Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

I realized something was wrong.

No signs of life could be felt in the deathly quiet laboratory.

He was definitely not in here.

Thinking he might have gone out for a walk, I ran to the garden and asked the gardener and passing maids:

“Have you seen the president, I mean Rizen?”

“We haven’t seen the mage yet today. This child is his stalker… I mean, knows the mage very well, so if she hasn’t seen him, he’s probably still in the laboratory.”

“I’ve already been to the laboratory.”

“What? Then where on earth…”

No one knew the president’s whereabouts.

I felt my heart beating faster as I walked through the garden.

“It can’t be…”

There was something Jen had cautioned me about.

-Miss, though I recommended the president, I still need to caution you. Don’t trust people too much. The magic ore refining method is knowledge of astronomical value. Even the president could change once he learns it.

-The president?

-Anyone, not just the president. First, I’ll give you this silencing scroll as a temporary measure, but keep watching him constantly so he’s not taken by others.

“If the president betrayed me… No. That’s impossible.”

-I’ll be loyal for life, Miss!

-I’ll dedicate this second life you’ve given me to you, Miss!

The president’s determined voice still seems to ring in my ears…

I stood there, burying my face in my hands.

A passing servant approached me with a worried tone:

“Miss, are you alright? Are you feeling unwell…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m terribly sorry for doubting the president even for a moment…”

I raised my head abruptly.

He would never betray me.

Just then, I saw something glittering on the ground.

“That’s…”

Sensing my gaze, the servant hurriedly ran over and picked up the shining object.

“It’s a ballpoint pen, miss.”

Then the servant seemed to find something in the bushes and pulled it out.

“This time it’s a notebook! Why are these things the mage cherished so much in a place like this…”

The notebook and pen were both gifts I had given to the president.

-These days I often go for walks at night. It feels great to organize my ideas in the notebook you gave me while breathing in the cool night air.

I recalled what the president had told me.

The small notebook the servant brought had an unfinished sentence written in it, as if the president had just been writing it.

It was as if he had been dragged away in the middle…

There was no need to deliberate further.

“Jen, come right now.”

The ring on my hand glowed bluish.

“So you’re saying the president seems to have been kidnapped?”

“It’s not ‘seems’, I’m certain.”

“Hearing the circumstances you described, I think the same…”

Jen’s eyes darkened.

He walked to the lakeside, cupped some water in his hand, and closed his eyes.

“Wh-What are you doing…”

As I watched Jen stirring the lake water this way and that in this urgent situation, wondering if he hadn’t washed his hands, he spoke:

“Red moon.”

Jen said, opening his eyes.

“Last night, a red moon rose here. I can read the memories of water.”

Mages with familiars each share special abilities with their familiars.

Just as I can use time-stopping magic and Larisha can read the emotions of those around her, it seemed Jen also had a special ability.

“What do you mean by a red moon?”

“It’s a kind of spell. It puts the target in a hypnotic state. The president probably left the mansion under hypnosis. Since the gatekeeper would have been guarding the main gate, he must have gone over the wall somewhere…”

Jen walked somewhere as if tracing the magical footprints left by the president.

And finally, we arrived at a secluded part of the wall.

There were several footprints on the wall as if someone had climbed up.

“This is where the president’s traces end.”

“Who on earth would kidnap the president…!”

It became even clearer that the president had been kidnapped.

To dare such a bold action at the Duke Rayes’s mansion, they must have guts sticking out of their belly.

Jen heaved a deep sigh.

“I didn’t completely rule out the possibility of this happening, but to think it would actually occur… In fact, there was one more spell cast on the scroll I gave you last time.”

“What…”

“A tracking spell.”

Jen cast the tracking spell he said he had placed on the president.

Then, just like when we were looking for Jen’s whereabouts when the Tower Master had run away, a map-like magic circle appeared.

A red dot was floating over the map of the Greffin Empire.

It was indicating the president’s location.

“This is…”

“Do you know this place?”

I certainly did.

It was none other than the eastern region where the Troy Orphanage had been.

Whoever kidnapped the president must be after the magic ore refining method he knows.

‘Then at least someone who owns magic ore would want to know the refining method.’

“…Right, there was the Diara Magic Ore Factory in the east.”

I recalled the face of the pig-like factory owner I had encountered in town recently.

“I said there wouldn’t be a next time if we met again…”

If it really was him who kidnapped the president, I’d have to properly fulfill those words.

* * *

Heading to the east was quick.

It was thanks to the instant teleportation artifact Jen had stolen from the Tower Master without him knowing, saying it was an emergency and thus self-defense.

It was truly a convenient item, but…

“I can’t do this twice. Ugh-“

I leaned against a tree, feeling extreme motion sickness.

“I think so too. We should have just taken a carriage. Urk…”

Jen was no different.

After some time passed, we were finally able to walk properly and survey our surroundings.

This was where the lower reaches of the Senz River that crosses the east spread out.

The white mist rising from the river blurred our vision.

