The Villainous Lady Doesn't Speak Chapter 154

The Lure and the Destination 2

After parting with Liliana and getting into the carriage, Clyde let out a small sigh as he gazed out the window.

Since his father's death, his impression of his sister had changed. For a long time, Clyde had seen Liliana as a young, fragile being who needed to be protected. But from the day she killed their father to protect him and their mother, Belinda, Clyde had begun to realize that his impression was wrong.

The stern, dignified, and cunning personality she had shown toward their father must have been her true self.

“She was hiding something again today.”

His visit to Liliana this time had been deliberate. The official reason was to deepen his bond with his sister, but that had only been his true intention at the beginning. Of course, he still wanted to get closer as siblings. But he was aware that his stronger motive now was to confirm just how much Liliana knew, what she was thinking, and how much she was trying to hide from him.

There were multiple suspicions that could be gleaned from the tax ledger he had brought this time. One of them was the expansion of farmland and residential areas, which Liliana had pointed out. Clyde still hadn't figured out the reason for it. He was certain that Philip knew something, and he had a vague sense that it was for some nefarious purpose. When he deliberately affirmed the idea of asking Philip, Liliana had not objected.

His sister was no fool. She observed others well. She must have realized that asking Philip would not yield a proper answer and might even lead to increased surveillance on Clyde. Yet she had not pointed that out to him. That fact was nagging at Clyde’s mind.

And there was another thing—the amount of iron ore being purchased. During his grandfather's funeral, his father, Abram, had vehemently opposed guiding Prince Roland of the Yunatian Empire to the forge. It was a possibility he hadn't noticed at the time, but he could see it now with just the documents in his hand. In fact, it seemed Liliana had come to the same conclusion right in front of him while he was eating a pastry. And yet, she had said nothing.

"Should I say it was worth the trouble of sneaking around Philip to get these copies, or—"

Or should he lament the fact that he was being forced into a situation where he had to suspect the only family he had left to cherish?

Clyde smiled self-deprecatingly and covered his face with one hand.

No matter how strict a father he had, no matter how neglectful a mother she was, Clyde had never doubted them. He had believed, at least, that they weren't doing anything wrong. Though his father had neglected his family, he had respected him as Duke Clark, the man called the "Blue Flame Chancellor." Even if he could never be exactly like him, he had strived to acquire enough skill to at least be acknowledged by his father.

But on that day, that entire foundation had crumbled. His father, who had tried to kill his own wife without a moment's hesitation after she accused him of murdering her parents, had also assassinated the Duke of Ealdred. And he had chanted a forbidden spell, a joyful smile on his face, in an attempt to enslave his own daughter. And his mother… had broken. Perhaps her mind had already been on the verge of shattering, but on that day, everything had collapsed. Now, with his grandfather gone, his grandmother, who had maintained her pride as the late duke's wife, had no interest in her grandchildren.

All Clyde had left was his sister, Liliana.

But even she wouldn't open her heart to him. She would smile and respond with perfect social grace, but she hid the important things, deceiving him. At first, he tried to kill his own heart, to force himself not to doubt her, but the gnawing suspicion was becoming too strong to ignore.

"Am I doing something foolish?"

This business of testing his sister… it wasn't exactly commendable. But Clyde couldn't stop himself.

He pulled a small slip of paper from his pocket. It had been given to him by a maid working at Liliana's estate. She was of lower noble birth, but she had beautiful handwriting. Clyde's eyes narrowed as he read the short message.

<She received a letter from someone named Petra.>

The last time he had visited the estate, Clyde had spoken to the maid. When he had made his request, wearing the face of a concerned brother, the deeply moved maid had promised to report on Liliana's life in detail.

"Petra? Ah—Petra Muirulainen. I didn't know she was acquainted with her."

Of course, he had no intention of prying into every detail of his sister's friendships. But the mage named Petra Muirulainen was currently in a delicate position at the Ministry of Magic.

Following the monster attack three years ago, she and Deputy Director Ben Draco had distanced themselves from the Ministry. She was still on the rolls, but she was apparently dodging a return to work by using a doctor's diagnosis as a shield. Normally, the Ministry should have recommended her resignation, but the fact that they hadn't suggested they had their own agenda.

"Now, what should I do?"

Clyde's eyes narrowed. His handsome profile was the very picture of the character Clyde Benito Clark from the otome game of Liliana's past life.

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Liliana remained deep in thought, the map spread out before her. There were several forges in the Clark duchy, but only one of them could process such a large quantity of iron ore.

(About a two-week journey by carriage from the Fortia estate—)

She calculated the approximate travel time from the distance. If one were to ride hard, the time could be shortened, but it was unlikely anyone would choose to travel by horse instead of carriage in a place where Philip's eyes were watching.

Clyde was no fool. His talents, though overshadowed by his father Abram, were outstanding among his peers. That was why Riley, despite Clyde being that father's son, had been working to bring him into his own faction as a close aide. With experience, he would undoubtedly demonstrate abilities that left others in the dust. Therefore, it was impossible that Clyde hadn't noticed the unnatural volume of iron ore purchases. Liliana was betting that he knew and had deliberately kept quiet about it.

