Chapter 123
The next day, the morning papers that set Athena Island abuzz carried two front-page headlines.
One praised Odette — once the empire’s greatest villainess — for saving and healing the island’s residents.
The other was a scandal involving Count Albrecht, a man hailed as the model noble and embodiment of ideal character.
Of the two, the latter caused by far the bigger reaction.
Usually in scandals of this kind the woman draws more attention, but this time it was the opposite. Mrs. Becker, unknown to the public, was relatively anonymous — whereas Count Albrecht was enormously famous.
The ultimate charity angel. An object of admiration for commoners.
Because he’d been elevated as the empire’s paragon of virtue, the twist that he had been sleeping with his wife’s maid was sensational.
But it wasn’t only the Count’s fame that made the story explode.
“Transparency!!!”
It was how humiliatingly he’d behaved in response that made people gasp.
An affair is, of course, condemnable in an empire that values monogamy, but Albrecht wasn’t the only noble who committed adultery. What set this apart was the utterly ridiculous way he’d been caught.
“Leaving your lover behind alone like that is an outrageously cowardly, despicable act. Whatever happened to the gentlemanly image of Count Albrecht — the one everyone lauded?” reporters spat. They lambasted his cowardice and baseness in scathing editorials, even drawing caricatures lampooning the Count.
A ridiculous cartoon: the Count with his trousers down, boldly shouting “Transparency!” at his ring.
Newspapers competed to publish photographs taken from every angle by the reporters who’d been present.
But the Count never saw those papers. He had fled Athena Island before the morning editions were distributed — he couldn’t bear to imagine their ridicule.
At dawn the Count’s face looked as if he were at the brink of madness as he hurriedly woke Odette.
It was hardly surprising. From his perspective, he had merely had a touch too much to drink at last night’s banquet — and when he woke up he found himself in the middle of a hideous nightmare.
He could hardly imagine that, while he’d been drunk, Karl had carried him to an exotic garden; he’d be bewildered, unable to make sense of it all.
Led by his hand, Odette was now on the Count family’s sailing ship, returning to the imperial mainland.
Because the Merso shore lay directly opposite Athena Island, the Count’s yacht, moored at his villa, could be summoned quickly.
Standing on deck, Odette tucked windblown hair behind her ear and looked through the cabin.
‘With a personality like his, who could ride a royal cruiser with other guests? He’s pathologically averse to being mocked,’ she thought.
Remember: the Count had ordered that no newspapers be kept on board, fearing the crew might mock him. He’d even forced the captain to throw away the morning papers he’d already taken on board.
He had no clue that those papers also contained an article about Odette’s outing.
Feigning dignity and frantically trying to hide his shame…
‘By the time we reach the mainland, the capital will probably be boiling with rumors about the Count,’ Odette mused.
So the Count would avoid meeting acquaintances for a while. He’d never learn about her outing yesterday.
Fernand would be even less likely to find out. He’d been wasted drunk, boarded the ship in a daze, then collapsed and spent his time lying about with a bottle — too busy to notice anything.
Ding—. That was when her status window pinged.
[ ♡Quest Success♡ ]
[ All of your bad reputations have been removed!
▶ Wicked Villainess Who Did Harm
▶ Selfish Purifier
▶ Arrogant Flower of Society
▶ Empty-Headed Young Lady ]
[ Remaining time: 2 days 15 hours ]
[ Quest successfully completed! ]
[ Reward: ‘Renown’ function restored ]
It seemed the guests at the summer palace had only just read the morning papers.
They must be seeing her differently now.
[ Excellent. Remaining time remains! You may choose a reward proportional to the remaining 2 days. (Choose one of the following rewards)
▶ +20 Renown
▶ +2 daily Reputation checks (from 5 to 7) ]
‘Choose extra reputation checks.’
Without hesitation, Odette picked that reward.
‘Since Charlotte acted so strangely, I can’t limit reputation checks to just the male leads anymore.’
From now on she’d use reputation checks not only for male leads but when distinguishing friend from foe.
Besides, when she had Möller handle something yesterday, she’d checked his reputation just in case — the result had been useful.
[ Möller’s aversion: 0 ]
It was exactly the kind of useful information she’d hoped for — the reward came at a perfect time.
The second night at sea was passing.
The Count was stuck in his cabin, unable to move from seasickness. Fernand, upset that he’d been forced onto the ship and deprived of Athena Island’s entertainments, had drunk himself into a stupor and sprawled out.