“Let’s start by looking for places where the factory might be.”

We moved our steps, pushing through the forest.

“Miss, wait a moment.”

After some time had passed, Jen stopped me, grabbing my arm.

Following him, we hid our bodies behind a tree, and soon footsteps could be heard from somewhere.

‘That’s…’

It was the factory owner.

We quietly exchanged glances and then followed him.

As we pushed through the forest like that, a huge mansion appeared among the dense trees.

It was too remote a place for a noble to live.

Behind the mansion, a massive factory was built.

If it was a factory built by Kablos’s subordinate, they must be conducting illegal activities there.

According to what I heard from Sister Serine, it seemed they were smuggling magic ore to other countries after primary refining.

That’s why they must be living in such a remote place and operating the factory.

As the factory owner was about to pass the mansion and head towards the factory, a voice stopping him was heard.

“Petrick.”

“Ah, you’re here.”

“Is this one definitely the real deal?”

“I told you. Isn’t being Rayes’ mage enough?”

“What? How much did you give him for him to come along so easily?”

“Th-That… Well, he came right along when we called him nicely.”

I widened my eyes.

If those words were true, the president was definitely here.

“But why haven’t you started refining the magic ore yet?”

“He’s been sleeping in the mansion all day, probably tired from the long journey. Don’t worry, he’ll wake up soon and start working.”

“Hmm, alright… We must succeed this time.”

The two disappeared towards the factory, conversing like that.

“Jen, that guy seems to know where the president is. Should we catch him and interrogate him?”

“This is their private property. We’re trespassers here. Unless we see the president with our own eyes, it’s just suspicion.”

He meant that if we act rashly, we might end up in trouble instead.

I was boiling inside but muttered in agreement.

“They said he was in the mansion, for sure…”

As I was pondering how to sneak into the mansion, I saw people busily moving about through the window.

“That’s it.”

As I smiled meaningfully, Jen tilted his head.

“Jen, walk a bit further apart. Servants and maids don’t walk this close together.”

“You’d only know that if you’ve lived in a noble house.”

We succeeded in infiltrating the mansion.

With magic, Jen became a blonde male servant, and I became a maid with a more mature appearance and brown hair braided into one.

Jen gradually slowed his pace and started walking through the mansion, keeping a distance from me.

That’s when it happened.

“Hey, you!”

Jen and I stopped our steps simultaneously.

My heart’s going to give out. Who on earth are they calling?

“Tinande! Did you deliver the message I told you to give to Emma earlier?”

Though I didn’t know who they were calling, I started walking again.

Jen also moved, following me.

Then someone grabbed Jen’s shoulder and said:

“Hey, why are you ignoring me?”

“What?”

Jen said in confusion.

“Huh? Why do you seem taller? Your voice is deeper too. Seeing your blonde hair, you must be Tinande…”

The servant mumbled in bewilderment.

“What are you…”

“I lost my glasses so I can’t see well, but… You are Tinande, right?”

As the servant asked suspiciously, Jen immediately answered:

“Ah- Oh! Right, I delivered it well to Emma. So… Bruno.”

Jen added the servant’s name, looking at his name tag.

“I thought so? Ah, there’s Emma too. You just met her. Make sure to deliver that to the mage!”

Emma, is that me?

I quietly nodded.

By the way, if it’s the mage…

“Bruno, where’s the mage?”

“How can you not know where he is when you tied him up yourself?”

I was about to give up trying to fish for information at the servant’s puzzled words, when:

“Oh, come to think of it, we did move him. To the room at the end of the first floor, right. Go that way.”

The servant kindly pointed and guided us to where the president was.

“Ah, thank you.”

Jen and I turned around to head that way without hesitation.

Then we heard a voice behind us once more:

“Bruno! You should have told me if you moved the mage. The truth potion you said to feed him will get cold!”

We turned around simultaneously.

From a distance, a brown-haired maid was walking towards us, puffing angrily while holding a bottle of blue potion.

“Emma…? Then they are…”

At that moment-

Jen and I moved simultaneously as if we had made a promise, instantly moving behind the two people and striking their napes.

We put the two slumped people in a nearby empty room and hurried our steps again towards the end room where the president was.

Of course, there was a lock on the door, but it broke with one strike of the Crimson Blade.

Jen, who watched this from the side, flinched at my ferocious aura.

“What are you doing, let’s go in quickly.”

I passed him and opened the door to enter.

When I opened the curtains wide in the dark room, the room brightened with the incoming sunlight.

And before my eyes was the president, bound and gagged.

“President!”

As soon as I removed the blindfold covering his eyes and the gag in his mouth, tears flowed endlessly from his beautiful eyes.

“Hic, sob… Miss…!”

I did say I wanted to see him cry again because it was pretty, but I didn’t want to make him cry like this.

I caressed the tears welling up in the president’s pitifully reddened eyes and said:

“Jen, we’ve found the president. Now I don’t have to hold back anymore, right?”

I’m going to tear them apart.