The Villainous Lady Doesn't Speak Chapter 136

Exchange of Opinions 14

Two days after completing his inspection of the Ealdred Duchy and other territories, Prince Roland, smiling cheerfully under the clear blue sky, extended his right hand to Riley.

"It was a meaningful visit. I thank you."

"I am grateful to hear you say that," Riley responded calmly, shaking hands.

The visit of Prince Roland and Princess Edith, though marred by a few unexpected events, had generally gone smoothly. Initially, Princess Edith had planned to extend her stay in the Kingdom of Slibegrad to formalize her engagement to Riley. However, for reasons unknown, she had decided to return to the Empire, persuaded by Prince Roland.

Prince Roland, turning his gaze to Liliana standing next to Riley, took her right hand to show his respect. Liliana accepted it with a serene smile.

"Lady Clark, you have also been of great assistance."

Not at all Liliana replied with a graceful curtsy, and Riley narrowed his eyes in appreciation of her elegant demeanor. Behind Prince Roland, Princess Edith pouted in apparent boredom, her gaze not on Liliana but solely fixed on Riley. Her eyes were moist, reflecting a love-struck expression. Riley, however, maintained a neutral smile, showing no emotion.

"Well then, shall we go? Edith."

Although Princess Edith only bid farewell to Riley, Prince Roland paid no mind and ushered his sister towards the carriage. Edith glanced back at Riley with a wistful expression over her shoulder but sighed in resignation when she saw that Riley remained silent. She boarded the carriage without a word.

Once everything was prepared, the carriage began to move. The carriage soon left the capital city after departing the royal palace. As they entered the main road, Prince Roland looked at his sister with a troubled expression.

"Don't make such a face, Edith."

"But――I thought I would be marrying Riley," Edith replied, sulking.

Seeing his sister’s disgruntled face, Roland smiled wryly. This was a conversation they had repeated countless times since returning to the capital from their inspection. Although Edith had ultimately yielded to Roland's persuasion, she had clearly not come to terms with it.

"Were you that eager to marry him?"

"Well, Riley is my prince charming. Everyone was saying that Riley and I would get married."

"But I'm a prince too, Edith."

"You're just my brother."

Edith became even more sullen at Roland’s teasing remark. Roland glanced at his sister with a rueful smile. Of course, a prince and princess could not marry each other, and Roland could not consider Edith as a marriage partner. He saw her as a beloved younger sister whom he wished to see happily married to someone who genuinely cared for her, rather than a harsh and self-serving person like their father.

Roland had initially thought that the Crown Prince of Slibegrad might be able to protect Edith, but he reconsidered after being advised by Lady Clark. Edith was still only eight years old; there was no need to rush into an engagement. Though most princesses had their fiancés chosen early, Edith’s father had been reluctant to make a decision. Roland suspected this was because it was more convenient to use Edith as a political pawn while she remained unengaged.

"Don’t sulk so. I will personally find a suitable fiancé for you."

"Will you, brother?"

Determined not to let her become a disposable pawn, Roland spoke with resolve, causing Edith to blink in surprise. It was the first time Roland had made such a promise.

"Indeed. So, rest assured."

Edith’s face immediately brightened with joy. Though Roland had not said that Riley would be the chosen fiancé, she seemed unconcerned. For her, Roland was a trustworthy figure. Unconsciously believing in the Emperor’s words as absolute, she would readily trust the Emperor’s words over others. However, if Roland’s words conflicted with her father’s, she would likely become confused and uncertain about what to do. This alone highlighted the clear difference in her trust between Roland and anyone else.

"I understand, Brother. But I still want Riley."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Seeing his sister blush yet nod obediently, Roland's expression softened with relief.

Originally, he had planned to secretly report to the Emperor that there was an engagement offer from the Kingdom of Slibegrad for Princess Edith. However, he no longer had any intention of doing so. And as long as he refrained from making the report, there would be no engagement offer made from the Yunatian Empire to the Kingdom regarding Edith.

The road back to the capital was long. Although it was a lengthy journey, Roland encouraged himself by thinking of the souvenirs he'd marked on the way there to purchase on the way back. After staying in the Kingdom of Slibegrad for a few days and drawing near the border, their leisurely traveling group came to a sudden stop.

"—What's going on?"

Roland furrowed his brow. Edith, seemingly exhausted, had fallen asleep in the carriage. Sensing something amiss, Roland gently placed his cloak over his sister’s body. He then picked up the sword that had been resting on the seat. The curtains of the carriage were drawn, but through a small gap, he could see no immediate threat nearby. However, the tense expressions on the faces of the guards were unmistakable. He cracked the window slightly.

"What's happening?"

"It seems there is a skirmish up ahead," one of the guards answered.

"An ambush?"

"No—it's unclear at the moment."

It appeared the messenger had yet to return with full details. Even as they spoke, the noise of the commotion grew closer. The guards were beginning to show signs of agitation.

"Your Highness, please close the window and remain hidden inside the carriage."

"Understood."

While thinking that if it were indeed an ambush, the attackers likely already knew that both the prince and princess were inside the carriage, Roland obediently closed the window and the curtains. Beneath the cloak he'd draped earlier, Edith stirred. It seemed the noise had woken her.

