked Elysia about her recent situation.

"Is the Apostle of Temperance doing well?"

Elysia smiled more brightly than ever and replied.

"He is doing very well and is very healthy. I would like to show him to you, Saint, but I hope you will forgive me for not being able to, as he is not in a very good state."

"I see. I'm glad he is doing well."

Elysia distorted space again and disappeared.

"..."

In the room left alone, I let out a sneer as I thought of Wolfgang.

"Ahem..."

Well...

-Saaaaaa...

I hope you overcome it well.

"My lord, it's an emergency!"

Wolfgang Louis, who was staying in the mansion provided by the Crown Prince, frowned as he saw the butler open the door without knocking.

"..."

Opening the door of a noble's room without permission was a great rudeness among rudenesses.

"Butler."

"...I...I apologize."

"How many times do I have to overlook your rudeness, butler. If you have been a butler for over ten years, you should know that much."

"...I apologize. The matter was too urgent."

Louis, drinking the steaming hot black tea, said to the butler in a calm voice.

"If it's a trivial matter... you will have to take responsibility."

Louis, who was about to have a meeting with the Crown Prince, was only annoyed by the butler's visit. He didn't like having his heart shaken before an opportunity to raise the prestige of the Wolfgang family even higher.

Why was he making such a fuss... It didn't seem to befit the noble name of Wolfgang.

Louis was starting to get tired of the butler's fussy behavior. He couldn't just replace the butler because he was competent, and he also held information he shouldn't know.

Louis, who had decided to erase the butler's existence if he crossed the line one more time, let out a deep sigh and nodded to the butler.

"Speak."

The butler, who received Louis's permission, swallowed hard and began to speak in a trembling voice.

"...The waterways of the West have frozen."

"Just... because of that...? What did you say?"

"The canals that the ships pass through have frozen. The ships at the port have been unable to leave for three days and are stagnant..."

"What... what does that mean."

Louis looked at the butler with trembling eyes. Why would the sea in the West, a resort for nobles, freeze.

"I don't know either. They say the canal that the ships pass through froze overnight."

It was nonsense.

The story of the canals of the West freezing.

That meant.

"The representative of the Gold Coin Merchant Guild has come to the Wolfgang mansion and is demanding compensation. The other merchant guilds are the same. The total amount of damage is roughly 10 million gold...!"

"Ten million...?"

"That's not all. We are losing 3 million gold a day."

"Wait... wait a minute."

A chill ran down Wolfgang's spine.

'Could it be...'

Because he thought the Desmunts' retaliation had begun. But Desmunt Darbav had magic specialized in destruction...

Why...

Freezing the sea with ice magic was something that could only be done by the great wizard Heinrich and the empress of another country.

Who...

Who on earth.

The noose around Wolfgang Louis's neck, who was about to meet with the Crown Prince, was slowly tightening.

And Elysia, who had actually frozen the sea of the West, was...

"Listen to the good word."

...preaching in the West.

"He will give you light."

With a bright smile.

Inside the peaceful reception room of the imperial palace.

Wolfgang Louis, with a hardened expression, was waiting for the crown prince inside the reception room with a complex look on his face.

'The rumor must have reached the crown prince...'

Because of the unfortunate incident.

He thought the crown prince's attitude would change. Louis, who thought that today's meeting might even be canceled, closed his eyes tightly and maintained a desolate silence.

"Damn it..."

The western sea has frozen over.

The empire's largest trade route, the western canal where tens of millions of gold move a day, that is.

The frozen canal showed no signs of thawing yet, and as time passed, the damage was beyond imagination.

The cries of the merchants, for whom time is money, were reaching beyond the West to the capital, and were now reaching 'me', who was in charge of the canal.

Louis, who had to go up to the West as soon as possible to find a solution, but couldn't easily move with the meeting with the crown prince just around the corner, could only let out a dry sigh.

'It must be Desmunt... if it's not Desmunt, there is no family that could pull off such an eccentric act...'

