The Villainess is a Marionette

Jedaiah felt a chill and quickly stepped back.

Thud—!

A dull noise was heard.

“Aghh—!”

Something flew into the dark.

One of Jedaiah’s colleagues had shot a crossbow, but inside, everything remained still. They couldn’t see anything because of the darkness. They were helplessly hit by something.

Just how many guards were hiding inside? Jedaiah broke out in a cold sweat.

“What are you? Who are you?”

Jedaiah realized that his premonition had been correct.

‘Damn it. I knew it was a trap!’

What kind of trick was this? No one could figure out what had happened.

“Eup!”

One by one, the voices of his colleagues were being silenced.

Jedaiah just barely managed to run away. The priority was to survive. He couldn’t let himself be killed here.

Bang—!

As soon as he got out of the building, there was a deafening boom.

“Her Highness is in danger!”

From outside, unusually well-armed knights began to enter the building.

“This is crazy…!”

The knights wore armor marked with the seal of the Kedrey duchy.

The contractors had been caught in a perfect trap.

Heinrich must have deliberately thrown money at them in order to use them as bait. It had been strange how he only hired five people to kidnap the princess…

Jedaiah spat out a curse when he realized the Kedrey knights must be surrounding everywhere nearby.

He tried to escape from their eyes by erasing his presence as much as he could. Suddenly…

“Cough!”

Someone pulled on his clothes from behind. He immediately turned around, but he didn’t feel his clothes being stuck on something.

“Who’s there?!”

No matter how much he looked about, no one was there.

Even in the middle of the cold night, sweat poured from him like the rain. At that moment, a dress flew toward him as if it were possessed.

‘What is that?!’

He tried to scream, but the dress blocked his mouth.

“Mmph! Eup—!”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

It was a woman’s voice.

Jedaiah, trapped in the dress and pushed to the floor, looked up.

“I almost missed the most important person.”

The woman was hidden under a robe.

‘Could it be… the princess?’

However, Jedaiah couldn’t tell because he wasn’t able to see her face.

“Don’t shout. What if the duke’s knights come over?”

“……”

He didn’t know why, but the woman seemed to be trying to make a deal with him. Once he stopped struggling, the dress released its hold on his mouth.

He felt like his heart would jump out from his mouth. A dress that moved on its own will!

Jedaiah thought that the strange attacks from the previously empty room were all because of the woman in front of him. He spoke in a polite tone.

“…I have a question to ask you before I die.”

Jedaiah closed his eyes and thought of his younger sibling at home.

He always knew that he would die like this one day. The kid should find the money he hid under the bed.

“What is your true identity?”

His piercing eyes turned to Cayena, who was still concealing her appearance.

“You won’t die, so I won’t answer that question, Jedaiah.”

Jedaiah couldn’t understand why this strange woman knew his name.

“You must be burning up inside, having to break your knightly pride and playing as a contractor for your sick sibling.”

“…Who are you, really?”

“I’m the person who will solve your problem.”

Jedaiah couldn’t help but be shocked as his body was raised up as if someone grabbed him. Still, no one was behind him. Goosebumps popped up all over his body.

Cayena smoothed out Jedaiah’s clothes with magic.

“Don’t you need Elixir?”

Jedaiah instinctively widened his eyes at the word ‘Elixir.’

‘As expected, she’s a magician…!’

He had dismissed the thought before, but his opponent was really a magician. If so, she was someone who could make Elixir.

“Aren’t you glad?”

In the past, Jedaiah had a huge obsession with magicians.

From the moment he learned that Elixir was the only way to save his younger sibling, he had been searching for someone who could use magic.

Everyone called him crazy. He was treated as a madman, told that he was the only person in the world who was looking for a magician.

Jedaiah acted cautiously even at this once-in-a-lifetime moment.

“What guarantee do I have that you will help me? I don’t think someone like you has much use for a contractor.”

She smiled, satisfied with Jedaiah’s reply.

People who were objective did not often commit dumb mistakes. Having such a person would reduce the variables in her plan.

‘A talented man who could poison Olivia, despite a duchy’s strict defenses. This man is someone who only touches what he can win.’

