When A Villain Meets A Villain - Chapter 55

“This is ridiculous. How can that kind of commoner become the Grand Duchess?”

“I would rather it be an Imperial Princess or one of the aristocratic young ladies. For such a woman to take the position of the Lady of the Grand Duchy, it’s no different from humiliating the Empire.”

Meanwhile, the most luxurious lounge was abuzz with words undermining Atalante. The heads of various families were occupied with belittling a young girl that had just come of age, and was around the ages of their daughters or granddaughters.

“She isn’t even a commoner, she’s a criminal. Even if he used his immunity, it wouldn’t change the fact that she was once a wanted criminal, and her nature will never change.”

“This will really become a terrible marriage that will go down in history. That woman, did she use black magic to tame the Grand Duke?”

“Well, it isn’t impossible. How far the Lovely Grand Prince Blanc has fallen.”

The malediction that was directed at Atalante soon turned towards Lionel, and when they became excessive, a radiant man appeared through the open door.

However, they did not notice the identity of the one that entered as they were too engrossed in conversation.

As long as the one that heard those words wasn’t the grand duke, it would have been alright.

Since the grand duke would stay by that lowborn woman’s side, there wasn’t any reason for him to be here.

Just then, instead of cursing at Lionel and Atalante, someone raised a different opinion.

“How odd.”

“What do you mean, odd?… Heok!”

A middle-aged aristocrat tried to stifle the person that had a differing opinion, but he stiffened. With his lead, all of the gathered nobles turned white or blue.

The silver-haired man that stood before them folded arms was clearly the Grand Duke of Blanc.

“G–Grand Duke! Since when have you been listening…”

“I guess that you weren’t informed by your children about what had happened yesterday. I had definitely said that I’ll pull out all the teeth of anyone that insulted Atalante.”

It wasn’t that they weren’t informed about it. They’d just dismissed it as empty talk. More than anything, they didn’t expect him to overhear all of their words.

As the grand duke had never gone to the lounge before, they had assumed that it would be the same this time round, but it was a perfect miscalculation of theirs.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. We didn’t know our places.”

The nobleman that stood closest to him knelt down and trembled.

It was extremely humiliating to bow down before a man that was much younger than he was, but protecting his life was much more important than his pride.

Starting with him, everyone knelt down before the grand duke. The grand duke examined them with an indifferent gaze, and approached a person with striking crimson hair.

“Hooh, so even a welcome face is present.”

“G–Grand Duke…! My presence was just a coincidence…”

The closer he approached, the paler Count Sera, who was the most fervent in belittling Atalante, became.

“As you’d be taking a woman that obviously isn’t a pure maiden as your wife, I was only feeling sorry for the Grand Duke’s circumstances. It must be due to your young age that you aren’t discerning when it comes to women.”

As Count Sera was about to make excuses, his mouth was rendered completely shut by the grand duke’s following words.

It’s because his lines matched completely with what he’d previously said.

“The thing that isn’t pure should be your body, Count Sera.”

Count Sera was Cherman’s teacher, who he’d taught a lesson to yesterday. At their oddly overlapping figures, the grand duke gave a light mocking laugh and grabbed a fistful of his hair unhesitatingly.

“You must have had a hard time complimenting a man that’s young and lacking discernment when it comes to women.”

“N–no, that’s not what I meant, Your Highness! I’d made a slip of the tongue…!”

But Lionel didn’t wait for him to make his excuses.

“From this moment onwards, I’ll be talking about something important, so I hope that everyone will listen carefully and spread it around.”

The grand duke examined those prostrating before him again mildly, before grabbing Count Sera’s cheek elegantly.

“Your mouth is there for you to speak. It isn’t there for you to bark.”

After dismissing all that they’d said as ‘barking’, the grand duke tightened his grip, and soon after a desperate scream filled the lounge.

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Lionel showed up a little later than Atalante thought he would.

She seemed to feel as though something was missing, and realised that the gloves he had been wearing were missing.

Atalante stared at the prominent joints of his hands and tilted her head.

“Grand Duke, what happened to your gloves?”

“I threw it away. It was dirtied.”

“You should’ve been more careful.”

The gloves that screamed luxury at first glance obviously weren’t just worth a penny or two. The three words, ‘What a waste,’ seemed to be emblazoned on Atalante’s face.

“I’ll be more careful next time. Did you enjoy your conversation?”

Unlike his gentle lines, the grand duke’s gaze on the young ladies was extremely sharp.

With closed mouths, the young ladies waited for Atalante’s evaluation. Hopefully, they didn’t offend her.

“It was fun.”

Following those words immediately was a collective sigh of relief from all of them at the same time.

“That’s a relief. Then, I’ll be taking Miss Atalante with me now.”

Only then did Lionel’s eyes soften, and he held Atalante’s hand.

“It was a pleasure, Miss Atalante.”

Starting from Vanessa’s farewell greeting, the young ladies gave their regret-filled farewells one after another.

Though it was difficult to tell if they were being sincere or not, it was obvious that their moods weren’t too bad.

