Chapter 3

“There was someone who treated me when I was wounded last time, too.”

Linus looked at me with his tired face, his body and face visibly looking malnourished.

In the midst of his words, my body froze, as if I was hypnotized by the heavenly image in front of me.

The man in front of me had looks that were out of this world, but at the same time were alluring like the devil, despite the state he was in right now.

“I think that was you, Countess Edith. What are you up to?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Then, I folded my arms, thinking that my words were not enough to avoid suspicion. I looked down at him with an arrogant face and raised my chin a little, like how Countess Edith would.

“Are you interrogating me right now? I’m your saviour,”

I responded impudently. Linus sighed and touched his temple.

“That’s funny. Why would the countess save me? You’re the person who wants me dead the most.”

I saved him because of such a thought.

After all, if everyone thought that way, I was afraid I would be the prime suspect if he died.

I held back my thoughts and smiled.

“Let’s say it was on a brief whim,”

I answered in a relaxed tone.

Then, I patted him on the shoulder as calmly as I could.

“So, I’d appreciate it if you leave my mansion after recovering, Your Highness.”

Wasn’t that pretty polite for Countess Edith?

I raised my head with a satisfied expression, as Linus’s face distorted.

“Sure. Thank you for saving me.”

Contrary to his words, his expression was grim and he didn’t seem to believe me.

His fierce eyes even showed determination to understand what I was up to.

Of course, the good and righteous male lead wouldn’t believe the villainess. So even though I continued to defend myself, my attempts would be futile.

I quickly left the room. ‘I have to run away at times like this.’

***

Linus left my mansion in half a day as soon as I said that. It was obvious that he ran away, judging from the fact that Viscount Winston was chasing him.

“Countess, I have a letter from your fiancé.”

My loyal aide, Edward, came into the office and told me that.

When it came to being my fiancé, it was clear that he was referring to Sir Ash, the playboy who was always traveling around.

“Again?”

“I think it’s about the breakup. You said Sir Ash hinted at a breakup with you a few times.”

I quickly got tired of listening to Edward.

I already had a lot on my hands, and having a fiancé like Sir Ash didn’t help.

“I’ll read it later. What happened to what I ordered?”

Edward sighed at my question and put the letter he was holding in my drawer.

“As you said, I have placed someone to spy on Prince Arnold. And we have a problem.”

Then he came back to my desk and reported what I had ordered.

“I’ve been informed that someone has commissioned the Ordo guild to assassinate Prince Arnold.”

‘Oh, come on. Why do people keep going after the male lead?’

I thought that once I stopped bothering the male lead, no one would bother him, but that was proved otherwise.

Viscount Winston was a pervert who enjoyed abusing the male lead, but he wouldn’t kill him. He was not a high-ranking noble, so he had to use Linus to establish his political position.

I seriously didn’t want to be framed for his death.

“A black-haired woman in a mask came and had that request. There was a red camellia on her chest.”

Black hair was a rare color in the Lemardinus Empire. Additionally, if the woman had a red camellia on her chest, which was the symbol of the Edith family, and black hair, I was 100% sure that people would think of me.

It was too obvious that this person intended to frame me.

“Where is Prince Arnold?”

“I don’t know, but the Ordo guild may have already found him.”

“Oh no, let’s go,”

I hurriedly rose from my seat and told Edward.

Edward stared at me for a moment in confusion.

“Where to? The Ordo guild?”

“Why do you ask when you know?”

I answered, then proceeded to take my jacket on the hanger next to my desk.

Edward hurriedly put a pile of documents he was holding on my desk and followed suit.

I needed to know who wanted to assassinate Linus, the male lead, and who was trying to frame me.

*** 

I hired some people from the mercenary guild to accompany me and come to the Ordo guild, which was in the outskirts of the capital.

Of course, this reckless method was not my style, it was more of the original Countess Edith’s style.

Edward was surprised when I suddenly used the original Countess Edith’s method.

“Are we really going in?”

Edward asked me with a weary face.

‘Hey, why does he keep blabbering when we’re already in front of the place like this?’

I calmed my nervous heart for a moment and nodded.

“There’s no use crying over spilled milk. Guys, let’s go.”

I raised my finger, then the people I hired and I entered the building. It looked like a normal inn, not an assassination guild.

The people I hired wreaked havoc in the place. As expected, the assassins who were guarding the building also came out because of us. I was standing in the lobby and sat in the chair that Edward had brought me while chaos ensued all around me.

If any nobles saw me, they would probably point fingers and say something along the line of ‘What kind of a noble are you?!’

‘Ah, it’s hard to live in a stifling world like this.’

