Chapter Volume 8 16: The Battleship, Decapitated

That was dangerous.

I almost had Ciel, who’s rebellious against me, taken away.

Who on earth leaked the information?

I don’t think Kukuri and his subordinates would go against my orders, and it’s not like anything would’ve happened by leaving Ciel alone.

Although she hates me and tries to get in my way, there’s only so much she can do with her abilities.

Being the good person that she is, her actions are very limited.

If she was evil, I would’ve eliminated her already since those that can throw caution to the wind are dangerous.

From my perspective, Ciel is the perfect woman to have rolling on my palm.

It would’ve been tough to find a replacement, and it doesn’t sit right with me to go out of my way to search for one.

Ciel’s worth is precisely because she’s all-natural.

—Basically, it’s a matter of taste.

“In the end, where did the information get leaked from? Should I have Kukuri and his men look into it?”

A sense of crisis takes hold of me due to the info leak that has occured.

Just then, Eulisia enters my office with some documents in hand.

“Lord Liam, there’s something I wish to consult with you. It’s about Lady Rosetta’s personal guards.”

Unlike her usual self, Eulisia in work mode is wearing a skirt suit, and giving off the vibe of a competent woman.

She should really take things more seriously on a daily basis.

“Rosetta’s?”

I browse through the documents and find nothing interesting about the personal guards that are being assembled.

It’s neither good nor bad.

As dull as it is, it’s a solid selection.

“As one would expect of Rosetta. Her personal guards are so unremarkable that it’s almost boring.”

“Even so, that’s the best we could do.”

Giving it your all means nothing.

“What’s important in this world is the result, not the effort that you put in. Show me results.”

“So, mean! —Oh, in that case, please praise me.”

“Huh? You? Why?”

Why do I have to praise her?

She’s living off my money, so there’s nothing weird with her working for me.

It’d be a waste to keep her otherwise.

“I’m talking about what happned to Ciel-chan. You see, I was the one who figured out that she’s moving behind the scenes to interfere with the selection of Lady Rosetta’s personal guards!”

Eulisia sticks her chest out and declares with confidence and pride.

Stunned, I shoot up from my chair and approach her.

“Oh, feeling like praising me? Then be gentle with—hey, that hurts!”

I give her a good flick, prompting her to crouch down with both her hands covering her forehead.

“What gives?!”

“What have you done, you disappointing woman!”

With teary eyes, Eulisia complains about the mistreatment.

I didn’t expect the traitor to be right next to me.

This girl must have found evidence of Ciel moving behind the scenes and tattled to Baron Exner!

“Take this! And this! And this!”

I jab her cheeks with my index finger.

“S-stop with the mistreatment!”

“You should be grateful that I’m willing to forgive you with just this. Don’t poke your nose into Ciel’s business from now on.”

Holding her cheeks with her hands, Eulisia stares at me, shocked.

Just as I’m wondering what she’s surprised about, she says something completely out of the blue.

“Y-you’re getting angry with me, but you’re willing to forgive Ciel even when she’s betrayed you?! You like her that much?!”

It seems she’s unwilling to accept the fact that Ciel’s loved more than herself.

—What happened to your plan of casting me aside and breaking up with me?

And to begin with, I don’t think there was any love between us.

“She’s indeed better than you.”

Compared to Eulisia, Ciel can heal my wounded soul.

She’s valuable in that she has what Rosetta lacks.

“You keep moving on to other women!”

“When was I ever into you?”

I call B.S.! Amagi’s the only one I’m crazy about!

Eulisia causes a scene, and Rosetta joins us in the midst of that.

“Darling, are you done discussing with her? I want to speak to you about my personal guards—”

Rosetta enters the room with a smile, but upon seeing Eulisia bawling with tears in her eyes, her expression turns cold.

However, the target of her cold gaze is Eulisia, not me.

“Eulisia-san, what are you doing?”

“Me?! So, I’m the problem now?! It’s clearly Lord Liam’s fault! He’s cheating on me with another woman!”

—Why does she think I’m interested in her?

Truly, she’s being overly self-centered.

If she was less disappointing, I might’ve considered treating her a bit better.

Also, it’s scary how Rosetta doesn’t suspect me one bit after seeing what’s going on.

Normally, one would take the side of the crying woman.

Her blind trust in me is quite burdensome.

“From the looks of things, you’re troubling Darling. Also, taking into account your normal behavior, what else do you expect?”

Since she knows how Eulisia normally behaves, she’s come to the conclusion that I’m not the one at fault here.