"I'm sure he intends to head there directly from the Fortia estate."

Clyde had said he was "heading to the Fortia estate first." He hadn't said he wouldn't be visiting other places.

While there were administrative hubs scattered throughout the territory, efficiency dictated that the Fortia estate would be the first destination. And the second would be the region with the forge. For a little over a year since their father's death, Liliana and her family had been in mourning. Even during that time, Clyde had worked day and night to learn about the domain as quickly as possible. Still, he'd had little time to actually visit the territories, mostly traveling back and forth between the capital and Fortia. Now that things had finally settled down, it was likely a good opportunity for him to tour the domain.

If that was the case, she still had some time, Liliana sighed inwardly. Fortunately, she didn't need to use a carriage or a horse. She was confident she could teleport to the forge by herself. If the map was inaccurate, there might be a discrepancy in her arrival point, but if she didn't make it, she could just try again another day. It would take about a week to get to the Fortia estate, and then another two weeks from there. At a conservative estimate, Clyde would need three weeks to reach the forge. That was more than enough time for her to investigate the inside of the forge first.

Telling herself there was no need to rush, Liliana rolled up the map. As she held it, Marianne hurried over to take it from her. Seeing her opportunity, Liliana added that she wanted to take a few randomly selected books back to her room. She didn't need many.

"Are you taking these to your room, my lady?"

"Yes."

Marianne seemed to understand upon seeing the titles. The books Liliana had chosen were all history books, like the Chronicles of the Yunatian Empire and the History of the Founding of the Kingdom of Slibegrad. When deciphering history, looking at a map can lead to a much greater understanding than simply following the text.

Liliana had often referred to maps while reading in the past, so Marianne didn't seem suspicious. But Liliana wasn't taking the map back to deepen her understanding of history. She intended to use it to pinpoint her teleportation destination and infiltrate the forge.

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Liliana made her move that night. She could probably sneak in unnoticed even during the day by making herself invisible, but at this point, when she didn't know what kind of people were at the forge, it was a bad move. There was no guarantee that there wasn't someone with a keen sense of presence, like the one who had detected her curse-craft rat.

Just in case, she made herself invisible before using the teleportation spell. After a moment of weightlessness, Liliana felt the air around her change. Almost simultaneously, her vision was plunged into complete darkness.

It was past midnight, and with no moonlight, the outside was incredibly dark. Looking up, she could see a sky full of glittering stars, but on the ground, she couldn't make out anything that wasn't right in front of her. Liliana chanted softly.

"【Search】."

Activating her unique spell that detected heat sources and magical energy, she could now perceive objects even in the dark. Fortunately, there seemed to be no people nearby; there was no magical reaction. But a short distance away, there was a shadow that looked like a building. Behind it, a vast forest spread out. Guessing it was the forge, Liliana cautiously made her way toward it.

After confirming that there were no magical or curse-craft traps, Liliana used magic to illuminate her surroundings. She let out a sigh of relief.

It was indeed a forge. The building-like structure had an open design, likely to dissipate heat. Looking around inside, she saw it was divided into a warehouse for storing materials like iron ore and charcoal, and a workshop with refining furnaces and hearths. A little farther away, there was another warehouse for storing finished products. But the materials stored there and the finished products in the warehouse clearly didn't match the amount of iron ore that had been purchased.

"—Surely this can't be all of it. Where are they keeping the things they've made?"

Liliana frowned, wondering if there was another storage area.

She couldn't rule out the possibility that they had already been sold, but it seemed better to search on the assumption that there was another storage location. This forge, in particular, which she had prioritized in her investigation, had the highest purchase volume of iron ore. The hearth she had seen was indeed quite large. That meant they should have been producing large items like wheeled plows. And yet, the storage she found contained mostly small items like knives, pots, scissors, and nails. There was only a single wheeled plow.

Using her search spell again, Liliana carefully examined her surroundings. Still finding nothing of concern, she expanded her search area.

"—Oh."

Liliana turned her gaze toward the forest. Charcoal was necessary for iron production, so the forest near the forge must have been thoroughly worked. Therefore, it wasn't unnatural for there to be a hut in the woods. It was common to build shacks for storing felled trees or for lumberjacks to keep their tools. Still, the hut Liliana had noticed was unusually large. It was about the size of a home for a moderately wealthy farmer. The people living in this area were not particularly well-off. Thanks to the forge, they didn't have to worry about food, but there were no other notable local products, and they couldn't afford luxuries beyond their daily meals. In such a region, a "home the size of a moderately wealthy farmer's" being built in the middle of the forest was, under normal circumstances, unthinkable.

The moment she noticed the unnatural building, Liliana's mind raced, and she didn't hesitate. Deciding it would be safer than walking through the forest at night, she used her teleportation spell. In the blink of an eye, she was in the middle of the forest. She illuminated her surroundings with magic. As expected, the building she had found was a fine structure. You couldn't call it a shack even if your life depended on it.

