I, the Villain, Want to Save Myself, But the Yandere Heroines Disagree-Chapter 23 - Sandstorm Subsides and Family Crisis (9/9)

The first stage of the clearing mission took half a month. Carpet searching and completely eliminating the beastmen would still require a significant amount of time, but the manpower and resources invested in it would be much less than in the first stage.

Meanwhile, Orson had thought of a good strategy. He would grant Carls City, which was originally designated as an immigrant city, to the demi-humans as their city.

And when he collected information about the demi-humans, Orson was surprised to find that the total population of the demi-human community was only a little over thirty thousand.

You should know that even after fighting among themselves to that extent, the beastmen still had twenty thousand warriors and around fifty thousand ordinary people, totaling around seventy thousand. And this was the lowest number of beastmen in decades.

At their peak, the number of beastmen once exceeded one million.

The number of demi-humans, on the other hand, was quite stable.

Orson had originally thought that the development of demi-humans would occupy a considerable amount of land in the eastern region, but now it seemed that even one Carls City would be enough to accommodate all the demi-human community.

Of course, this was only the demi-humans in the desert. In the human Empire, there were still many demi-humans who were slaves or free people in various cities, but their total number combined would not exceed one hundred thousand.

The number of humans, on the other hand, was hundreds of times greater than that of demi-humans.

Thinking this, demi-humans could actually completely adopt a city-state development model. As long as Carls City was developed well, the demi-humans could live a very good life.

And under the recommendation of the demi-human leaders, Arati, who had a good relationship with Orson, was elected as the temporary city lord of Carls City and became the leader of the demi-human community.

Everything was developing prosperously.

But before all this, things were not so good at the Antica Duchy.

Litte was first startled, then felt a sense of difficulty, upon receiving the news that Emperor Odysseus was about to visit the Antica Duchy.

If Odysseus came, Lucius would have to appear before him, right?

Even if he feigned illness and stayed indoors, what if Odysseus requested to visit Lucius in his room?

It might be alright if Lucius didn’t have an episode during the visit, but what if Lucius suddenly had an episode?

For patients with this illness, it was very likely that they would suddenly say something or do something foolish. But if it turned into an act of great disrespect towards the Emperor, even if Odysseus could be understanding of Lucius and he could escape punishment, the family’s reputation would still suffer a blow.

Think about it, a family whose head is demented is a laughingstock.

But it was a letter personally sent by the Emperor. Not replying was not an option. Helplessly, Litte could only reply on his behalf.

In the letter, Litte subtly expressed that Lucius was unwell and might not be able to bow to His Majesty the Emperor. And after Odysseus received the letter, he wanted to visit Lucius even more.

Regardless, Lucius was also one of the Emperor’s confidantes and had achieved great military feats for the Empire in the past. Now that he was injured, whether it was out of consideration for his subject’s feelings or to achieve his own political goals, he was bound to visit.

Litte felt even more troubled after receiving the reply. Helplessly, she could only take it one step at a time.

Invitations had already been sent out, and the nobles had also begun to move.

And some people were probably already waiting to see the Stranick family become a laughingstock.

To make matters worse, at this moment, Mary began to cause trouble for Litte again.

“Litte, are you sure you haven’t found Randall after searching these past few days?”

“Yes,” Litte rubbed her forehead and nodded helplessly. “I’m sorry, Mother, we searched the entire Antica Duchy and couldn’t find any trace of Mr. Randall. I suspect he might have been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?!” Mary said this, showing a suspicious expression.

“Litte, let me be clear,” she said, taking a deep breath, then spoke, “I already know about the Master’s condition. He can’t remember things clearly and keeps mistaking me for his former wife.”

“Why did you and Orson hide such a serious matter from me?! Why did I have to see it myself to find out? Are you his children, and I am not his wife?!” She questioned Litte loudly, making Litte feel ashamed.

“Apologies, Mother, this matter... was mainly out of consideration for Father’s dignity...”

“Dignity? What dignity is there to talk about among family?” Mary said this, laughing in anger. “I see you don’t consider me your mother at all. As soon as the Master started forgetting things, you began to usurp his power, and now you are kidnapping my confidante. Are you planning to lay hands on me next!?”

Facing the aggressive Mary, Litte could only concede verbally.

“Apologies, Mother, but Mr. Randall’s disappearance truly has nothing to do with us. We have also been trying our best to find him...”

“Heh, trying your best to find him? Putting up a few notices is considered trying your best? Why don’t you search the properties under your and Orson’s names? See if anyone is hidden there?!”

“Mother, please believe us...”

“Litte,” Mary said this, walking to the door. “Let me be frank. If you don’t consider me family, don’t blame me for being heartless.”

Saying this, Mary slammed the door shut.

Looking at the closed door, Litte sighed helplessly.

She had managed to withstand this pressure, but what would happen when the Emperor arrived?

If Mary completely tore off the family’s facade in front of the Emperor and filed a complaint, how would this matter be handled?

It might not be so bad if Mary had no influence, but she was the sister of the Duke of Orleans. Although her status in the family was not high, merely married off as a tool for political marriage, there was no doubt that if necessary, the Duke of Orleans would definitely side with Mary.