The Villain’S Daughter-In-Law Is Inherently Powerful [EN]: Chapter 72

In the end, the Eastern Wave Knights returned with little to show for their efforts.

‘I’m glad I left Pompom [a magical communication device] active, just like Ian suggested.’

They probably didn’t expect Pompom to be there, which explains their confidence in the success of their surprise attack.

‘Tonight’s going to be a bit of a pain.’

I rubbed my tired eyes and crawled into bed. But tonight, I wasn’t alone.

Lady Inanna, already prepared for bed, was sitting up against several stacked cushions. I nestled in on Lady Inanna’s left side, since Ian’s usual spot was on the right.

“Haaahm.”

I was yawning when Ian appeared shortly after.

His wet hair and pajama-clad, hesitant demeanor made him look much younger than usual, which made me chuckle.

“Come here, Ian.”

“…Um, Grandma. Is it alright for me to sit here?”

“Don’t be silly, just lie down. Let’s have a nice chat with my grandson for the first time in a while.”

“O-Okay. I understand.”

Ian, after hesitating, finally lay down cautiously.

Lady Inanna hugged both me and Ian simultaneously, patting our backs.

“You’ve both worked so hard today. Having to deal with the power struggles of the Imperial Palace from such a young age is the way of a Dribryane [referring to their family]. You must have been very scared, but you endured it well.”

“I wasn’t that scared. I was just very angry.”

“Were you?”

I nodded. Then I yawned again, and as I did, my human form slightly faded, and my round ears popped out with a ‘pong’ sound.

Lady Inanna gently stroked my ears and continued, “There are several knight orders in the Imperial Palace. Among them, the Eastern Wave, Western Foam, Southern Tide, and Northern Storm are the four First Corps Knight Orders.”

“So, is the Eastern Wave the strongest?”

“They’re all similar in strength. The duties they’re in charge of are slightly different… The important thing to remember is that the Eastern Wave has so many people from the Empress’s faction that it’s safe to say they’re the Empress’s personal knight order.”

“Ah.”

“You mentioned that a man named Volis Lippmann was particularly aggressive and loud. The Lippmann family is a well-known Empress faction.”

“…So, the Empress is involved in this after all.”

“Yes. And they’re not even trying to hide it. That’s why they sent the vice-commander of the Eastern Wave to take Linda away.”

Linda looked exhausted today, too.

I puffed out my cheeks, thinking about how awful people could be.

“Now that I think about it, I should have received an apology from Volis Lippmann, too. But that vice-commander of the Eastern Wave took him away.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m planning to get more than just an apology from him.”

Lady Inanna gently stroked my hair.

I wished Volis Lippmann good luck in the afterlife and erased his name from my mind.

I don’t care what happens to someone like that. Hmph.

“But about this, it’s obvious that Celina Roibaium planned it, so why did the Empress cover it up? Is Celina that important?”

“Duke Roibaium must have made a move. And the Empress has always wanted to warn our family. You can think of it as a warning not to help Yuri become the Crown Prince.”

Behind every incident, countless interests are intertwined. Therefore, unless you understand the political situation of the empire, the dynamics of high society, and the diplomatic landscape in detail, it’s difficult to connect the dots and understand the power structure.

I nodded and whispered quietly, “I want to prevent Celina from flaunting her nasty influence. If I leave her alone, she’ll keep interfering with me and bothering me in every little thing.”

“That’s a very Dribryane-like thing to say. Yes, you have to get rid of what’s in the way.”

“The way to get rid of it… Haaahm, can I think about it tomorrow?”

“Yes. Sleep well. This will probably be the first and last time we sleep together like this…”

Lady Inanna’s voice sounded distant.

I hugged Lady Inanna tightly and closed my eyes. Ian’s fingers brushed against mine, giving me a great sense of stability. There was also a bit of camaraderie for having gone through a tough time together.

‘I can trust and rely on Ian in the future too…’

Just look at what happened today.

I thought so and fell deeply, very deeply, into a dream.

* * *

“Huh!”

I woke up with a start, my upper body jerking upright, drool dripping from the corner of my mouth from how deeply I had slept.

I felt like I had a dream about falling, but the memory had already evaporated, and my head was blank.

Oh, right… I came to the Imperial Palace yesterday? And I think I fell asleep in Ian’s arms.

How much of it was a dream?

I rubbed my eyes and unconsciously looked down at the quiet, even breathing beside me. There, Ian was sleeping so peacefully.

