CH 35.2

“…”

The moonlight illuminated the room in total darkness. Silviana took off her silk robe, revealing her voluptuous body. Had Bash been here, his rationality would have been shattered in an instant. He was fragile for a hero.

Silviana’s face suddenly turned to the side. There was a mirror in front of her. It was a gift to the royalty of each country, made in cooperation with the Alliance of the Four Races to celebrate the end of the war. It had several magical engravings on it and would not lose its luster for a hundred years. Even if it was destroyed by a club, it would be restored in an instant.

A fist struck the mirror. There was an unpleasant wet sound, and the mirror cracked. The cracks healed as if time rewound.

Silviana struck her fist again and again. The cracks healed instantly, but the surface of the mirror was left with red marks from the fist. Still, she didn’t stop hitting the mirror. The wet sound intensified and sounded sticky, but it continued.

Finally, without warning, the strange behavior came to an end. Silviana suddenly stopped and carefully wiped the mirror with a cloth she had placed beside it. Then she silently threw the cloth into the wastebasket and whispered a healing spell to heal the wound.

“…”

Silviana took her nightgown from the closet and put it on, then stood by the moonlit window and opened it. She looked towards the inn, the way Bash had gone. The icy whiteness of her face crumbled. The reflection behind her eyes was one of intense hatred. She bared her teeth and let out a low growl.

“What are you proud of, huh?” A murmur escaped the growl. The murmur was not only one of anger, but also of some confusion. It was as if what she had believed was actually something else. But there was no one there to hear it, and her voice only faded into the dark night…

“…” Silviana stared for a while, but finally gave a small sigh and turned back to her room. A smile crossed her face. A smile she didn’t know to whom she wanted to show it, nor to whom it was addressed. But in the next moment, that smile froze.

“Haa, good evening.”

Before she knew it, a woman was in the room. She was sitting comfortably in a chair in the room, looking at Silviana with her bright red eyes.

When did this happen? Yes, actually, before she realized it. She wasn’t there a few moments ago when she moved from the closet to the window. She couldn’t see who it was because she didn’t have the light on. Silviana realized immediately that she was a “bad person”.

“I don’t remember inviting anyone.”

Silviana put her hand over her mouth as she said this. She put her index finger in her mouth and inhaled. It was a means of communication, she was going to use “whistling”, transmitted by the Beastmen. It had been used since ancient times as a means of emergency communication. They had all been trained since childhood to be able to produce the sound even if they could not hear it themselves. However, just before the sound was heard, the “bad person” opened her mouth.

“Wouldn’t you like to know how to set a trap for the orc hero?”

Silviana’s movements stopped.

“It seems you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get Bash under your control…”

“…”

“I know, right? Most orcs are nothing but a bunch of mindless ruffians, but the one they call ‘Hero’ doesn’t fall for temptation or flattery. Even if you were alone, he would never attack the princess of a country.”

“What are you talking about?” Silviana smiled again. A smile that calmed everyone who saw it. A poker face called a smile.

“I don’t have to tell you. You want to get back at Bash for killing Leto, the hero, don’t you?”

“…”

“That’s why you were so exposed, you’d say it was r̲a̲pe̲… and tried to start a war with the orcs, right?”

“…”

She said it in a joking tone. But what she said was true.

In fact, Silviana had planned to do just that. She went to where Bash was staying, seduced him, and offered herself to him on a platter. When he attacked her, she would later say, “I didn’t mean to. I only approached him because of the friendship between orcs and beastmen”. No matter what happened to her, she would accuse Bash, claiming that she had only the best intentions.

She knew it wasn’t the best of plans, but she had no choice. She never expected Bash to come to Beastmen Country. But she might never get another chance like this. It was an improvised plan, but she had to do it.

Even if she couldn’t get the charges against him, it would be enough if she could create a rift between the Beastmen and the Orcs, or make the elves and human dignitaries here think badly of them.

If she could do that, it wouldn’t matter what happened to her. She didn’t even think about it.

“So?”

Silviana didn’t even flinch when confronted with the truth. She was trained for that. Since it was an attempt, there was no need to report it. She could have said that she only interacted with him for the sake of the friendship between the Beastmen and the Orcs.

“You’ve always admired Sir Leto, haven’t you? It was him who taught you the rudiments of war, and he saved you when you were captured and about to be killed as an example, so it’s only natural that you worship him. Sir Leto was the embodiment of Beastmen pride.”

A smile appeared on Silviana’s face, but it faded back to an expressionless, steely face. It was Silviana’s ruthless expression that the other five princesses feared.

“I heard that even after the war was over, you still insisted that the orcs must be destroyed.”