Chapter 6 …

The Villain’s Future Looks Grim

“Looks like you ran away as if you already knew I was coming, my lady.”

“T-That can’t be.”

My voice scattered into the air like a candle flame dying out.

“How did you know?”

The sharp tip of a sword slid beneath my chin and lifted my head.

Only then did my vision clear, allowing me to take in my surroundings at once.

I was so shocked that no words came out; only my eyes widened.

‘This person is… Shiraz, the Grand Duke?’

Shiraz Rudkayev was looking down at me from directly in front of me.

The first thing I noticed was how mysterious his emerald eyes, tinged with deep navy blue, looked.

Mysterious—and dangerous.

If I had met him somewhere else, I probably would have stopped breathing for an entirely different reason.

His platinum-blond hair looked damp and lustrous, and his tall, well-built physique only added to it.

Good grief. Was there ever a line in the original novel saying Grand Duke Shiraz was this handsome? Why didn’t I know?

For a moment, my mind went blank, as if someone had struck me on the head.

Shiraz studied me as well, turning my face this way and that with the sword.

“Answer me. Or do you want to die too?”

There was something like contempt mixed into his icy gaze.

“If I say I don’t want to die, will you spare me?”

The thought slipped out before I could stop it.

His eyes wavered slightly, apparently caught off guard by my reply.

Looking straight at him, I considered what I should do next.

No matter how I thought about it, every conclusion led to death.

Perhaps because I stared at him too intently, the soldiers around us began whispering among themselves.

“I knew my husband had sent a letter to General Marcus. That’s when I started planning my escape.”

I decided to tell the truth.

‘If I die here, maybe I’ll return to my original world.’

That thought gave me a little comfort and reckless courage.

At the same time, thinking ‘He’s going to kill me anyway’ oddly calmed me.

“Get to the point. Make sense.”

At his warning, I swallowed dryly and continued.

“Not long ago, I saw one of his retainers die. He said my husband must not betray Grand Duke Shiraz. Then my husband killed him.”

One corner of Shiraz’s mouth lifted slightly.

“So there was at least one smart man among them.”

“That’s when I realized the letter my husband was sending contained a betrayal of Your Grace. I decided to run away.”

Only then did the Grand Duke lower his sword and casually fold his arms.

He looked interested in what else might come out of my mouth.

Keeping myself calm, I continued.

“Once he turned his back on Your Grace, I thought this castle was finished. I didn’t want to die alongside my idiot husband, so I waited for an opportunity and ran away today—on his birthday.”

The Grand Duke’s subordinates looked at me strangely, stroking their chins with what seemed almost like admiration.

“Why didn’t you think Marcus would arrive first? You could have died while escaping. Why take that risk?”

Shiraz stared at me suspiciously.

“Marcus? Ha.”

A laugh escaped me.

His expression immediately turned cold.

I didn’t know where this reckless courage was coming from, but my mouth kept moving on its own.

“Right now, he’s probably struggling just to manage himself. Does gathering a crowd automatically make someone strong? All it does is create headaches.”

Silence fell.

“The lords may be taking his side for now, but numbers alone mean nothing. Their military strength probably isn’t even equal to a single division of Your Grace’s army.”

I already knew this.

In the beginning of the original novel, when General Marcus rose up under the banner of punishing the Emperor’s murderer, all the lords who feared Shiraz threw their support behind him.

But conflicts soon erupted among those arrogant nobles, each convinced they knew best.

Internal strife broke out, and Marcus’s faction began collapsing from within.

Weakened by infighting, General Marcus suffered one defeat after another against Grand Duke Shiraz.

I didn’t reveal everything I knew about the future.

But I did explain how foolish it was to side with Marcus at this stage.

Apparently, hearing such an answer from the wife of a minor provincial lord left quite an impression.

The expressions of those watching subtly changed.

Even Shiraz Rudkayev looked at me as though thinking,

‘What exactly is this woman?’

Unable to endure his gaze, I lowered my head.

His cold blue-green eyes felt as if they could see straight through my mind.

I couldn’t bring myself to look into them.

‘Who are you really? There’s no way you’re just a lord’s wife. Where did you come from?’

It felt like those words would come out of his mouth at any moment.

Instead, a low chuckle escaped him.

“Not bad. If Willinger had possessed even half as much brains as his wife, he wouldn’t have ended up like that.”

He glanced at Willinger’s corpse as he spoke.

For some reason, Shiraz seemed to be in a better mood.

He sheathed his sword and simply turned around and walked out.

“Your Grace!”

His subordinates looked startled by the unexpected reaction, and Hugh immediately followed after him.

