CH 5

A few days later, dressed in modest attire, I was standing in front of a cozy pavilion in a corner of the countryside. My name was widely known as「Remilia, the villainess who harmed the Star Villainess.」No one will listen to me now even if I shout loudly that I’m not guilty. The servants, whom my father had arranged as a favor, seemed to have been told only that「a young lady from a noble family is coming here to be imprisoned for doing something outrageous,」and their eyes turned cold to me.

Fine, considering I almost put Emi through this, I don’t feel an itch.

Even after Emi had locked herself away in me, I was still able to access Emi’s memories. I was no longer able to feel any of Emi’s emotions, but only that connection could confirm that Emi existed.

I had guessed what had happened to Williard and the others since I was in Emi, and when he released his messenger to explore the area around Pina, he was sure his guess was correct. It was a small, fingertip-sized spider demon that Remilia in the story also used. It has little power, but it was therefore undetectable and exceptionally useful for espionage.

The「Paid Item Store」that existed in the story in Emi’s memory, after all, Pina was using products from there. Well, it’s not surprising because it is impossible for that situation to be so out of ordinary and yet so many men are so boned by Pina. It was normal to think that they were using some kind of cowardly tactics.

The store sold items that had various effects, as well as magic crystals. Regular items and materials can be obtained as rewards for battles in the RPG part, and there is store menu that deals only with such regular items.

Paid items existed that increased the attractiveness value and the likability of the target of the attack. Of course, it is possible to raise the likability level without spending money, but the maximum value is 100%, while the normally available likability-raising items will only raise it by 0.02%, even if you give them books, sweets, or liquor that match their preferences. If you add them to your party and fight a battle, you will get a random 0.05 to 0.1% increase in likability, but it will take a long time anyway. If you keep them in battle group for a long time with attachment, you will find yourself at the upper limit, but it is impossible for Pina to do in that short period of time.

These regular liking items only dropped one or two in battle, but an unlimited number of「love elixirs」could be purchased at the Paid Store, where a single one could increase liking by as much as 5%. It was called「wicked」on the strategy board that Emi was watching because there are events that cannot be seen when using the love elixirs, but apparently there were many users who used it.

There is also an item called「Perfume of Attractiveness」that can double the increase in likability when giving gifts and when working together. Once used, the effects were set to last a month, but… that Pina woman had an unfamiliar scent at all times. I’m sure that was it. The flavor text of that perfume said,「Spending time together will make the other person like you,」and I can’t even explain how so many sons and daughters of nobility were turning into followers over time if it wasn’t because of that perfume, which I noticed as soon as I saw that woman was so vile.

On the contrary, the first prince has no inclination toward her at all, which confirms my hypothesis. The love potion and perfume of attractiveness are ineffective against demons and those with strong demon blood. As will be revealed in the story, the consort of His Majesty who gave birth to the first prince was a demoness. The items charged to increase the likability of the demons and their kinsmen can only be purchased after the Demon Realm is unlocked in Chapter 7, but that’s not important to talk about now.

There is no doubt that the woman was using a set-up payable item store located in the back streets of royal capital.

Furthermore, her skill in fabricating evidence was also excellent. She did not have the talent to be liked by people as Emi, but she had a talent better than anyone else on conning people and lying to them as if it were the truth.

Various combinations of what they had asked different people to do were being used to create Remilia’s crime out of nowhere. Those who committed perjury would think that each one was too trivial and that「they only had strengthened the corroboration a little.」

The only people who were convinced and deceived to and who betrayed me were Remilia’s personal maid of honor and a few bodyguards who were supposed to be loyal to the Duke Graupner. Otherwise, there is no way they said something that did not exist such as,「Remilia-ojou-sama frequently spent time with me, being『to wait here.』」In that unsupervised time, Remilia was supposed to be busy in the shadows doing her abusive deeds to the Star Maiden.

「I’m sure she’s going to try to make it look like Remilia caused the time of the disaster.」

She would not accept anything other than the same storyline, when she found other future companions beside Williard and his friends at the school, she would act friendly as if she was marking them. It’s as if they deserve to fall in love with her. She is that woman who fabricated the evidence of bullying with great prowess, and she will go make「Remilia」a great sinner who caused the disaster.

Of course I have no intention of doing such a thing, but I can’t stand to have evidence of false accusations brought to my attention. She was sure that I will have the grimoires and the summonses written in the summoning of demons secretly brought into a hidden room in the mansion. In that room where Remilia in the story actually researched and performed demon summoning.

The means to cross over to the Demon Realm is necessary for the ultimate goal, but I do not intend to do anything foolish like collecting old books, going around ruins, or doing anything that would leave evidence that I was「researching demon summoning.」They already have a good idea about that.

