The Villainess Lives Twice

Garnet walked around like a ghost in the main house for several days.

She spends most of the day in her bed, and when she can’t stand it, she goes out into the living room and looks out the window.

Guardsmen were still standing in the garden. Looking at them, reality has returned.

The number of employees decreased by about a dozen per day. Garnet could feel it even in the main house.

The house, which was always crowded with guests, became quieter than it was at midnight.

The ladies-in-waiting were also gone. Like the rest of the envoys, they were taken away as an attendant who followed the special envoy.

Garnet didn’t stop it. It would have been no use trying to stop then.

Chancellor Lin visited once and offered words of consolation,

“His Majesty may be angry, but he would not think Your Grace was conspiring. In times like these, you have to harden your heart.”

Garnet didn’t answer him.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know that Chancellor Lin was genuinely concerned about her. She thought she was trying to look insane, though.

That way they won’t suspect why she isn’t looking for her children.

She had to buy time.

Garnet believed in Marchioness Camellia. Although she didn’t reply that she would when Garnet asked her to take the children, Garnet was sure that she would.

As she stared out the window without answering, Chancellor Lin offered a few more meaningless words of consolation and left.

Garnet stayed in bed for two more days after that.

She woke up the morning after it was twelve o’clock and took a bath and changed her clothes.

It was because there was an investigator mixed with people who came and went in the garden. Right then, she wouldn’t be able to hide any more that the children had run away.

Garnet pulled out the necklace and tiara, which she had used on her wedding day, and put it in a packing case and just set it down.

Those two were what she had received as a wedding gift from Grand Duke Roygar.

[“In such a case, I should give jewelry that has been passed down from generation to generation, but I cannot give you what I inherited from my mother, so I made a new one. Starting with you, I hope this will become a treasure for our family.”]

Those two were truly beautiful gems. Garnet wore these two frequently as a newlywed.

But since the birth of her first child, she has kept it in a box and treasured it. This was because she was planning to pass it on to her child when she grew up and got married later.

Garnet stroked the box once and came out.

The guard, who was guarding the main house, said with an apologetic attitude,

“You can’t go out, Your Grace.”

“I’m going to the Imperial Palace.”

As if it was not forbidden, the knight hesitated for a moment.

“I will accompany you.”

It was another expression of monitoring.

Garnet nodded her head and slowly moved her steps out.

The cloak draped over her shoulders and dragged to the floor.

* * *

Grand Duke Roygar was imprisoned in the Imperial Palace.

Even though he was incarcerated, he wasn’t in prison. He stayed in a spacious, colorful room overlooking the garden.

He was forbidden from going out or receiving any visitors, but he was served faithfully. The meal was also delicious.

He dined with the Emperor three times in the meantime. It was a conciliatory measure.

[“There is no problem with the agreement itself. The solicitors under you did a pretty good job.”]

[“At the beginning of the actual three-way-negotiations, I was just in a hurry to subdue the rebellion of the Eimmel Kingdom.”]

[“Roygar, there is no need to try to make excuses. Do I not know that you signed the agreement with great ambitions?”]

There was no way the food could pass through the throat of Grand Duke Roygar.

The Emperor smiled and said,

[“I already knew when you brought out the agreement. A number of provisions must have been necessary to shut the mouth of King Eimmel, like a piglet.”]

[“…….”]

[“If I had intended to punish you, I would have coaxed him well and took over the Kingdom of Iantz. If I didn’t do that, I might have kicked some of your entourage. Nevertheless, I closed my eyes.”]

Grand Duke Roygar couldn’t answer that either.

Because saying sorry or saying thank you is an acknowledgment of sin.

However, it could not be said that it was because the Emperor did not want only Cedric and Leticia as the last remaining imperial family with the right to succession.

[“I really want to save you. However, Ian Camellia’s public accusations made it impossible to cover the matter. You are also the head of the Grand Duchy family, so do you understand what I am saying?”]

[“What do you want me to do?”]

Grand Duke Roygar asked sternly.

The Emperor beckoned. The waiting attendant ran and set the jewelry box in front of Grand Duke Roygar.

Grand Duke Roygar did not dare to open it.

He had never seen it in person. But he had already heard the story from Garnet, so he could guess that this was the evidence.

‘I was told she threw it into the sea. In the end, Sister-in-law betrayed.’

If Skyla stole it, Grand Duke Roygar thought it was by order of Marchioness Camellia.

The Ian Camellia problem may have been a disguise as well.

Grand Duke Roygar regretted that he had misplaced his trust in the person. He should have removed her when she appeared to have an inclination toward Grand Duchess Evron.

When Marquis Luden offered to get rid of her for the Ian Camellia problem, it was wrong to hesitate, thinking of Garnet.