Rosetta… why are you such an easy woman?

You should be more suspicious of me.

“Enough. You need me for something?”

“Oh, right…it’s about Ciel.”

Ciel?

◇

Ciel, after being scolded by her father and brother, had been told to reflect on her actions in her room.

Baron Exner had exclaimed, ‘You won’t find a finer aristocrat anywhere else! How could you call him a bad person!’

On the other hand, Kurt had said, ‘Apologizing won’t be enough. Now that things have come this far, I’ll undergo sex reassignment surgery and—’

Ciel’s pillow was wet from her tears.

“Brother’s an idiot! No one’s aware of that person’s true nature!”

What made things worse was that she had to receive the help that Liam had offered for her offense to be overlooked.

He had bowed down before Baron Exner, saying that he was willing to “pay however much is needed for her pardon”.

With Liam’s help, Ciel’s education was once against entrusted to the Banfields.

She was crying because of how pathetic she felt and how her brother was seriously considering changing his gender despite having a fiancée.

While her eyes were swollen red, the door to her room opened.

The door should have been locked, but she found Liam standing there.

“Yo.”

Liam, who was grinning, probably knew how she felt.

He was having the time of his life watching her cry in frustration.

“I-it’s you.”

“Since you’re a maid, you should greet your Master.”

“As if! Besides, I’m currently under house arrest!”

Normally, her status didn’t allow her to talk back, but Liam looked like he was enjoying himself.

In fact, he seemed to very much welcome the retorts.

“What did I say? Nobody’s going to trust your words.”

“Ku!”

As things stood, she would be yelled at or asked if she was okay if she went around calling Liam a villain.

However, Ciel wasn’t about to give up.

“—I’ll definitely expose your true nature to the world.”

She was determined to prove to the others that they were misunderstanding him and that Liam wasn’t the good person they thought he was.

Hearing this, Liam brought his face close to Ciel’s.

“I very much look forward to it. I’ll be rooting for you, Ciel-chan.”

“I’ll defintely make you regret what you’ve done today! I’ll make you regret ever helping me!”

Ciel wasn’t about to forgive Liam for tricking her brother.

Kurt was seriously debating whether he should change his gender.

If he did, he would go from being her dear brother to being her dear sister, and Ciel absolutely refused to accept that.

She was going to unmask Liam and open up her brother’s eyes.

“I’ll give you plenty of praise if you manage to do that.”

Liam beamed in happiness seeing Ciel maintain her stubborn attitude.

He turned around and left the room.

Ciel wiped off her tears with renewed determination, knowing that it wasn’t the time to be crying.

“—I’ll definitely expose your true nature to the world.”

In the corner of her room, a faint light that resembled a dog cocked its head as it watched Ciel yell, “I won’t let my dear brother become my sister!” towards the ceiling.

Then, it too exited the room.

◇

Back in my room, I’m drinking the tea that Amagi has prepared for me.

This is the time of day when I can have my peace.

Amagi asks a question as she prepares sweets for me.

“Is Ciel-san back on her feet?”

“My heart went cold when I heard she was feeling down, but it seems her spirit isn’t broken yet. She’s a rare talent.”

She keeps saying she’ll expose me even though she can’t, and I find that really cute.

It’s like watching a chihuahua trying to initiate a fight against a tiger.

“Master, I don’t think it’s a good idea to tease her so much.”

“Don’t worry about it. Putting that aside—I heard Cleo’s also moving about a lot behind the scenes.”

“His Highness Cleo?”

“He’s using the money that I’ve provided him with and distributing it to poor aristocrats. I had Kukuri and his men investigate, and it appears he’s gathering people that can act as his arms and legs.”

Will he remain satisfied as a figurehead, or—

Amagi looks towards me. She’s as expressionless as always, but there’s a hint of worry in her eyes.

“Rest assured. He’s not my enemy.”

“Master seems pretty relaxed despite being up against His Majesty the Emperor.”

Against the entire Empire, a puny lord like myself would normally be obliterated.

However, the fact that he’s sneakily moving behind the scenes proves that he can’t publicly make a move against me.

That, or he’s toying with me.

—All things considered; it does bother me.

The Guide mentioned something about my ‘true enemy’.

Everything would make sense if it was His Majesty the Emperor was controlling the Berkeley Family from the shadows, but that would also mean he’s much more powerful than the likes of Linus and Calvin.

