Chapter 93
The Tragedy of The Villainess
âCan we start the subjugation immediately tomorrow?â
âYes.â
âThe number of knights isâ¦â
âUnlimited.â
The vassalsâ eyes lit up.
âAs expected, itâs different that youâre the hostess!â
When Stern was not around, the knights wearing the Holy star armor could endure only for a limited amount of time. The cost of preparing the silver branches, and storage and transportation was also an issue. However, with Stern, they could theoretically fight the demons for an unlimited amount of time. The difference between with and without the Stern was that big.
Everyoneâs eyes were melting, and Seria was kind of enjoying it.
âTo be honestâ¦
Itâs like they donât have a brain.
Is that a terrible thing to say? But I couldnât help but think that. How much fuss did the original Seria make every time she came here? The vassals would run away, thinking that perhaps they would be the target of her evil. Look at those shining transparent eyes now as if they had forgotten it.
Come to think of it, I also feel that if my chief professor is irritating me every day, and one day he suddenly changes and does a lot of things for me, I will forget everything that happened before. Humans are animals of oblivion.
Anyway, it wasnât bad to see all the vassals laughing and going into the meeting. Itâs purely for my experiment, but itâs also good for Berg, right?â
When Seria smiled with satisfaction, she felt the gaze looking at her from the side. She turned to the side and saw that Lesche was looking at her. As soon as their eyes met, he smiled.
âWas I too proud? Was it too obvious?â
Feeling a little embarrassed, she pretended not to see him and turned her face away. A few moments later, she looked to the side again and saw that Lesche was still looking at her. He seemed to have fixed his gaze on her.
Seria tapped Lescheâs ankle with her shoe, hoping that he would stop looking at her. Lescheâs eyes stopped for a moment and he looked down. Then he looked at her again, and Seria asked him quietly.
âWhy do you keep staring at me like that?â
âHmm?â
Rather, Lescheâs forehead furrowed.
âIâm not really looking.â
âYouâre not looking?â
âDoes this man think Iâm an idiot?â Seria complained quietly.
âYouâve been watching me for a long time now.â
â⦠A long time? Have I?â
Lesche looked a little perplexed. So Seria was taken aback too. The person who had been watching her for a while now suddenly seemed to have some sort of amnesiaâ¦
Lescheâs brow wrinkled again, and he slowly tilted his chin as he looked at Seria.
âYouâre beautiful, so I guess I was mesmerized for a while.â
Seria was dumbfounded by what she just heard and couldnât answer. Lesche raised his head.
âAre you mad at me?â
ââ¦â
âSeria.â
Seria pretended not to hear him and looked ahead. Then she became embarrassed. The vassals, who had been engrossed in a small meeting among themselves, suddenly opened their eyes wide as they looked at them. Come to think of it, when did it get so quiet?
ââ¦â
The vassals who met her eyes hastily averted their gazes, coughed, and took out their papers. Then, with a much more artificial attitude, they got enthusiastic about another small meeting. When Seria listened carefully, she heard words like âdemonsâ and âdefeatâ mixed in with words like âauditory hallucinationâ or âvertigoâ and â âfaintâ.
ââ¦They heard it, right? Iâm sure they heard our conversation.â
It was winter, but suddenly Seriaâs cheeks became unknowingly hot. She fanned herself with her hands.
***
Seria huffed out a breath.
She crawled up the snow-covered hill on all fours. When she got up, she saw the knights. She had to show up in person for them to see what she was capable of.
âStern!â
When a demon appeared nearby, Seria was called Stern. Lesche would be appointed as the commander-in-chief in most of the defeat battles, so it would be the same.
She saw a broken carriage. The pattern was large and clear. It was the Dukeâs crest. It was a pattern in Seriaâs knowledge.
It was the pattern of the Duke of Polvas. In front of the carriage, a woman was lying on the ground. Looking at her appearance, she was the owner of that carriage. She was surrounded by demons. They lifted her body up as if they were about to eat her.
Seria panicked, but she couldnât go down.
Stern was the most important entity in the official âBattle of the Demonsâ. According to the principle, even if the family was eaten by the demons right in front of her, she would not be able to help them by personal judgment.
In the meantime, if Stern were to die, there would be a terrible situation where all the knights would be wiped out.
Seria clenched and opened her cold sweaty hands. She had to make her decision as coldly and rationally as possible. She had to consider the distance. Her job was to keep her position well.
