The Villainess is a Marionette

Translator: thursdays PR: scarcecrow

To be truthful, she hadn’t paid much attention to the coachman, but he looked different. Yet, his clothes were obviously that of an imperial coachman.

When Cayena noticed one oddity, she began to notice the others.

Except for her carriage, their surroundings were overly calm. It felt like it had been arranged this way purposefully.

Her mind, which had been overworked because of Raphael a moment ago, cooled.

She smiled gently and looked back at Olivia in a serene manner.

“I just recalled that I forgot to return the books I borrowed from the imperial library.”

She could feel the gazes of the coachman and the escort knight turn sharp.

Her instincts told her that she shouldn’t arouse suspicion by rashly showing that she didn’t want to get in the carriage.

Cayena asked a servant to bring the book. She was acting as close to normal as she could.

“I’ll be waiting in the carriage, so will you please return the book for me, Olivia?”

If something happened to her, Olivia would notice.

Olivia vaguely sensed that Cayena’s behavior was unusual.

However, objectively speaking, there was nothing suspicious that she could point out.

“As you command.”

She took the book and left. The knight opened the carriage door.

Cayena was still on edge, but on the surface, she showed a casual smile.

“It’s a nice day, so I’ll take a walk until Olivia comes back.”

“Understood.”

The knight accepted her words without a rebuttal.

Was she overthinking it, or was something actually wrong?

In either case, it wasn’t bad to be cautious.

Cayena took a step. Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind and covered her face with a towel soaked in a knockout drug.

“Mmph—!”

Like that, she fell unconscious.

***

Olivia took the book and headed toward the library.

But before she got very far, someone grabbed her brusquely.

“……!”

She tried to scream, but a rough hand hurriedly covered her mouth.

She couldn’t grasp what was going on.

However, she could tell that this man was trying to take her to a secluded place.

Thump!

“Aghh!”

The man suddenly flailed over. Olivia turned around and saw Raphael.

“Are you all right?”

“Y-yes.”

She was so surprised that her hands trembled.

Olivia looked at the man that Raphael’s attendants had tied up.

“Why were you alone without the princess?”

At that, Olivia suddenly lifted her head.

“Her Highness is in the carriage…!”

Raphael’s expression turned icy.

“Everyone, search the area and arrest any suspicious people.”

“We heed your orders!”

Raphael immediately ran to the place where the carriage had been. An ominous premonition had struck him.

Please, please!

But despite his earnest wishes, the carriage was not there.

***

There was a yellow light. Cayena soon realized that what she was seeing was the light of a lamp.

Where was she?

As she forcibly cleared her foggy mind, she tried to get up.

“……”

She was tied up.

‘I’ve been abducted.’

At that moment, a man entered the dark room.

She didn’t recognize his face. He held some bread and a single bowl in his hands.

“Are you awake, Your Highness?”

He knew who she was. He must have been a subordinate of the person who instigated her abduction.

The man felt a little uneasy when Cayena watched him with an expressionless face rather than crying or getting angry.

Her eyes gave him goosebumps.

Cursing, he approached Cayena. The bowl in his hand was tossed carelessly to the floor, its contents messily splattering. The bread was also flung onto the dirty floor.

“Eat up,” the man said, and he laid down on the sofa.

Cayena checked the light shining through the thick curtains.

Seeing the reddish color, it looked to be late afternoon.

She glanced around at what she could discern from the light of the lamp. Seeing the interiors, she could guess where this place was.

“It’s the temple’s annex.”

The man paused.

“Don’t even think about screaming. There’s nobody around here anyway. And if you’re loud, I may gag you.”

Even with his threat, Cayena remained calm.

The princess was certainly beautiful. But something about her made him leery. The man had a good sense of instinct about these things.

“I’m guessing you’ll relocate me later in the night?”

“Oy, Your Highness.”

“Seeing how carefully you’re treating me, the person who hired you doesn’t want me hurt. If so…”

Bang!

The man kicked a table aggressively.

“This is no time to play detective.”

Then a few men came in from outside. Confused by the sudden noise, they asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing hap…”

Cayena spoke up before the man could finish speaking.

“I’m sure that at least one of you is in Heinrich’s employ, so I’ll say it like this. If you don’t return me to the imperial palace in perfect health, my younger brother will receive some unfortunate news. For example, the location of a covert group.”

Then, some of the young men’s expressions changed.

The man had a dangerous look, like a demon, and tried to quiet Cayena.

“I really oughta gag you so that you’ll shut up…”

“I always considered the possibility that I would be kidnapped.”

She looked at the man with peerless apathetic eyes.

“If you don’t take me back to the imperial palace within a day, you’ll see for yourself whether my words are true or not.”

The man stepped back as if he was tired.

“…This crazy princess.”

She was threatening them despite her being the one abducted. Cayena shrugged.

“I hear that all the time. It’s nothing new.”

Of course, that was before she returned.

Scene 10. A Strange Hostage

When Raphael met Cayena at the academy, he realized how eagerly he had been waiting for this day.

The day before, time strangely seemed to pass by so slowly. He thought he was bored.

It was less tedious to book the restaurant, though.

The best seats at the restaurant, which Baston recommended highly, had already been booked a week in advance by someone else.

“Find out who made the reservation.”

The reservation was made by a young couple who was about to get married.

Raphael gave them a small wedding gift and asked them to give up their reservation.

If they did so, the future Duke Kedrey would not forget this favor and even attend their upcoming wedding.

A wedding attended by Raphael!

It was clear that other high-ranking families would be eager to attend their wedding if he was there. The prestige of the couple’s family would increase in an instant.

In addition, the wedding gift was a matrimonial home for the newlyweds. It was a very expensive mansion on the outskirts of the capital.

They just booked a date at a popular restaurant, but they ended up with an unexpected surprise.

“It would have been better to bestow the manor as a gift to your heir, once you have a child…”

Jeremy felt a stomachache knowing that Raphael had given away an amazing mansion as a gift just for a restaurant reservation.

He glared at Baston, who recommended the restaurant. It was all because of Baston and his wicked mouth.

Baston whistled and pretended not to notice Jeremy’s glare.

“It doesn’t matter since I can buy a better mansion at that point. Or I can start building one now.”

“……”

Jeremy knew that Raphael was talented, but at times, he felt that his master was seriously lacking sense in economics.

Of course, Raphael was rich enough not to be concerned about that.

‘Humph. Still, giving away a mansion is so wasteful…’

It wasn’t a mansion to throw away just to go on a date with the princess.

While thinking that, Jeremy suddenly had a realization. He shot his master an odd look.

‘Does this mean that he really favors the princess?’

Raphael looked too formal for that. He didn’t have the distinctive excitement of a person who fell in love.

‘Wait, is this what he looks like when he’s excited?’

Seeing how he was spending money recklessly… That just may be the case.

~~~

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