Chapter 147. The Wicked Woman Comes Ashore, Part V
Translator: Khan
Editor Group: Liber Reverie
'What the hell are you up to?'
She thought about it, but she couldn't find the answer so she stayed up all night and finally decided to use the hourglass, but she could find the answer the next morning.
"I decided to follow the choice of the princess."
"Are you serious...?"
Mielle, who had a bright face for the first time in a long time; her eyes glittered all of a sudden.
'The choice of the princess? What choice did she make?'
The Countess also stared at the Count, waiting for an explanation, not knowing the details. But the Count seemed to have no intention of explaining it further, and only ate quietly.
Aria, unable to resist her curiosity, asked, "... what choice?"
"You'll find out soon." On behalf of the Count, Mielle answered triumphantly.
The mischievous way of speaking gave Aria strength on her hands below the table. Mielle was much better in the past when she had pretended to be naive. Aria couldn't be sarcastic as she openly expressed her real intention.
'As expected, Mielle knew it.'
Since she was a close friend of the princess, she might have known what she was going to do before the Count. Mielle's sharp reply made Aria feel completely displeased, as she said Aria would know when everyone knew. Aria stared at Cain for an answer, but he also said, "I respect my father's choice."
'Yes, you don't have to explain to the stupid Countess and her daughter. What a shame!'
Aria held Cain's arm as he left the dining room, vowing and pledging not to let the Count and Cain sit still when the day came when she would judge the princess and Mielle.
"What the hell is going on, brother?"
She was going to use the hourglass if she could. Of course, she thought her pathetic expression would work more on Cain, so when she first drew it, he looked very awkward.
"It's still a little bit..."
"Every family except me and my mother knows! Don't tell me... my mother and I are not family?"
When asked, Cain said, "That can't be! It's just to prevent the possibility of information leaking out."
'In fact, you think we're not a family. Therefore, you despise your stepmother and blush at your stepsister's touch.'
As Aria shed tears with her increasingly somber face, Cain, who eventually succumbed, looked around, made sure no one was there and told the truth.
"I think the princess Isis is going to marry a foreign king."
At his words, she dropped the box of the hourglass in her hand.
* * *
Aria came back to her room and covered her sick head. She thought she would have joined hands with another country, but she didn't think that she would marry a king of another country!
'... Will Mr. Asher be all right?'
It was the first thought if Asher would be all right. Asher was first, rather than thinking that it was difficult to get revenge. Because she couldn't meet him easily, she tried to calm her anxiety by ruining an unused embroidered handkerchief.
'Is the feeling that Asher felt like...? When he wants to see, he can't meet me and he wants to keep me around.'
Worried, Aria wrote a letter and sent it to Baron Burboom, who knew her real identity, to create a chance to meet Pinonua Louie.
It would be okay to meet him at the store of Baron Burboom, under the pretext of the accidental encounter. He would not doubt otherwise as he had already seen her disappear with Asher.
So she had been waiting for his reply, but surprisingly enough, before some news arrived from him, it was the Countess who arrived with a pale face.
She also belatedly recognized the seriousness of the situation and grilled the Count to find out all the details. Deathly pale, the Countess made a proposal to Aria to go to a foreign country.
"I won't be here. You know how I caught a chance, and I can't die like this. So why don't we leave together for a while? Huh? If things don't work out, I'm willing to divorce."
Not married because she had loved the Count, she seemed willing to abandon him for her safe future. Aria gave a small nod as she thought it would be desirable because her mother didn't have anything else to protect herself.
"Mother, you'd better do that."
"Then I'll have it ready as soon as possible, so if you have anything to sort out, hurry up."
When the delighted Countess tried to turn around, Aria hastily gripped her arm.
"Wait a minute."
"... do you have anything to say? You don't mean to stay, do you? I didn't know you are that good for the Count family."
Perhaps she had no intention of abandoning her own daughter, but the Countess began to persuade Aria. Aria, who was wondering what to say, took her hand and said, "You need to be careful." And her face darkened.
"It's not going to happen that fast. The princess will get married and then something will pop up. So we need to figure out the situation. How did you achieve that, and could you give up so easily?"
Unlike the Countess, Aria, who still had a lot of work to do, had no intention of leaving the empire. Moreover, she was worried about Asher. She even thought it would be better if she could give the power she had achieved, if possible, and she would rather stick by the side of Asher, as she could use the hourglass. And most of all, there was also a need to bring down the judgment on the real wicked.
"That's..."
No matter how extreme the situation might be, when she saw the calm attitude of Aria, the Countess noticed that she made too much fuss and left Aria's room with her last words while she was touching her hair.
"... I fully understand what you mean. But in the end, you'll find it better to leave the empire."
Aria, of course, thought it would be wise to do so in order to save her life, but her mind had already tilted irrevocably in the opposite direction.
* * *
'Is it because rumors have yet to spread in the public?' Asher did not send a letter to Aria. The good news was that he sent a reply to 'Investor A'.
[I'm sorry, but I don't think I can meet you because I've been so busy lately. I'll see you on the academy's completion day.]
Aria's expression stiffened after reading the reply; that she couldn't cry or laugh several times. She was also worried that he might be busy with the work of the princess. Maybe that was why he couldn't come to see her.
'Are you really okay?'
With the completion ceremony just around the corner, she would be able to meet him soon, but she didn't realize that it was so terrible that she couldn't see him right away. Her heart was stuffy. When she saw Aria's hand touching her chest, Jessie asked her with a worried look, "What's wrong with you? Do you want me to call a doctor?"
"No, it's okay."
"But you don't look well, and you look tired."
Aria, who had been buried deep in the sofa for a while, urged Jessie to rest, closed her eyes and thought, and soon resumed her posture. Those who had put her to death in the past were said to re-enrich themselves, but she was not allowed to stand by and watch.
"Please get me a pen and a letter paper."
'Yeah. I didn't have time to worry like this. I have to go ahead as planned.' The time has come to bring all the things that had been accumulated under the table alone to the surface.
Aria sent some letters to the outside and handed out the rest to the people of the mansion, including the Countess, and they frowned and asked what this was,
"I really hope you'll be there. It's very important."
"It's... it's not the academy the Crown Prince is involved in, right?"
The Count's face was very ugly. To him, who could be regarded as a key figure of the Aristocratic Party, the Crown Prince was the greatest enemy of all. He could not attend such a ceremony to celebrate the Crown Prince's new achievements.
"... I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'll be busy. If it's important, I'll get it delivered later."
Yes, maybe it was a wise choice. If he knew before his eyes that his new daughter had helped the enemy, there would be nothing worse. Of course, it was regrettable that she invited him for it, but it was an expected response.
'Can he stick to that attitude even after the completion ceremony?'
No matter how much she helped the Crown Prince, Aria had already built such a force that the Count's reaction was expected in the future.