At that moment, the knights of the Berg struck the demons. She stared at them, saying âOhâ. Soon, one of the knights picked up the woman and carried her on his back. Seria quickly reached out her hand.
The knightâs eyes lit up.
âComing, Stern!â
The knight, who shouted louder than necessary, quickly climbed up the hill towards her. How could he climb up this snowy hill so well while carrying a person on his back?
Unlike the urgency of the situation, Seria thought it was amazing. The woman arrived in front of Seria in an instant.
âYouâre the Duchess of Polvas, right?â
The womanâs face was blooming with blotches as dark as Linonâs face before. The woman was on the verge of fainting. Seria held the woman to her chest. And sure enough, she noticedâ¦.
âWhat exactly is this circlet?â
Normally, it was just anions and gushing holy objects, but when divine power was needed like this, its power was greatly increased. She didnât know this because she didnât see anyone contaminated by magi during that time, but it was certainly different.
It suddenly struck her as odd. It could just be her suspicion. In the original story, did Lina get helped by this circlet as well?
ââ¦â
It was right after. The woman who was in a delirious state let out a groan. Seria hastily looked at the womanâs face. The Black Magi had disappeared. Seria immediately shook the womanâs shoulders.
âAre you okay? What? Wake up!â
The demons attacked the carriage and almost knocked her unconscious. The woman pleaded in a voice that sounded like she was about to throw up after Seria shook her several times.
âSâ¦save me!â
âIâm here to help you.â
The woman looked down in horror. Soon after, she fainted.
âOh my God.â
A knight said as he came up gasping for breath.
âSheâs the Duchess of Polvas.â
âYes, I think so.â
Linon really was terribly meticulous in his work.
He kept dissuading Seria and worried about her going to the contaminated land she inherited, but when it came down to it, he had been keeping track of the Duke and Duchess of Polvasâ movements the whole time, right from that evening. There was no other as fastidious and perfect as Chief Aide.
So Seria heard early on that the Duchess of Polvas had left for her home in the territory of Berg, but Linon didnât expect that her carriage would be attacked⦠Still, it was fortunate that this road was not far from the Connes Plain.
âThank you so much for rescuing her, My Lady.â
Accepting the knightâs bow, Seria looked at Abigail who had come to pick her up.
âYoung Lady.â
âBibi, are all the knights out?â
âYes, all went to the east, west, south, and north directions of the Connes Plain to deal with the remaining demons, and the Ladyâs husband went to the north.â
âTo the north? Thatâs the most dangerous place.â
âThe Ladyâs husband is the strongest knight Iâve ever seen.â
ââ¦Really?â
âDonât worry about it.â
It was true that Lesche was the strongest knight approved by the original author. Then what was Abigailâs rank? Lesche headed for the Connes Plain. A Magi contaminated land. An abandoned land.
Seria saw a few Berg knights here and there. As soon as they saw her, they rejoiced, waving the silver branches, which they were holding like their lifelines.
It seemed they were really cold.
Seria roughly waved and squatted on the floor. Then she focused her mind like when she purified the Magi of the green manor.
How many minutes has passed? Seria looked at the ground with astonished eyes.
The contaminated land had indeed been cleansed.
âDid Lina really cleanse Magi with this circlet?â
But Seria didnât understand. Where did the power of a Saint go? Why didnât she use her Saint power instead? The content that Lina struggled with because of her strong power was one of the most important episodes in the original story.
Suddenly, Seria remembered that Lina was very curious about this circlet.
âSeria, the necklace I saw yesterday, where did you get it?â
What is it?
Seria felt terribly sick.
***
The battle to defeat the demons in the Connes Plain, which lasted over a week, ended successfully.
Seria learned that the circlet could purify Magi, but she didnât purify the whole Connes Plain.
It was obvious that if she tried to figure out the exact extent and limits of the circletâs cleansing capabilities, she would be in the public eye.
She didnât mention this to anyone until she was sure of everything. Abigail, who was by her side, seemed to notice something, but she didnât say anything like a quiet woman.
âIâll keep quiet until I learn more about this circlet.â
She just grabbed the circlet in the basement of the green manor due to the circumstances of the situation back then. But the fact that it allowed her to perform abilities that she hadnât done before was very questionable. In the original story, this circlet was just a special accessory that Lina loved.
âHmm.â
When everyone returned to the main castle after the battle of the demons at the Connes Plain, an unexpected document was waiting for Seria and Lesche.
The sender was the supreme Emperor of the Glick Empire.
The content wasâ¦
It was an official approval for the marriage of Grand Duke Berg and his wife.