The Villainess' Son is Innocent - Chapter 22
Chapter 11.2
“Ah, t-that person was summoned by the head maid, so they had to step away for a moment.”
“I guess you’ll do, then.”
“Pardon?”
The maid replied, wondering if he was pointing to the oak barrel, and then pulled the cart into the room.
“If you needed firewood, you could have called…”
“Does seeing me outside of my room scare you?”
Unable to respond, the maid fell silent. It was an unspoken confirmation.
Creaak.
As the door creaked open, the maid’s hand reached toward the firewood in the oak barrel. Her slight trembling was obvious enough that even I noticed.
“If you’re so scared, then get out.”
“N-no. It’s not that…”
“Then just get out.”
In response to Emil’s chilly command, her hand, reaching for the firewood, paused. The maid, unsure of what to do, eventually fled outside.
‘It was risky, but I made it this far, just as I had hoped.’
Now, all that’s left is to climb out. Hurriedly trying to clear away the firewood, Emil’s hands started pulling out pieces of wood one after another.
Finally able to move, I struggled to stand up, and Emil extended his hand.
“Vel.”
I was a little embarrassed, but I took his hand.
* * *
“I never thought you would come.”
“I tried, and it worked.”
Stepping out of the barrel, I brushed off the dust from my clothes. Considering opening the window, I turned to do so but was shaken by what my eyes fell upon.
“Iron bars…?”
How can you imprison someone like this? Emil felt sorry for me as I stood there, left in shock at the horrific sight, and suggested,
“You shouldn’t take off the mask for now. We can’t ventilate the room properly at the moment.”
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
This was too severe. I repeatedly kept trying to speak my mind, but I couldn’t.
Maybe I was being very pretentious right now. Nonetheless, heat rose in my eyes because I was angry and found it absurd. It felt like tears would burst forth if I let my guard down.
Emil just silently watched me. He seemed somewhat surprised or perplexed.
After the stunned feeling subsided, I managed to say,
“…Let’s leave together. I’ll protect you.”
It was an impulsive statement, but I didn’t regret it. However, Emil refused.
“It’s okay.”
“…Why?”
Emil reached out to me, but his hand stopped in mid-air.
As I brushed the back of my hand against my cheek, I felt a stinging pain. I guess I had grazed the edge of a sharp piece of wood.
“Are you bleeding?”
“Again, that’s not the important issue right now. You’re leaving for another domain soon. So we have to…”
“You’re not thinking clearly. If I go, it will complicate things for your family.”
Emil laid out the practicalities one by one.
“My father is a close aide to the emperor. If I receive protection in House Lancaster, I’ll inevitably clash with him, and it won’t be a favorable situation, no matter how you look at it.”
“…”
“So I’m the only one who needs to endure. It’ll be alright.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“But—”
Emil cut me off before I could argue.
“The duke can no longer lay a hand on me since the emperor values me.”
Emil said this with a slight smile. It was a dangerous expression, one I hadn’t seen before.
‘What’s going on?’
When I took a step back and looked again, the smile I had seen disappeared, gone as if washed away.
‘Was it my imagination?’
No, I saw it so clearly, it couldn’t have been an illusion. But when I tried to ask him what he meant, there was a knock at the door.
“My lord, it’s Tilly.”
“You can come in.”
Tilly looked very exhausted, as if she had barely escaped from the head maid.
“I heard that my lord instructed Riena to leave, so… that’s why I’m here.”
“You did well.”
“Lady Velsia, you must go before the other servants begin making their rounds.”
Tilly suggested that I could sneak out by pretending to change some bed sheets. Her urgency left me with no further room to convince Emil.
“Take this.”
Before leaving Emil’s room, I handed him the cufflinks I had brought.
“…”
“I know that we’ll definitely see each other again.”
As I left Emil behind, his faint words lingered in my ears.
“When the time comes, you can take responsibility for bringing me back.”
* * *
From that day on, I spent my time locked away in the study.
I had to gather information about the inherited madness of Roveline and her biological mother, a princess of a small kingdom held hostage by Castone.
Even if Emil’s madness was my own speculation, without concrete evidence, I couldn’t be sure. However, having already experienced the worst, I always needed to be prepared, and having knowledge about this was essential.
“The villainess’ madness…”
If Emil inherited Roveline’s madness, there was a high chance that Roveline also inherited it from her parents.
‘If it’s true, there must be a record somewhere.’
It took quite some time to find a single clue.
‘Asilesque was the homeland of the princess who became a hostage.’
The continent was always under extreme tension between these two empires: Castone and Croscentine.
Among these two countries, the small kingdom of Asilesque—a subject of Croscentine, who offered them tribute—had gone through both its golden age and darkest twilight.
As for the weak country, it was erased from the map due to Castone’s invasion, but it once unified the entire continent by inheriting the bloodline of a demi-god king, born from the union of god and a human, though the nation has now perished.
“It’s just the past, but…”
Still, there may be answers to madness in this country. Closing the book, I continued searching through the shelves, hoping to find more books related to the subject.
Until it seemed there was nothing more to learn.
“It could be helpful to search for records just before the country‘s downfall.”
Returning to my room, I flopped onto the bed and closed my eyes.
‘Information. Study. Library. History books. Asilesque. Madness…’
The words that dominated my mind were swirling in chaos.
‘Library…’
…Library? The largest library I knew of suddenly struck my mind.
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