The Villainess’ Beloved Plan: The Struggles to Avoid a Doomed End - Chapter 34

As expected, Gassour was not Sophia’s father.

After being taken to the castle, Gassour woke up and immediately confessed that he had done it for the money.

According to him, about two weeks earlier, a woman had come to him offering him a job. The woman, who wore a hood over her head, said she wanted to commission him for a job. If he succeeded, she said, she would pay him 500 gold coins to cover Gassour’s debts.

The task was to approach Sophia, the wife of the Duke of Voltio, and claim that he was her father. He was told that all he had to do was to convince Sophia and others that Gassour was her real father, which was easy enough, so he accepted the offer.

After receiving 20 gold coins as an advance, Gassour approached Sophia as instructed by the woman and lied to her about his past, that he had once worked as a gatekeeper at the castle and had met Sophia’s mother, just as she had told him.

If only Sophia fell for it, Gassour would get the rest of the money and his debt would be wiped out.

Gassour did as he was told. He had received no other instructions and was gloating that all he had to do was receive the rest of his reward, when a hooded woman appeared at the Crescent Moon Pavilion and told him that the operation had failed and that she wanted to talk about his reward.

Gassour in his outrage, attacked the woman and the rest, as Sophia knows, is history.

Randall ended up being furious with 　Sophia for sneaking out dressed as a town girl to serve at a bar and was grounded for a week – but, well, she doesn’t usually go out anywhere, so it didn’t do much damage.

So, she doesn’t talk after all, huh?”

In Randall’s private chambers in the castle

Kyle Levord was staring at the documents with a difficult face.

The woman he had captured with Gassour that day was the maid of honor of the first princess, Keira. When Randall questioned her, the maid of honor said that she had done it on her own, but according to Gassour’s statement, the woman who had approached him with the request was a blonde, unlike her.

Kyle immediately thought of Keira when he heard the word “blonde,” and told Randall to check with Keira. Randall, however, seemed to be easily suspicious of Sophia, but not of Keira.

Kyle decided that this was not the right thing to do, so he asked his father, the Duke of Levord, to confirm it through the king.

But Keira said she knew nothing about it and burst into tears, saying, “Poor Sophia. The king couldn’t pursue the matter further, and in the end, the truth remained unknown. Kyle was not amused by this, but he had no choice since there was no solid evidence.

At the very least, if that lady-in-waiting would have told the truth,…….

“You still suspect Keira?”

“You’re the one who’s not suspicious under this circumstance.”

Gassour was imprisoned for the crime of claiming to be the princess’s father. So was the lady-in-waiting who conspired with him to bring down Sofia. Keira herself claimed she knew nothing about the conspiracy, but she had to take responsibility for what the lady-in-waiting had done, and for once, no matter what the queen said, Keira was sentenced to one month’s house arrest.

Kyle was very unhappy with the result, but the king would also keep a close eye on Keira and her surroundings because of this incident.

Randall, who always says things like, “Keira is a kind-hearted angel,” or some such brain-worm-infested comment, does not seem to understand why Kyle is suspicious of Keira.

Kyle sighed and stood up to his friend, who was not going to change his mind no matter what he said.

“Where are you going?”

Randall twists his head curiously as Kyle tries to leave as soon as he arrives.

Kyle grinned and shook his head at Randall’s foolishness

“Sophia invited me out for tea. She wants to thank me for my help and assistance. She said she’s going to treat me to homemade cookies. I don’t have time for you here.”

“What?”

“See you later. Yeah, you don’t get any thanks for what you did this time, so don’t come in and interrupt us.”

Kyle was satisfied with Randall’s sullenly raised eyebrows, and with a wave of his hand, he walked out of his room.

” How are you today?” Johannes, the butler, greeted him with a surprised look, even though he had just returned to his own home.

Don’t be a little boy.”

Randall said in a voice that did not hide his displeasure, and looked up at the grand staircase.

“What’s that?’

“We are having a tea party at the salon.”

“……, ladies and gentlemen?”

“Yes Arena-sama, Kyle-sama, and the boy named Theo who came the other day.”

Orion and Isolte will be with them, so it seems that the six of them are having a pleasant tea party.

“Which salon are they using?”

“Upstairs.”

“I heard you baked cookies.”

“Yes. Today they are serving cookies made by Mistress. She said it was her way of saying “thank you”.”

Hearing Johannes’ answer, Randall silently walked up the grand staircase, opened the salon door a little, and peeked inside.

Then he saw Sophia laughing happily and chatting with Kyle and the others. As soon as Randall spotted the slightly distorted cookie in Kyle’s hand, his head snapped up. But just as he was about to barge into the salon, he heard a sighing voice behind him.

“Boy. You mustn’t interrupt the tea party thrown by your wife.”

“I am the master of this house.”

“Even so, sir, you are not invited, sir.”

“—“

Randall looked back over his shoulder and glared at Johannes.

Johannes smiled and slammed the door that Randall had opened so thinly.

Randall looks at Johannes, “It appears that Master Kyle and the boy named Theo are very fond of your wife. As for the Master, he must be very concerned.”

“…… this is ridiculous.”

“Oh, well, I see. By the way, Mr. Kyle brought a bouquet of red roses. Mistress was very happy, and the master came back empty-handed after a long absence.”

“………”

‘What is this?’

Johannes, who has been working at the mansion since Randall was in diapers, is not bothered by how much Randall stares at him.

Johannes, perhaps thinking that he had indeed been too much of a tease, said to the pouting Randall, “I baked these cookies for you.”

“I also had some of the cookies that your wife baked. They are a bit much for an old person, so I’d be happy if you could help me.”

Randall still had a pout on his face, but after glancing at the tightly closed salon door, he nodded his head as if to say, “Fine,” in an unsatisfied manner.

Johannes chuckled at the insolent boy.

“Speaking of which, the roses in the greenhouse are blooming beautifully,” he said, smiling at Randall.

Keira Grastona slammed the glass in her hand against the wall.

The glass shattered against the wall with a cracking sound.

“He was a total jerk. ……!”

”I’m suspended for a month because of him”.

Two soldiers stood in front of the door, keeping an eye on Keira at all times. Whenever she tried to go down into the yard to get some air, the soldiers would follow behind her. It was cramped, to say the least.

Keira looked back at the frightened maidens who were standing by the wall of the room.

“Get it over with!”

The ladies shrugged their shoulders and began to clean up after Keira’s broken glass.

The woman’s shoulders shook as she began to clean up the mess. Keira threw her fan behind her back and sat down on the sofa.

“Watch me, I’m going to get rid of you one day sophia, I promise. ……”