The Villainess is a Marionette

Chapter 16

“A burn?”

Before Vera could say anything else, a doctor came in seeking an audience with Rezef.

It was the same doctor who treated Cayena’s wounds.

He shuddered as he came in, feeling the strange mood in the air.

“I came to report on Her Highness’s injuries.”

Rezef’s chilly blue eyes focused on the doctor.

The doctor felt a cold sweat running down his back.

The look in Rezef’s eyes was one he gave when he was not in a good mood.

“An uncooled pie touched her left arm, but the actual burn is about the size of a fist. So long as she applies ointment for the next few days, she won’t have a scar.”

“Why did the pie touch my sister’s arm?”

“That’s…”

As the doctor was unable to answer, Vera opened her mouth instead.

“A court lady, Lydia Benzeman, dropped the pie plate. It touched her arm and fell to the ground.”

Considering that she had caused harm to the Imperial family, Cayena would be well within her rights to call for Lydia’s death.

However, it would be a waste to do so, as the Benzeman family was quite useful.

In addition, the Benzeman family was close to the Evans family as it was the family that managed the Empire’s warehouses.

“But… Her Highness has forgiven her, said that she was all right.”

Zenon had a disbelieving look on his face when Vera said that the ill-tempered Cayena had forgiven her lady-in-waiting.

Really, the recent Princess Cayena was too strange.

At any rate, it was fortunate. Zenon stood behind Rezef, so he could not see the prince’s face.

“The Benzeman family still has a lot of use. It’s fortunate that the incident is being overlooked.”

But Rezef thought differently.

He hated those that did not know their place. It reminded him of Archduke Heinrich.

Rezef stood up and said coldly, “I’m going to Cayena’s palace.”

***

To get to the princess’s palace from the prince’s palace, one had to walk a long way through a corridor between them.

Rezef walked that long distance with his long legs and a cape fluttering behind him.

He wasn’t running, but it was a very fast walk.

His aides and Vera were rushing to follow far behind him.

Rezef found the room where Cayena’s ladies-in-waiting were resting and pushed open the door with his own hand.

“Your Highness! I will do it!”

One of his aides who managed to catch up with his steps startled and tried to dissuade him.

Rezef did not reply, only opening the room that was second best in the palace after Cayena’s.

The ladies who were resting there stood up in surprise.

“Your, Your Highness?”

His eyes were caught sight of the excessively colorful interior and the refreshments and tea on the table that looked to be beyond their means.

The incense burner gave off an expensive scent, one originally used by Cayena.

It was a high-end fragrance imported only in small quantities to the Empire. The scent was unique, so Rezef knew it well.

A mere court lady could never use such a fragrance.

They were enjoying luxuries they could not enjoy as ladies-in-waiting.

That was not something that Rezef had allowed.

The ladies-in-waiting hurriedly fixed their attires and bowed their heads.

“We greet His Imperial Highness.”

Rezef did not tell them to raise their heads.

Instead, he sat on a display cabinet near him. His eyes glanced over the maids.

Vera and his aides tried to enter the room, but their feet stalled at the strange silence.

“I think a person can make foolish judgments,” he started to say. “I think a person can also make mistakes.”

The court ladies exchanged glances, not knowing what he was talking about.

“However, I detest those that don’t know their place.”

Only then did the court ladies throw themselves onto the floor.

“We have done something worthy of death, Your Highness!”

At that, Rezef burst into laughter. “Yes! You’re right.”

His blue eyes glistened murderously.

“You should be dead for your sins.”

Rezef crossed the room in big strides and roughly grabbed hold of a court lady.

It was Lydia.

“I’ve never heard of a member of the Imperial family being burned by a maid. What do you think?”

Lydia turned pale.

“Your Highness, please forgive me!”

In her fear, she had even begun to cry.

“It was a mistake, Your Highness! The princess also said it’s all right, and…!”

But she shouldn’t have said that.

“Ahhhh!”

Rezef tightened his hold on Lydia’s arm, as if he were going to break it.

“Do I have to cut off your arm for you to see the gravity of your mistake? How much of it should I cut for you?”

Shiiiing–.

He drew a sword from his side.

The court ladies let out a short scream. Shouldn’t someone be stopping this? But no one came forward.

“Your Highness.”

Zenon came forward from among the aides to dissuade him.

But witnessing Rezef’s expression, he clicked his tongue and backed away.

In that state, Rezef could not be dissuaded by anyone. At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if this became a big incident.

“Rezef.”

Then, a clear voice broke through the sinister air.

Cayena had come in person after hearing the uproar.

Rezef stopped his hand, which had been about to swing down the sword.

“Stop it.”

At her words, Rezef loosened his hold on Lydia, like he had never intended to hurt her in the first place.

He lowered the sword.

When Lydia, released from his hand, sank to the floor, everyone stopped breathing. There was a hushed quiet.

‘…What just happened?’

Cayena calmed Rezef, who had been enraged, with just a word!

Cayena passed by the helpless aides and went inside the room.

The sword was pointing to the ground, but Rezef still had a look of madness.

Lydia seemed to have thoroughly pulled Rezef’s trigger.

‘Know your place.’

It was how Emperor Esteban raised Rezef.

It seemed that Rezef, who was unbalanced, did not understand exactly why he was so angry.

Cayena approached Rezef, who still held his sword like he wanted to cut something.

People thought that figure was murderous. But that wasn’t what Cayena saw.

He was nervous.

Cayena learned about the situation that Rezef had experienced through the novel.

So although Rezef was said to be an unforgivable villain, she could understand why he had become that way.

If he was not constantly recognized as a prince, he could be dismissed immediately.

The Emperor himself had told him so.

Instead of enjoying his position as a prince, he was deprived of many things.

To begin with, he was deprived of a family.

“You don’t have a family. You only have an identity and autonomy when you are a prince.”

Rezef was thoroughly tossed away in the most splendid and beautiful place in the Empire.

“Remember that I can always throw away baggage. If you don’t prove your worth, your existence will be erased from the world.”

To him, conquering the throne was a straightforward matter of survival.

He had no family, and all the people around him belonged to the Emperor. They ignored Rezef, an illegitimate child.

So the first thing he did was purge them.

That was what happened when he was only eight. It was a part of his past that Cayena had not known.

But he was still her younger sibling.

Cayena stood before him, feeling some sense of responsibility.

She took the sword from Rezef’s hand and held it out to Zenon, who had been nearby.

Zenon looked at her with perplexed eyes and received the sword from her.

The ladies-in-waiting were trembling, and she could hear Lydia’s breathless sobbing.

It was a pitiful act.

Cayena looked up at Rezef with eyes that appeared normal, as if nothing was different than usual.

He needed someone to guide him.

She scolded him in a stern voice. “What if you hurt yourself by getting so angry? You’ll be hunting often when the social season begins.”

“…”

Rezef gradually began to return to his senses.

The court ladies and aides, unaware of this change, simply looked at Cayena grimly.

Was Her Imperial Highness crazy?

They gulped, feeling their mouths become dry.

They were afraid of what Rezef, who was thoroughly angry, would do.

~~~