The Villainess is a Marionette - Chapter 138

At that moment, Rezef’s expression became distorted.

He cried out his sister’s name: “Kayena!”

“Oh my, it’s too late.” She let go of his hand without hesitation and spoke softly. “I have a party to attend.”

“Are you crazy? Is there something wrong with your head?”

“You shouldn’t be disrespectful to your older sister, Rezef.” Kayena’s tone sounded bored, as if she was too lazy to deal with her nuisance of a brother.

This can’t be. His sister wouldn’t do this unless she became crazy. Didn’t she know how much he had to put up with her? Didn’t she know how much he loved her? This was obviously a brazen betrayal.

“Do you think you can get away with this?”

What a foolish threat. Kayena’s smile became even wider.

“Rezef, how come you still haven’t noticed that your arms have been cut off already?”

Neither one of his allies, Marquis Dottie and Marquis Evans, had the resources to support him anymore. Rezef reminded Kayena of a stack of cards, since she needed to only blow once for the whole thing to fall down and crash.

“If anyone here is to blame- it is you for being stupid.”

Kayena passed by Rezef, who glared at her as if he was ready to tear her apart. It was so easy to provoke Rezef. He became obsessed with the idea of having Kayena, which ultimately led to his downfall in judgment.

‘Such as trying to kill the Emperor and blaming it on me.’

But she didn’t need to worry much since she had already put together a scheme, and the only thing she needs to do is to wait for Rezef to fall into her trap. Now all that was left to do is to utilize Grand Duke Heinrich since it was necessary to neutralize his weapon, ‘the underworld’.

Kayena walked to her carriage, as if nothing had happened just now.

“Are you all right, Your Highness?”

“I know how much you care for me, but if i had left even a minute later, Rezef would have lost his mind completely and he would’ve killed me with his sword right away.” Kayena held Vera’s hand. “You have to be careful.”

Vera knew this would be possible because of Rezef’s personality. And she was afraid of what he would do if he met Kayena again, and if he would be able to control himself.

“We shouldn’t talk about gloomy things like this on such a fine day. Let’s go to the tea party.”

Vera nodded reluctantly and the both of them climbed into the carriage. The carriage left the Imperial Palace, and after a while, it stopped in front of a mansion built in a good district in the capital.

The tea party was old fashioned, but not too flashy, just like Catherine’s taste.

There were already a lot of people at Catherine’s tea party but all of them jumped to their feet when Kayena and her entourage entered.

Catherine approached Kayena with a bright face.

“Thank you for coming personally, Your Highness.”

“Don’t say that, Auntie. You have a very beautiful mansion.”

Behind Catherine, a silver-haired boy wearing a fluttering dress shirt emerged.

Kayena deliberately waved her hand to show the bracelet on her wrist. Upon seeing the bracelet, Edel’s cheeks heated up like a peach. He walked towards Kayena and politely bowed.

“Hello, Edel?”

“This subject greets you, Your Highness the Princess.”

Kayena tilted her head. Somehow, Edel looked a bit different.

‘Has he become taller? Looks like he’s grown a bit since we’ve last seen each other.’

“Have you grown taller? You’ve become more manly, Edel.”

“…Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not kidding, really.”

Edel looked so cute that Kayena couldn’t help it and hugged him tightly.

After saying hello to Catherine, Kayena moved Edel so that her maids could see him.

“My little brother, isn’t he cute?”

When Kayena put Edel in front of them and spoke, the maids covered their mouths.

He looked like the little boy version of Kayena!

As they surrounded Edel, they admired him and spoke compliments.

“Oh my God, you really look a lot like Her Highness!”

Edel was happy to hear these words, so his eyes stayed open as he coyly stood still. Everyone in the tea party was watching this scene in awe.

Kayena approached Catherine again with a faint smile.

“Should I interpret the meaning of today’s tea party as an agreement?”

What Kayena meant was whether she should interpret this tea party as Catherine joining her in the political race.

“I’ve already boarded your ship. There is nowhere else to go.”

It was fortunate as Kayena had Edel in mind as her own successor.

“If I show my will to take the throne, Edel will stand out at the same time.”

Their friendship would be seen as the creation of a new family tree. Kayena intended to seal Catherine as the Empress. She wanted to make Edel a perfect heir without any flaws.

Catherine was visibly nervous as she swallowed her saliva.

“Count Hamel will welcome you. The family tree will be changed, so that another Empress will come from his family again.”

“…So what Your Highness wants is to completely destroy His Highness Prince Rezef and the Grand Duke in the battle for the throne.”

Kayena nodded her head. “Rezef doesn’t have any patience to wait long. I’m guessing that sooner or later, a big storm will descend in the capital. And it will certainly be a race against time.”

But this battle for time is also important for Kayena. She has to organize everything while she is still alive. If she dies suddenly, Raffaelo will certainly finish things for her but…

‘We’re going to clean up the underworld soon.’

Kayena removed all the pieces except the king from the chessboard. If for whatever reason she dies suddenly, an already-won game will be passed to Raffaelo, so he shouldn’t be too burdened.

She waited for the sun to set.

—-

A night with not even a single light left burning.

Kayena locked the door of her bedroom so that no one could enter. She summoned a chest hidden from reach and made it appear before her. She then began stealthily preparing for her trip to the underworld. She has done this several times these past few days, so it felt as natural as the flow of water.

She was dressed in all black and her face was covered with a black veil. This was done in order not to reveal her identity. When everything was ready, Kayena moved to commence teleportation.

Poof!

Instead of a luxurious bedroom with a softly lit candle, a dim and drab room came into Kayena’s sights. She stepped forward and looked around the familiar room.

Squeak!

When the door opened, a room decorated in black satin came into view. Standing in front of the door was a man wearing a rabbit mask.

“You’re already here, Madame Medea?”

It was kind of a stiff greeting. It was awkward, as if he wanted to die because of this role-playing situation.

Kayena bought a building using the name ‘Madame Medea’ in Yester’s underworld, and right now she was standing inside it.

She looked at the rabbit mask and smiled slightly. “It’s pretty cute and well made.”

Hearing those words, the man in the rabbit mask took off the mask. He had a visible scar on his left cheek. It was Jeddiah.

“Why did you make us wear rabbit masks when there are a billion different animals?”

He glanced at the mask in the shape of a rabbit with curled eyes.

Kayena said quite seriously. “It’s because we can’t lose to a fox.”

The fox mask is the notorious symbol of Count Zodiac.

“But it’s not good enough to deal with those foxes…”

Kayena looked at Jeddiah and fell silent.

She encouraged Jeddiah.

“If you play cute, you’ll have a chance of winning…” Kayena encouraged.

“So, why do you have to watch such a match… … ?”

“It’s fun.” Kayena sat down on the leather sofa.

“It’s dangerous if you’re here. What will you do if your identity gets revealed?”

“If my identity is revealed, Yester will definitely try to kill me.” Kayena answered his concern.

Today she was planning to take over the ‘Mansion of Count Zodiac’, which was Yester’s base in the underworld. Opponents like Yester need to be provoked so that they can’t remain calm. If this succeeds, even if Kayena dies a little early, Yester cannot succeed to the throne.

Kayena put Jeddiah in the lead and went out. Outside, a mob of men wearing armor were standing in front of the door.

“Let’s go beat Count Zodiac!”