A Villain's Will to Survive novel Chapter 292

Chapter 292: Emotions of the Desert (1)

Even in the desert, where a week wouldn’t be enough for every minister in the grand hall to handle such a task together, Sophien resolved it alone in a single day. The Empress’s mastery of statecraft was beyond comparison.

However, the process was not without incident—there was some chaos, and Quay’s defense mechanism, namely the murderous intent, manifested once more.

“It’s happening more often now,” I muttered.

While Sophien slept in the hush of night, I stepped out into the desert beyond the command tent to check my wounds, and fortunately, the body of an Iron Man could still hold out because I had maintained constant vigilance, never knowing when Sophien’s murderous intent might switch on again.

I wrapped a bandage around my arm, nothing more than a rough treatment for what was clearly a serious fracture, but the bandage wasn’t ordinary and was enough.

───────

[Emergency Bandage]

◆ Description

: Used for basic wound recovery.

: Imbued with a unique effect.

◆ Category

: Emergency

◆ Special Effect

: Staunches bleeding and accelerates natural recovery.

: Accelerates recovery in any area wrapped with the bandage.

───────

The Emergency Bandage was one of several tools I had prepared in advance, each enhanced to level 5 with the Midas Touch, and there were others too—a telescope, a desert map, a radio transceiver, even a boomerang, which if any of them hit the open market, would be considered rare treasures without question.

With the treatment behind me, I took a moment to look around the oasis.

"Size, water flow, bedrock stability..."

I was checking the conditions around the oasis while the Elite Guard prepared to establish a base of operations in the desert, leaving the construction itself under my responsibility.

"Looks promising." I muttered, nodding to myself.

The oasis held enough water to last several years and the surrounding ground was solid enough for construction, and just as General Bell had said, it was a decent location though scattered debris hinted that the original tribe’s village had once stood here.

Thud—

I set the suitcase down, and it clicked open the moment it touched the ground as I reached inside—not with my hands, but with Telekinesis.

Fwoooooosh—!

Then the steel frames and mana stone solution burst out like a wave, swirling into the air as if a storm had spat them out, and the construction materials floated above me in perfect order, proof of the specialized bag’s performance imbued with a level 5 Midas Touch.

The bag was light enough to carry in one hand but could hold and transport as much as a thirty-ton truck.

I guided the steel frames into position and, with the blueprint already in my mind, started with the most essential framework.

Clatter—

I moved the steel frames into place and raised the skeleton of the main building, planning for three floors above ground and one below based on the terrain.

The basement would house sleeping quarters and a break room, the first and second floors would serve as laboratories and meeting rooms, and the entire third floor was reserved for Sophien, and with the blueprint complete, I began the foundational work.

“... Hmm,” I murmured.

After spending four thousand mana, all I had to show for it was a rough skeleton of steel frames that looked unfinished and incomplete, but that was just part of the process.

Because the desert was rich with mana concentration and my recovery was faster here, if I pushed through I could finish everything before the day was over.

“... Is it coming together?”

From behind me came a voice that brushed against my back like a night breeze, and I turned to see Empress Sophien standing there, her face painted with pure ennui.

"Yes, it stands just shy of completion, Your Majesty," I replied.

Just a while ago, Sophien had been swinging at me like she meant to murder me, and now, as if she’d forgotten it all, she stood there dozing on her feet without a word.

"The night air is bitter, Your Majesty. You’d do well to rest inside the command tent."

“... Even once that building’s completed, it won’t chase off the cold. There isn’t a single mana stone installation in it, is there?” Sophien said.

Magical architecture was never as easy as it seemed because, for starters, there weren’t many mages with a solid understanding of architectural design like I had, and on top of that, the lack of mana stone systems—especially for temperature control—made things far more complicated.

"The building I raised with magic should be sound, even without mana stones," I replied.

“... It does seem that way,” Sophien said, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the steel frame.

"Yes, Your Majesty, it will answer the frost with warmth, and the flame with a cooling breath."

Sophien gave a nod, understanding dawning in her eyes.

Every spell I used carried the dual nature of the Snowflower Stone, and of course, the intensity varied depending on the spell’s purpose and how much mana I used, but in this case, the Snowflower Stone’s characteristic—frost and flame at once—made it perfect for both heating and cooling the building.

“Tell me, Professor,” Sophien called.