The Emperor said,

[“Your wife received it because she was immature and greedy. Do you understand what I am saying?”]

It was a story about putting all the blame on Garnet.

From that moment on, Grand Duke Roygar’s body began to shake. No matter how hard he tried to pretend to be calm, what he had once thought of did not easily disappear from his mind.

The front and back of his palms were wet. It must be a cold sweat, but Grand Duke Roygar felt like his body was on fire and his life was draining away.

[“Then, will my wife be able to live?”]

Grand Duke Roygar squeezed his stiff tongue and asked.

[“She was not mature enough to understand the full meaning, and her aides could not fulfill their roles. Punishment is appropriate, but she is not greedy.”]

[“It has already become a public debate, Roygar. Shouldn’t someone be held accountable?”]

The Emperor said slowly,

[“Whether it was the aide’s fault or she was greedy, she blatantly tried to become the Empress. Those who question the Iantz Kingdom on this matter as well as those who inflict vain thoughts on this should be punished, but apart from that, the person who violated the imperial family can’t pass without any problem, right?”]

[“What about the children? Our youngest is only three years old!”]

Grand Duke Roygar asked in a half-roaring voice.

The Emperor said while fiddling with the wine glass, unmoved.

[“The children of a traitor are traitors. The first is already eight years old, so the sin is inescapable. However, I will forgive the second and third to the extent of sending them into exile as they are deposed.”]

[“Your Majesty!”]

[“You are also guilty of failing to crack down on your wife as the family head, so you will have to go into exile for a while. But I promise. I will let you back within three years.”]

That wouldn’t be a lie.

Three years later, Leticia would be three years old. Cedric must have grown quite a bit of power in the Capital.

Now, if he uses Garnet as an excuse to destroy all his factions and make them empty-handed, he will become a useful tool for the Emperor again.

After losing all of his own children, there will be no reason to get rid of Leticia.

That would be the Emperor’s idea.

He could live if he endured until the death of the Emperor. There was a possibility that he would survive to the end and seize power as regent.

[“You can get another wife. You are still at the age to have children. If you don’t get it again, I’ll fully forgive the third one.”]

Those words sounded like a devil whispering.

Grand Duke Roygar couldn’t say no.

‘I cannot survive by selling my wife and children.’

Those words weren’t that difficult.

But he did not speak until the Emperor left, telling him to think slowly.

Only after that did he repeat it a few times. But in front of the Emperor, no words came out as if his tongue had hardened.

Death, even as a traitor, was what he feared the most when he saw the death of his sister.

His mother, who was the Empress Dowager, hair turned white on the day the execution was carried out.

At best, she was starting to have gray hair. He would sometimes find and pluck his mother’s gray hair.

His mother was white-haired and mad, and she cried out curse words all day long. The servants shut the palace door firmly and pretended that no one had heard it.

At that time, fear took root in his bones.

The Emperor smiled as if nothing had happened and patted him on the shoulder.

[The Empress’ heart is broken and needs recuperation, so it would be better for you to stay away for a while. I will call you when the time is right.”]

He left the palace in a carriage prepared by the Emperor.

It was then that he saw his brother-in-law’s head for the first time.

They had only seen each other a few times. But Grand Duke Roygar used to hear his story from his blushing sister.

According to his sister, he was like the best and most admirable man in the world.

If such a man’s neck is also stuck on a pole in the execution room, it will only become a parched mummy.

There was nothing more important to him than to live.

Many years have passed. The Emperor was old and he thought it was different from before. He thought he was too old and was different.

But the Emperor had the same face as then. He thought he had long since forgotten, but it was vivid in his mind.

It was then.

A commotion broke out in the garden where he was staring blankly.

Nobles had gathered in the garden.

Creating a cause is important.

They were going to complain about the unfairness and injustice of the treason accusation.

Even if they die, if there is a justification, the successors who retreated to the East can later regain their legitimacy and fight for power in the central political world again.

They already had a history of changing the Emperor by doing so.

It won’t take long.

Justification has always been with the nobility.

They considered themselves as empires.

Who ruled this land before? Who gathered power and established the authority of the imperial family? Who promotes economic development, increases productivity, pays taxes, and protects the Empire?

They considered it all to be their power and role.

The Emperor was the ruler of the Empire, but had no authority to destroy the Empire.

The Emperor, despite hearing such claims, has not yet put out the jewelry box and swept them away. It was because he was waiting for the answer from Grand Duke Roygar.

Garnet appeared among them.

Instead of riding the carriage to the Imperial Palace, she got off at the front gate.

The nobles split in halves and opened a path for her.

Grand Duke Roygar looked down at it from his confinement room.