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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 133
‘What the hell am I doing here? That damned devil Christian. I hope this whole thing ends soon so I can be free from that demon.’
But even if this ends, will he really be free?
He’d overheard that the damned Christian was in the middle of his succession trial.
If he pulled this off successfully, he’d become the closest candidate to inherit the Dark Demonic House, and Count Roy might be doomed to serve him forever from the shadows.
‘Ugh. That wicked devil.’
At that moment, Roy locked eyes with someone in a similar situation.
It was Alros.
“…….”
“…….”
Both of them had been dragged around by that devil Christian against their will.
Worse, Alros carried the blood of the Dark Demonic House, so he couldn’t even get away from him.
They were already suffering like this—how much worse would it be if Christian actually became the Archduke of the Dark Demonic House?
It was utterly pitiful.
“…Stay strong, Sir Alros.”
“…You too, Sir Roy.”
A sense of kinship began to form between them.
“A-hem, sleep well, Sir Alros.”
“Y-you too, Sir Roy. Sleep well.”
With awkward expressions, the two turned their backs to each other.
Meanwhile, another awkward conversation was unfolding.
“Hey.”
“…Hey?”
It was Jupien and Olivia.
For context, due to the nature of camping outdoors, everyone was lying close together around a central campfire.
The knights were standing guard outside the perimeter.
“She’s technically our enemy, so should I be calling her ‘princess’?”
“…No need. I don’t care.”
Olivia turned her back sharply, as if she didn’t want to engage.
But then—
“Did you fall for my little brother?”
“…W-what did you say?”
“You kept sneaking glances at Christian the whole way here.”
Olivia’s face flushed bright red.
Now that she thought about it, it was true.
Her eyes had kept drifting toward him without reason, drawn to him in a way she couldn’t explain.
“A-absolutely not! What kind of ridiculous—! That’s offensive. Please refrain from such rude remarks.”
“Really? You sure?”
“Yes! Absolutely!”
Inside her sleeping bag, Jupien tilted her doll-like face and did casual push-ups.
“Then… are you planning to challenge Christian?”
“…….”
“If you’re planning to challenge Christian, you should get through me first. I’ll be the one to crush that bastard.”
Olivia didn’t answer and simply ignored her.
‘These demons are weird.’
Aside from that timid demon Alros, both Christian and Jupien were strange.
But the worst was this:
[Ohoho. Master, Lady, and even Saint Olivia. May you all have a blissful night. If anyone would like some virgin’s blood juice, just let me know. Ah, with a special recipe, bachelor’s blood juice is also available. Hoho.]
The chilling voice of a ghost made the hairs on her arms stand up.
‘…He keeps a ghost as a maid. Prince Christian is completely insane.’
Inside her sleeping bag, Olivia closed her eyes and tightly clenched the wooden charm in her hand.
A gift from her brother—her most treasured possession, more precious than her life.
‘Brother Chris, I’ll stay strong, so please watch over me.’
Thankfully, it worked somewhat, and she felt a little calmer.
‘I miss you… Brother.’
Just as her chest ached again and she tightly shut her eyes—
A loud commotion erupted from outside.
“@#@#$!!!”
Everyone jumped up in surprise.
A knight on guard approached the group.
“Is it an attack?”
“No, sir. It’s a strange-looking vagrant woman causing a disturbance.”
“A vagrant making a scene?”
“Well… she’s a demon—specifically, she’s shouting curses while looking for Prince Christian.”
Everyone turned to look at Christian with puzzled expressions.
Jupien spoke with a tone of blame.
“What did you do this time?”
“Nothing in particular. Ah, come to think of it…”
Christian clapped his fist into his palm.
“Someone was supposed to come looking for me. I’ll be waiting somewhere quiet—can you bring her to me?”
Christian disappeared swiftly into the forest, leaving the others tilting their heads in confusion.
After a short while—
“Graaaagh, you son of a @#$%! If I don’t kill you, I’m not human!!”
Turning their gaze, they saw a filthy vagrant woman glaring at Christian like he was her mortal enemy.
She was so dirty that it was hard to make out her features, but Christian somehow recognized her right away.
“Been well?”
Christian gave a cheerful grin.
“Ruina.”
* * *
It was an unbelievable scene.
That ragged vagrant woman was Ruina?
“Why did you come looking for me?”
“Did you… just ask me why I came looking for you? GRAAAGH.”
Ruina looked like she was about to have a heart attack from sheer fury and frustration.
“Because of you, my merchant guild went completely under!! You damn son of a @#$%!!!”
“Hmm?”
“What do you mean, ‘hmm’?!!!! Do you know what kind of hell I went through because I followed your advice!!!”
“All I did was tell you to stock up on medicine in advance to treat the Black Death.”
“Graaagh!! And because of that, our merchant guild was accused of being behind the whole disaster!!! You damn bastard!!”
So—
Chris had tipped Ruina off in advance that the Black Death would spread.
Based on that information, Ruina had stocked up on medicine.
At the time, she was thrilled.
Not only would she make a fortune selling the medicine, but it was also a chance to become a savior to the Gold Cross.
But what happened?