Thanks to the leveling that Emi called her「Previous Life Cheat,」I had an outstanding ability to handle magic, so I gave all my servants ample allowances, wrote letters of introduction, apologized for my selfishness, gave them some free time, and set up a ward over the entire small house that no one but me could enter or leave.

In a completely pathetic manner, I told them,「I was falsely accused in the royal capital and banished by the Dauphin’s new lover… If you stay here, you may get involved with me,」then I said afterwards,「But let me at least help you get a new job.」Told by this beautiful lady, they were wary and sympathetic to my situation. They will spread this story in their own villages. I need to take steps to spread the truth from the remote areas where Pina is unaffected. This is the best passive hand I can play as of now.

I can’t trust these people yet. They could be Pina’s pawns. I eat the meals I prepare in the mansion where I dismissed all the servants who go by.

Thanks to Emi’s memories, a few household chores are not a hassle, and cleaning and laundry can be done by magic. It was more bothersome to be around strangers.

Ahh, it’s just me and Emi in this house. I’ve never felt so rested.

Just wait and see, I’ll have Emi’s honor back soon.

I put my hand on my chest and prayed softly.

With their defenses up, my next step was to destroy the Paid Item Store that I believed Pina was using. It’s not a big deal if I destroy it. If Emi and I could communicate, I would just do what Emi might suggest.

The owner of the store was actually a demonkin, and there are several similar stores like this one around the world. He uses the money he earns from selling goods purchased with transfer magic from the Demon Realm to buy supplies and to send it back there. The Demon Realm is a land of few vegetation and it manages to support its homeland by secretly selling demon resources and products processed from them in the human sphere of influence. The number of demons in the country has dwindled to less than 30,000 in total.

I am the head of a desolate village, an independent noblewoman, in name only. The village was a deserted area with no inhabitants, servants are commuting every few days from near villages, and an area by the forest with an abandoned village nearby… The decision to buy discretionary rights here all the way from the Dukedom of Graupner was for the ultimate purpose. With this method,「destroying the paid store」and「settling the demon kin」are not out of the question no longer.

I asked the shopkeeper,「Why don’t you build a settlement in my village with the demons hiding in this country?」and I invited him. The owner of the store, who at first expressed wariness, gradually opened up to me, who I visited the store regularly to lay the groundwork for the revenge drama and enthusiastically invited him to join me, and gradually agreed to accept my invitation to my village, saying,「If it’s  only those who have no place to stay now…」

The owner of the store, who had allegedly committed a great crime, I told him that I wanted to build a prosperous town and pay back those who falsely accused me, and for that I needed first settlers who would be willing to settle on my land, and that he had deposited it as collateral… I had secretly saved up all my money since I was a child… and he saw all the money I had and gradually put his trust on me. It was necessary for the plan that「Remilia who was called a villainess, built a town where demons also live happily.」

If it’s just the demons, I don’t have to worry about Pina boning me for the time being. I finally have a pawn. I further told the shopkeeper that the love potions and perfume of attractiveness are beginning to attraction of the nobility, and that he should either stop selling them or be very selective about who he sells them to.「Those two items are my best sellers,」the shopkeeper reluctantly complained, but I made him shake his mind by offering him head a large quantity of my magic crystals instead.

After gaining his trust, I asked him for more details, and he told me that Pina had been using shop after all. When I told the owner that even this store might be target of an attack「because that young woman, your regular customer, did what she wanted with that drug against several aristocrats,」I blamed Pina,「That good customer of yours, put me into trouble.」He seemed to figured out that he should no longer sell products to Pina.

I think back to Pina’s behavior back at that time. She wears perfume and hangs around, the smell of her perfume gradually increasing her likability, and she even tames the soldiers and entourage of her guards. Once in her pocket, she would have been able to plant all of the love potions she wanted. There was a poison tasting, but that was not a poison, and it was not fast-acting. Rather, even the Dauphin’s guards, who had tasted the love potion at the poison tasting, only fought to be in Pina’s side.

Emi had told Williard and the others not to drink the tea Pina made and the sweets she brought for them after it occurred to her that the paid items existed, but they no longer took her seriously at that time, saying「We did the poison tasting every time and have never had any abnormalities from it,」and「Are you jealous? You are way too paranoid.」Once the queen heard Emi’s complaint, she secretly checked for drugs in the food Pina had provided… The「love potion」made with ingredients native to the Demon Realm and not present here could not be detected as abnormal with the technology humans currently possess.

The queen seemed to wonder about the trace of magic power measured, but the investigation was cut short when Williard became agitated, saying「Mother took Remilia’s accusations into heart.」

There were many other opportunities to realize their mistakes. I cannot forgive them for stepping through to the end like this, even though they should have done so. They had falsely favored Pina through drugs, but they were not being manipulated or losing their sanity.

Those men should live the rest of their lives regretting their foolishness.