NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10
“What does this address mean?”
“It’s the place where the Saint was last seen. Three days ago at that.”
[The <Monarch of Waves and Healing> is proud of her work.]
The words of the <Monarch of Waves and Healing> were true.
She found traces of the Saint in one day.
And this was the first evidence.
Rene wiped her mouth with a napkin.
Now that she was done eating, it was time for dessert. A very sweet dessert.
“What do you mean, three days ago? The Saint disappeared a week ago–“
“Don’t you understand?”
Rene grinned as Ante’s expression hardened.
“Then, is the Saint alive?”
“Well, unless there’s some kind of magic to move the dead, you know?”
“Do you think I will believe this now?”
“You probably won’t.”
Rene leaned back in the chair, apparently not interested.
It wasn’t that she didn’t expect this reaction.
From the looks of it, it seemed that this body was bad enough to be called ‘Shame’-
“So I will send this address to Princess Idin. Not to you, but to the princess.”
She had a knack for this.
Only then did Ante’s expression begin to change little by little.
He seemed to realize that Rene’s words were not just mere bluff.
“Maybe the princess will be the second person who has this address after me.”
“I know you won’t be able to.”
“What do you know about me?”
Rene smiled and waved the note.
“You don’t know anything about me, Ante Marchius.”
“…!”
“It’s obvious that if I go there myself, they will say I am tampering with the evidence, so I’ll send it to a third party.”
“…Let’s make a hundred concessions and assume that the address and sightings are true.”
“It’s true. You have no trust in people.”
Ante went on, uncaring of Rene’s grumbles
“
Even so, the princess is not in a position to be objective.
Because of the war of succession to the throne, she would want to undermine the Crown Prince.”
“But?”
Rene crossed her arms and looked up at him.
Ante frowned at the arrogant posture.
However, it was difficult to openly scold her like before.
Cedin was openly staring at him.
“‘But’, you said? Such rude words…!”
“
No, it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a battle for the succession to the throne or a war.
My concern is to prove my innocence.
And if she’s the one who’s going to prove my innocence, who cares if she’s a princess or a demon?”
Ante sighed and put down the note where the address was written.
“I knew you were really selfish, but I didn’t know it would be this much. The moment you send the note to Her Majesty the Princess, our whole family gets involved in the war. We have to give up the neutrality that we have kept so far.”
“Ante, I knew you were stupid, but I didn’t expect you to be this stupid.”
She picked up the newspaper that had been ripped earlier. And she pointed to a picture of Prince Ishir’s shiny face.
[The <Lord of Vile Blood> hates the Crown Prince.]
“From the time this damn Crown Prince drove me to be a criminal, this family couldn’t be neutral. When he becomes the emperor, do you think he’ll let you live just because you’re neutral?”
“…!”
“No. If he becomes emperor, he will spit on me and cut off all of you.”
Why doesn’t this fool know that?
In the first place, the Crown Prince was grieving his fiancée’s death, so he would inevitably hold her down.
‘If he becomes the emperor later, he will try to clean up the annoying people in advance. If you become the Duke, you will be quite powerful, so it would be better for him to tame you in advance.’
Rene tried to explain to Ante that all of this was just a useless struggle, but she gave up.
One student was enough.
“Think of the rest on your own, and get ready to welcome the guest. I got a call this morning that I am going to have a visitor.”
It was personal information that Sister Wave told her.
Maybe the guest was going to surprise her by coming without leaving a message in advance, but it didn’t work.
“Guest? You mean you called someone else?”
“No. This time, it’s a guest who comes on their own.”
As Ante frowned at the incomprehensible words, Rene stood up and prepared to leave.
Since she finished eating dessert, she should wash her mouth.
“A guest who comes on their own. What do you–“
At that moment, the door opened and the butler quickly entered and whispered something in Ante’s ear.
Then Ante’s face began to turn blue.
He turned his head and stared at Rene.
“What the hell have you done?”
“Me? What did I do?”
When Rene shrugged and pretended not to know, Ante hurriedly went outside.
Rene winked at Cedin to follow her.
“You have another guest beside me?”
“Yes, but they’re an uninvited guest.”
“Uninvited guest?”
Rene pointed at the door with her chin.
It meant he should check it out himself. Cedin turned and looked where Rene had pointed.
A man was standing there.
A handsome man wearing a black uniform and carrying a long sword.
“Sir Anshirad.”
[The <Lord of Vile Blood>complains about why there are so many handsome people in this world.]
[The <Monarch of Waves and Healing> smiles happily.]
[The <Emperor of Enticement> opens the bag of popcorn at the appearance of Cedin’s love rival.]
Wait, why is he Cedin’s rival? You got every single word wrong!
Rene complained at the Constellation that had gone senile.
Meanwhile, the man turned his gaze to Rene.
It was a very unpleasant gaze.
Ah. It stinks.
‘The smell of the same kind.’
Apparently, it wasn’t just Rene who smelled it.
“And… Young Lady Rene Marchius.”
Rene leisurely lifted the hem of her dress to greet the uninvited guest who called her name at will.
The uninvited guest’s face crumpled. Well, he looked better in person than in the picture. She forced a smile and held out her hand.
[Ishir’s favorability drops by 10!]
His favorability decreased just because she held out her hand?
You must be kidding. Rene wrinkled her face as she looked at the rude Crown Prince.
“Hello, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
It was her first time meeting him, but she had a hunch.
