Villains would always be as lucky as the protagonists before the final confrontation. Or at least, their luck wouldn"t let them die just like that. That was something Jiang Li was long aware of so he didn"t feel the need to remind Margarette to not go overboard in her dealings with Agatha.His mind was on another matter altogether. On a trouble coming his way.
So while the princess was experimenting with the villainess, Jiang Li no longer stayed still and started to be more active in the mystic world of the kingdom. He discovered through one of his own pets, a crow raised through black arts, that a group of people from the Borley Kingdom were rus.h.i.+ng towards Holon.
Their ident.i.ties were unknown to most people, but Jiang Li had a hunch who one of the people in the small group of horse riders was.
The male lead. Adam.
As expected, even if it was overdue, the male protagonist would still be able to locate his female lead… As a good extra character, Jiang Li, of course, would welcome the valiant knight with the best gift that he could give.
He was just wondering, which of the two would Adam recognize? The soul or the body? How would this poor guy react once he discovered both were already married?
Jiang Li did not linger in the question for long and check on all the parties involved in the plot. The villainess and the people in the palace were left to Margarette since as the real princess, she had lived in the place for eighteen years. She knew it like the back of her hands.
As for the coven, it was inspected personally by him. Unsurprisingly, he had confirmed that there were two factions within Agatha"s witch group. Apart from the split factions from within, as a whole, they were also not coexisting peacefully with the churches and several other mystic groups, both from inside and outside the country.
In the storyline, the villainess easily fell in the leads" hands because of the two leads" overwhelming luck and plot armor. But apart from that, it was also because she couldn"t receive timely help from her allies who had been attacked by another faction amidst internal strife. The most painful part was that it all happened just when she was about to hear from the emissary from the neighboring kingdom the information she wanted to know the most.
She had no idea the cure would be useless to her. All she knew was that she didn"t manage to get it because of the two leads. With her dreams and hopes dashed like that, it was no wonder she fell into insanity and resented the world so much before she died. She must have felt that it was also the world"s fault because it favored the ducal couple so much.
In this lifetime, Jiang Li told Agatha in advance the intel those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from Borley would give her in exchange for the method to break the lineage restriction.
"I said it before, the Church of Wisdom won"t give you the real cure."
"The contract only stipulates that they are to give you the method to heal infertility, but they could simply fulfill it by giving you a cure that works on men and you won"t be able to demand the G.o.ddess of Vows to punish them."
"Do you get what I mean?"
The villainess" coldly replied. "I"m no fool. But how can I trust you? I have investigated you and know that you posed as a fake messenger of Penemue before. "
The villainess had the impression he was a vengeful trickster due to diarrhea and the other random punishments so she would definitely not trust his words.
He could only shrug and wait for the woman to suffer again to learn her lesson. "Fine. I wish you the best. No, I wish catastrophe strikes you soon so I can consider my job done."
He only got silence as a response.
Days pa.s.sed. From the royal consort, he learned that a royal from Borley had contacted her and informed her of his arrival. It caught Jiang Li by surprise, but then he realized it was simply the plot not giving up on the female lead of Borley so it wanted to progress the story by sending both the villain and the male lead to her side.
He managed to confirm this when Agatha secretly slipped away and met up with Count Cornwell.
"The second prince of the neighboring kingdom secretly joined a group of knights heading here to rescue a kidnapped n.o.ble," she told the count after the usual greetings. The venue was in the latter"s mansion which had more defensive measures than the previous time.
"The Second Prince? Prince Benedict?" asked the old wizard.
"Yes. That person is sent by the King of Borleans to spy on Viscount Obson. The deceased son of that n.o.ble is the one who overheard my conversation with the king of Borley about Nephilim. Those vicious royals killed the n.o.ble"s son but the daughter seems to know something about the situation."
The count showed a disbelieving expression. He even shook his head. "Your Highness, no matter how many times I thought through it, it"s odd. Why did they have to send a prince when they are not sure if the daughter really knows something? A regular magician or clergyman should suffice. Is this daughter the kidnapped n.o.ble that those knights from the Borley Kingdom want to retrieve from our country?"
Agatha nodded. "Indeed. I have heard that the n.o.ble lady has seen something about the angels and this becomes another reason for those royals to retrieve her. I have already given my permission in advance. The prince will secretly meet me once he arrives with the knights from Obson Castle."
The old man frowned, asking about the real issue at hand, "And the technique to break lineage restriction?"
The villainess went silent and apologetically looked into the aged Count"s eyes. Her gaze revealed her intention to offer the information although she would omit some part of it to make it her leverage. The only reason she appeared here was to inform this teacher of her to lessen her guilt and to make him pa.s.s something to the witch leader.
And that "James"? She knew that the youth had eavesdropped once again so she deliberately did not say anything more about her plan.
Jiang Li actually did not make any move, letting the royal consort do as she wished. After all, without the villainess" knowledge, he already saw what was in the goat parchment she was planning to give the second prince. He even added something there. He also did not interfere when the persistent woman went back to giving problems to the ducal couple. In his mind, those two suffering would not affect his own arrangements.
"Blood of a hundred earthworms mixed with wild herbs and bamboo essential oil... I only put there that the caster needs to be in the middle of a snake island before conducting the ritual. The villainess" addition sounds like Eastern Witchcraft which I"m sure will manage to light up a magic circle. But what kind of effect will it have to the person performing it?" he subconsciously asked himself in puzzlement, remembering the extra lines added to the parchment by the woman.
After following the villainess to the count"s residence, he went back to the palace, planning to consult Margarette about it. When he arrived, the princess was enjoying tea in her desolate palatial residence, served by Agatha"s ladies-in-waiting.
He took a seat and narrated what happened before asking about the unusual materials and their effects.
The witchy female lead said to him with wide eyes after hearing his question, "Ah? My husband, you don"t know any formula with those disgusting things is for parasitic magic?"
"Parasitic magic?" The answer he got was quite unexpected.
"Well, I know how to control insects, but brewing stuff is never my cup of tea," he then replied nonchalantly.
The youth then went back to the mansion after the brief conversation with Margarette and pulled up a few scrolls that he had been rereading for several days already. Not many matched with the memories gotten from the system. He knew it was because of the unexpected body swap of two female leads.
From his experience, resolving the coven"s problems would not be the only thing that needed to be done to secure the villainess" survival… Curing her of her illness also would not make her give up entangling with her enemies and aiming for the thone.
The protagonists from both kingdoms were all variables.
Another person also crossed his mind. Aliyah.
Would it be alright to treat that girl with a split personality disorder as nonexistent now that Margarette was the main persona? To be honest, he was not convinced that it would be okay to ignore that blabbermouth. That person was from the modern world. A transmigrator who thinks she is the protagonist of the world is scary, but a transmigrator who thinks she is not is sometimes more fearsome because the plot would instinctively give them more opportunities to s.h.i.+ne and be in trouble. Wouldn"t she be the greatest variable if ever?
The wandering philosopher was really feeling conflicted, torn between finding the situation amusing or irritating.
The sun was setting for Holon City and Jiang Li left for the ducal mansion after putting every scroll and stack of doc.u.ments away.
A corner of his mouth lifted in mild irritation. "Once the other male lead arrives and the four children of fate gathered in the same place, things will no longer be simple...."
"So troublesome."