I haven’t had my ears or tail come out since I became an Alpha, but today I have animal ears.

‘Golden fur leopard… I hope he shows me his transformed form someday.’

The cloud-patterned leopard is also an animal that I really like. Since he’s a saber-toothed tiger beastman, how magnificent and cool would his saber teeth be?

I imagined Ian’s transformation and carefully reached out towards his ears.

So, this is irresistible. Honestly, they’re round, small, and cute.

“Umm…”

Ian flinched and stirred as I gently touched his leopard ears. Startled, I quickly retracted my hand, waited for a moment, and tried again.

‘They’re so pretty…’

I was playing around like that for a while when Ian suddenly reached out and flopped me down.

“??”

“Peek-a-boo. Were you surprised?”

“…Huh, you weren’t asleep?!”

“I just woke up.”

No way! You don’t look sleepy at all!

I panicked and quickly lowered my hand.

“I didn’t touch your ears.”

“Really?”

Ian chuckled and poked my cheek. I averted my gaze, feeling embarrassed.

“Let’s get up. We have a lot to do today.”

“Okay.”

Touching his ears wasn’t a bad thing, so why do I feel like I did something wrong?

I can’t really explain this feeling, but I feel like I’ve been caught, so I feel like I have to run away quickly.

In the end, I got up first, opened the door, and hurried out.

And Florin disappeared.

Ian hugged the blanket tightly and buried his face in it.

“…Ah.”

I succeeded.

In fact, Ian had been awake for a long time. No, he barely slept.

He originally had severe insomnia, so he usually only fell asleep after the morning sun rose. But how could he sleep when he was with someone else? Especially Florin.

The Duchess left quietly as dawn broke, leaving only Ian and Florin.

From then on, Ian deliberately confused Iculus [a spell] and took out his animal ears. Because it seemed like Florin liked it.

And the plan seemed to have been somewhat successful.

* * *

“From now on, we will hold a meeting for measures for Florin’s future!”

After finishing breakfast, I held a meeting under the supervision of Lady Inanna.

In fact, there were only a few attendees, but Lady Inanna said that it was important to imitate the proper procedures even on a small scale. Anyway, someday I will be in charge of the family’s internal affairs meeting.

“Father!”

“Yes.”

“Ian!”

“Yes.”

“And Lady Inanna!”

“Yes.”

“Today’s agenda is a thorough and certain revenge.”

I shouted very cheerfully, but it wasn’t really something to be cheerful about.

I knew that I held grudges for a long time. But I didn’t realize that it would make me this angry to touch someone precious to me.

I was smiling, but inside I was grinding my teeth.

“Celina Roibaium can plan things like yesterday because she has power. But since she’s still a child, that power is ultimately given to her by adults.”

“Hmm.”

“Celina is expected to dominate high society in the future. And she is also expected to become the Empress in the future. Even though the Empress has no son.”

I don’t have to worry about the conversation we’re having being leaked to the outside. That’s why I called Father.

I was relieved because he had cast a magic spell to prevent the sound from leaking out in several layers.

“I don’t understand. Yuri of our family is the only prince… Are they all expecting the Empress to be able to have a child?”

“Well, that’s not it. But if she can’t have one, there’s also a way to adopt one in the end.”

It was Father who answered my question.

“Of course, it won’t be an official adoption. They’ll somehow get one… Well, the detailed method is something that children don’t need to know. Anyway, all you need to know is that Roibaium is confident that the Empress will have a son.”

“I see. Then what about His Majesty the Emperor? Is he just leaving it alone?”

“Yes. The reason is that Dribryane shouldn’t have too much power. The Emperor wants to maintain balance. For now, Roibaium is the only one to put on the other side of the seesaw.”

The circumstances of adults are complicated.

I frowned and snorted.

“So, in the end, it’s just that they need to put someone else in place, even if it’s not Roibaium.”

“Theoretically, that’s right. But realistically, it’s only Roibaium. Roibaium, a prestigious political family, has as many people on their side as Dribryane… no, not as many, but they have a lot of people on their side.”

Father, who had his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands, smiled.

He seemed curious about what I would do since the easy way to ‘remove Roibaium’ was blocked.

But well, I didn’t want Roibaium itself to disappear. I don’t want Celina to die either.

I didn’t have such scary and vicious thoughts.

I just want to get rid of her because I think she will interfere with everything I do in the future.