"Brother, what's happening? Are we stopping for a break?"

"No, something’s come up. It's nothing to worry about, just keep the cloak on and rest quietly.”

Noticing that the carriage had stopped, Edith tilted her head in confusion. Not wanting to increase her anxiety, Roland aimed to speak in a calm and reassuring tone to avoid any actions that might endanger them further. Edith peered out from beneath the cloak with anxious eyes, but when she saw Roland’s face, she seemed to find some relief.

"I understand."

She nodded obediently and pulled the cloak over her head, curling up on the seat. Roland, catching a glimpse of this in his peripheral vision, managed a small smile despite the circumstances. He prepared himself to draw his sword at a moment’s notice. The noise outside grew louder, and Roland exhaled carefully. The sounds of clashing swords reached inside the carriage. Gently, he patted Edith's shoulder to comfort her as she trembled with fear, all the while keeping his senses sharp. Then, with a loud crash, the carriage jolted.

"Ahh!"

Edith’s scream pierced the air.

"They’re in here, Your Highness and Your Highness’s sister!" 

A rough voice shouted, having caught wind of Edith’s scream. Edith's face turned pale as she dropped the cloak, understanding the gravity of the situation despite her young age. Roland clicked his tongue in frustration. It was now clear that hiding was no longer a viable option. Ignoring the fact that the carriage door was being smashed, he kicked it open and leaped outside, drawing his sword in a fluid motion.

"Brother—!”

A pained cry from Edith echoed behind him, but Roland decided to ignore it. The guards were also fighting valiantly, but the enemy's numbers were overwhelming. More and more masked enemies slipped past the guards' defenses, attacking Roland in waves. He deflected and parried their attacks, incapacitating his foes with the bare minimum of movement.

Roland was strong. Though the nobles mocked him as the "Foolish Prince" behind his back, he never neglected his training in private.

“Damn, there’s so many of them—!”

No matter how many he felled, more enemies seemed to emerge. Roland drew a dagger from his coat, holding it in a reverse grip in his left hand. Wielding a longsword in his right hand and a dagger in his left was his preferred fighting style. His movements became noticeably sharper, and with reflexes as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he swiftly cut down the enemies around him. However, as one guard after another fell, Roland’s complexion worsened. He lost his balance when attacked from both the front and back simultaneously. He managed to deflect the frontal assault, but he couldn’t react in time to the attack from behind. Preparing to be cut, a thunderous noise suddenly erupted, and the enemy behind him was blown away.

Breathing heavily, Roland turned toward the source of the explosion. There stood Dormil Butler, as composed as ever, with his right palm extended and not a hair out of place.

“You’re leaving your back too exposed, Your Highness.”

“Damn it... If you were there, why didn’t you come out sooner, you sluggish oaf?”

“My, is that the tone you take with the one who just saved you?”

Roland glanced around, and saw that all the enemies had been taken down. It seemed the fight was over. He wiped the blood from his longsword and dagger before sheathing them, then approached the carriage to check on Edith. Though she was unharmed, she had fainted, likely overwhelmed by terror, still wrapped in her cloak. Roland stepped back outside once more.

Butler, surveying the surroundings calmly, shook his head in exasperation.

“It seems even the quality of the guards has deteriorated. How pitiful.”

“I thought they put up a good fight,” Roland countered.

“But allowing the prince they’re supposed to protect to join the battle is nothing to be proud of, wouldn’t you agree?”

Roland instinctively tried to defend the guards, but Butler curtly shut him down. In truth, a third of the guards were either dead or severely wounded. Those still alive were all injured to some degree. The only ones unscathed were Butler, Roland, and Edith, who remained unconscious in the carriage, wrapped in her brother’s cloak.

“Let’s not be too harsh. Both Edith and I are fine,” Roland remarked.

“If you had been injured, every one of them would be subject to punishment,” Butler replied coldly.

Guards who fail to protect royalty are of no use. The guards, having overheard Butler’s remark, turned pale and trembled in fear. However, neither Roland nor Butler paid them any mind. The two men approached the fallen masked attackers to inspect their attire. It seemed their enemies had taken care not to leave any clues about their origins. But when Roland picked up a weapon one of them had been holding, his handsome face twisted in a bitter grimace.

“This is... from the Empire, isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Butler confirmed, peering at the dagger in Roland’s hand and nodding. The shape of the daggers used in the Kingdom of Slibegrad was quite different from those used in the Yunatian Empire. The eastern side of the empire, particularly near the capital, bore strong influences from eastern nations.

“They likely wanted to make it appear as though this was an attack by the kingdom, but... this dagger gave them away.”

“Exactly. It’s not so much that they overlooked it but rather that this one was a scout.”

A scout would normally have stayed out of the fighting, but their plan must have gone awry, and the man had been killed by Butler’s magic, exposing his identity. None of the other assailants carried anything that would suggest a connection to the empire, which only reinforced the idea that the attackers wanted this to look like the work of nobles from the kingdom. Roland sighed deeply.

“They’re trying to fabricate an excuse for an invasion.”

