The followers flanking Simone bristled instantly.
“What did you say?!”
“How dare a lowborn castaway from her own house…!”
Unfazed by the mounting outrage, Rodi glanced sideways at the system window hovering before her.
[Name: Simone Gretia
Age: 22
Weakness: ??]
Seeing the screen, Rodi clicked her tongue softly.
‘She truly is as near to flawless as a heroine can get. To have only a single weakness.’
Besides, as she had wondered before, what on earth did that ‘??’ even mean?
‘Does it signify that the conditions required to view it haven't been met yet?’
Back in the game, there was indeed a mechanic where certain criteria had to be fulfilled before hidden entries would unlock.
Simone replied, her tone composed.
“You look well yourself. Having heard you were cast out to the frontier, I expected you to be in far worse straits.”
Rodi gave a languid shrug.
“I’m doing just fine. Thank you for your concern.”
Simone stared hard at her.
Or was that a glare?
“I had hoped you would look a bit more miserable.”
Internally, Rodi was taken aback. Was Simone ever the sort of character to make such remarks out loud?
‘Wasn’t she supposed to be the gentle, picture-perfect saint of a protagonist?’
Or had her lingering resentment simply pushed her past the boiling point?
“The feeling is entirely mutual.”
Rodi beamed openly.
“I am still wishing for your misfortune as well, Dame Gretia.”
Clang, shing!
Unable to endure any more, Simone’s retainers began unsheathing their blades.
“How dare a lowly commoner insult the noble daughter of Count Gretia…!”
“You will be thrown into a cell this instant for insulting a noble!”
“My, how terrifying.”
Rodi’s eyes widened in mock fright before giving way to a low snicker.
“Heh… Drawing the very sword that embodies your honor as knights against an unarmed woman over a few passing words?”
Rodi swept an arrogant gaze across them.
“The imperial knights’ reputation really has fallen into the gutter. Between you and me, I wonder who is truly the lowly one here.”
“…!”
It was the knights holding the drawn blades who faltered, rattled by her nonchalant composure.
Their opponent was an ordinary woman stripped of status, wealth, and honor. They had assumed she would cower and beg for mercy the moment she saw cold steel.
“Insolent wench!”
To press his advantage, one of the knights thrust the tip of his sword until it nearly grazed Rodi’s throat.
“Come along quietly, and I might just spare your life.”
Rodi tilted her chin up as if inviting him to try, sneering back at him.
“Go ahead, do as you please, my noble knight.”
Faced with such brazen defiance, the knight’s thoughts turned into a tangled mess.
‘Does she have some hidden leverage?’
Otherwise, there was no explaining this level of confidence.
One of the other retainers cast a hurried glance toward Simone.
‘Come to think of it… there were rumors that the villainess Rodi Evant placed a curse on Lady Simone.’
Could she really wield curse magic?
The knight bit his lower lip hard.
“…”
Even Lady Simone, counted among the finest fighters in the order, had been bedridden for nearly a month.
With his own meager skills, he might not stand a chance against her.
‘Yet I can hardly sheathe my sword now.’
After raising such a boastful fuss to impress the revered Lady Simone, his pride would never allow him to back down so pathetically.
“…”
While the knights remained paralyzed in hesitation, caught between their pride and uncertainty—
“—Enough.”
A low, commanding voice resonated from behind them.
“What on earth is taking place here?”
Everyone turned toward the man who had spoken.
He was a tall, imposing figure with neatly trimmed crimson hair and cool gray eyes. His sharply sculpted nose and pronounced jawline lent him a striking handsomeness that would draw admiration from anyone who laid eyes on him.
Furthermore, the crisp knightly uniform clinging to his broad shoulders and well-honed frame carried an austere, almost monastic air.
The knights blanched in terror upon recognizing him.
“C-Commander!”
“Why are you here…!”
Rodi watched the man approach with steady strides.
She knew precisely who he was.
‘Likens Magzeta.’
Countless titles were appended to his name.
Heir to the ducal house of Magzeta, Commander of the Imperial Knights, and the Eternal Sword of the Sun.
‘And on top of that.’
One of the male protagonists in the game Utopia.
Rodi fixed her eyes on the system window hovering over him as he walked forward.
[Name: Likens Magzeta
Age: 25
Weakness: Enjoys crafting handicrafts, considered menial labor among nobility; ??]
‘At least one of Likens’s weaknesses is visible.’
Still, having already played through the game, she was well aware of that detail, so it offered no groundbreaking revelation.
Likens swept a calm, level gaze across his subordinates and Rodi.
“This hardly appears to be a combat engagement. On what grounds have you drawn your blades?”
“…”
Not a single knight dared to reply. To admit to their rigid, no-nonsense commander that they had unsheathed their swords merely to intimidate a defenseless woman—
‘…would mean our heads.’
In that split second, the retainers shared a singular thought.
‘We have to spin this to our advantage no matter what.’
One of the knights hastily stepped forward.
“Well… this woman is the wicked culprit who previously cast a curse upon Lady Simone.”