<Status Window> Idin von Lambdish Family: The Imperial family of the Lambdish Empire. Fame: 837 Title: <Hope of Lambdish>, <Prince of Lambdish>, <?????> ,<??>, <Swordmaster> Power: 890 Agility: 799 Strength: 910 Wisdom: 810 Luck: 886 Favorability: -?92She had a hunch that that system would entangle them very badly
***
Rene scanned Ishir’s status window carefully.
She looked at the stats. They were very fancy. The fame, the title.
‘These guys are the main characters.’In this case, the problem was that she wasn’t the female protagonist.
Being a villainess… It was a problem.
In addition, she didn’t have minus favorability… It was a problem that dig its way here.
‘Why are you staring at me?’
Ishir stared at Renee, embarrassingly.
Not holding Rene’s extended hand, he stared down at it.
Are you going to take it or not? Her mood turned bad.
‘Should I just kill him? What happens if I kill him? Will it be cleared?’
[The <Lord of Vile Blood> encourages you to try it.]
[The <Monarch of Waves and Healing> stops you, saying you’ll regret it.]
[The <Emperor of Enticement> eats popcorn deliciously.]
“Your Highness, what brings you here? Without contact, too.”
Even at the words of Ante who couldn’t see the scene, Ishir did not know how to turn his gaze away from Rene.
“Your Highness?”
“It’s strange.”
“…What?”
When Ante asked with a bewildered face, Ishir looked directly into Rene’s eyes and continued.
“You’ve changed,”
And his gaze gradually went down.
Renee’s hand began to exert strength as if to express her emotion.
This guy’s not easy.
“You don’t hide what has changed.”
“What do you mean? Are you talking about my sister?”
“Rene Marchius.”
Ishir didn’t seem to care about Ante. Rene nodded her head.
“Did you finally sell your soul to the devil?”
“Your Majesty, no matter how bad Rene is, such rude words to Marchius-“
“What if I sold it…sir?”
She really didn’t want to use honorifics.
“I’d like to ask you the secret.”
“You just have to die 58 times and come back to life.”
But in fact, Rene was getting more and more interested.
This guy recognized her.
He recognized that she was not just Rene Marchius, but a Rene Marchius who had been upgraded a lot.
He was the second person after Cedin.
Someone who recognized her.
Cedin noticed her when she openly released her powers,
Ishir recognized Rene even when she wasn’t using any power at all.
“Don’t joke, tell the truth, Young Lady.”
“I’m serious, though?”
In response to Rene’s answer, Ishir gradually began to raise his power.
His power was so strong that the general people could not bear it. And surprisingly,
“Your Highness, this child has never even learned a sword. I think this power is inappropriate.”
Embarrassed by this, Ante tried to block Ishir’s power.
‘Oh, Ante isn’t bad either.’
It was a pass.
“Are you asking me to believe that someone who has never learned a sword has this kind of energy?”
Ishir didn’t believe it at all. Slowly he reached for the sword.
“When Lian disappeared without a trace, I thought about how that could be possible, but I couldn’t find an answer.”
[The <Monarch of Waves and Healing> warns you of danger!]
[The <Lord of Vile Blood> prepares to unlock his power.]
“But with such a talented person like you here, everything makes sense.”
Life slowly began to fill Ishir’s face.
‘Even if he’s misunderstanding something, it seems his opinion is already clear.’
But Rene had no intention of letting it be either.
“Where is Lian?”
“It has nothing to do with me, Your Highness.”
“Do you think I’ll believe that?”
Is this acting or being sincere? Rene looked over Ishir slowly.
If it was acting, he was really talented enough to be an actor.
“Rather, I think I should be the one who asks that question. What did you do with the Saint?”
“You’re interrogating me right now-“
“Wait a minute.”
At that moment, Cedin intervened between the two of them.
It seemed he’d judged that the two of them couldn’t get the job done if he just left it as it was.
“Both of you, calm down.”
“…Cedin, get out of the way.”
Ishir gritted his teeth and glared at Cedin. But Cedin also showed no sign of backing down.
“I know why Your Highness suspects Young Lady. But I don’t think Young Lady is the culprit.”
“Are you taking her side?”
“I’m not taking any sides-“
“That’s the woman who sent an assassin to Lian 40 times. Poison a hundred times.”
…Seriously? Rene’s face started to burn even though it wasn’t her who did it.
This body… Why did you live like this? If you want to live a vicious life, at least do it secretly.
“
I understand. But please calm down and let’s talk, Your Highness.
Rationally, if someone of this level wanted to kill someone, wouldn’t she know that there is a more efficient way?
“
“….”
That’s right. Cedin is good!
Ishir knew that what he was saying was right, so he just clenched his teeth and couldn’t respond.
At last, he seemed a bit genuine.
“If you really want to find the Saint, now is the time for you to work together.”
“But Young Lady Marchius even tried to bring the charges against me. How do you explain that?”
“I’m sorry about that. But I really thought you were the one who killed her, too.”
And that suspicion still hadn’t gone away.
Seeing that he got so angry, the suspicion shook a little, but she still wasn’t sure.
‘I’ve seen a lot of people who betray other people with their acting.’
Because these kinds of people were not just one or two in her past life.
“…How dare you doubt me like that.”
Ishir took his hand off the sword, but he didn’t look away.
He still looked down at Rene with disgust and contempt.
“Let’s talk over a cup of tea for a while.”
Ante stepped in between them with a stiff face.
“Because just like Your Highness, we, Marchius, want to solve this case.”