He wanted to take revenge immediately, but the promise with the future emperor was one that couldn't be easily obtained even for a fortune, so Louis was not running towards revenge.

Right now, he was anxious and his thoughts were not straight, but he had to hold onto his sanity at times like these. Only then could he take revenge on Desmunt.

'Just you wait... I will definitely repay this humiliation.'

"Hoo..."

Louis ran a hand through his hair and thought of a breakthrough for the bleak situation.

Revenge on Desmunt.

And a way to evade responsibility.

No matter what many people said, public sentiment would eventually return over time. The commoners of the West were on Wolfgang's side, so it was a problem that could be solved by throwing a few charity projects their way.

What worried him now was the fact that the crown prince knew about the situation in the West. For the crown prince, who would be looking for a family to lend strength to his claim to the throne, what happened in the West was nothing more than a tasty prey.

-Creeaak.

Just as his head was starting to ache from the complex thoughts, Louis's eyes widened at the sight of someone opening the door to the reception room without knocking.

'He's here...'

The future emperor of the empire was slowly walking towards Louis with a handsome smile.

Louis, who had hastily risen from his seat, bowed his head and showed his respect to the crown prince.

"Wolfgang Louis, the gatekeeper of the West, greets the little sun of the empire."

The crown prince listened to Louis's greeting lightly and nodded.

"It's been a while."

The teacup brought by the maid was densely studded with a golden pattern. In contrast, his own teacup had no pattern at all. As if to strongly prove that the subordinate in this place was not him but the other, Wolfgang slightly ground his teeth at the stark difference.

'He knows.'

Before the incident in the West, Louis had tried to speak to the crown prince on an equal footing. Because the crown prince would also be aware that his power was weakening.

No matter how much the imperial family was based on the principle of primogeniture, the emperor had to bear the consequences after becoming king.

The next emperor is determined from the moment the firmly established emperor appoints the crown prince as the next emperor, but the crown prince would also know that if he were to become king in a situation where other princes were also rapidly expanding their power, he would not be able to escape the fate of a scarecrow. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Perhaps that problem would only grow bigger after becoming the next emperor.

So he had tried to stand on an equal footing in this place... but because of the incident in the West, everything had gone wrong.

Louis gave an awkward smile and greeted the crown prince again.

"Ahaha.... I misspoke. Wolfgang Louis, the gatekeeper of the West, greets the sun of the empire."

"Puhaha!! I'm not even the emperor yet, but you call me the sun. The Marquess must have already decided on the emperor in his heart."

The golden eyes of the crown prince, who was smiling kindly, were shining brightly.

"..."

The eyes that distinguish between truth and falsehood were coiling like a snake to see into his heart.

'Hoo...'

Wolfgang took a breath and then coldly rolled his head.

He had to be stronger at times like these.

Come to think of it, the crown prince had also arranged this meeting because he needed something from him, so Wolfgang braced himself to focus on this deal without any complicated thoughts.

Wolfgang was here for his advancement in the capital.

And the crown prince was here to seize solid power after becoming emperor.

The crown prince, who saw the calmly breathing Wolfgang Louis, gripped his teacup and brought up the subject in a low voice.

"I heard there was an incident in the West, are you alright, Marquess?"

"It's not a big deal."

"From the rumors, it doesn't seem like a small matter. Shouldn't you be going now?"

"...I will make it so that Your Highness has nothing to worry about."

"Hmm. That doesn't seem like a lie."

The crown prince muttered to himself as if intrigued.

"If you ask the imperial family to dispatch a magician, we can support you.... Do you perhaps need support?"

Wolfgang clenched his fists at the crown prince's words and thought. The crown prince was testing him. Wolfgang, who thought that if he took the hand the crown prince offered here, he might be eaten up instead, forced a smile and shook his head.

"No. What happened in the West can be fully resolved in the West. Just the fact that Your Highness is concerned about the well-being of the West seems to be enough to overcome the adversity we face."

The crown prince nodded with a satisfied smile.

"If that is your will, I understand."

"...Thank you for your understanding."

"Hmm... yes..."