Liliana sighed in front of the large door. As she had half-expected, the door was secured with a sturdy bar. The lock was also terribly heavy, larger than both her hands could hold. The bigger problem was that the entire building was enchanted. The spell, cleverly cast to avoid detection, was clearly intended to prevent outside intrusion. Whether the lock was broken or someone tried to enter using magic or curse-craft, the spells protecting the building would react. Liliana didn't know what would happen as a result of that reaction, but whatever it was, it wouldn't be a pleasant future.

However, that very high level of caution only confirmed Liliana's suspicions.

"It's as if they're begging me to be suspicious."

It was like they were shouting out loud that there was something important inside that they didn't want others to know about. And Liliana had no intention of backing down now that she had come this far.

Breaking the lock or using magic would trigger the defensive spells—which meant she just had to open the lock normally. Liliana had no skill in lock-picking. But she had an accomplice who did.

"—I'll bring him tomorrow."

Liliana let out a small smile and used her teleportation spell. Her figure vanished in an instant, and she returned to her estate on the outskirts of the capital. She penned a short message on a piece of paper, opened the window of her private room, and whistled. A unique sound echoed into the night sky, followed by the sound of flapping wings. Seeing the jet-black crow that arrived shortly after, Liliana narrowed her eyes.

"Please take this to your master."

She tied the thinly folded letter to the crow's leg. The crow dipped it's head once as if in understanding, then took flight. After watching the crow disappear into the darkness in an instant, Liliana closed the window. To warm her slightly chilled body, she quickly slipped under the sheets of her bed.

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Around the same time Liliana was studying the map of the forge, Obsidian spotted a familiar face in the Antorpo district in the western part of the capital.

"—Well, this is a surprise."

The man was famous in the underworld as an information broker—Tenrec. He was pretty sure the last time he'd seen him was three years ago, but he'd received messages from him a few times since then.

After he had ignored the information that a certain nobleman in the Kingdom of Slibegrad was looking for an exclusive assassin, he hadn't heard from Tenrec at all. He guessed that the nobleman was probably Liliana's father, Abram Clark, but he had never confirmed it and had no intention of doing so in the future.

The etiquette among people like Obsidian was to pretend not to know a familiar face even if they passed each other on the street. So normally, Obsidian would have ignored Tenrec, but what caught his interest this time was Tenrec's unusually grim expression.

The Tenrec Obsidian knew was a shrewd man who always maintained a nonchalant attitude. He loved money and could be ruthless, but he also had a sense of duty, skillfully navigating between the rival factions of the information brokers. In the past, some had tried to recruit him for his information-gathering skills, but Tenrec had never sided with any particular faction.

A man who coolly gathered information and never got heated about anything—that was Tenrec. And now, he was frowning. This couldn't get any more interesting, Obsidian thought, the corners of his mouth lifting.

"Guess I'll do a little digging."

He decided to follow him purely out of curiosity. Erasing his presence, he began to tail Tenrec in broad daylight. The only one who could pull off such a bold move against a cautious information broker was Obsidian. Tenrec had become known as an information broker because of his faint presence and his sensitivity to the presence of others. He could exist without being noticed, and he was quick to sense when someone was paying attention to him. That was why tailing him was extremely difficult.

But Obsidian didn't care and followed Tenrec, blending into the crowd.

After walking for a while, Tenrec entered a district full of warehouses. The number of people walking around suddenly decreased. The area, which had originally been churches and private houses, had been converted into warehouses, so they came in all shapes and sizes. A large amount of goods transported from the western port town were stored there.

Obsidian stopped in front of the warehouse Tenrec had entered. He had no intention of going inside. The warehouse wasn't that big. He had come this far without being noticed; if he went inside, his presence would be known. On the other hand, if he just stood around outside, he wouldn't be able to find out why Tenrec had such a grim look on his face.

Obsidian went around to the back of the warehouse. The warehouse Tenrec had entered was a single-story building, but its ceiling was considerably higher than the others. There was a window for light high up. It wasn't a very big window, but it wasn't too small either. The flat walls didn't offer many handholds, but for Obsidian, it was like a children's playground.

"Guess I'll climb up."

Muttering to himself, he pulled his hood down low. He got a running start from a short distance away and lightly kicked off the ground. Using a tiny indentation that his fingertips could barely catch, he reached the small window in an instant and slipped inside. It was a window that a normal person couldn't pass through, but Obsidian could just barely squeeze through. He stuck to the ceiling and searched for Tenrec.

It seemed Tenrec was waiting for someone. After a while, the warehouse door opened. Tenrec's guest had arrived. Seeing the person, Obsidian's eyes widened.

"—No fucking way."

The words slipped out. Obsidian had seen that person before.

"What's he doing here?"

The man Tenrec was meeting. It was the mercenary who served as Liliana's bodyguard, Gild.

—-

ToC

Chapter 155