They resolved to pin the entire blame onto Rodi.
“She was attempting to cast another curse, and we were merely preparing to defend against it.”
Listening to this fabrication, Rodi was thoroughly dumbfounded.
‘Excuse me? When did I ever try to attack anyone?’
They were the ones who drew weapons over a brief verbal exchange, yet their audacity knew no bounds.
“Furthermore, this woman openly insulted Lady Simone! She must be detained and thrown into a cell for insulting a noble at once.”
“Indeed, Commander!”
“…”
Rodi observed Likens closely.
True to his reputation for being stiff and taciturn, his expression remained completely unchanged despite listening to his subordinates’ claims.
Yet, having cleared every single route for Likens, Rodi could easily guess what was running through his mind.
“Sir Patrick, by what specific conduct did she insult Dame Gretia?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Patrick—the knight who had initiated the excuse—wore a flustered expression.
“Pardon…? W-Well, she stated that she hoped Dame Gretia would become miserable…”
“Merely saying that does not constitute the crime of insulting nobility.”
Likens fixed a chilled glare onto Patrick.
“To think an imperial knight does not even know the prerequisite legal conditions for arresting an offender. Do you intend to imprison people purely on your personal whims?”
“B-By no means, Commander!”
“Your claim just now suggests nothing to the contrary.”
Patrick panicked.
He had assumed without question that their commander would stand by his own subordinates.
Likens regarded him with an austere, stern gaze.
“Furthermore, you claimed this woman was attempting to use magic. Is there truth to that?”
“Th-That is…”
“I shall immediately conduct a mana residue test to ascertain whether there are traces of any spell manifestation.”
Likens continued in a dry, flat tone.
“Should it prove that this woman utilized magic, she will be arrested on the spot for threatening an imperial knight. However, if she did not…”
Sweat trickled down Patrick’s temples as he strained to listen to the commander’s verdict.
“…it would mean an honorable knight of the empire threatened an innocent civilian, and appropriate disciplinary punishment will follow.”
Likens added resolutely,
“For every single one of you.”
Watching the scene unfold, Rodi chuckled inwardly.
‘Serves you right.’
She had known it would turn out like this.
In the first place, her words could never legally meet the standard for insulting a noble, let alone warrant imprisonment.
‘On top of that…’
While ordinary commanders might protect their own, such favoritism never applied to Likens.
He conducted everything strictly by the book, never allowing personal sentiment to sway him.
‘In Likens’s route, every single one of Rodi’s misdeeds was judged according to the law.’
He was a man who punished even the villainess harassing his beloved strictly within established regulations.
To think they had foolishly believed he would side with them.
Rodi sneered at the knights’ shallow scheming.
“Lady Rodi Evant.”
Likens addressed her.
“May I measure the mana residue?”
“By all means. And you may simply call me Rodi, Lord Magzeta.”
She added offhandedly,
“I no longer have the right to use the Evant name, you see.”
“…”
For an instant, a subtle, complicated flicker crossed Likens’s face.
Rodi cast him a puzzled look.
‘Huh…?’
In the true ending, Rodi and Likens barely had any interaction. Even as a villainess, Rodi could not dare antagonize Likens, the heir of a ducal house.
So why had Likens briefly looked unsettled upon hearing that she could no longer bear her family’s name?
‘…Was it just my imagination?’
Indeed, it seemed improbable that a cold, dispassionate man like him would care about someone with whom he had virtually no acquaintance.
“I shall measure the residue.”
Likens retrieved a small pouch from his breast pocket. It contained a powder designed to cling to mana lingering in the air and glow, rendering traces of magic visible to the naked eye.
He scattered a pinch of the powder into the open air.
“…”
The powder merely dispersed into the wind with a dry rustle, not producing even the faintest shimmer of light.
“There are no traces of mana.”
Likens turned his head, casting a chilling glare toward his men.
“Why did you lie?”
Excluding Simone, the knights turned pale as sheets.
“Th-That is… Commander…”
“Are you telling me that honorable imperial knights fabricated a lie simply to lock an unarmed woman in a cell?”
Likens’s tone was low and quiet, but that restraint made it all the more terrifying.
“N-No, Commander. Surely…”
“That woman is an evil villainess! She might have used some special trick—”
Likens cut him off coldly.
“Cease your pointless excuses.”
“W-Why must you take the side of that wretched woman, Commander?”
Darting his eyes about nervously, one of the knights offered a timid protest.
“She was the one tormenting Lady Simone to begin with. Regardless of the pretext, it is for everyone's good that she be locked away…”
Rodi was utterly baffled.
‘Do they truly believe they can dispense punishment however they please simply because they deemed someone wicked?’
It was an astonishingly crude and childish line of reasoning.
Just as she opened her mouth to deliver a scathing retort—
“…”
The ambient air seemed to drop several degrees, turning biting and sharp.
‘Likens… don’t tell me…’
Rodi stroked her goosebump-covered arm, taking in the shifting atmosphere.
‘He really is furious!’
