Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

Marquis Zeld looked at me with a terrifying expression, as if he had immediately realized what my intention was in speaking.

In the hall that had fallen silent, my faint coughing sound echoed a couple more times.

“Cough, cough…”

This felt like being a minister standing before King Gungye.

Fortunately, no one would blame me for coughing. After all, anyone with eyes could see what expressions and demeanors the men around me were showing as they surrounded me.

“Ria, don’t talk too much now! A physician will be here soon…!”

Drehan said, holding me with a pale face.

Miller, who was beside him, had already sprung up from his seat and rushed out the door, as if he was going to carry a physician on his back.

“Water mages… summon them all.”

Luka ordered his hidden subordinates in a trembling voice.

“Calm down, Luka.”

I said, holding onto Luka, whose pupils were greatly dilated as if he might go berserk at any moment.

“I’ll explain everything. I know the cause and the treatment.”

“Ria…”

“Trust me, Luka. Be good.”

As I gently stroked Luka’s fine hair, I felt him gradually regaining his composure, though he had been showing a sharp demeanor while breathing irregularly.

The nobles, who hadn’t dared to open their mouths in the murderous atmosphere, widened their eyes in surprise at this sight.

Crimson eyes gazing at me intently.

A warm hand grasping tightly as if afraid I might disappear.

‘Can I really leave such a person behind?’

The thought that flashed for a moment was soon dismissed as futile.

I carefully untangled Luka’s hand and walked towards the center of the hall.

I felt the gazes following me from behind, but I didn’t stop my advancing steps.

Finally reaching in front of Marquis Zeld, whose body was several times larger than mine, I looked up at him and met his brown eyes showing a flustered expression.

The Marquis quickly hid his flustered look and spoke with an expression revealing hostility towards me.

“Y-young lady. With your poor health, wouldn’t it be better to visit the infirmary without overexerting yourself?”

His displeasure towards the uninvited guest in his play was evident in his furrowed brow.

The Marquis seemed well aware of his fierce face, as he was frowning heavily. It looked like he was trying to scare me into running away.

‘Hmph, someone who’s very good at vile tricks. I’m really not scared at all.’

I lowered the corners of my eyes pitifully. This was something I had learned from none other than Ensia.

“Yes, I was thinking of doing that. But if I don’t convey my thoughts to you, Marquis… I feel like I might die with regret.”

“…!”

Standing with my back to Damon and Sarah, I raised my blood-stained lips, visible only to the Marquis who was making a distorted face.

“Wh-what does a young lady know to try and join in adults’ conversations!”

I quickly hid my mocking expression and shed a single tear.

“Marquis, although I’m young, I understand Lady Lechel’s situation very well. Having been so sick myself, I deeply empathize with Baron Heyman, who doesn’t have much time left.”

I firmly established that my intervention in this play was absolutely not because I was of the same faction or a branch relative, but to convey my own thoughts.

If it were the former, I might be pointed at for the tyranny of a great noble clinging to blood ties, but in the latter case, there was nothing to pick at.

I deliberately held the blood-soaked handkerchief in my hand and continued speaking gently.

“Instead of just criticizing these two people, why don’t you give them a round of applause?”

“What nonsense…! As an adult, are you telling me to just watch these thoughtless children who don’t even know how to properly respect their elders!”

As Marquis Zeld’s voice grew harsher, I felt Damon and Sarah flinch.

“Marquis, you look about ready to raise your hand.”

Dad’s voice was heard right behind me.

The Marquis, who seemed to have a habit of poor hand control, had been clenching his fist, but when my Dad appeared, he hastily stepped back.

Only then did the Marquis’s gaze, looking around, stop at one place.

Even the Marquis must have felt weak in the knees from Luka’s presence, glaring at him with murderous intent.

However, as if reminding himself that he was the core force of the west, he returned to admonishing me in a polite manner.

“You’re still young, that’s why. You’re just at the age to start learning etiquette, aren’t you? Respect is the most important thing. Our ancestors never held weddings during the mourning period for relatives.”

“If you consider respect so important, why don’t you think about Lady Lechel and Damon’s respect for Baron Heyman?”

“That, my dear, is not respect. It’s Lady Lechel’s selfishness.”

“Then are you saying that His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress also married out of selfishness?”

“…”

At my words, the ongoing conversation came to an abrupt halt.

The nobles who had been holding their breath swallowed as if suddenly remembering an incident they had forgotten.

“Come to think of it…”

One noble muttered, trailing off.

Moreover, the imperial faction nobles who had been looking for an opportunity raised their voices.

