I Awoke as an Imprisoned Villainess-Chapter 46 - Thank you

(*Violet’s pov.)

Two months have passed since the incident.

Walking gracefully through the corridors of the royal palace, Violet thought back over the past two months.

The murder of his sister, the duchess, and the attempted murder of his nephew, the crown prince. The fact that the culprit was the heroic and popular grand duke shocked everyone in the country.

When they heard the motive, they were all at a loss for words.

Most were sympathetic to the grand duke. It was significant that one of the victims, Johannes, the crown prince, declared that ‘The grand duke’s crimes were brought forth by the royal family’ and criticized the previous king bitterly.

Taking into account his achievements in saving the country in the past, he was imprisoned rather than executed. He will spend the rest of his life in the tower, where Violet has once again cast a spell to seal magic.

It seems that Maurice, the priest, visits him once a month.

People around think it is an unprecedented act of kindness. But for the grand duke, it might not be an act of kindness.

The grand duke wanted to be executed. But such a thing wasn’t allowed to happen so easily.

(…You’ve killed my mother and deceived me all these years after all)

I thought of that, and at the same time, I remembered the big hand that had stroked my head.

Violet absolutely did not want her uncle to be put to death.

Lily, the one who had poisoned Johannes, had her engagement annulled and was placed under house arrest for three years in her territory.

This would be a grave crime that would normally have been punishable by death, but Lily had been threatened by the grand duke when she had called for help to save her people, and she herself had been poisoned. And, her protecting the crown prince from danger at the end was taken into account, and so, her sentence was exceptionally lowered.

—I heard the people of her territory are all in favor of Lily.

Perhaps it was the best path for her.

With this thought in mind, Violet knocked on the door of Johannes’s room, which she had not visited for a while, and opened it.

No one was there. However, the curtains were swaying in the wind.

As she approached, she saw Johannes standing on the terrace, gazing into the distance.

When she looked at his line of sight, as expected, she saw Lily who was to be transferred to the  estate.

She was about to get into the carriage, accompanied by several knights, when she suddenly stopped moving and looked back at the royal palace.

After a long, long pause, she bowed deeply, and this time, she got into the carriage and left.

Violet could not see her expression from a distance, but she must have been looking in our direction, she thought.

After she left, his shoulders slumped heavily, Johannes turned to go back to his room and made a surprised look.

“…Violet”

“Your brain really must be on holiday to be so sentimental over the woman who tried to kill you”

“Why do you always have to say things that make people so gutted?!”

With a big scowl on his face, Johannes called his maid and told her to prepare tea for Violet.

As she sipped the tea, Violet glanced at Johannes, who had lost some weight.

He looked very gloomy, as if he had nothing to look forward to in life.

It looked like just getting close to him would bring on misfortune.

“…If you’re going to make a face like that, you shouldn’t have broken off the engagement with that girl from the start”

“Even though she was threatened, a woman who has committed a crime would not be allowed to become the nation’s mother. ...Whether or not I consider her actions to be a sin”

Johannes said, keeping his eyes down on his tea.

“…And it can’t be said for sure whether the nobles who benefited from father(*the king) won’t resent the Count of Redgrave. In fact, there are many who think there is nothing wrong with high nobility getting privileges”

Following this incident, the current king was forced to abdicate his throne.

There were many questions among the nobles about the distrust of the royal family that had driven the hero to that point, and about the fact that they had helped send his wife and child to their deaths, even though they did not know about it—or did they really not know about it? —This was, of course, a major influence.

But the decisive factor in his abdication was the presence of Lily, who had poisoned the crown prince under threat from the grand duke.

Lily, who was renowned for her good behavior, had been threatened because of flooding and food shortages.

The fact that at that time, food was prioritized for the estates of the nobles who were close to the king, rather than areas where food was scarce was the decisive blow.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

Johannes investigated and uncovered this, which led to the king’s abdication at the same time as Lily’s sentence being commuted.

“Both the faithful and the sweet-tongued will find dissatisfaction with the royal family... It’s going to be chaotic for a while. As incompetent as I am, I’m not confident that I can protect her from malicious eyes”

“That’s right. You couldn’t even protect yourself”

“Uu...”

