I will not die a Villainess's death

"M-Master, what is wrong? Do you want me to kill those intruders for you? Or do you want me to order a special service for you?"

Baron Pheros felt his head hurt as the shell of his maid showed him concern. It was all artificially created by him, these maids being long dead for the blood pool.

Now even looking at them filled the Baron with disgust but he allowed his body to be pulled into the maids' lap for now. He was too tired to deal with everything right now.

The letter that made the Baron flip was lying innocently in front of him on the table as if it had done nothing wrong.

But it had managed to change the Baron's life in a single move. It told the Baron that he could no longer afford to sit back and relax as he had been until now.

"Call that stupid guest we have been housing for some time now. I want to discuss something with her. And make sure nothing reached Lady Dirac's ears or I will kill you all."

The maid didn't even finch at the threat he gave her. She was incapable of reacting now that she was dead. The concept of pain did not even matter to her anymore.

"Understood. I will go and ask the priest to meet you as soon as possible."

"Not soon, but now. If he wants to carry out his research then he better show up right now."

Baron Pheros yelled back toward his maid's back but she did not show any indication that she had heard him out. In the end, Baron Pheros has left alone in the room with his letter in hand.

The small piece of paper that had managed to change his mood bore the royal seal of the temple and the royal family, informing Baron Pheros of a surprised inspection of his home and land.

Why this was happening all of a sudden, even he had no idea but he knew that the presence of that blood pool would be impossible to hide from the temple.

Not only that, they had even agreed to send the Saintess candidate and the Crown Prince respectively to represent their fractions. And if they managed to find something then he would be royally screwed.

He needed to carry out his plans as soon as possible and that meant using Lady Dirac's magic to activate the blood pool. She was the only one who could do that anyway.

"Why do you look so scared? You should learn to relax and take better care of your health. Look at your skin, how dry has it gotten?"

The priest entered the room with her usual air of mystery. But Baron Pheros was not in a mood to tolerate it anyway. He wanted to get a solution to his problem, not add to it by this female's silly words.

"Here, check things out for yourself and then tell me if I have a problem or not. I cannot believe that those central bastards are trying to do this right now when we are so close to our goals."

Baron Pheros could not understand where the sudden interest in his lands and his home came from. The central had never pushed his lands for inspection before today.

It was like everyone was suddenly made aware that he existed and that was putting him under extreme stress.

"Well, that had to be expected after Lady Dirac arrived here yesterday. Everyone knows that the temple doesn't trust her actions. So maybe they are trying to catch her off guard and we just got caught up in the way?"

That was possible. Even Baron Pheros had heard the rumors of the temple not having a good relationship with Elysia Dirac. As a result, they tend to keep an eye on her often enough.

And her visit to Baron Pheros's home was suspicious enough to cause people to look at them.

"What should we do now? We cannot let this situation stand as it is. We need to make sure we are not caught."

Baron Pheros had heard the rumors about what happened to people who used forbidden arts and he had no intention of witnessing the same fate as them.

He would rather kill himself to join his beloved than being caught red-handed.

"Calm down for now. You said that we still had time until the arrival, right? Then why don't we make an even bigger mess of things to distract those people? This way we will get time to pan things out."

"And how do we do that? I am sure you have a plan if you managed to come up with this much planning."

Baron Pheros asked with a suspicious voice. He had known the priest for some time and he knew that she did not speak empty words when she promised something.

As her current smile assured Baron Pheros that she had a plan brewing inside that mind of hers and it was something he was going to like.

"Well, how about we make Elysia Dirac disappear and distract these people that way? I am sure that they will be much more concerned to see what she is up to pay any attention to us."

Surprisingly enough, this plan was not as bad as it sounded at the first hearing. If the rumors turned out to be true, then he could pin the blame on everything on Elysia Dirac before he used her.

And if not, then the disappearance of a noble would cause a big enough rush for people to not pay him any attention. It was a plan that kept on giving until the very end.

There was only one problem with this plan.

"What should we do about her familiar? I am not sure we will be able to separate them from each other very easily."

Baron Pheros had tried to make the three go their separate ways but nothing had worked. He could not even use seduction on those two brats because they were just too young to fall for such a trick.

And they also seemed to have no interest in any of the childish things children their age seemed to have. He was in a bind about what to do now.

"You should leave them to me and focus on Elysia Dirac. Capturing her is the most essential thing right now."

As much as Baron Pheros did not want to trust this priest, she was his only ally and had stayed with him through all the difficult situations he had faced in his life. He had no other choice but to trust her words.

"Fine, I will leave them to you. But remember, we are both in it together. If I get caught then you will not escape unscathed as well."

Baron Pheros was making a threat against the female but she only smiled back at his words. She did not look concerned at all, just amused.

"Of course. Then, I hope you have a pleasant day today."

The priest left soon after that with her happy smile while Baron Pheros was left behind to think his option over. There was little he could do to save himself after he was caught but maybe he could negotiate with Lord Dirac if he had his sister's body.

'Fuck it. This bitch is turning out to be more trouble than she is worth."

___________________________

Elysia sneezed as she ate the food that had been laid in front of her. It had gone cold long ago but the flavor was something Elysia could still appreciate.

Especially after the disaster that had been served for breakfast, Elysia found it easy to devour this food.

"Is the food that good? I was not sure if you would like my cooking or not. My kids never complained about it but I just thought that it was because they were good kids."

Lady Pheros looked much better now. Her complexion was finally back to its right color and her eyes were shining as well.

Even the food she had cooked had been full of flavor and juicy. It was melting inside Elysia's mouth. (Or maybe she was just hungry after everything that had happened)

"The food is really good."

"So true. It is 100 times much better than what they served for breakfast. I thought I would barf if I had to eat that food again."

Both Sorias and Enma were full of praises for the food as well and Lady Pheros finally cracked a smile at their genuine enjoyment.

"Oh, thank you. I  am so glad you like my food."

She did look thankful for the people who were enjoying her food but this calmness was not last for long.

The door to the palace was forced open and a panicked soldier entered the room.

"W-We need help. Y-Young masters were abducted from the garden by unknown assassins and we don't know how to chase after them. T-There were two of them and they went into separate directions."

Both Elysia and Sorias jumped to their feet, their eyes wide in understanding. It was not common for noble children to be kidnapped for ransom.

The only one who looked pained was Enma. Lady Pheros on the other hand had gone into shock and her body collapsed after hearing the news.

"Enma, look after Lady Pheros. I and Sora will give chase and see what these people want from the kids. Sora, you go after the right one, I will chase after the other one."

Sorias looked like he wanted to complain about these arrangements but then thought better of that. He could always finish his work quickly and then join Elysia.

And she had magic at her disposal as well which made things even for her. There was no need for him to worry.

"Alright, but be careful out there. I have a bad feeling about this chase."

"I will be careful. You should be careful as well."

Sorias nodded before he took off after the assassins. He easily caught up to the assassin but the man had no kid with him. That assassin had been marked by the soldiers of the Pheros estate.

So either both the kids were with the other assassin or they had been lied to.