“That’s right, His Majesty the Emperor married Her Majesty the Empress just three months after the late Emperor passed away. The reason for that was also because Baron Lineph was critically ill at the time.”

“All citizens of the Empire praised the virtues and character of the two with loud voices, yet Marquis Zeld seems to have come from a different country.”

“Stop dwelling on old customs and not prioritizing the living, at least to some extent.”

Faced with the simultaneous flood of criticism, Marquis Zeld looked around and waved his hands.

“That can’t be! The situation is completely different to begin with!”

“Please tell us, what situation is different?”

As I tilted my head and asked, Marquis Zeld finally seemed to have his anger rise to the top of his head, glaring at me with bloodshot eyes and pointing his finger.

“You, you cunning…! Do you think you’ll be safe after doing this to me!”

“Of course, she’ll be safe.”

Dad blocked the Marquis who looked ready to lunge at me in one step and spoke.

I couldn’t see his face from where I was, but even from behind, the killing intent was so palpable that my skin tingled.

Though he hadn’t drawn his sword, he had already subdued Marquis Zeld with his gaze alone.

“My daughter hasn’t said anything wrong, yet you’re snorting like a mad buffalo. You’d better go learn that precious etiquette of yours again.”

“Du-Duke!!”

Marquis Zeld didn’t stop his struggle until the end, but no one appeared to side with the aging noble and go against the flow of the situation.

Even though the dispute over Damon and Sarah’s marriage announcement was not a trivial matter, but one that would determine the central power of the west.

It was an issue that could put them at odds with the Rayes Ducal family and the imperial family if they stepped forward carelessly.

The situation had completely changed from when they were attacking the Marquis Einhasil.

“After all that boasting, look at him now.”

“To be honest, I disliked the Marquis more than those imperial faction guys. Didn’t he act like a king in this small western land?”

“Who would have thought we’d see him with his tail between his legs like this.”

It seems he didn’t have a good image even among the noble faction of the west.

The Marquis’s dumbfounded expression was visible as he felt the situation completely reversed with his whole body.

Leaving behind the Marquis Zeld, who was just fuming silently, I turned to Damon and Sarah, who were holding hands tightly.

“I know it was a difficult decision for both of you. Damon… I know even better because of what happened last time.”

He had fallen into terrible grief after learning that Kesil had poisoned the former Marquis.

His filial piety was by no means as light as Marquis Zeld had ranted about.

“Don’t be swayed by outsiders who know nothing. There’s probably no better choice than the decision you two made together.”

At that moment, tears finally flowed from Sarah’s eyes.

“Th-thank, sob, thank you… Really, sniff…”

At the moment of the Marquis’s attack, she must have felt like she was falling into an abyss.

I hope this doesn’t remain as another trauma.

However, seeing Damon firmly supporting her body, it didn’t seem like there was much to worry about.

“Ma-Marquis, Marquis Einhasil! Don’t misunderstand. It was all for your sake that I, out of concern…”

Marquis Zeld, true to his reputation as an experienced noble, assessed his situation and spoke words he didn’t mean, intending to salvage at least his rock-bottom reputation.

“I don’t want to hear anything.”

However, Damon turned his back resolutely.

The Marquis seemed to be heating up again as the person he had looked down upon was now ignoring him, but there was nothing he could do.

All he could do was exit hesitantly, receiving glares directed at someone who had been firmly marked by the Rayes family and the imperial family.

“He ended up putting on a clown show that didn’t even break even.”

It was as Drehan was muttering while watching his retreating back.

Bang!!

The door flew open so hard it seemed like it might fall off, and Miller rushed in with a physician.

“There she is. Why are you so slow! She coughed up blood. Hurry and examine her!”

“Your Highness, we have gathered all the water mages in the west.”

As I watched these scenes, I thought.

‘There was still more to come, ugh!’

* * *

“You expect me to believe that now! No abnormalities, you say!!”

Miller, who was yelling as if he was about to grab someone by the collar, didn’t seem to be in his right mind.

I was carried to a room close to the hall.

And I was laid down on a soft bed.

With my right hand given to the physician and my left hand to the water mage, I looked pitifully at them as they broke out in a cold sweat.

“I apologize, but I too cannot find the cause… No, I’ll try again! I’ll try again, Your Highness!”

The water mage seemed to be trying to find the blood flowing in my body by channeling his magic power, as I gradually absorbed the other’s magic power through my hand.

Just like when I first met Jen and Kinder, my magic power, which was vastly superior, was absorbing the mage’s magic power.

Since anything beyond that would only have negative effects on me, I withdrew both hands simultaneously and said:

“I have something to tell everyone.”

I finally had no choice but to open my lips.

“Actually…”