He and Cayena were acquaintances in a former life. She had hired Jedaiah to poison Olivia in exchange for great wealth.

His brown hair, gray eyes, and even the long scar on his left cheek were like a trip down memory lane for her.

“I need your weakness.”

Cayena’s countenance was revealed in the light of the moon.

“You have a reason to obey my commands and be faithful to me. I need a person with that kind of desperation.”

Jedaiah felt thirsty, hearing her dry and heartless words in a soft, melodic voice. She was making a honeyed proposal even as she concealed herself.

Just like the devil.

“…What must I do?”

It was a proposition that he couldn’t refuse.

Jedaiah had no choice. The person in front of him was definitely a magician.

He could receive Elixir.

His younger sibling could live.

Jedaiah gulped.

Without a pause, Cayena took out an envelope from her bosom. The envelope flew in the air and stopped in front of Jedaiah.

“……”

He felt like he was possessed by a ghost.

He carefully grabbed the envelope.

“Go to Heinrich right away. Tell him that the princess had hidden guards and that you barely got away. The contract business will disappear today.”

“What is this…?”

“Learn about the corruption of the Evans family and burn the paper.”

Even at a glance, the envelope looked expensive. Jedaiah’s hands trembled when he found the seal on the envelope. It was the seal of the imperial family.

‘This was all the princess’s trap.’

Her intention was clear. The imperial seal was deliberately put onto a paper that would be burned so that he would see it.

He was supposed to become a double agent.

He thought that something was weird, but to think the princess herself knew magic!

At that moment, Jedaiah was struck with fear. But his desperation was enough to overcome it.

“Then, when can I receive the Elixir?”

“Come to the imperial palace.”

“Th-the imperial palace…?”

Could a commoner like him enter such an exalted place?

He looked at Cayena agitatedly.

She didn’t say anything else. Instead, she flew over a pouch that was obviously full of coins. It was an appropriate wage.

Jedaiah wasn’t as surprised as when he received the envelope earlier.

All of sudden, they could hear the sound of clanking armor. The knights were close.

“Now, go.”

It was urgent that he left this place right away.

Jedaiah stashed the coin pouch in his clothes and ran.

As Cayena watched him go, she sent away her robe and her dancing dress. She mussed up her hair.

“Then, shall I go set off the powder keg?”

Her gaze turned toward the inn.

***

The large boom Cayena had made earlier had been a gunshot. Raphael had secretly given the weapon to her.

The moment he heard the gun go off, Raphael ran into the temple’s annex.

‘Are they all asleep?’

There were intruders.

The inside of the annex was completely shrouded in shadows because the candles were unlit. As the knights lit their torches, they saw a startling sight.

Next to the sleeping escort knights, four suspicious people were tied up.

“Capture them.”

With that order, Raphael ran into the bedroom.

“Your Highness!”

But there was no one inside. Cayena had disappeared once again.

“Her Highness is missing! Go and find her!”

His heart was leaping unpleasantly.

‘Please. Let there be nothing wrong!’

Raphael had a feeling that something was going to happen here.

He thought that Cayena wouldn’t stay here without a reason. He was stupid for thinking that it would be fine as long as he had knights stationed around the temple.

He felt like he was going crazy with anger and regret.

He respected Cayena. He admired her, and he held her in high esteem. He didn’t dare to intrude on her territory.

But that thought was wrong. He had to do everything he could.

Raphael ran to the back of the temple. The fact that enemies might attack him didn’t even factor into his calculations. Finally, he found Cayena, walking toward the temple under the moonlight.

Her face was painted with joy.

“Oh, Duke…!”

Before she could finish talking, Raphael ran to her and clasped her tightly in his arms. He buried his face in the nape of her neck and wrapped his arms behind her back.

It was clearly Cayena’s sweet scent. She was safe.

Only then did he feel like he could live.

~~~

[TN] I… just realized that the word “contractor” is actually from a homebrew D&D campaign I played and that it isn’t a common term for hitmen/people who take on shady jobs. I’m inclined to keep it for flavor. (Plus, it’s still technically accurate, which is the best kind of accurate.) Sorry if I confused anyone!