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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: The Villainess Who Wields a Sword, Chapter 40
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Derek felt a strange sense of unease.
What was that? Their behavior makes it seem like they're keeping a secret from just me. I feel like I'm being left out.
"Ashili Princess."
Ferdin, who had been lost in thought for a while, called the Princess instead of answering Derek's words.
She had the child Erin and Ferdin had brought sitting on her lap and was playing with them.
The Princess, who was about to ignore Ferdin's words, soon realized that others were present and put on the serene, radiant smile befitting a Saintess.
However, her face fractured at Ferdin's next words.
"Let's break the contract."
"Are you insane?"
The Princess reflexively blurted out a flippant remark, then quickly covered her mouth.
Derek stared at the Princess, his mouth agape in surprise. The Princess, having almost revealed her true personality, gave a small cough and averted his gaze.
"You disliked it too. You don't have to force yourself to do something you hate anymore, just because of your feelings for my father."
"Bringing that up here... means you truly intend to end it."
Ashili Princess looked directly at Ferdin again and said.
She then gently set down the child who had been sitting on her lap and quickly approached Ferdin. She whispered into his ear.
"You... saw something from Sir Erin, didn't you?"
"..."
"What exactly did you see, Ferdin Lexia?"
Ashili Princess's eyes trembled as she spoke.
But Ferdin remained silent, not answering her words.
The Princess then fell into thought for a moment before whispering to him again, her face pale.
It was a voice so faint, others couldn't possibly hear.
"I... saw myself dying."
"Ashili Princess?"
"I was desperately fleeing through the forest, only to be caught and killed by a monster..."
"..."
"That was the destiny originally given to me."
***
Saintess Ashili Princess.
She was the first Saintess born since the Holy Kingdom became a vassal state of the Empire.
The Emperor would often boast, looking at Ashili Princess, "Indeed, even the gods have abandoned the Holy Kingdom and chosen the Empire!"
Every time he did, Ashili Princess wanted to gag him.
To see him so pleased, not knowing what he had done!
A Saintess, blessed by divine love, would often have dreams or visions related to the future. It was different from the inherent abilities the Imperial Family of the Lexia Empire were born with.
It was, quite literally, receiving oracles and communicating with the divine.
It was nothing special, as Saintesses had always been very close to the divine, generation after generation.
'A half-Saintess.'
That's how Ashili Princess saw herself.
People revered her as a Saintess, and her body was constantly ailing from her overflowing divine power, yet she had never once heard the voice of the gods.
'Can you not let me hear your voice just once?'
Even when she pleaded, the gods always remained silent.
Ashili Princess knew why. It was because the gods... had not forgiven the Empire.
The current Emperor of the Lexia Empire, Sergia Lexia, not only trampled the Holy Kingdom and made it a vassal state, but he also took the former Saintess as his concubine.
This happened before the Princess was even born.
"Sergia Lexia will be consumed by his own greed and meet his ruin."
The last words the former Saintess left for the Emperor came to mind.
The Emperor scoffed and dismissed her words, but just as the Saintess had said, the gods would not forgive the Emperor.
Since becoming a Saintess, she had seen and heard many things.
The Emperor was a man who killed people for his own amusement.
He had driven the people of the Holy Kingdom into the barren Western Region, leaving them to slowly die.
That's why many people did not know his true nature.
'He buried his deeds under sensational rumors.'
Every time the Emperor committed a cruel act, a major incident always occurred.
'Like young Erin killing her attendant, or hordes of monsters suddenly attacking villages.'
The Princess found all those incidents suspicious. It might be a hasty assumption, but she felt as if they were all connected to the Emperor.
Even if it wasn't the Emperor's doing, he would eventually pay for the deeds he had committed.
No, he *had* to.
Because she would make sure of it, no matter what.
She firmly believed that was why her divine power had manifested, as a Princess of the Lexia Empire.
She had sided with Ferdin, even pretending to be in a romantic relationship with him, all to make the Emperor pay for his sins.
Her father, a Duke, tried to maintain strict neutrality, but Ashili Princess wanted to help Ferdin.
