The Abandoned Villainess Decides to Take It All Chapter 45

Chapter 45

A Morning Drama?

The duke let out a bitter laugh.

“My daughter made the kind of mistake worthy of the phrase ‘the easily deceived Baltazar.’”

“….”

“She believed her love was so special that it could change a flawed man.”

“….”

“In the end, it was all a waste of time. Pure foolishness.”

Lillian very much wanted to nod along and say he was absolutely right.

Saving someone with love? It would be far more practical to earn money and recommend therapy.

But instead, she quietly watched the duke.

The blue veins spreading across his temple—

They were pulsing more and more violently.

The nightmare is finally taking shape.

The writhing vein slowly formed the shape of a spider beneath the skin.

All she needed to do was pull it out with her control ability.

And then—

I already told the Shadows where the duke is.

With the information they had obtained from Marquis Somnis, there had been little time between their departure and Lillian being brought here.

If I stall long enough…

Someone would come.

But meanwhile—

The duke’s gaze toward her was growing darker.

“Yes… to the Tarandias, everything is a waste of time…”

“….”

Lillian slowly clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

Control worked best through direct contact.

But if you couldn’t have chicken, pheasant would do.

The duke stepped closer and muttered,

“I have no intention of gravely injuring you.”

Apparently, like his grandson, he had a talent for making statements no one could trust.

“Did His Highness imprint on you?”

“No.”

She answered immediately.

This was exactly why imprinting was no longer practiced in the Perniès Empire.

“Then I suppose I can test it.”

“Surely… you don’t intend to harm His Highness?”

“Until now, the only reason he restrained himself was because he had no Guide.”

The focus vanished entirely from the duke’s eyes.

“Now he can run wild without the risk of going berserk. Isn’t it obvious what kind of disaster that will lead to?”

“He might change. We don’t know the future.”

“For the sake of the Empire’s future… he should have died instead.”

Focus. Stay focused.

She tried to answer him while secretly gathering power through the afterimage of butterflies.

But then—

“If only you didn’t exist, the others could have taken care of it long ago…”

“…What?”

Lillian suddenly froze.

Surely not.

“…Did you give them that order? To the Shadows? To Sir Elias? To Sir Jeanne?”

A sick feeling twisted in her stomach.

“In the worst case… you told them to kill His Highness—”

“That’s right.”

The duke looked utterly unconcerned.

“But they could all die doing that…”

“Then that can’t be helped.”

“….”

“Even if everyone has to die together, His Highness must be killed.”

“….”

It wasn’t surprising.

Even taking the nightmare’s influence into account.

In the Perniès Empire, this kind of thinking was normal.

It was a place where the head of a house held absolute power over the lives of every family member.

Even so—

Her stomach twisted painfully.

Because she remembered them proudly hanging article after article about Mariposa throughout the castle.

The duke nodded toward the now-silent Lillian.

“Barkan. Seize that child.”

—Yes, my master.

The instant the rock dragon lunged at her—

Lillian pulled out her ultimate weapon.

Boom!

An explosive blast echoed through the room.

In an instant, the familiar’s eye area was blackened with soot.

The shock sent its massive tail crashing violently into the wall.

—…!

“Barkan!?”

The duke cried out in shock.

In Lillian’s hand was—

The excellent-grip, instant 1,600-degree magical torch the villain had given her.

And compared to the previous model, this one had an even stronger explosive setting.

While the familiar thrashed in confusion—

Faint pink butterflies began to shimmer into existence.

One brushed against the duke’s temple.

“Ugh…!”

—Master—!

“What a pointless thing to do!”

The moment the effect reached him, the rock dragon froze completely.

The duke staggered, breathing heavily.

The blue spider beneath his skin became even clearer.

It writhed frantically in pain.

“So… you’re Elric’s granddaughter. I underestimated you.”

Holding his temple, the duke laughed faintly.

“Why? Just like my daughter once did, are you trying to save Prince Ebren this time?”

“Your Grace, I have absolutely no intention of doing that!”

“Ha! Saying things like—”

“If someone is born with two healthy legs, two healthy arms, and a sound body, then they should save their own life themselves…!”

Lillian said it with absolute sincerity.

Life was self-service.

Salvation was, too.

“I don’t even know whether Prince Ebren Tarandia would make a good emperor.”

And she had no intention of staying by his side long enough to find out.

Lillian wished she could say it again and again.

I’m just an ordinary person.

In her previous life, she had simply been a self-employed citizen who paid her taxes properly.

If she could avoid the war that man would one day bring—

And make a reasonably safe exit—

Honestly, she didn’t care about anything else.

“But, Your Grace, death isn’t something another person gets to decide.”

“….”

“Especially when that person is family…!”

Death came to everyone.

But the path that led there was each person’s own.

No one had the right to destroy someone else’s freedom.

Especially not over something that hadn’t even happened yet.

At that moment—

Another butterfly brushed the duke’s temple.

As it dissolved into shimmering pale pink particles, the blue spider could no longer endure it.

Thin legs burst through the skin.

The duke collapsed to his knees.

Lillian dashed toward him.

I have to catch that!

Back when she had been locked in the basement, there had been countless spiders.

That was why she absolutely hated them.

But her body—long used to enduring things she despised—moved automatically.

She flung her bag open and carefully began pulling the creature out.

If I trap it in here—

Almost there.

Almost—

“It’s in—!”

But the moment she looked up—

The ceiling began collapsing.

Elsewhere

When Lillian disappeared, Ebren Tarandia had already placed barriers throughout the entire castle.

Whether he liked it or not—

Lillian was his one-year leash.

He had even carved the barriers into the decorative stones of the garden.

So that if even one were disturbed, a signal would reach him immediately.

And yet—

The woman had vanished from inside the castle.

Ebren stood motionless in one corner of the garden.

The place where the final signal had come from.

“…Lady.”

A crimson spiderweb pattern spread beneath his left eye.

“Lillian.”

The faint scent of lilies lingered in the air.

The familiar had left—

But it had left behind a crack in space no wider than a strand of hair.

Ebren grabbed the gap with his bare hand.

Instantly, his palm split open, blood soaking his skin.

He had no time to worry about whether something like this should be touched with bare hands.

Like tearing paper—

He ripped open the edges of the crack in space.

And forced his way inside.