The Villainess Is An SS+ Rank Adventurer, Book 3 by Kaye Ng

Author:Kaye Ng [Ng, Kaye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25: Noughts And Crosses

Everything told me that I'd misheard. Badly.

Sword saint or not, she was clearly a commoner, and so spoke a language barely two steps evolved from cave paintings.

After all, there was simply no perceivable scenario in which she would admit, with a smile no less, to having committed tax evasion and burglary against the Royal Treasury! That was patently absurd. To commit even the lowest offence against the royal family was a high crime–and burglary could never be described as low.

Yes, of course.

This had been an exceptionally tiring few days. Clearly, the amount of words my delicate ears had been subjected to by criminals, nobility and criminal nobility had damaged my hearing faculties. And then there was the smell. It was awful. Cows and peasants everywhere.

I needed to rest. Desperately. The very first high-quality lodgings I came across, I would stay in. No more being fussy because I didn't like the colour of the roof tiles. As long as the room was fully furnished, came with ample amenities, a large bathtub and 24 hour room service, I was willing to stay even in Aquina.

For the sake of my health, I needed to be flexible with my standards–at least for one night. Tomorrow would adhere to a different standard, but for now, I could force myself to contend with the smell of this farmyard duchy.

Indeed, I was already used to it.

Even the worst of livestock barely surpassed the stench of what I'd suffered in the royal capital. That'd been appalling. Spilled food, vomit and the perfume of nobility. Though no blade struck me, I hadn't come out of that debacle unscathed. I was likely suffering from a host of ailments.

The biggest, of course, being the brain rot that was causing me to interpret entire sentences incorrectly.

And so, I offered a beautiful smile–all the while I gripped Starlight Grace in my hand.

“My apologies,” I said to the Snow Dancer. “You will have to repeat that. Slowly. I believe I grossly misheard you when you claimed to fail in your payment of taxes to the Royal Treasury, and that you also burgle from it.”

The elven woman took a few minute steps away, the sword twirling imposingly in her hand … just before she turned, kneeled and began drawing noughts and crosses into the snow with the tip.

I watched as she played a match against herself.

She lost. Somehow.

“Nope, that's what I said,” she replied with a carefree shrug.

And thus–my smile creaked.

“Could you perhaps reword it, at least, but with slightly less treason?”

“I'm not sure I can, since it wasn't treason. It was grand larceny. I checked.”

“The definition is highly flexible. And by that, I mean defined solely by me. What did you steal?”

Ophelia blinked at me in puzzlement.

I rolled my eyes.

“From the Royal Treasury.”

“Oh. That. I can't remember. It wasn't important. Probably a painting or something.”

“A painting? You stole a painting?”

I was appalled.

The Royal Treasury only held items of immense value. Treasures which preceded our very family. Any portrait held there would be worth more than all the gold crowns lying around it!

Ophelia thought for a moment.

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