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Chapter 87




The Villain's Ending is Only Death Chapter 87
* * *
“Duke!”
Ellen Duke’s cabin door burst open as his aide rushed in.
“Princess Ecarte has just returned from the forest alone! She was immediately arrested and taken to prison.”
“Alone? Then what about the Crown Prince? What happened to the Crown Prince!”
“According to the princess’s testimony, the fallen Crown Prince was found and urgently transported to the Crown Prince’s palace.”
“What’s his condition?”
“He hasn’t regained consciousness yet. And, his ears...”
Leaning in closer to Ellen Duke, the aide whispered, bowing his head.
“...According to the healer, it’s not clear if it was due to poison, but minor injuries were found on his body.”
“I see... Is that so...”
The old man’s face brightened.
It was a good decision to instruct the application of poison on some weapons in preparation for the fierce battle.
The poison was one he had painstakingly sought out from a distant desert country.
Since its effects didn’t appear immediately but gradually spread over a day or two, it was perfect for avoiding suspicion if the assassination failed.
‘Perhaps we might even have to mourn his death.’
Ellen Duke, imagining a happy future, suddenly had a sharp glint in his eye.
“Was the cleanup done well? They said the trail ended at the cliff.”
“Yes, we thoroughly searched the forest and recovered all the fallen weapons. The Leila believers are well hidden in the Empress’s palace basement.”
“Good. The ones who have awakened still don’t remember the moments before they fell, right?”
“Yes, Duke.”
“Better that way...”
Ellen Duke’s eyes sparkled.
How much effort had been put into this operation.
The Crown Prince, upon returning from the war, immediately began to sever ties with the Second Prince’s faction and the underground forces.
Thus, it was no longer possible to hire assassins as before.
Therefore, he had to recruit ambitious men from the six families that formed the main force of the Second Prince’s faction.
Choosing the hunting competition as the day of the operation, he transformed them into capital nobles and trained them in assassination.
One of them was Marquis Tulet, a distant relative of the Ellen family.
However, just a handful of six or seven men were not enough to take on the Crown Prince.
Fortunately, the interests of the Leila believers aligned with theirs.
To bring the supporters inside the palace, even the Empress was mobilized.
Thus, they sent no less than twenty assassins to the Crown Prince.
- What, what! All of them fainted?!
When Ellen Duke heard from the servants sent to clean up that all the assassins were found unconscious, he nearly fainted himself.
Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to find the witness and accomplice who had been with the Crown Prince.
- I threatened that being hit by a crossbow would turn you into an idiot. It must have been that woman who did this to the marquis!
Lady Kellin, enraged at seeing her fiancé turned into an idiot, testified, and the whereabouts of the princess were unknown.
Moreover, the Crown Prince would have undoubtedly cut down the assassins with his sword.
The Second Prince’s faction felt as if the sky was falling when they realized not only had the assassination failed, but there was also a witness.
However, there’s always a way out.
“...Now, all that’s left is to pin it on the princess.”
Ellen Duke devised a plan.
To reverse the blame onto the princess, the only witness.
Since the princess was already known as the ‘Duke’s mad dog’ with the worst reputation, it would be easy to convince people.
Initially, he planned to muddy the waters by accusing her of noble assassination, but the Crown Prince also fell into a coma.
It was clearly the work of the Leila god.
“We can also teach those annoying Ecarte people a lesson!”
Ellen Duke chuckled with satisfaction.
The most important thing was to get off the suspect list immediately. Only then could they plan for the future.
In that sense, the princess, the main culprit of the failed assassination, was a perfect scapegoat.
While attention was on the ‘mad dog’ of Ecarte, they could expel the assassins sent by the Leila believers from the palace and destroy all evidence.
If the Crown Prince, who was on the brink of death, died, it would be perfect, but even if he didn’t die immediately, it didn’t matter.
As with all the previous assassination attempts, without evidence, the Crown Prince’s claims would be meaningless.
“Not only noble assassination, but we should also pin the royal assassination on her.”
When the culprit wakes up, those involved in the assassination won’t be able to say a word.