“Till the next time we meet, Atalante…nim.”

[T/N: so Lionel uses the honorific ‘-nim’ for Atalante, and I translated it as Miss instead of Lady considering Atalante’s hatred for nobility. Whereas the honorifics that Vanessa and the other ladies were using was ‘-yang’, which is an honorific used to refer to someone that’s their equal.]

After Esma’s cautious farewell greeting, Atalante and Lionel turned and left the place.

As soon as they were completely out of sight, everyone let out a breath that they’d been holding in.

“Whew, how brutal. I thought my legs were going to give out because of His Highness, the Grand Duke. It’s not like we killed and ate his lover, we were just conversing for a while.”

“I know right. I wouldn’t have been this nervous even if it was teatime with Her Highness, the Imperial Princess.”

Although they were letting out a deep sigh, they didn’t regret conversing with Atalante today. Even so, she was a little…

“By the way, about Miss Atalante… Wasn’t she a little different from the rumours? Her manner of speech was a little rough, but she didn’t feel like a criminal at all. Rather, she’s a little…”

“She was…cute, wasn’t she?”

Everyone seemed to agree with what someone had carefully said, and nodded their heads.

A villain and cuteness weren’t that compatible, but her frank thoughts were also the case.

Atalante’s witty responses and how she was easily surprised, and not to mention her unreserved expressions… It truly was adorable.

At the same time, the seductive smile that she made occasionally was bewitching.

“Enough with the idle chatter now. Let’s not forget our duty. Our goal isn’t to become acquainted with the villain Atalante. I hope that everyone doesn’t forget our goal, which is to draw in the next Grand Duchess into the Imperial faction.”

Vanessa returned back to her duty coldly, and whispered as she adjusted her fan.

While the young ladies of the imperial faction nodded like they were determined, they had different thoughts internally.

They envied Atalante, who tamed the grand duke that was rumoured to be mad, and received his affections.

To be more precise, both of the unmatched villains suited each other very well.

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Similar to yesterday’s debutante, the second portion of today’s banquet was also held outdoors.

The reason for insisting on a change in location was largely because the emperor took pride in the imperial garden. He was proud of the fact that the vast garden was filled with all kinds of precious flowers and rare animals from all over the world.

Therefore, while there was a high possibility of encountering predatory animals, they did not attack humans because they were always in a satiated state.

While they’re unrivalled at squandering their money, they do have good judgement in this aspect.’

She’d thought that she had admired enough of it yesterday, but when she looked at it again, she thought that it was indeed a magnificent garden. If a cute word like garden can be used to describe this vast space.

Soon after, the emperor made his appearance, along with the sound of a trumpet that she’d heard yesterday.

A young man that resembled Kaiser and a woman that’s around Atalante’s age followed closely behind.

From the fact that both had dark hair like the night and mysterious blue eyes, it was clear that they were direct descendants of the Imperial family.

“Greetings to the Emperor. May you become a pillar of Thessalia’s forevermore.”

As soon as Atalante saw their faces, the aristocrats around her bowed to the emperor in unison like it was planned.

As expected, Lionel gave a light bow, and Atalante also imitated him clumsily.

“Everyone, raise your heads. Thank you for coming to celebrate Thessalia’s founding.”

The emperor, who imitated a benevolent voice, naturally introduced the two people that were standing by him.

The man on the right was the crown prince, Amphion, and the woman next to him was the imperial princess, Diana.

Unlike Diana, who had a dispirited air, Amphion, who was next to her, glanced at the nobles in a strangely condescending manner.

‘He gives a bad impression.’

Atalante, who was the type that was a good judge of character, couldn’t help but frown.

If he’s the crown prince, does that mean he’s the next emperor? She had a feeling that the empire’s future wasn’t very bright.

Just as the emperor’s tedious speech grew longer, a bleak cry rang out from behind him.

“It’s a jaguar!”

The nobles standing around him turned white and backed away.

The only one that remained calm was the emperor.

“Haha, don’t be afraid. All the animals in the imperial garden are in a fed state, so they wouldn’t bother people…”

But even before the emperor could finish his words, a black jaguar that was growling menacingly, pounced in Amphion’s direction.

“U, uaargh!”

With an ear piercing  scream, Amphion pushed his older sister in front of the jaguar like she was a shield.

“That piece of garbage.”

Fortunately, the aristocrats in the imperial faction that were around drew their swords, and the hesitating jaguar turned in another direction.

Was it because their well-sharpened swords agitated the black beast even further?

With its sharp teeth bared, the jaguar ran toward the girl that was taking in the flower’s scent by herself.

“Lillica!”

Unfortunately, the distance between Paulo and his only sister was too great. Even if he ran with all that he had, he definitely couldn’t be faster than that beast.

If she doesn’t act in a timely manner, a terrible scene will unfold in a few seconds. With a deep sigh, Atalante immediately snatched Lionel’s sword and turned towards Lillica.

“Let me borrow your sword.”

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