The villainess will survive!

Part 80: Count Castria

The hall went silent at Albert's proclamation, and many people were unsure of what to do or say. 

I could hear a silent shuffling of feet, then a few whispers arose within the crowd. 

"Count Castria? No — He couldn't be the person behind this. He's a very righteous noble who loves his family, perhaps he knows something?"

Other conversations were exactly similar to that phrase, all in doubt. 

Those who were contemplating this stayed silent and decided to observe for now. 

The former Baron, now Count, was a very down-to-earth person. 

Even the otome game's heroine's dialogue described her father as a very kind and forgiving person. 

He was a very fair landowner too, so the commoners did not think of him as corrupt as other selfish nobles. 

But he did spoil his one and only child, Ivy, which I heavily assume that it was the reason Ivy saw the world through pink-tinted filters. 

Always so full of hope that love beats all, such as politics and power. 

Although she did win in the end with her love with whatever male lead she ended up with, the process probably wasn't what she expected. 

Things don't come as easily to you as you think it would, but Ivy probably doesn't know, or at least understand, what the male leads had to sacrifice for their love. 

But in the end, the result came out the same. 

The biggest blowback in Albert's route was definitely losing the support and control of the Villinie Dukedom. 

Although the Villinie Dukedom stayed quiet after acknowledging they could do nothing about Roselyn's execution, that didn't mean they agreed with it after it was finished. 

The Villinie Dukedom and the Royal family have been co-existing very well since anybody could remember. 

The Royal family provided power to the Dukedom, and the Dukedom provided their loyalty and used that power to govern over the other nobles. 

You could even say that the Dukedom 'ruled' and took care of the country when the King was too busy with other matters. 

Politics were almost never mentioned in the otome game, after all, what they wanted you to believe was that Ivy's love would beat any obstacles, such as power in this country. 

But after living here, I slowly came to understand that was just through Ivy's point of view. 

There's no way that after the otome game ended, if you chose Albert's route, their love didn't cause any damage to the country. 

The same went with the other male lead routes, it's just that I could only see from Roselyn's view.

Roselyn died on every single route after all, but she was just the biggest obstacle solely on Albert's route. 

I doubt that there was no trouble on the other male lead's after the game ended, hence they all had different problems for Ivy to overcome. 

With the Royal Family and Villinie Dukedom no longer getting along as they did before, less and less trust were given between the two. 

I'm really not surprised at Onii-sama's words: That the country fell into chaos, the recently crowned King no longer bothered, and Ivy changed into someone more greedy. 

With the 2 most important families no longer in balance, it's obvious that the vassals serving under them will fall into chaos and greed afterwards. 

Due to only having watched and played the Albert route, I wasn't sure of what happened during the other male lead routes. 

Perhaps, because the male routes had a much more insignificant role in the well-being of this country, that it didn't affect the commoners that much?

But Ivy was already playing on the Albert route, so I couldn't care less about other male leads right now. 

They were clearly an unfinished project of Ivy's, and she was focused on chasing Albert as the remaining assignment that truly mattered. 

I couldn't blame her either, but this one caused the most damage. 

Not only was my family getting demoted, without the Villinie's family's support in this Country, we would get toppled over in no time. 

Seeing Albert's fake smile as Count Castria walked over infuriated me so much I wanted to scream, but I reminded myself that this was in public, in front of many watching eyes. 

Showing my true emotions would only get myself get branded as a madwoman. 

But!

Albert valued this so-called true love over his own country and people, and the peace maintained within it? 

For many centuries, this country has been flourishing very well, a very big part was owed to the Villinie Dukedom and it's unending loyalty. 

Of course, Roselyn had to do with the breaking of the relationship, but Albert was the one who held all the cards in his hand. 

And I wasn't even planning to be a villainess, do evil things to the heroine!

Instead, Albert had decided to see me as a pest to his relationship, not because of my personality but my position!

Is the country truly a worthy sacrifice for your pure love?

You should instead be asking yourself if your pure love was a worthy sacrifice for the sake of your country!

Such a intelligent, capable character with extreme potential to make the people thrive even further, all unimaginable possibilities he could accomplish wasted to a foolish thing called love. 

"Count Castria, I'm sure you're aware of why you're up here, right?" 

Count Castria shook his head nervously, denying that he didn't know. 

"The Castria family, up until my generation, has been loyal to the Country and the Royal family. For centuries, we have put the commoners as our priority, and as Lords, we have provided. I have upheld this tradition with all my heart. What reason could His Highness the Crown Prince tell me to come up?" 

Albert silently stared at the Count after that sincere speech. 

The one being examined noticed and hesitated before finally proclaiming, "If you think the Castria Countdom has a hand in the ignoble distribution of drugs, then I'd like your Highness to please re-examine the evidence." 

Albert didn't say anything, even after this, which made the Count open his mouth again. 

"Your Highness, surely you must know that my daughter would tell you anything about me. I never hide anything from my wife, either. You two get along very well, as we—"

"Silence." 

Everybody looked at my father who's voice had interrupted the Count in the middle of his mumblings.