I Awoke as an Imprisoned Villainess-Chapter 39 - It would be boring to just kill him

I arrived at a beautiful place filled with colorful flowers.

The wind was blowing from somewhere, and many petals with sweet scents were fluttering in the air.

Surrounded by stone walls, this place looked like a courtyard.

Looking up, I saw a blue sky that I would never see in winter. Was it a sky created by magic? It was too out of the ordinary.

And in this place, there were not only flowers but also various plants.

—That’s the Cabana flower...!? Ah, the one that’s blooming here, is it Rohap...!?

I couldn’t help but stare at those plants passionately, even though it wasn’t the time for it at all.

That one, that one, and all of them, after seeing them in literature, “Ahhh I want to touch it...!”, I remember writhing like so in agony. I had given up on these mythical plants, thinking that I would never be able to see or touch them because either they had long since become extinct, or they were from faraway southern countries.

—I can’t believe that there is such a paradise-like place that all apothecaries would drool for in this world...!

“Under these circumstances, you really are... Should I say, as expected of Arbuthnot? Blood is a scary thing”

As my right hand was itching to touch, (No, no, this is the enemy’s homebase...!), I heard the voice of the grand duke.

I turned my eyes to the grand duke who had put on a fake smile on his face.

“—I’m a coward. I always take actions, assuming the worst. In all my plans, you were a little out of my calculations”

“You mean the replacement?”

“Yeah, that was unexpected too. I underestimated Violet. In addition, my judgment was delayed considerably because I wasn’t satisfied with the report of the surveillance I had arranged for her... Well, that’s fairly a trivial matter. What’s miscalculated is your ability”

As he said this, he turned his gaze on me and observed me as if I was a nuisance and a peculiar creature.

“…It was already troubling that a girl, who hadn’t received much education, had mitigated the magic power I had poured into Johannes. And then you met with Marquis Arbuthnot, who had turned his back even on his own daughter, in person, and applied for an audience with His Majesty and His Highness—I assumed that meant you had thought of Plauni and Replan and created a potion that could nullify them”

By ‘his own daughter’, I wondered if that meant my mother.

For a moment, I was distracted by this, but then I flinched at the look the grand duke gave me with a smile. It was a cold, unforgiving look.

“…Why are you doing this?”

I was scared, but I asked the question I had been wondering for a long time.

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“Violet sama’s mother is your sister and His Highness is your nephew, isn’t it? Why are you doing this to your family?”

“Sometimes, doesn’t our hatred become stronger exactly because of being related by blood?”

For the first time, the grand duke’s smile faded from his face.

“Anyways, when a person with a royal bloodline harms the royalty, there is almost always only one reason, isn’t there?”

“…Usurpation of the throne”

“That’s right. Well, the throne originally belonged to me, the eldest son”

The grand duke, who said that, laughed to himself and began to speak indifferently.

“—The previous king, my father, despised people with magic powers. He said they were possessed by demons, you see. As his own son, I was no exception. No matter how hard I tried, my father wouldn’t even look at me, let alone acknowledge me. —Well, that was only within the ‘family’. Once we stepped outside, he would tell everyone that I was his precious son even though I had magic powers”

“…..”

“Just before my ascension to the throne, a war broke out with the neighboring country. My father ordered me to go to the frontline, and I took the chance to be recognized and won the war without any bloodshed. When I returned home, my father despised me more than ever, calling me a monster. ‘I don’t know if you think you’ve saved tens of thousands of lives, but your power is the power of the monster that can take twice as many lives, you filthy demon—’, he said“

“Well then, I might as well be a demon, I thought so”. The grand duke smiled.

“I turned down my right to the throne as my father wished for, and so I was given the title of grand duke and a barren estate where not a single plant or tree grew”

The question ‘Why?’ arised in my mind. If he had made a move instead of turning down the right to the throne, it wouldn’t become a mess right now.

Perhaps sensing my question, the grand duke softly said, “It would be boring to just kill him, wouldn’t it?” and smiled.

“It’s more fun to trample down everything they hold dear after these fragile, helpless, and ignorant insects foolishly believe that their futures are secure. Olivia—Violet’s mother was killed as an experiment to see if Plauni would work. And as expected, no one realized that she was killed by others. ...Except one person”

That was Violet sama.

As I listened to the grand duke’s confession, I felt inexplicably sad.

Even though I was a medical fool whose sensitivity was a little duller than others, I was still saddened about being singled out and being treated coldly by my family.

So, I can understand a little of the sadness that the grand duke has. Of course, unlike me who gave up on being loved early, he worked hard, put his life on the line, and was denied. I definitely can’t even imagine how frustrated he must have been.

However.....However. There is a line that must not be crossed.

If anything, the only one who should be guilty is the previous king alone.

I bit my lip, tormented by the sickening feeling of heaviness in my chest, and then I heard a familiar voice.

“Grand duke. I heard you wanted to see me”

It was the priest who had taken care of me in the tower. His eyes were more intellectual than when I was in the tower, and he looked at me strangely when he saw me.

“She’s a guest. Be polite and hospitable. —-It shouldn’t be for a long time”

“…Understood”

The priest bowed deeply, and the grand duke said, “Well then, I’ll excuse myself”.

“This is a special place that can only be visited via the teleportation formation I’ve created. No one will be coming to get you. Don’t get your hopes up, and behave yourself”

“Ah”

As the grand duke waved his finger saying that, the bottle I had been holding in my hand floated in the air.

“I’m going to keep this just in case. I’ll give it back to you after everything is taken care of—–Well, there won’t be anyone left to use it by then”

Grabbing the floating bottle, the grand duke disappeared.

Translator’s Notes:

I was in the mood today, so I ended up doing three Chapters. I think if I can keep this up, I can definitely realize my plan of ending the arc within the month and taking a short break~!