Johannes groaned and held his face in his hands.

“…I was wondering if you could do something about that talent of accurately nudging people’s sore spot, ...but on the flip side, you look at people that closely. You must have a good eye for observation and imagination. ...Maybe as uncle said, everything will work out peacefully if you get the throne”

“Absolutely not”

“I knew you would say that. Well, I’m afraid that there will be an immediate war if I put you on the throne”

Johannes sipped from the cup of tea in his hand as he said this.

“…Unlike you, father is the kind of person who is terribly insensitive and oblivious to the pain and suffering of others”

He continued with a sense of self-deprecation, “And that’s the same for me”, and smiled faintly.

“…I can’t desire Lily partly because of my own insensitivity to the suffering of the woman I love with all my heart. I am not fit to be her husband like this. Above all, she wouldn’t want to be my wife...”

“You, no matter the circumstances, don’t you think you are giving too much credit to the woman who tried to kill you?”

I was a little taken aback.

If I were put through the same thing, I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I showed her what hell was like.

Johannes still loved Lily with all his heart, even though he had been freed from the spell that had been cast on him to make him fall in love with her. Johannes would have never accepted a gift from a woman, including sweets, if he had not allowed himself to be so taken with Lily in the first place.

“Come to think of it, you’ve always had bad taste in women”

Violet let out a sigh.

“I’m sure you’ll continue to be deceived like that by women with wolf in a sheep’s clothing”

“I don’t want to be told that by a woman who is a wolf both on the inside and outside”

After saying this abhorrently, Johannes was silent for a moment and said, “…I’m sorry, Violet”.

“Before you and I grew apart, I gave you some honey, remember? When I heard that you had a cold and were throwing a tantrum because you had a sore throat and didn’t want to eat anything, I thought of honey. Now that I know the whole story, I feel I did a terrible thing to you when you were down and out”

“…”

“And it was my fault, I was so uncharacteristically angry at the time. I’m sorry, Violet”

When Johannes apologized so earnestly, Violet raised her eyebrows and said, “It was kind of my fault too”.

He is like an annoying older brother, but he also took care of Violet in his own way.

“Just because you realized your imagination power is lacking, it doesn’t mean you’ve made any progress”

“Violet...”

“Well, I suppose you’ll still be a dim-wit even after you’ve become the king”

—But if you almost die again, I can help you.

After being told that, Johannes laughed lightly, “Thank you”.

~~~~~

“Violet”

When I left the room, Claude called out to me.

“Claude. Weren’t you off duty today? ...Oh”

Violet’s lips curled as she looked at Claude, who was dressed in formal wear and holding a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. I ended up seeing something interesting.

“Well, Claude. His Highness is so distressed like this, are you even a human? Shouldn’t you be a little more considerate of your master’s heartbreak?”

“Gu...I’ve thought it through. I think it is a little too early. But it is His Highness’s suggestion, and besides, you know the rumors about Sophia, don’t you?”

“Of course. I think we have to do something quickly, or there won’t be a moment to spare. She’s a bit of a pushover after all”

“I knew it...!”

Claude had a headache. I smiled and said, “Well, isn’t it fine?” to Claude.

“If things don’t work out, I’ll graciously marry you since there’s no other choice”

Of course, I would not do such a horrible thing.

I had no intention to share my family name with this man for the sake of harassment, since he was finally out of the list of potential fiance candidates.

“I’m sure Sophia will be celebrating with a smile on her face. ‘Wow, Violet sama and Claude sama are getting married...!? Congratulations! I’m kind of happy for you...! Like that”

“Stop it...you’re too imaginative...”

I looked at Claude who was groaning and decided to stop at this point for now.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of teasing material after this anyway.

“I’m kidding. Then, let’s go. I’ll allow you to walk with me just for today”

“I’d rather you don’t come along at all”

Promptly ignoring Claude’s words, Violet continued her walk.

Translator’s Notes:

( *Would thoroughly thought it through make sense? ^v^ )

This Chapter was intertwined between Violet pov and third person pov so it might be kinda confusing.