Unlike their feigned animosity, she had no intention of letting Ferdin die.
Because Ferdin Lexia was the son of the Holy Kingdom's Saintess, whom Sergia Lexia had arbitrarily taken as his concubine.
The Emperor, who valued legitimacy, declared him the Empress's son to hide the 'tainted blood' mixed into the Lexia Empire, but the truth was entirely different.
Looking at Ferdin, the Princess recalled the oracle she had received a few months ago. Cold sweat trickled down her back.
"Ferdin, haven't you... felt anything strange when you saw Sir Erin?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do not stop her. That was the oracle I received. An oracle I hadn't received once in over a decade... I received it the moment I faced Sir Erin."
Ferdin tried to ask the Princess for more details.
What did that mean? What did that oracle have to do with seeing Erin's past?
But just as Ferdin was about to speak, they heard hurried footsteps approaching the meeting room.
"Lord Ferdin!"
Amon rose at the shout from outside.
He opened the door with a puzzled expression. And then, seeing the soldier's face, he tilted his head.
The man standing at the door was a guard from the Academy's Central Hall.
"What is it?"
The guard's face turned pale at Amon's words.
Amon instinctively knew something had happened from the guard's expression.
The guard protecting the Academy's Central Hall was Ferdin's man.
For him to look so shocked meant something bad had happened to Ferdin.
"His Royal Highness Ditrion... His Royal Highness Ditrion has arrived at the Academy!"
Amon's face contorted.
Ditrion Lexia. That bastard came here?
It was well-known that he and Ferdin were on bad terms.
'Ferdin's standing certainly grew after this extermination. Did the Emperor send Ditrion to keep him in check?'
Many people questioned what had happened during the extermination, but it was true that Ferdin had rescued the refugees and defeated the Werewolf Tribe without Leon Count's help.
The reason Ditrion came to the Academy was understandable. He was probably trying to ascertain the exact truth about the Werewolf Tribe extermination.
And if there was anything to pick apart during that process, he'd clearly cling to it as much as possible.
He might try to pick a fight over every little thing, just like before.
'He'd likely try to provoke those around Ferdin rather than Ferdin himself, to find some flaw.'
Amon ran a hand through his hair, as if annoyed.
"And... His Royal Highness Ditrion has ordered Sir Roham and Sir Erin to duel!"
"Has he finally gone insane?"
The words escaped Amon's lips spontaneously.
No sooner had Amon finished speaking than Ferdin, who had been conversing with the Princess, rose from his seat.
Ashili Princess's eyes followed Ferdin.
He looked at Amon and said.
"Amon, follow me. We're going to Erin."
Amon followed Ferdin, his face surprised.
Ferdin's expression as he spoke to him was chillingly cold.
***
Erin surveyed her surroundings. There were a dozen or so of Ditrion's knights hidden.
And in the distance, she could sense Academy students watching them. More and more people were gathering.
"If you defeat Sir Roham in a duel, I'll allow you to go to Ferdin."
Ditrion said with a laugh. His intention to humiliate Erin in front of so many people was obvious.
As soon as he finished speaking, a murmur of voices could be heard from the students watching them.
Before long, the area was filled with spectators watching Erin and Ditrion.
"Sir Roham? Isn't he one of His Royal Highness Ditrion's chief knights?"
"How can a mere academy student defeat someone like that?"
"Erin Resus is going to fight Sir Roham? What if she gets seriously hurt?"
While those within the Swordplay Department acknowledged Erin's skill, those outside of it still harbored doubts about her abilities.
Ditrion felt reassured seeing their reactions.
Of course. He had a sense of Erin Resus's skill level.
In truth, he had felt uneasy even before coming to Atenz Academy.
He had felt a nagging unease ever since hearing that Raymond had abandoned the extermination party while he was enjoying tea with Corelia.
And a few days later, another messenger arrived at the Marquis's estate. It was news that Ferdin's extermination party had completed the mission assigned by the Emperor.
Meaning, Ferdin had defeated the Werewolf Tribe and rescued the refugees even without Leon Count, a Sword Master.
