The Villainess is a Marionette

“It has to be realistic so that everyone will believe it.”

Truthfully, Raphael was feeling a strange sense of defeat against the fictional being that only had a name.

‘If she brings in Heimbel as she says she will, it’ll be ideal for her to marry me, not a fictional husband.’

But that would only be possible if Cayena wanted it.

“As you say, isn’t this business costly for Your Highness?”

“That’s why I have another favor to request of you.”

“What is it?”

“Can you come near the temple in secret tonight with some elite knights?”

Raphael intuited that Cayena was trying to do something risky.

To prevent misunderstandings, Cayena added, “It’s because I’m worried about the security around here. There are some strange circumstances, too.”

She deliberately left out the fact that there was a contract house run by Archduke Heinrich behind the temple.

Raphael’s eyes narrowed slightly, doubting her.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to have knights stationed around here?”

“That would make it look like I’m harassing the temple, which won’t be good?”

“……”

If knights were stationed nearby without due cause, it would be inconvenient, and many would interpret the action as her putting pressure on the temple.

“Will it be dangerous?”

Cayena lied confidently. “It won’t be dangerous at all.”

Everyone had different standards of risk, after all.

She smiled.

***

The Heinrich Grand Theater was completely packed.

There had been many unusual things in the political and social circles recently, and people needed a place to secretly exchange information.

They also had another motive to be at the Heinrich Grand Theater: Yester watched new plays at the theater on the first and last days of their performance.

Today was the premiere of a new play, and the most popular soprano these days would sing at the climax. The gentlemen attending were more interested in the singer’s face than her voice, however.

“I’d like to be her lover.”

The murmur came from the VIP section, where young nobles from prestigious families gathered. A small laugh spread through the crowd.

“I can’t because of my fiancée.”

Another noble frowned and grumbled, “If you get caught, the engagement will probably be broken right away. She has a lot of pride.”

“That’s why you should have gotten engaged to someone from a more proper family.”

Another noble son condemned the first’s immature words.

“You have to think about your future, my friend.”

In the banquet halls, they were respectable and neat gentlemen. But in a place like this, surrounded by other men, they spoke of vulgar things.

Yester Heinrich took out a cherry from a transparent wineglass. He covered his mouth, trying to swallow his sneer.

“What do you think, Archduke?”

Yester looked around with his opera glasses and said, “I want that girl.”

They lifted up their opera glasses to see whom Yester referred to.

“Ah, Emma Grace. I think she’s the second daughter of Viscount Grace? That family has so many children that I can’t recall them all.”

“How did that family get a VIP ticket?”

The Grace family wasn’t wealthy enough to get a VIP seat at the Heinrich Grand Theater.

One gentleman looked through the glass and said, “The eldest sister is a great beauty. Her name is something like Olivia. She’s the woman who became Her Highness’s lady-in-waiting.”

“I bet she came here looking for someone to flirt with, now that her older sister is successful. It’s obvious what women think. All they think about is marriage.”

“Then, shall we talk to her later? The younger sister doesn’t look bad, either.”

Yester burst into laughter while drinking alcohol from a pure glass cup, not from one made of silver or porcelain. The laugh was loud enough to be heard from the other VIP seats.

“…What’s so funny, Archduke Heinrich?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

He chuckled as he spilled the wine in his glass.

“I was just amused by your speculations.”

The gentlemen looked at each other sourly and reluctantly began to laugh.

It was always surprising how idiots thought. That woman, coming here to find someone to marry?

‘Who’s the one with only marriage in their head?’

Marriage and lovers.

That was all the gentlemen in here cared about. They only had to receive their inheritance from their parents.

‘Pathetic men.’

They were inferior people who would be completely incapable if their inheritance disappeared.

It was because of Yester that Emma came here with her beautifully braided wheat-colored hair.

Viscount Grace and his wife were unaware of how unusual their family’s debts were. The daughter, though, seemed quite smart.

Yester met Emma Grace’s eyes. Emma turned her head, frightened. She never focused on the soprano’s performance even as the play approached the climax.

Emma was the most interesting spectacle in this theater. She kept nervously glancing at Yester with a tense expression.

“Archduke.”

Then, an assistant secretively whispered into Yester’s ear.

The gentlemen feigned indifference, but they were glancing toward Yester with great curiosity.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Yester got up from his seat with an affable and handsome smile. He went to a suite reserved solely for the owner of the Heinrich Grand Theater.

Heinrich sat on the sofa crossing his legs.

“The princess is at Denien’s temple?”

She was kidnapped only a few days ago; he thought she would take longer to recover.

Yet, she went to visit a temple accompanied by only three knights. No one could have predicted such a move.

It was also the temple close to the contract house.

‘Is this about what she said before?’

The princess spoke as if she knew the location of a secret group. He had many such groups, but it was suspicious how Cayena was staying in that precise area right now.

‘Is she provoking me?’

Yester laughed cheerfully.

Really, Princess Cayena turned out to be quite interesting. His eyes gleamed darkly.

“I wouldn’t be a man if I refused an invitation from a beautiful woman.”

***

On the first floor of a nondescript inn behind the old temple, cheap candles dimly illuminated the interior as the bartender sold alcohol.

“You want us to secretly capture the princess?”

It had been a long time since Jedaiah started working as a contractor. He had done all sorts of nasty and dangerous things, but he couldn’t understand the instructions that he had received today.

‘The princess isn’t far from here. Wasn’t the big fuss with her kidnapping only three days ago?’

There were only three elite knights to be seen, but Jedaiah felt that there must be some secret guards.

Or maybe it was only Jedaiah who thought that. Everyone else seemed at ease.

“If we light up the sleeping incense and put the knights to sleep, it’s a piece of cake?”

“I was curious about all that fuss regarding the princess’s beauty.”

‘These guys are crazy. This is a trap.’

He thought that Yester, the one who had given them the orders, knew it was a trap but was taking the bait on purpose.

‘Damn it.’

Jedaiah had no choice but to follow orders.

Even if this was a trap, the rewards were very generous. All he had to do was survive, like he always did.

None of it mattered as long as he could pay for his younger sibling’s medicine.

For the poor, an incurable disease was disastrous. Jedaiah was fighting helplessly against that misfortune.

“Let’s go.”

They meticulously hid their presence and snuck over to the temple.

As they were informed, there were three escort knights along with five junior soldiers.

It was a little too much for protecting a single person, but the number of guards was reasonable when considering the recent uproar.

They put on gas masks and lit the sleeping incense. The soldiers guarding the annex collapsed. The incense smoke was pushed indoors as well.

This was a battle of patience, and the contractors were experts at this sort of work. They waited in silence for everyone to fall asleep.

The locked door was opened in an instant. They entered the annex and stood in front of the room where the princess was staying.

The group loaded the crossbows in their arms and opened the door, which creaked jarringly.

‘…Is nobody here?’

It was dark inside. Not a single candle was lit.

The window seemed to be closed. They used the light from the passage to look at the bed.

On the bed, there was a bulge. Someone was lying there.

Whoosh—

At that moment, all the candles in the passageway went out at once.

~~~