I’m a Villainess but So Popular

Editor : Aru

“So, I think we need some kind of precaution. I’m not sure, but if the damage is continuing—”

I was talking eagerly towards the other six Duke, but in the middle, the Duke of Ace shook his hand and interrupted.

“Are you arguing with something that you’re not even sure about, Duke of Spade?”

The Duke of Ace, staring at me and attempting to refute, shone sharply.

‘Yes, I’ve already expected a tackle coming from you anyway.’

His rebuttal and caution no longer crossed my mind.

“There’s nothing 100 per cent certain about anything. That’s why I said that.”

Steadily speaking, I also set my eyes on the Duke of Ace.

“But I want to tell you that my hypothesis is more likely to be correct.”

But the Duke of Ace didn’t budge.

In fact, I didn’t expect to be able to persuade him with this level of words.

“Isn’t the hypothesis dependent on your memory?”

“That’s true. But—”

“So there’s no objective evidence to prove it.”

The Duke of Ace raised his head and spoke.

“There was no one who saw the monster in the Wiltern incident, nor the accident of the Duke of Spade.”

A week after hearing the news of the death of the Postade mother and son, two bodies were found on the outskirts of my territory.

The cause of death was excessive bleeding, just like what happened to the Postades, and the condition of the body was similar.

And while the skin of the body had some mana left on it, there was little remaining mana in the body.

“But whoever it is doesn’t change the fact that people are still dying.”

In my words, the Duke of Ace answered in a flat voice.

“Do you think the link between the Wiltern prison case and the incident on your territory is connected?”

“I’ve told you the condition of the body is similar.”

“Even in Wiltern Prison and the Dukedom of Spades case could be simply caused by an attack of a beast.”

The Duke of Ace said, fixing his icy eyes to me.

“As long as the culprit is not clearly identified, we cannot rule out the possibility that a similar condition of the body is just a coincidence.”

“But isn’t it worth noting that both cases have reduced the victim’s mana?”

The Duke of Joker, who was listening quietly, interrupted.

The Duke of Jacqueline nodded at his words.

The Duke of the Ale club seemed to agree with him, and the Duke of Leonhart openly kicked his tongue and complained.

Only the Duke of Diamonds silently looked down at the papers on the desk with gloomy eyes.

“I admit that in the Wiltern case, the mana of the dead has declined sharply.”

The Duke of Ace turned his head and spoke, looking straight at the Duke of Joker.

With a smile on his face, the Duke of Joker listened to the Duke of Ace.

“But in the case of the Duke of Spade, the investigation teams said there was little left in the victim’s body, but they didn’t say that it had decreased compared to before.”

And the Duke of Ace turned his head again and looked at me.

The gaze of a pair of blue eyes felt like a fluffy blade.

“There would be no record of measuring the mana of ordinary people. Therefore, it will not be possible to prove that the mana of the deceased has decreased. The original mana may have been already low, to begin with.”

I clenched my fists in both hands and said with a strong voice.

“As you can see from the records, it was below the average of the average population.”

“I told you, there is a possibility that the deceased originally had subpar mana from the beginning.”

The Duke of Ace said, putting his hands with his fingers crossed on the desk.

“And you keep saying that the monsters in the Academy raid have something to do with these two cases, where’s the claim that the monsters take away mana?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but as I lowered my voice, I paused momentarily.

Cassius’s claim that the monster had a great deal of mana, and the movement of the monster that tried to take the mana on my left eye, had led me to conclude that the monster absorbed mana.

But the story about my eyes was too sensitive to tell these people.

“Trump is right.”

The Duke of Leonhart raised his hand and spoke.

Soon I heard the sound of pulling the chair, and he got up from his seat and looked at me.

“I remember that the successors who were attacked had no problems but minor injuries. Of course, there’s no change in the amount of mana.”

Beyond the thin open eyes, I could see that he didn’t like me.

The Duke of Ace was equally sharp for everyone, but the Duke of Leonhart felt like he wasn’t happy with me here.

“That’s–”

“Doesn’t the Duke of Spade know best?”

I was dumbfounded when he took away my chance to speak without listening to me.

I made a serious face and frowned at the meeting, but the Duke of Leonhart did not care.

“How can the Duke say that the same monster absorbs people’s mana when the victims of the Academy raid have not been robbed of their mana?”

Straightened my back and immediately retorted his words.

“We survived the monster’s attack, so we just didn’t lose our mana. If we couldn’t stand the attack, we would have got our mana robbed.”

It was frustrating.

I had to do something before there were more victims, but they were rejecting it because my argument was unlikely to be right.

I understand why they are reacting like that, but if things get too big, it will be hard to turn back.

“Now you say it’s inefficient to take action with only two cases.”

In a slightly cracked voice, I looked at the Housekeepers members one by one and talked.