Satisfied with the perfect plan, Ellen Duke laughed heartily again.
“By the way, about Tulet. Is he still unconscious?”
“Yes, still...”
“Tsk, what a useless man!”
Ellen Duke clicked his tongue at the aide’s hesitant response.
“After feeding him expensive dragon blood to make him more functional, he’s even more out of it than before!”
Marquis Tulet had been a slow-developing child since he was young.
It was absurd that the Empress’s maternal family had no suitable men for the operation.
After much searching, they finally brought in a distant relative who was a bit slow but physically healthy.
They spent a fortune on a potion made from dragon blood, rich in mana, and arranged an engagement with Kellin to make him a proper capital noble.
‘Now that he’s finally becoming functional... tsk tsk.’
With a dissatisfied expression, Ellen Duke suddenly stood up.
“I’ll go to Marquis Tulet’s cabin first.”
* * *
Inside Marquis Tulet’s cabin, chaos still reigned.
“It’s a mana side effect.”
The palace physician shook his head after the examination.
“A mana side effect...? What, what does that mean?!”
“His body was exposed to too much mana in a short period, causing a temporary decline in brain function. There’s nothing to do but wait for it to recover gradually...”
The physician, expressing regret, left the cabin.
“Hehe, hehe. In the forest, I, I saw the Goddess of Hunting. Hehe, hehe...”
“Please, try to regain your senses!”
A woman, looking at her fiancé, who was drooling and babbling, shouted nervously.
Unable to stand it, Baron Kellin tried to calm his daughter.
“Gloria, dear, calm down.”
“What a mess, Father! I’m so embarrassed I can’t even show my face in public!”
“Gloria...”
“Why did you just stand by and watch that madwoman participate in this hunting competition?!”
Gloria, with her blue hair in disarray, couldn’t contain her anger.
Baron Kellin couldn’t bring himself to admit that he had received a diamond mine in exchange for not mentioning the incident again.
“Hehe, hehe. Goddess! Goddess...”
Meanwhile, Ellen Duke’s nephew continued to babble incoherently, drooling.
At that moment,
“Baron Kellin.”
A figure entered Marquis Tulet’s cabin.
“Duke, you’ve come.”
“Sit down.”
Ellen Duke waved off the two people who were about to stand up.
“Lady is here too. It’s good you’re here.”
“It’s noisy outside. What’s happening...”
“Princess Ecarte has returned.”
At the duke’s words, Lady Kellin jumped up.
“Where is that woman now?!”
“She was arrested and is being taken to prison. It’s the work of the gods.”
The duke calmed the agitated Lady Kellin.
“The most important thing now is your testimony. Can you do it?”
“Yes, of course! I wasn’t the only one at the tea party!”
Lady Kellin, trembling with anger, nodded.
Whatever had happened at the tea party with Princess Ecarte, her hatred was burning fiercely.
“I’m counting on you, Lady.”
“What if Ecarte strongly resists, Duke? And what if the Crown Prince regains consciousness soon?”
Only Baron Kellin looked worried.
Ecarte was not an easy opponent.
“Don’t worry. There’s no evidence, and the Crown Prince, the only witness and victim, is on the brink of death.”
However, Ellen Duke smiled confidently and patted Baron Kellin’s shoulder.
“Moreover, the Emperor is not in the capital. If necessary, we can pin the assassination on the annoying Ecarte people and eliminate them.”
This crisis was an opportunity.
He had already planned everything to deal with the ‘failed assassination.’
Originally, he intended to claim that the Crown Prince, after seeing the bear’s blood, suddenly went mad and attacked Marquis Tulet and other nobles.
Since it was only the Crown Prince on one side and multiple nobles on the other, it wouldn’t be difficult to insist on this version of events, especially in a deep forest with no witnesses.
However, the unexpected appearance of Princess Ecarte and the Crown Prince’s loss of consciousness had turned the situation in their favor.
“Even if the Crown Prince regains consciousness, he won’t be able to act as he did before. By the time he wakes up, everything will be over.”
Ellen Duke’s eyes gleamed maliciously as he looked into the distance.