THE VILLAINESS TURNS THE HOURGLASS

Translator: Khan

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

“I haven’t seen you in a long time, have I?”

It was a well-known fact that he was the Crown Prince’s spy so that Viscount Merriart was very wary and looked angrily at him.

“Were you going to betray them at the end?” Vika asked while laughing and grinning.

“… Yes.”

When the Viscount cleared his throat and affirmed, Vika’s laughter thickened.

“Will you leave us for a moment?”

“… Who? Me…?”

The investigator pointed at him, and Vika nodded and said, “Yes, it will be over soon.”

“… Yes.”

‘How dare he defy the Crown Prince’s closest aide.’

The investigator left soon, and when the knight, who was guarding the door was gone, Vika sat down in front of him and said, “How long without an excuse… Do you really think that would work?”

At Vika’s sneered question, the Viscount closed his mouth, for he was only doing his last resistance, knowing that it wouldn’t work, too. He knew that what he was doing wouldn’t buy him time anymore.

“I’ll give you one advice for old time’s sake.”

The Viscount looked at him with a wide-eyed look, as he said he would help, but he quickly turned to the suspicious eyes. He seemed to doubt that what advice he would give after he had got them into this situation. Vika smiled softly as if he had read his thoughts.

“Don’t you know I thought of you especially?”

“Especially?” Viscount Merriart was freaked out and asked. ‘What a weird word this is!’

“Oh, don’t be misunderstood. I mean, I was just looking at you because you were good at business, so I gave you some information.”

Vika said with a serious face, and then the Viscount swept his chest with an easy mind. He reminded him that he had given him quite a bit of information in the past. Thanks to that, his business had gone smoothly. When he relaxed a little, Vika said, as he did not miss the gap,

“You know you can’t get out of it safely anyway, so you’ll have to think about reducing the damage as much as possible.”

“… How?”

“It’s simple, you have to make a disclosure.”

‘Disclosure? Who?’

Vika explained again when the Viscount blinked and did not answer. “Disclose someone who denies the charges, as you do. Disclose and get a reduced sentence. In other words, it is called denouncement.”

“… How, how could I do such a nasty thing?”

The Viscount was angry and said firmly that he could not, as if the words ‘disclosure or denouncement’ had roused antipathy, and Vika, who saw it, clicked his tongue, saying that he was so foolish.

“Even if you disclose, you are merely saying the sin as it is. Wouldn’t it be nice to save your life while telling the truth rather than be hanged without saying it? It’s a life that ends if you die anyway.”

“…”

When he mentioned the scheduled death to the foolish man, the Viscount’s face became noticeably pale. Unlike when he thought of it alone, the word “death”, which he heard from the mouth of someone else, was enough to put tension on him.

“Will you survive after disclosing what you know, or will you resist this meaningless resistance and die?”

“…”

‘Death. I will die. If I do nothing, I will die.’ The sweat, which flowed from the forehead of Viscount Merriart, who was lost in thought, fell down on the table, past his cheek and chin. There was no answer, but he knew there was only one way to live.

Before Vika left the room, he added a final advice to strengthen his decision. “I heard that Oscar, the heir to the Duke family of Frederick, was guaranteed his life since he is willing to cooperate, and you’ve already known that.”

‘Frederik Oscar! I heard the rumor, but did he truly survive doing that?’ The Viscount remembered that he had been furious as he heard that he had taken the Crown Prince’s side and had been moved to the Imperial Castle. It had been only a few days ago, and he had cursed Oscar as it was a cowardly thing, but if he could save his life… wouldn’t it be better?

“I am a traitor, but I do not want to lose you, so I hope you make a good decision. And what the next generation remembers is the survivors from the rebel, not the ones who died of treason. Shame is for a moment, the Viscount. History draws the winner favorably.”

Vika left the words and left without regret. Then, without a moment, the investigator and the knights returned immediately, and the questioning that had stopped began again.

“What did you say?” The investigator asked sharply. He looked suspicious of his conversation with Vika because his face was so different from before.

“… I, I’ll tell you everything.”

The investigator opened his eyes wide and asked as the Viscount answered obediently as if he hadn’t resisted at all,

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what I’ve done. I’ll admit everything and repent of my sin… and…”

The investigator nodded and waited for the words to come out as the words of the Viscount didn’t end yet. At his reaction, the Viscount swallowed and tried to read his countenance for a moment and continued to speak,

“And… if I tell you the truth about what others deny, can you live?”

The investigator managed to smile as the Viscount spoke out what he had waited for.

“Maybe… because His Highness is a generous man. He is a man who would forgive a mistake lightly, and it is guaranteed by the laws of the empire. Those who cooperate in the investigation are subjected to have their sentences reduced.”

The Viscount received the answer as a rope that would save his life, and he made the face of the disclosure.

“Is this secret confidential…?”

“Of course, I must report to His Highness, and the paper will have your name.”

He was reluctant to put his name on a piece of paper, but he thought it was natural that the Crown Prince knew he—the Viscount—cooperated. If there was a little more time, and if it was not for life, he would have carefully reviewed, but he could not afford to think long because it was about his life.

“… Well, I’ll tell you everything.”

Then his determined eyes became firm, ready to sell the others and save his life. He didn’t know that his crime was so great that it didn’t matter if his sentence was reduced. With the satisfactory result, the investigator gave the sinner a warm tea and the investigation began to run smoothly as if it were winged.

***

Rumors quickly spread to the people, who had been arrested, that someone had sold them out; it was with Oscar’s rumor that if he informed, he could live. The source was unknown, but it was certain because the investigator had the information that was never known until someone had told him.

‘Who?’ It was a moment before the doubts grew toward each other because they did not reveal their names. Moreover, the situation became worse uncontrollably because the Viscount, who was the informer, was furious and angry, pretending not to be an informer.

And there were rumors that if they would cooperate like Oscar, they might be able to save their lives, and the nobles began to have a conflict. They also thought it would be better to beg for their life by cooperating.

“… Oscar doesn’t know that we’re in a different position!”

Cain, who had heard the rumor, was furious, and his voice sounded in the quiet corridor. There was a willingness to never give in to his voice. It was his will to keep the nobleman’s highness to the end. Isis, who had been in a room quite close to Cain, heard his voice and squeezed her fist.

“How dare you…”

There was a murderous spirit at the words she spoke herself. She was betrayed by Lohan, her brother, and the nobles, who had turned their backs against her, and she couldn’t accept that.

“… This is all because of Miss Isis.” Mielle, who had been imprisoned in the same room kept harassing her, not physically harassing her, but leaving all responsibility to her, making her mind devastated day and night.

“From the beginning, I should not have resisted the Crown Prince… sob.”

Mielle looked badly ill. She was crying because of what she did in the past that couldn’t be changed because she had heard something from Aria just before she had been imprisoned.

‘What does the wicked woman want? She said I wanted to be taken cared of. But she is only the daughter of a prostitute who has hidden her evil heart.’

She muttered to herself that she would dry her up to death after she chewed the words of Aria, who had defended her, for days, and sometimes, she would wake up in a panic and would not get a good night’s sleep.