People found it suspicious that she had bought the medicine before the plague spread and accused her of being behind it, ruining her entire guild.
“I see. But why are you mad at me?”
Chris responded shamelessly, without the slightest hint of remorse, and Ruina looked like she was about to lose her mind.
“You—!! It’s all your fault! You damn bastard!! If you hadn’t tricked me with that ‘you’ll make a fortune’ crap—!”
“Hmm. I didn’t trick you. Everything’s going exactly as planned. I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up. Why not calm down a bit?”
“Graaagh! That’s it! We’re both going down together!!”
Ruina, about to explode, rushed at him—then suddenly paused.
“…Everything’s going as planned? What do you mean?”
Chris kept talking, wearing his usual irritating smirk.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something. I told you you’d make money—but I never said it would be from selling the medicine.”
“…What does that even…”
“I mean, the medicine was just bait to reel in the real target. From the looks of it, things are going exactly according to plan.”
“……”
Ruina opened and closed her mouth like a fish.
She looked like she wanted to bury an axe in Chris’s head right then and there.
But instead of exploding in rage, she barely held it together and asked,
“…What are you saying? Explain it properly.”
“Let me ask you something. Who accused your guild of being behind the plague?”
“I don’t know. The knights suddenly stormed in and shut down all our Gold Cross businesses.”
“Then let me rephrase the question. Why would someone you don’t even know do that to your guild?”
“……”
“Think carefully. Just because you bought some medicine early, would someone go so far as to destroy a massive guild like yours? Why would they take such a drastic action?”
Ruina fell silent.
Every action has a reason.
Especially something as massive as this—it wouldn’t have been done without purpose.
Shifting her perspective, the answer clicked.
It was such a simple answer, she wondered why it hadn’t come to her sooner.
“…They framed our guild.”
“Bingo.”
“Then, don’t tell me…”
Chris nodded.
“Right. So, the one who targeted your merchant guild must be the one behind the Black Death. Let me ask again—who within the Gold Cross could do something like bringing down the Dear Guild?”
Ruina swallowed hard.
Someone capable of that?
Almost no one.
The rulers of each nation within the Gold Cross only wield power within their own territories.
In contrast, her guild had branches across multiple regions of the Gold Cross.
To bring down a guild like hers, it would have to be someone with influence that extended far beyond a single nation—someone capable of affecting the entire Gold Cross.
One name floated to the top of Ruina’s mind, but she forced herself to deny it.
Because it was unthinkable.
“B-but… that’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Why would someone that powerful do something so horrible?”
Already, the death toll from the Black Death had surpassed a thousand.
Left unchecked, tens of thousands more would die.
But—
“Human greed knows no end. They must’ve had something they wanted more than all those lives.”
Chris replied casually.
Having lived through the Age of Ruin, Chris understood better than anyone just how monstrous humans could be.
“Y-you’re just speculating, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, just speculation. But now it’s time to grab the tail.”
Chris grinned like a devil.
“They must’ve left all kinds of traces while plotting to ruin your guild. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
Ruina felt a chill run down her spine.
It was a terrifying level of foresight.
“Y-you… still, to bring down our guild…”
“Let’s get the facts straight. Your guild hasn’t actually collapsed, right? Only the Gold Cross branches took a hit—your other foundations should be intact.”
“…Still, the damage is massive. Our business outlets were shut down.”
“But you secretly stashed away all your relics and important artifacts in advance, didn’t you?”
“……”
She had made a huge fuss, but in truth, the actual losses were minimal.
The reason she looked so ragged was because of all the scrambling she had to do behind the scenes to minimize the guild’s damage.
“Well, I do apologize for not telling you in advance. If you’d known, it wouldn’t have been an effective trap. Sorry about that.”
“…Hmph.”
Ruina turned her head with a huff and crossed her arms at Chris’s apology.
Chris chuckled softly.
‘Says the one who taught me how to stab people in the back.’
Ruina was the real master of betrayal.
In his previous life, back when he was still naïve, she had swindled him more times than he could count.
‘What did she say back then? “Only fools get conned,” wasn’t it?’
Of course, back then, Ruina hadn’t known.
She had no idea who she had messed with.
After that, Chris spent the rest of his previous life, until the world’s end, fleecing her again and again—not out of revenge, but something close to it.
And in this life, too.
‘Still, Ruina is someone I’ll need going forward.’
So he dangled a bait to pacify her.
“Once this is resolved, your Dear Guild is going to profit massively. Not only will you be compensated several times over, but you’ll also be seen as victims who were falsely accused while trying to stop the plague. You’ll be able to demand all kinds of special privileges from the Gold Cross. And I’ll make sure that happens—personally.”
“…You’ll take responsibility?”
“Yes. I’ll take full responsibility.”
Ruina let out a snort and replied, feigning reluctance.
“Well, if you’re going that far… But if you use me as bait again, I’ll never forgive you.”
“Sounds like you’re planning to keep doing business with me.”
“Ugh! You’re so annoying—can you not smile so slyly like that? I’m still not over this, okay?”
“I was planning to get you compensated five times what you lost.”
“Oh-hoho. I must’ve been out of my mind for a moment...”
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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