“Spare that woman. She’s not stupid. Take her along and make her do menial work or something.”

As I watched him and the soldiers leave, my mind went blank.

‘Take me along? They’re taking me with them?’

I had never imagined this development.

Soon afterward, two soldiers who had received orders approached to drag me away.

* * *

Fortunately—or unfortunately—unlike in the original novel, I’m still alive.

Though my life is hanging by a thread.

Even now, I could hardly believe I had survived after speaking so recklessly in front of Grand Duke Shiraz.

As I was taken away by his army, I thought carefully about what had happened.

How had Grand Duke Shiraz reached the castle so quickly?

What part of the story had changed from the original?

I didn’t know the answer, but I suspected it was some kind of butterfly effect.

After possessing Garnet Willinger, I had acted as she normally would, but there were certainly moments when my own will had influenced my actions.

Perhaps those small differences accumulated little by little until the story diverged from the original.

The possibilities were endless, but one thing was certain.

Garnet, who should have died, was still alive because I had possessed her.

And now she was being taken away by the greatest villain and power-holder in this world.

The story had changed completely.

And there was no telling how much more it would change in the future.

“Haa… one problem after another.”

A sigh escaped my lips.

‘Still, it’s not like the ending will change just because of one insignificant extra character.’

Which meant that if I wanted to survive until the end, I had to escape from Grand Duke Shiraz’s faction.

I had to get away from Shiraz somehow.

Otherwise, I’d end up dying a meaningless death alongside him.

‘After all the suffering I went through at Lord Willinger’s castle… sigh… Why am I always stuck playing the role that suffers endlessly?’

I wiped away the tears threatening to gather in my eyes.

At least at the lord’s castle, there had been hope that hard work could solve things.

Now the future seemed completely bleak.

‘My opponent isn’t some insignificant Willinger anymore. It’s Shiraz. Grand Duke Shiraz!’

Somehow, the scale had become even larger while the situation grew even more complicated.

After a moment of despair, I pulled myself together and lifted my head.

‘Right. They say that even if you enter a tiger’s den, you’ll survive if you keep your wits about you. There has to be a way. Don’t panic before anything has happened.’

Sometimes in life, the moments when everything seems ruined end up turning around unexpectedly.

Besides, there was no reason I couldn’t survive in this world.

I knew the contents of the original novel.

In a way, that practically made me the strongest person in this story.

After filling myself with confidence, I slowly began looking around.

Grand Duke Shiraz was practically a co-protagonist alongside the male lead, General Marcus.

Because of that, the people around him had also received significant attention in the novel.

‘Let’s see what everyone looks like.’

Seeing the villain Shiraz for the first time had shocked me because he looked nothing like I imagined.

So I found myself secretly excited as I examined each person one by one.

A middle-aged man with gray hair and a small build.

He looked exactly like a scholar.

And judging by how he walked directly behind Shiraz—

‘That’s him. That’s the aide Hugh!’

His neat eyes and tightly pressed lips perfectly reflected his cautious personality.

‘Then what about that person?’

Scanning every character in my memory, I narrowed my eyes further.

Dark brown hair that almost looked red.

A lean, sharp impression.

A large frame.

Anyone could tell he was an exceptionally skilled knight.

‘Is that Knight Commander Mikhail? Or Count Aaron?’

I quickly shook my head.

‘No, Aaron had black hair. Then it must be Mikhail!’

The satisfaction of guessing correctly lasted only a moment before my eyes eagerly searched for someone else.

‘Why can’t I see Aaron? There isn’t a young man with black hair and outstanding looks anywhere…’

After searching in vain, I quickly lost interest.

‘They’re all members of the villain’s faction anyway. In the end, they’re all destined to die alongside Shiraz.’

Thinking that way made it all seem pointless.

It wasn’t like we’d be companions in hell together.

‘More importantly, where exactly are they taking me? What’s going to happen to me now?’

I calmly reviewed the original story in my head.

Since Garnet Willinger died early on, I couldn’t be certain where they were taking me.

Still, I could make a reasonable guess based on where the story currently was.

When news spread that Lord Willinger’s severed head had been delivered to General Marcus’s faction, the lords across the land were horrified.

Terrified that their own heads might be next, they became much more hesitant about joining Marcus.

At a time when the nobles who had once rushed to swear loyalty were instead cautiously watching from the sidelines, Shiraz reorganized his forces at Izar Castle, which stood amid vast open plains.

He owned many castles throughout the Empire.

In addition to the capital where the Imperial Palace stood, he maintained stronghold castles in the east, west, south, and north.

Izar was his western stronghold.

‘Then I must be on my way to Western Izar Castle.’