“I’ll leave the Empire intact if Cleo remains as he is, but if he doesn’t—”

I don’t finish my sentence.

It’s become highly likely that my true enemy is this country’s Emperor, but that just means I have to do what it takes to beat him, and I fully intend to win.

Seeing that there’s still some uneasiness in Amagi’s eyes, I reassure her.

“There’s nothing to worry about. We have a good chance of winning.”

“But enemies keep appearing one after another.”

“Well, you’re right on that one.”

I want to remain cooped up inside my territory and play around, but I haven’t had any time for that.

Like seriously, I wasn’t given any time to play around, even back when I was in university.

That’s why I’ll remain in the Capital for a while and enjoy myself.

Since it’s the Emperor that’s moving behind the scenes, even if I were to defeat the enemies that I have right now, more would pop up in due time.

Amagi asks how I’ll deal with Cleo.

“Is Master thinking of giving His Highness Cleo a warning? I don’t recommend leaving him alone.”

“I’ll let him be for now since it will be more interesting that way, and what he’s doing is commendable. Don’t you see? To stand against me, he’s gathering everyone that opposes me.”

Those that oppose me are generally good people.

Since my group consists of evil lords, those that oppose us should be made of virtuous ones.

Cleo’s basically gathering them all in one place and acting like a vaccum cleaner.

Once they’re all nicely gathered—I’ll erase them.

“I should save up my strength for a while. There’s the matter of nurturing successors for the School of One-Flash, not to mention—”

My One-Flash still falls short of my Master’s.

There’s something missing to it.

“—Should I seek out Master?”

It’s about time I seek his guidance once more.

I was able to defeat Izel, but I’m not sure whether this is the answer to cutting down the uncuttable.

Amagi reports to me as I think about various things.

“I believe His Highness Cleo is doing the same thing as Lady Rosetta.”

“The same as Rosetta?”

“Yes. To establish her personal guards, she’s calling out to knights and aristocrats that are in distress and providing them with support.”

“Hmm.”

No surprise there. She’s a nice person after all.

As expected, it was the right decision to establish her personal guards.

With just Eulisia alone, she’ll only be able to maintain the appearance of an army.

“However, Lady Rosetta seems to be doing a lot of careful investigation, meaning she’s not randomly selecting people.”

“I don’t care about the details. Just notify me if any problem occurs.”

“Understood.”

Amagi bows before looking at me.

“Anything wrong?”

“No, but standing beside Master like this reminds me of the past.”

“The past?”

“Yes. I have been serving Master for a long time after all.”

Now that I think about it, has it been over a hundred years?

Indeed, we’ve been acquainted for a long time.

It just irks me that I’ve known Brian the longest.

“I’ll be counting on you in the future as well.”

“—Of course.”

——————————————————————————————————

Ciel (#゜Д゜): “I’ll never acknowledge my brother becoming a sister!”

Brian (´；ω；｀): “—The way Lord Liam views this Brian is terrible. It’s painful.”

Brian (´・ω・｀): “And that marks the conclusion of Volume 8. This section was originally written to promote other works, but things have taken a strange turn. Nevertheless, it’s a pleasant surprise to see this novel promoted as well.”

Brian ヾ(*´ω｀*)ノ: “This Brian is happy to announce that Volume 1 of ‘I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!’ is being well received. Please have a look at ‘The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs’ as well. Thank you.”

Brian (*´ω｀): “Speaking of the first volume of ‘I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!’, a lot of revisions have been made prior to the novel’s publication, so readers of the web novel can enjoy it as well. Please consider purchasing a copy.”

Brian (*´ω｀*)ノ: “Well then, see you in Volume 9.”

Author’s Notes:

—How was Volume 8?

On July 25th, Volume 1 of “I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!” was released!

On July 30th, Volume 6 Regular and Limited Edition of “The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs” was released!

On August 7th, Volume 4 of the manga “The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs” was released!

—And just like that, there was somehow a publication rush (^_^; )

Both series seem to be popular, and as the author, it makes me very happy. This is also thanks to our dear readers.

Thank you very much. (*^▽^*)

Also, we would like to know what the readers think of this work. You can write your impressions and evaluations of the work below, so feel free to give us your thoughts. We look forward to reading your reviews.

*However, please make sure to follow the rules.

Volume 9 will be up next, and the time of its release is yet to be decided, but I would like to have it uploaded by the end of this year.

Last, but not least, thank you for your continued support!

TN: That was a long author’s note.

Editor: I’m still confused about why Kurt needs to be a woman…