My relationship with Craig had completely reset. No more searching gazes. No more overfamiliar attitude. All interactions kept to a bare minimum, no matter the circumstances.
Now that I’d gotten some proper distance, I reflected anew on just how reckless he’d been. He’d very literally put his life on the line acting like that around Heinreid, and he must have decided to take the risk anyway because he’d been trying to save me. Even if I hadn’t known about his ties to the heroes, it was obvious what an earnest, good-hearted guy he was. That was exactly why I’d gotten so weirdly relaxed around him—why I’d let too much slip out. I’d known my past sins would never go away, so I’d gotten complacent and slacked off on being a villain. Even if I wasn’t following through with my actions, I should’ve kept playing the part constantly. If I’d stuck to my role properly, then Craig wouldn’t have gotten himself in that pointless bind, wavering between his hatred and his sense of justice.
I’d learned my lesson now. Half measures would just end up hurting people more. I needed to stop coddling myself and play the villain perfectly.
I put an end to the wake-up calls I’d ordered from Craig. He accepted the new command with just a “Very well, Your Grace”—no pushback. I also had Karl stop bringing in new roses for my rooms. The final roses wilted after a few days, and now the vase on my desk was gone. I stopped going for walks in the garden as well; I did my best to avoid even looking at it out my window. Cutting out my relaxation periods left me more stressed out, but it also meant I was sleeping lighter—maybe you could call it a stroke of luck, in a way. Honestly, my body was starting to scream at me, but I ignored it. Things had reached the point where it didn’t matter anymore if I pushed myself too hard—Sig’s rebellion was finally underway.
According to Karl, a minor noble who’d cozied up to the king eight years ago had fallen to a surprise invasion by a mysterious group of attackers. I’d also gotten a report that members of House Kisch were among the rebel army, but I’d just shrugged it off with a bluff—“Well then, it seems I’ll have to discipline them”—and left them alone entirely.
In the novel, this was when Heinreid sent Elmer’s arm to House Kisch and threw them into turmoil, but I’d long since released Elmer from the Second Dungeon. I wouldn’t have done anything even if he’d been there, but I was still glad I’d taken every possible precaution.
Once I’d received word of the rebellion, I’d braced myself for some kind of contact from Eberhart. But surprisingly, I hadn’t received so much as a letter, let alone a visit. I wasn’t sure whether he was waiting and watching to see how Heinreid handled things or whether he had plans of his own. Either way, the silence was unnerving. Still, if he wasn’t reaching out, that made my life easier. I just deployed my ultimate millennial technique: Nobody Told Me to Do Anything About It.
The first ones to react to the rebellion were Heinreid’s devotees within the estate. They’d gotten tired of waiting while I did nothing whatsoever to quell the uprisings throughout the kingdom, and eventually, one of the soldiers came in to speak to me directly on the group’s behalf.
What is the matter, Your Grace? You need only give the command, and we shall purge these filthy traitors at once. We are all prepared for battle, Your Grace. What are your orders?
He begged me over and over to send them out, so I asked him: Who exactly are these “we” prepared for battle? He assumed that I was finally about to order them to go out and start killing, and he eagerly gave me a list of names. I mentally confirmed that they matched the list of devotees in my memory, then had them all rounded up and thrown in the First Dungeon before the day was out.
I had a passable bullshit charge now: They were impudent fools who dared to address their master unbidden. When I had Craig arrest them, they were all desperately shouting something or other, but I didn’t care what they had to say. They’d committed no shortage of actual crimes, after all. For the first time ever, I’d finally put genuine evildoers in that dungeon. All the other prisoners had been cleared out completely, and if I’d let those guys be, they might’ve started taking action on their own. It was perfect timing, really.
After all, I genuinely had no intention of doing anything about the rebellion. When Sig and Natasha had first arrived in my duchy, I’d deliberately made contact with them and played the villain because that was a key event in the story. But aside from that, the less Heinreid did, the more peaceful things would be. All of Heinreid’s other violent acts in the rest of the novel just meaninglessly churned out more victims. None of his villainy helped Sig awaken some new power or discover Eberhart’s secret weakness or anything like that—this story didn’t have any magic spells or holy swords or angels or demons in the first place. Eberhart’s secret weakness? Carotid artery.
Without a major antagonist like Heinreid getting in the way, the rebellion steadily picked up speed. New reports were coming in by the day: Viscount So-and-so had turned traitor, the barony of Such-and-such had fallen, and so on. Releasing all the hostages ahead of the fighting had also paid off—House Kisch weren’t the only vassals of Duke Rodvelia making suspicious moves.
Karl was the one matter-of-factly delivering most of those reports, but for some reason, it was Craig who came to notify me that Marquis Zechress and his family had disappeared.
This is the first time he’s spoken to me in a while, huh?
I felt a little wistful, but mostly I was just relieved to know that Angelica had gotten everyone out safely. I didn’t look all that closely at Craig’s face as he broke the news.
Before long, various local vassals who’d been quietly opposed to me had stopped paying their taxes, and revolts were finally starting to break out on the edges of the duchy of Rodvelia. That was when Karl came in with a letter for me. It was in a familiar gold-embossed white envelope, with a bright red amaryllis stamped into the sealing wax.
Here it was. I didn’t know whether he’d been waiting for the right moment or whether he’d finally lost patience, but my orders had arrived. I silently cut open the seal and took out the letter. Unlike the last letter he’d sent me, this one was short and straight to the point, with plenty of blank space left on the page. I read it over and closed my eyes. Karl remained standing in the study, awaiting my response.
“Karl.”
“Your Grace.”
“I’m departing for the palace tomorrow. Have the estate cleaned up by the time I return.”
“Very well, Your Grace.”
The end was in sight.