“Yes. If a member of the royal family doesn’t return safely, that’s all the justification they’ll need to strike.”

It's impossible to determine at this point who exactly gave the order to have them assassinated. It wasn’t the Emperor, but most likely one of the influential nobles. However, it is precisely because the Emperor does nothing to rein them in that the conflict among his vassals has intensified.

Roland bit his lip. If it was just a power struggle, he wouldn’t care if they did it amongst themselves. For Roland, neither gaining power nor earning honor mattered. All he wanted was to live his life peacefully. As long as his sister Edith, who shared the same mother, lived safely and happily, that was all that mattered. He didn’t want her to live the same kind of life their mother had endured—that was his only wish.

However, the nobles would never leave Roland and Edith alone. To fulfill their ambitions, they wouldn’t hesitate to take their lives.

Until now, Roland had chosen to secure peace by allowing himself to be underestimated as a foolish prince. By making them think he was insignificant yet too bothersome to use as a puppet, he had kept himself distanced from the power struggle. But even with all his efforts, their homeland continued to drag Roland and his sister into its schemes.

"I've had enough."

Roland growled lowly. The anger welling up inside him set his heart ablaze. He consciously loosened his tightly clenched fist and called out to the man standing beside him.

“Butler.”

“Yes.”

The calm man responded quietly. In a voice only he could hear, Roland declared his resolve.

"I will show no more mercy. I will take the Empire—the Emperor's throne."

There was no room to be selective about his methods. While he wouldn’t betray his own sense of justice, he wouldn’t continue down the path of ignorance. His resolve, embodied in those few words, was to protect Edith, himself, and the people of the Empire.

To achieve that, not only he but also Edith needed to change. A dignified girl, who would soon become the fiancée of the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Slivegrandia, crossed his mind. As things stood now, his sister would not change. He would have to start by changing her way of thinking. It’s difficult to change the path someone else is on, but if he changed, perhaps Edith, too, would come to her own realizations, Roland thought.

"Is that so."

Dolmir Butler responded without any sign of surprise. As Roland looked into the man’s eyes with a firm gaze, unwavering resolve burned within them.

"You will follow me. When I become Emperor, I will make you my Prime Minister."

"Oh, how delightful."

Butler raised the corners of his mouth in a smile. Yet he was a shrewd man as well. With an insolent grin, he countered,

"However, I could easily obtain the position of Prime Minister without Your Highness's help."

"Then what is it you desire?"

"Hmm, let's see..."

Butler laughed leisurely. With a devilish smile, he gave his answer.

"A woman. I would like one woman."

"A woman?"

Roland furrowed his brow. He asked who exactly Butler meant, but the man showed no intention of giving a name. Realizing Butler had no intention of revealing it, the prince let out a small sigh. If it had been jewels or land that Butler desired, he could have easily agreed, but if it was a person, Roland couldn’t decide that on his own. Yet he knew he couldn’t achieve his ambitions without Butler’s help.

"Fine. You, of all people, asking for a woman is rare. If the woman in question agrees of her own will, I’ll lend you my aid."

That’s all I can say, he added. Butler, seemingly satisfied, smiled.

"Excellent, Your Highness."

The words, spoken as if he were a teacher, left Roland looking at him with exasperation, but the Chancellor's assistant paid it no mind. As Butler smiled serenely, Roland gave up on continuing the conversation.

*****

As Obsidian watched the group bound for the Empire tend to their injured and prepare for departure from the cover of the forest, he let out a small chuckle.

“The Empire sure plays dirty, huh? Guess there’s someone out there who’s too desperate to care about appearances now that the general’s dead.”

It had been Obsidian who had captured the scout that led to Roland and his group discovering the scouts’ identity. After swiftly locating the man, who had separated from the group and hidden in the forest, Obsidian knocked him out. Timing it just right, he then left the unconscious man in a place where Roland and the others were sure to find him. While he was confident Roland wouldn’t notice his involvement, he’d been on edge, worried that Dolmir Butler might catch on. But in the end, he’d managed to pull off the task without being noticed.

Soon, Roland and his companions would be leaving the Kingdom of Slibegrad. Once they crossed the border, Obsidian’s mission would be complete.

After defeating Cocoefuki, Obsidian’s master, Liliana, had appeared to be troubled by something. Then, when it came time for Roland and his group to return to their homeland, she had given Obsidian a “new job.” His task was to secretly protect them until they safely left the kingdom. Although Obsidian found it a hassle, he had no reason to refuse. The first few days had been uneventful, but today, the very situation Liliana had feared had finally come to pass.

“That was quite the thorough ambush.”

These were no ordinary assassins. In fact, most of them had clearly undergone formal knight training. They weren’t just trying to kidnap or injure the prince and his companions—they were out to kill them. Despite the fact that Roland’s escort was no pushover, a third of them had been rendered incapacitated in no time.

Obsidian pondered for a moment, then stood up with a quiet “Alright.”

“Guess I’ll do some investigating.”

There were other things he needed to look into as well, but he could handle them at the same time. With a mischievous grin, Obsidian took a step forward. Then, like the wind, he dashed off, determined to watch over the prince’s group until they reached the border.

—-

Toc 

Chapter 137