The Villainess’ Beloved Plan: The Struggles to Avoid a Doomed End

The town of Caizaruz was about a day and a half by horse-drawn carriage from the town of Iguazu.

Randall became a little sad when he recalled that the white sandy beach with its coral carcass deposits and clear emerald green sea was a famous tourist attraction and was on Sofia’s list of places she wanted to visit if time permitted.

Perhaps conscious of the landscape, the town was lined with houses with white walls and red roofs.

Even if they wanted to get Selkie’s Tears, they couldn’t dive into the sea without permission because a union had been created, and Cyril would have to handle the negotiations around here.

Walking along the road, which had a curvilinear pattern of white stones, Randall looked around the shops along the road.

While Cyril was negotiating, Randall had nothing better to do, so he decided to look around the shops.

Not as an apology for not bringing Sophia with him, but to buy her something that would suit her. However, Randall, who had never given a woman a gift before, had no idea what to buy her.

Rather, there are so many things that “would suit Sophia” that he couldn’t choose from. But since he had no idea about what she likes, He could not make a decision

‘That red coral hair ornament would look good with Sophia’s golden hair. Or those pearls there.’

Randall stopped in front of a shop that suddenly caught his eye. Following the owner’s lead, he bought a coral hair ornament and earrings, and then wandered off to another shop.

As Randall shopped one after another, so much that even he had no idea why he was shopping so much, he was blindsided by a familiar face three shops down the road.

The shaggy-headed man was definitely Raqqa, the professional painter whom Lady Arena had hired and parted company with in Casals. How could he be here when he had supposedly returned to Glastona?

As Randall approached, Raqqa seemed to recognise him and his eyes widened.

“Duke Voltio! What brings you here?”

“That’s my line. Why are you here, when you should have gone back to Glastona?”

“Well, I have some business to attend to. I’m here to see you… So, um, have you found Lady Sophia?”

Randall hesitated, but briefly explained that she was at Verhund’s castle in Azaruth, except that Sophia had been given a love potion.

Raqqa frowned slightly.

“Is that so…? I didn’t think so, but could it be…”

Randall twisted his head as Raqqa began to mumble. It was then, a voice came.

“Sir–!”

Johannes, who was supposed to be packing up his luggage at the inn, came running towards them, out of breath.

Randall looked back at him.

“Well, a few moments ago, a messenger came from the castle and said it was urgent…”

“Urgent?”

“Yes, something about your wife.”

“Sophia?”

‘What’s happened to Sofia?’

Randall gasped.

For some reason, Raqqa said he would come with him, so Randall and Raqqa went to the inn where the messenger from the castle was waiting.

Orion and Cyril were already at the inn.

The two messengers from the castle were both pale, and both were constantly wiping the sweat from their foreheads.

“Is something wrong with Sophia?”

Randall asked, and the messengers looked at each other, then the round-faced man, probably the older one, spoke up.

“Well, that’s… Lady Sophia, but, uh, how should I put it…”

The round-faced man looked at Randall and Cyril, looked down, looked up again, and finally exhaled as if he had given up.

“That’s the lady Sophia… the other day, she suddenly disappeared without a trace…”

“What?”

“Gone?”

“What does that mean?”

Cyril, Randall and Orion crowded the man almost simultaneously.

The round-faced man wiped the sweat from his forehead and nudged the other man sitting next to him with his elbow.

The other man with dragonfly-like glasses took over, timidly.

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know all the details yet, but we couldn’t find Lady Sophia and Master D’Artano anywhere… I was ordered by His Majesty to report immediately to His Excellency the Duke of Voltio and His Highness, so I hurried to…”

In other words, they knew that Sophia and D’Artano were missing, but they didn’t seem to know anything else.

“And the search?”

“Of course we are doing everything we can. And also, and I don’t know if this makes any sense, but we found this in Master D’Artano’s room. It seems to be addressed to His Highness…”

The bespectacled man held out a sheet of paper folded in two, and Cyril took it dubiously and ran his eyes over the contents.

“…That person”

After reading it all, Cyril crumpled the paper.

“You can take your leave, tell His Majesty that we will look for Sophia here.”

With these words, Cyril escorted the two messengers out of the room, brushed his fringes back and let out a deep breath.

“Nine out of ten, it seems certain that Sophia has been kidnapped by D’Artano.”

Cyril threw the crushed paper on the table.

Randall opened it and saw what was written on the paper.

“I found something more valuable than gold, so I’m going to take it.”