How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 31
It meant she would take care of clearing the path so her son could walk an easier road.
It didn’t sound bad, but Aiden knew. This was nothing but confinement.
She was covering his eyes and ears, making him think only within a predetermined framework. She wanted to control him.
“If Mother won’t tell me, I’ll have no choice but to find out for myself.”
Aiden stood up from his seat.
When he was young and knew nothing, he liked this kind of management from his mother.
But not anymore.
He had no intention of becoming her puppet.
“As the one who will become the Emperor of this empire, shouldn’t I know everything about it?”
Aiden let out a sneer-like laugh before leaving his seat.
Behind him, as he stormed off, his aide Dominic hurriedly followed, wondering how to soothe his anger this time.
The Empress didn’t stop Aiden as he passed by and disappeared. She merely took another sip of tea.
“Leaving without saying goodbye, it seems our Aiden has forgotten much of his teatime manners.”
She muttered as if talking to herself, then set down her teacup.
“But isn’t our Aiden lovable? Such cute rebellion at this grown age.”
She closed her eyes gently, then opened them. When she opened them again, the head servant was standing beside her.
“His Highness is always dependable.”
With a perfect smile as if wearing a mask, he was refilling the Empress’s empty teacup.
“What will you do?”
“This mother is always worried that our innocent Aiden might have gotten some dust on him.”
It meant it was time to completely change the people around Aiden.
Even now, they were all the Empress’s people, but if even one of them had switched allegiance to Aiden, it would continue to cause inconvenience.
He was a lovely son, but when he started to deviate from her plans, it became a headache.
“I’ll do some cleaning.”
The head servant, understanding her words well, spoke with the same smile.
“Every time I think about it, maintaining cleanliness is such a difficult task.”
After whispering with a light sigh as if regretful, the Empress enjoyed her tea time alone in silence for a bit longer.
***
“I’m sorry for tiring out Miss Flaubert because of me.”
“How is that because of you, Your Grace? It’s just that the procedure took a long time.”
Arriving at the second gate late into the night, they had to find lodging before meeting the gate mage.
It was because Blake took too long at the first gate. Unlike Angelina who finished quickly, Blake was held up for quite some time.
The mages even suggested that Angelina go ahead first, as it seemed the Duke of Kadenhart would take a while.
However, Angelina expressed her intention to wait even if it meant staying up all night, as they had agreed to go together before coming here.
Not long after reaching that conclusion, Blake was released.
“By the way, there really are no people here.”
Angelina said, looking at the empty streets.
She had heard from Haley that the accommodation facilities at the second gate were for visitors as well as for mages working at the gate.
So it was set up like a small town. There were even a couple of small stalls and a small park.
But there were no people.
“Kyu. Kyu……”
The fox magical beast in her arms whined as if it didn’t like the empty town either.
Angelina comforted the magical beast while hurrying her steps towards the lodging.
“I guess there aren’t as many mages working at the gate as we thought.”
“……It seems the shifts overlapped.”
Blake said, scanning the quiet gate town.
His speculation was partly due to what happened at the first gate.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace. It’s my shift change time. Would you mind waiting until my replacement arrives?”
That was said after just checking a single identification. What’s funnier is that this mage had just started his shift.
The one who handled Angelina had rushed off somewhere with her documents, so Blake had to wait for the mage in front of him from the start.
“A mana stone mine? Do you have proof?”
When he revealed his purpose of coming to deal with the Tower Master, they probed into what kind of deal it was, and when he mentioned the mine, they insisted on seeing proof.
So he showed them a few of the mana stones he had brought.
The mage seemed to savor the sight of the excellent mana stones for a moment, but quickly changed his attitude again. Saying this wasn’t enough proof.
What other proof could he provide besides taking them there to confirm it directly? He didn’t know the gate would be this thorough.
So Blake was frustrated.
Then he heard mages whispering in the distance.
“Miss Flaubert seems to be waiting for the Duke, what should we do?”
“Damn, if they can’t reach the second gate by today because of this, won’t it be entirely our fault?”
They seemed to have let their guard down and conversed at a distance that ordinary people wouldn’t have heard.
“Should we suggest she go ahead first?”
“You go ask. I don’t want to risk losing my head by saying the wrong thing.”
“Sigh… Why did my shift have to be this week of all times. “
Their anxious-sounding conversation was strange.
Even the most impassive person could sense the difference in their attitude towards Angelina and himself.
‘I already knew the Tower Master wouldn’t welcome me, but…’
But why were they being difficult with Angelina?
‘Everyone has at least one secret they can’t talk about, right?’
Could it be related to her hiding her purpose for going to the Magic Tower?
‘Could it be… that the Tower Master and Flaubert are already in cahoots?’
If that were the case, it would explain the mages’ hostility towards him and their hospitality towards Angelina. As well as the reason why she, not the Marquis, came to the Magic Tower.
Was the claim that the Magic Tower isn’t interested in politics all just a smokescreen? Or are they cooperating with Flaubert separately from politics?
Flaubert is involved in every kind of business, so they might be connected in that way.
Once he started thinking like that, endless possibilities unfolded.
“Fortunately, the lodging is still operating.”
Angelina said as they arrived at their accommodation. There was no one inside except the innkeeper.
“Room…”
Just as Angelina was about to speak to the innkeeper, Haley, who was behind her, suddenly interjected.
“Miss! I’ll do it. Hehe, Miss, please sit over there and rest.”
“Oh, you will?”
“Senior Lora said she’s ordered food too. You two should have dinner~”
Haley sent Angelina away, saying not to worry. There was a slight sense of shooing her away, but Angelina moved her feet without much concern.
“Then shall we leave this to Haley?”
“Understood.”
Blake answered while quickly scanning the innkeeper.
He saw the tension visibly leave the innkeeper’s shoulders as soon as Angelina turned away.
Indeed… it was strange.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen such fresh vegetables, I’m glad.”
Angelina said as soon as she sat down, looking at the salad Lora brought out.
“And the main dish is fish. I was just thinking we’ve been eating too much meat lately.”
“Kyu! Kyu!”
“You like fish too? Should I share some with you?”
While she was checking the menu and whispering with her magical beast, Blake kept his eyes on Haley and the innkeeper.
He couldn’t hear their voices. It seemed Haley had used a sound-blocking spell, conscious of Blake’s group.
But conversation isn’t just about words; it’s also about expressions and gestures.
There were many awkward aspects that didn’t fit a conversation between an innkeeper and a lady’s maid.
Natural expressions as if they knew each other. And if he added a bit of his own interpretation, it even looked like Haley was scolding the innkeeper.
“You don’t need to worry too much. When we went to the market together last time, I found out Haley is a master of bargaining. She’ll negotiate a reasonable price for the rooms.”
Angelina spoke, thinking Blake was worried about getting overcharged for the rooms as he kept staring at the counter.
But Blake gave an unexpected answer to her words.
“Is that innkeeper acquainted with Miss Flaubert’s maid?”
At his question, Angelina turned her head.
They were already heading upstairs with the knights, so she hadn’t seen what Blake had observed.
But she casually turned back and stabbed her fork into the salad.
“I heard that all the people staying in this gate town are mages from the Magic Tower. They come here for shifts, they say.”
Haley had explained before that even the street stalls they saw were just set up to give the town feel.
