I Awoke as an Imprisoned Villainess-Chapter 41 - You shine brighter than anyone else

Maurice Graham Holt is a magician.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

However, he doesn’t have enough magic power to live as a magician. His pride, which at the time was as high as the sky, was also a disaster as he didn’t fit in with ordinary people, his fellow magicians , or even his parents, and so, he was abandoned at a very young age.

—He is deeply grateful and loyal to the grand duke who picked him up when he was very young.

Although the world has become much easier for people with magic powers to live in, they are still shunned in venerable places such as temples. Maurice never would have been able to become a priest he had always dreamed of being if not for the potion given to him by the grand duke. Thanks to it, he is able to hide his magic powers and camouflage as an ordinary human being.

Therefore, Maurice came to the royal palace, where Violet was said to be, with some sense of guilt.

While making excuses that this was just due to the selfishness of that little girl who he must be hospitable towards, by the order of the grand duke, that he wasn’t betraying the grand duke.

—-Be that as it may, that girl...

Maurice grinded his teeth as he remembered the girl who called herself Alcott.

—-Annoying. She is conceited after receiving the honorable Violet sama’s consideration. But it is a fact that I have an excuse to see Violet sama now thanks to that little girl...

To Maurice, Violet is the light, the queen, the whole world.

My queen to whom everyone should bow down, and at the same time, whom I think that only I should know her true splendor. Apparently there is a word for this in the far east, but Maurice knows of no other word with the complete same meaning.

—No, it is already fortuitous that a lowly mortal like me is allowed to live at the same time as the goddess. Let us thank god for that...

Still hostile to Sophia Alcott, Maurice proceeds through the royal palace, focusing on where Violet might be.

At times like this, the title of a cathedral priest comes in very handy. As he was thinking that he was really glad to be a priest, his eyes caught sight of a pale, beautiful golden hair that could not be mistaken.

—Ahh, sure enough, Violet sama outside the tower is more radiant than anyone else...!

The man he hated most in the world, who was an eyesore, was beside her, but she was so radiant today that he didn’t even care about that.

Just as I was about to be overcome with emotion, her voice reached my ears.

“—…’s medicine saved my life, but...where is that girl? ...Maurice surely knows where my uncle’s hideout is, but the cathedral has refused to allow me to meet him”

“V-Violet sama!?!?”

The shock of being called his own name made him forget about hiding and he came out without thinking. Violet and Claude widened their eyes in surprise, and then came to their senses. Even though contact was forbidden..

“…Maurice Graham Holt. You’ve come at the right time. I was just about to go find you”

The one, who shone like the goddess, more beautiful than the devil, smiled at me

“Sophia Alcott’s whereabouts. —You, who is my uncle’s subordinate, know of it, don’t you?”

At these words, I had a conjecture that the grand duke had prevented myself and Violet sama from seeing each other in order to avoid this situation.

“Show us the way, Maurice. Right this instant”

Maurice shivered with delight, but he wondered whose words should take precedence, his benefactor’s or his queen’s. A bead of cold sweat ran down his cheek.

~~~~~

In conclusion, Maurice resisted for once.

He could not betray the man who had saved his young life and to whom he had once pledged his entire life.

And more than anything else, the grand duke’s goal was probably the same as Maurice’s long cherished wish. No matter how much the queen ordered him, this one thing was non-negotiable.

“…Looks like you, who usually bragged that you would listen to anything I said, are not only blind, but also unable to hear what I have to say”

As Violet narrowed her eyes and he was about to beg for mercy for what she said, Maurice was struck with astonishment at the truth that Violet continued to tell him.

“Wha—…Violet sama in the tower wasn’t Violet sama at all...!?”

“That’s right. The person you believed to be me for three months was Sophia Alcott in my form”

“N-No wonder she didn’t have a shred of nobility...”

I was astonished at my own blindness. I wanted to gouge out my blind eyes. The man beside me raised his eyebrow and said, “instead, she must have been honest and lovely”, but I didn’t care about that from the bottom of my heart.

“Even if you say that now, it’s a fact that you couldn’t see through that someone replaced me, isn’t that so?

“V-Violet sama...I...”

“I know how shallow ‘Violet sama is my everything’ the words you’ve always said are now, after seeing you couldn’t even tell the difference between a little girl and me. —I thought that I was going to give you a last chance to the person like you”

There were times when I doubted if this was really my queen. But as a man with both meager magic power and talent for magic, I thought that there was no way a replacement could occur and blamed myself for disrespecting her.

“And you’re the one who always said that crows should become white and clouds should become black as long as they are what I said. It’s laughable that you yourself, who said such things, would go against my words. —I will not allow your duplicity to be in my sight. It’s extremely distasteful”

“ ! Violet sama...!”

“You have no right to call me by my name”

Maurice was astonished at those cold words. To Maurice, Violet said softly, “I’m going to ask you one last time”,  and her voice was very gentle, which made it clear that this was her final pronouncement.

“Maurice Graham Holt. Where is Sophia Alcott, whom uncle has hidden away?”

Maurice drooped his head at the gaze which was like a beautiful cat tormenting its prey.

Translator’s Notes:

I started using google docs to do my draft first so there’s no more losing the draft just before finishing it, yay! But since I did it in advance with docs and just copy pasted, there might be some mistakes here and there. Please help me if you do notice one.