“But if we don’t come up with preventive measures now, the damage may increase to a point where it’s hard to even touch them later.”

“The Duke of Spade…”

The Duke of Ace called me as if to stop, but I didn’t stop.

“If my hypothesis is correct, can you handle the aftermath? I’m sure you all know that the existence of mana itself could threaten the existence of seven families.”

“Stop.”

The Duke of Ace said in a determined voice.

Then I turned my head at him and uttered my voice.

“Wouldn’t you give me a chance to say one last word? If you give me a chance to finish this, I won’t complain anymore.”

But even at my request, the Duke of Ace did not bat an eyelash.

And I quickly added his title when I remembered that I had not mentioned the title of the Duke of Ace so far.

“Mr Trump.”

The Duke of Ace, who was looking through me with his deep blue eyes without any shaking, closed his eyes as if asking it to take care of myself, and nodded slightly with a very annoying face.

“Thank you.”

I didn’t like his attitude very much, but I thanked him for having to be polite on the surface.

“In conclusion, I would like to ask you to set up a special investigation committee to conduct an investigation into the case by organizing the Imperial Palace Information Bureau and the talents of each territory.”

The Duke of Joker looked at me and nodded coolly with an interesting face, and the Duke of Ale Club looked at me quietly with her amber eyes.

“And I ask you to increase the security of each of the territories and to inform the residents of the incident. That’s all.”

After I had finished what I had to say, I sat on the chair, and for a while, there was silence in the venue.

It was the Duke of Joker who broke the silence.

“Thank you for your opinion. The Duke of Spade. I’m very much in favour of your proposal. I think it makes sense.”

But his remarks were overshadowed by the Duke of Ace.

“Sorry, I still don’t think it’s a reasonable move.”

Yeah, it’d be weird if you just listened to me here.

‘But it’s true, it’s possible that common people’s lives may be in jeopardy.’

As I was thinking so deeply and keeping my gaze on the desk, the words of Duke Ace came into my ears.

“The cost of forming the task force is never small. It would be difficult to allocate costs with everything in doubt.”

“But aren’t you forming a task force to reduce uncertainty, Mr Trump?”

The Duke of the Ale Club voiced his rebuttal.

“In that case, we should have created a special investigation committee with all sorts of trivial cases.”

After all, I couldn’t stand it and I spoke out.

“I told you earlier. This problem could affect the existence of seven families.”

The Duke of Ace, who stared at me like that, sighed and answered.

“That’s why you’re saying it’s more irrational. When people find out there’s a monster out there that takes away mana, it’s going to be so devastating that it’s hard for the lord to control.”

As he said so, he tapped his index finger down on the table.

“The order within the territory will be completely destroyed.”

“That’s right. That’s why I’m against both the formation of the task force and the announcement of the case.”

The Duke of Leonhardt responded and spoke.

“It is clear that rumours about the incident will spread from the moment it is known that we have formed a task force. What if the Duke of Spade’s hypothesis turns out to be incorrect?”

The Duke of Ace didn’t really agree with that word or add a chime.

He just looked back at me again and spoke in a cool voice like a frozen awl.

“The people will run like a loose horse, and the nobles will tremble with anxiety. Are you prepared to bear the consequences?”

“I–”

“Even if you agreed, the rest of the Housekeepers wouldn’t.”

I tried to refute something, but I couldn’t think of anything to refute.

“I think we just need to proceed with the Operation in the Duke of Spade’s territory where the incident occurred.”

The monotonous voice of the Duke of Ace echoed through the hall.

***

‘Ck….’

In the end, my proposal was not accepted. The only one that agreed with the announcement of the case was the Duke of Joker and the Duke of Ale Club, which failed to exceed half.

The Duke of Jacqueline also agreed to the formation of the special committee, but it was very unlikely to be realized because it was possible to form it only after the special committee had the consent of all the Housekeepers members.

‘I can’t help it. Let’s take some more data next time and talk it out.’

I tried to leave the venue with such a slight melancholy heart, but I saw a red object through a crack in the door where the Duke of Ace had escaped.

“Huh?”

At first, I thought it was the cape of the Duke of Leonhart, but on second thought he was still inside the venue.

‘Wow, crazy, are you here again today?’

Having concluded that what appeared to be Iker’s hair through a crack in the door, I turned around hurriedly.

‘I never want to run into him today.’

So I left the conference room as if I were running away from the back door, not the front door.

If I went out the back door, I had to go back a little, but there was not much difference in distance.

‘Let’s get back to the carriage before we meet.’

With a quick step, I escaped the Sacred Hall and ran toward the front door of the Noble State Field.

Fortunately, the meeting ended a little early, but the carriage arrived.

As the carriage came into view, I relaxed and began to walk slowly.

“Hello?”

Until the unlucky red hair suddenly appeared before my eyes.

—————