Mrs. Becker, sulking because the Count didn’t look after her at all even after boarding, wouldn’t leave her cabin.
With no one watching, Odette strolled onto the deck at her leisure.
She carried a birdcage.
“Here, eat this.”
Opening the cage, Odette set a white bird on her arm and fed it crumbs of a broken cookie.
It was a particularly clever carrier parrot gifted by Lady Brentano.
The parrot Lady Brentano trained to fly back and forth between Canaris Plaza and the villa.
Having trained Gisela’s face several times in the way Karín had taught, Odette was confident the note would fly straight to Gisela.
‘Since I already sent a carrier to Maléa yesterday, sending a message to Gisela now is the best timing.’
Now that the Count was a laughingstock, Odette had no intention of stopping. To make the scandal grow, Maléa needed to meet the Count’s wife, and Gisela had to meet Paula.
Odette watched the white bird fly toward the mainland. Against the backdrop of the moon and sea, its path looked strangely magical.
After gazing at the bird’s tail for a while, Odette turned her eyes down to the deck below.
‘Shall I go see the show now?’
Below the sailing ship’s deck was the storeroom for food and alcohol; beneath that were cargo holds.
Even deeper, where no light reached, was a cage holding a rectangular-shaped creature.
“Hello, Dolly? Rudolf?”
A man and a woman huddled together in the cage turned to look at Odette. Both wore gladiator chokers around their necks.
“Congratulations. You two are completely famous now.”
Odette smiled faintly, holding up a newspaper — the one she’d snuck and told the captain to dispose of was in her hands.
“‘Lady Becker, known as the Count’s lover, clamped something around the necks of Dolly and Rudolf — who caused this incident. Some speculate the device is an “ancient gladiator’s choker.”’”
Odette read the article aloud as the candlelight flickered.
“Odette…!”
Dolly cried out, rage etched on her bruised face.
The Count had bought some thugs on Athena Island to capture these two and had locked them in this cage to carry them onto the ship. In the scuffle they’d been badly beaten; their faces were swollen, bruised and lacerated.
“You two really do look alike when you love each other,” Odette mocked, pointing out that both had bruises on their right cheek.
Dolly screamed through clenched teeth, “You set us up, didn’t you?!”
“Do you think that’s a question? Look at the situation — it’s obvious.”
“Why did you come down here? To tease us?!”
“Of course not. Why would two nobodies like you be worth teasing?”
“Then why did you come? Why — whyyy! Because of you I’m stuck like this in a cage!”
Odette folded the newspaper and flicked it through the bars. It hit Dolly’s face and fluttered to the floor of the cage.
“The rest of your article is in there. Read the parts I underlined with a pen.”
She even held the candle closer. Dolly scowled but refused to move; Rudolf, however, scrambled to pick up the paper and began reading.
“‘The ancient gladiator’s choker was a magical instrument used in ancient coliseums — once its time is set, the wearer must kill the designated opponent within that time or it will explode…’ P-explode?!”
At that, Dolly and Rudolf went pale.
“Explode? What do you mean, explode?”
“Exactly as it says. If you don’t kill the opponent in time, it goes boom.”
“Is there any way to undo it? That’s why you’re here to tell us, right?”
“Of course there is. If there’s a key, you can unlock it.”
Odette rattled a rough key as she spoke.
The owner’s original key to the cursed device had been handed to the Count by Mrs. Becker to soothe his mood; this, however, was the emergency key.
‘Karín worried I might be hurt and secretly gave me one,’ Odette thought.
After receiving a handkerchief, a carrier parrot, and now an emergency key — Karín was spoiling Odette to an almost absurd degree.
Seeing the key, Dolly quickly changed her tone to submissive.
“A-Angelic lady…? I was way out of line earlier, wasn’t I? I—I was so angry I made a mistake.”
“Lady Odette, Dolly’s mistake wasn’t a big one. Please forgive Dolly, won’t you?”
Odette’s mouth curved up. In her previous life those brats had ruined her and made a fortune off it. That had only strengthened the bond between the two of them.
“Don’t worry. I’ll free you. But… there’s one problem. This key is an emergency key. It can open any gladiator’s choker, but once a choker is unlatched with it, it can never be used again.”
It really was an emergency key — a one-time-use device designed to break after opening a choker.
“……What?”
“I’m afraid I can only undo one of your chokers.”
