I'm In Love With The Villainess Volume 4

Volume 4 Chapter 13 To Change the Empire: Part 2

"Are you finished?"

***

"Huh?" Hilda seethed. "Enough of this nonsense. Yeah, I'm finished here-"

"Sit down, Hilda."

"No, I told you-"

"Sit down," Philine said sternly, leaving no room for argument. Hilda, about to stand, found herself sitting back down, abruptly overwhelmed.

"I understand what you mean to say. Certainly, I need to offer something in return for your service."

"Right. And if you can't do that, then you're just wasting my-"

"Watch your tone," Philine said. Her usual timidity was nowhere to be seen as she firmly reprimanded Hilda with composure and dignity.

"I may be powerless, but I'm still a princess. Surely you understand what it means to insult me?"

"Hah! You're resorting to authority now? Do it then. Try to punish me," Hilda challenged.

"I may not be able to punish you for speaking down to me. But what about for drugging a princess?" Philine asked calmly.

"Wha-?!" Hilda was at a loss for words.

Philine was referring to the time she'd almost strangled me. I'd told her something was strange about her condition afterward, and I'd linked it to the suggestive words Hilda had said to me moments before I entered the room. But was it really wise to play that hand here and now?

"I haven't a clue what you mean," Hilda said.

"So you're choosing to play dumb. Understandably so, as you've left no evidence."

"We're done here, then."

"But I wonder what the people over at the Department of Magic Technology would think if I accused you?"

"Are you blackmailing me?"

However involved Hilda was with the department, that didn't mean they considered her irreplaceable. There was no guarantee that an official with a blemish on their record would remain in their good graces, and judging by Hilda's reaction, she knew it.

"Threaten me all you like, but I won't yield," Hilda snapped. "Even if you do go through with it, I'll retaliate. With my connections, I can have your status-"

"No, Hilda. You're missing my point." A smile returned to Philine's face, as though her way of speaking up until now, akin to Dorothea's, had been but an act.

Hilda frowned in confusion.

"What I demonstrated just now was Mother's means of negotiation. Having your way by forcing your opponent to submit, only engendering enmity. Unpleasant, isn't it? That's not how I want to do things," Philine said.

Hilda said nothing.

"I saw something peculiar some time ago. A group of small children were bullying an even smaller girl. When I went to admonish them, do you know what they said?" Philine asked.

"What?"

"They said they were just imitating Her Majesty Dorothea. What could I say to that?"

The Nur Empire's philosophy of complete meritocracy was a double-edged sword. For the strong, it was paradise, but for the weak, it was hell. Of course, the empire had some relief measures in place for the less fortunate, but they were nothing in comparison to the Bauer Kingdom's, which had undergone democratization.