Just as I was used to being called Professor, it seemed Sophien was just as used to saying it, as she called me Professor without a second thought.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I replied, turning to her.

"Did anything occur just moments ago?” Sophien asked in a low voice.

At that moment, the cold of the desert slipped over my skin like the edge of a blade.

“There was nothing worth mentioning, Your Majesty,” I replied, shaking my head.

After I told her not the truth, Sophien said nothing in return because I had lied to her too many times to feel the weight of it anymore.

However, what Sophien did next completely caught me off guard.

“... Professor,” Sophien said, pulling out a hand mirror from within her coat. “Do you remember this?”

Sophien’s hand mirror was worn thin with its frame cracked and dulled by time, looking like it had weathered centuries more than it was ever meant to.

“You once were inside this mirror,” Sophien continued, her hand wiping the mirror’s surface.

Every memory of my time with Sophien hadn’t faded and lived on in my mind.

“Back then, you died for my sake.”

"Yes, so it seems,” I replied.

Then Sophien smiled—barely—and without saying a word, rested her forehead against my back.

“This time, let it be otherwise,” Sophien said.

There was weight in Sophien’s voice, as if echoing from within the shadowed halls of memory itself.

“Without you, my life—such as it is—would hold no meaning in this world of mine.”

As Sophien confessed, she tightened her arms around me and then said the one thing she never should have—the name of the one who hurt me more than any blade ever could.

“Let Yulie go from this moment on, from your heart, and I will fill the emptiness she leaves behind.”

I remained silent.

“The word ‘effort’ is foreign to me—yet if it’s for you, I shall make it, even if I fall short.”

For a brief moment, something sparked in my chest and was gone before I could catch it.

“Professor, wasn’t she the very woman who once tried to bring you down to your ruin? Therefore, once this war comes to an end—”

“Your Majesty,” I interrupted Sophien, standing there with my eyes closed.

Perhaps it was Yulie pulling emotion out of me deeper than thought could reach, or maybe it was Sophien who, even after everything, had never once seen me as clearly as I had seen her.

“The hearing has not yet come to an end, Your Majesty, and one who still stands before it is Deculein—myself.”

Sophien released me and took a single step back, meeting my eyes, and it was only then that her eyes sharpened with clarity as if she’d finally woken from a sleep.

“Indeed—but I believe it to be nothing more than a frame, and I’ll have the Intelligence Agency look into the matter,” Sophien replied.

It was, as Sophien had said, all a frame from the beginning because the evidence Isaac gave me for the hearing had been tampered with from the start, and if the hearing were held again, Yulie and Freyden wouldn’t stand a chance, as they’d face the annihilation of the house.

“No, Your Majesty.”

However, there was no way I could not let that happen.

“... What is it that you deny?” Sophien asked.

“It isn’t a frame, Your Majesty.” I replied.

Grit—

At that moment, Sophien’s teeth clenched, and a hot breath escaped her lips, twisted into a sneer.

“It was... not a frame?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I replied, unshaken. “Each of those charges of my crimes is true.”

Unfortunately for Sophien, when it came to making manipulated evidence appear genuine, I had the edge due to Yukline’s influence and Josephine, the Shadow who worked in silence.

“Each one was my doing—every one of them—meaning there’s no room left for denial or excuse.”

Therefore, the evidence Sophien had manipulated was already accepted as truth—and in the end, I was the one who made my own crime real.

With her fist tightened, Sophien said, "... Professor, you are lying to me—”

"The house that conspired to poison Your Majesty."

“Shut your mouth."

"That too."

“I told you to shut that damned mouth of yours!” Sophien shouted, trembling with rage.

“Snuffle.”

They were all cuddled up... though it looked like Sophien was the only one trying, Ria thought.

“I can’t even tell where the story is going anymore... Huh?” Ria muttered.

Though what happened last night felt like a dream, is this just a mirage?

Fwoosh—!

I didn’t even do anything, but why does he look at me like I’m some kind of weirdo? Ria thought.

I just want to shout it out that I’m the fiancée! Tell him that character was created as a motif of me—that she’s me, my original character, built completely from the ground up, Ria thought.

“It’s a spell of Elementalization—specifically, your Elementalization rendered into formal theory.”

Wait, does that mean Professor Deculein is saying he wrote down my talent on this paper? Ria thought.

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