His breath catches in his throat.

He had thought the Crown Prince of the Empire was an ignorant loafer, but Louis changed his assessment of the crown prince in his heart at his eloquence, which was like an old snake throwing bait. He was a lifeline that must be caught in order to ascend to a high place.

Louis placed a hand on his chest and spoke to the crown prince.

"Wolfgang has always respected Your Highness, who always thinks of the prosperity of the empire. I believe it is the glory of the West for you to leave the affairs of the West to Wolfgang and to maintain your health for the prosperity of the empire."

The crown prince drank his tea and said to Louis.

"Then you can just trust me more from a closer place. Isn't that right?"

A smile forms.

The doubt that this conversation would go well was turning into certainty.

The crown prince leaned forward slightly and suggested changing the subject.

"Now... let's stop with the boring talk and move on to a constructive one."

Louis smiled and carefully brought his hand to his teacup.

"Excellent."

The crown prince's lips began to utter the words Louis wanted to hear. As if he knew what was itching and was scratching it, he began to talk about the problems of the West and what the West wanted.

"I have a good view of the West. Unlike other nobles, you don't covet other territories and just stay put."

"Isn't a dog that guards its house well the kind of material that can be loved by its master?"

"Khaha...! The Marquess speaks so amusingly, doesn't he? According to the Marquess, Wolfgang is a house-guarding dog."

"If the master who provides warm food and feed tells the dog to be a dog, isn't it naturally a dog?"

"This is why I like the Marquess."

The crown prince, with a smile on his lips, let out a sneer and said to Wolfgang.

"So... how is the situation in the West?"

"It is always peaceful and we are striving for the prosperity of the empire."

"Marquess. I want to make an excellent dog mine quickly."

Wolfgang, who clenched his fists at the crown prince's words, felt a thrill. Because a good sign had come to him.

He had thought he would give a bone and lose the flesh as well, but at the crown prince's words, which were more favorable than he had expected, Louis hid his true feelings and said in a nonchalant voice, as if to say that he was fine but would accept help if offered.

"I didn't want to add any other distractions to Your Highness, who is thinking of state affairs, but we cannot win against nature."

"That's right. Who can win against nature? Even the great archmages of the world can't win against nature."

"That is correct."

"So what is the most needed thing right now? If the canal is frozen, the damage must be substantial."

"The canal can be restored within 10 days. The only thing that weighs on my mind is that a faithful dog has been injured by someone's hand."

The crown prince smiled slightly upon hearing Wolfgang's words.

"Is it Desmunt?"

"You knew."

"I have many eyes in the capital. By the way, if it's Desmunt... you'll need evidence to catch them."

"..."

The crown prince, who saw the expression on Louis's face stiffen, smiled as if to say not to worry.

"Don't make that face. I'll take care of Desmunt for you."

"...How can you take care of Desmunt."

"If there's no evidence, can't we just make some?"

"Your Highness...! I have heard nothing."

"The face of the Marquess who says such things is full of life."

The crown prince looked at Louis's face and said.

"I will ask my father to include Desmunt in the party to subjugate the beasts of the West."

"...What does that mean.

"The beasts are really strong, aren't they?"

"...That is correct."

"Then a tragedy like the death of an archmage could happen."

"That's right."

Louis asked the crown prince with a trembling heart.

"I don't think Desmunt will obediently follow your orders."

"Dogs must obey the emperor's words, shouldn't they? It's enough to entice them by offering them a suitable position."

"..."

"Leave that part to me."

The crown prince looked at the huge mansion outside the window with a leisurely expression. While looking at a mansion that was ridiculously large for a noble to own.

"A dog that bites its master must be eliminated."

"..."

"Isn't that right, Marquess?"

"Of course."

At the same time.

Olivia was picking her nose and looking at Ricardo.

"Ricardo."

"Yes."

"What are you doing?"

"Ah..."

Ricardo smiled and replied.

"Would you like to go on a trip?"

"Huh?"

"I've come to want to see the young lady in a bikini."

He said with a face full of lust.