If there was a noble who couldn’t care less about the rules and rank here, I would directly ask them to be my friend.

Soon, a wounded woman was dragged in front of me. I quickly put on the best villainess expression that I could muster.

“Ah, nice to meet you.”

I stared at the middle-aged woman who was forced to kneel in front of me.

Joella Noxi Ordo. She was the Ordo guild master, who was known for her assassination ability.

“You know who I am, don’t you?”

Joella’s face was swollen, perhaps because one of my mercenaries hit her, and her lips were also busted.

‘Didn’t I tell them not to use violence before?’

When I frowned and looked at the mercenaries, they shook their heads in fear.

That meant it wasn’t them who did it.

“Where is Prince Arnold?”

When Joella saw me, she shivered in fright.

After she calmed down, she answered with a determined tone,

“I don’t know that.”

Right, what was important to me now was the culprit who commissioned the assassination, rather than the whereabouts of Linus.

“I, I’m just being commissioned. Is it wrong to ask for an assassin guild to assassinate someone?”

“It’s not wrong. Except the target is a member of a royal family. It seems that you don’t know that it is customary to get permission from me for requests about the royal family.”

I was the head of all assassination guilds. The nickname Countess Edith, ‘queen of assassinations’, must have come from somewhere, right?

Joella shuddered at my answer.

“I-I really didn’t know.”

“Then do you know what this is?”

I took some paper out of my pocket and threw it in front of her.

Several sheets of paper fluttering in the air soon fell in front of the woman.

“It’s a signature from all of the assassination guild members. Everyone said that the Ordo assassin guild had nothing to do with them.”

Joella picked up the papers with trembling hands.

“Do you want your guild to perish?”

She finally opened her mouth as she was fervently shaking her head at my words.

“F-forgive me.”

She managed to bend her head in front of me.

Of course, she had begged the wrong person. She seriously almost made me screwed.

I bent my upper body and held myself close to her ear.

“Is the person who commissioned you the Viscount of Winston?”

“It’s confidential. I can’t tell you.”

Of course, I knew that. However, unlike before, she seemed to be more confident, and that was upsetting.

“If it’s your business policy, then don’t say it. If you don’t need mercy from me, that is.”

With that said, I slowly got up from my seat.

“You seemed to be misunderstanding something here.”

After that, Joella figured out the situation and her face went pale as a sheet.

“Attempted murder of the royal family, isn’t it a crime worthy of the death sentence?”

I smiled eerily and turned my back.

“T-there’s no evidence of it!”

Of course there wasn’t. But Joella had already said she had been commissioned.

I turned my back again and looked down at Joella.

“Do you really not know who I am? Why are you saying such stupid things? I’ll just have to make up the evidence. The signature you’re holding is one of the proofs.”

Joella then clung to my leg with a desperate face.

“P-please spare me!”

Edward, who was still watching the situation, took Joella away from me by force.

“Then tell me, who requested for the murder of Prince Arnold?”

Joella pleaded but she didn’t answer her question.

As I slowly rose from my seat, Joella looked at me with shaky eyes.

“You really won’t tell me?”

“T-that’s…”

Joella looked around. It was obvious that she was looking for a way out. I gave her too much time to think.

Without hesitation, I picked up the members’ signatures and walked outside.

“Please wait!”

Joella yelled at me urgently.

I looked back at her for a moment, then proceeded to head towards the door.

“I-I will tell you! Yes, it’s Viscount Winston who made that request!”

Was it really Viscount Winston?

What made him request to do so?

I stopped walking. The smile on my face was not erased, but after trying to control my expression, I turned toward Joella with a fairly calm face.

Then, she began to beg me,

“It really is Viscount Winston! That man!”

I nodded at Edward. Then he took out the paper and pen from the briefcase he was carrying and put them in front of the woman.

Joella looked up with a tearful face.

“Sign it, and everything that he and you talked about, write in the paper.”

“Huh?”

“What? I can’t hear you,”

I pretended I didn’t hear Joella’s hesitation and asked again.

Soon after, she wrote the contents of Viscount Winston’s request on a piece of paper.

I left the building after Joella signed the paper and Edward handed it to me.

“Look at my hands sweating from nervousness,”

I made a fuss to Edward.

“Did you see Joella’s eyes? She looked so charismatic. I was scared to death,”

I held Edward’s shoulder and took a deep breath.

Edward smirked and praised me for my work.

“I wonder what this is all about,”

Linus, who appeared out of nowhere, was leaning against the entrance of the building and stared at us.

He looked at us as if he had watched everything from the start to finish.