Chap 26-Mask

 

“Hey.”

After Yeon left, Camilla beckoned with her chin to one of her followers who stood beside her like a shadow.

Her voice was as emotionless as ever.

“What’s a pushover?”

At the sudden question, not only the called-upon female student but also the other followers around her showed a moment of bewilderment.

Camilla’s brow furrowed slightly at the sight of them hesitating to answer the Lady’s question directly and instead glancing at each other.

Before she could ask again, the female student who seemed the quickest to catch on cautiously opened her mouth.

“A pushover? That, that is… well, it’s a slang term for someone who is easily taken advantage of, Lady.”

“Explain in more detail.”

At Camilla’s cold voice, another follower hurriedly added.

“Yes! It, someone who is too kind to refuse others’ requests, or… someone who repeatedly makes irrational sacrifices for others rather than for their own benefit.”

“That’s right! And… they also tend to have abnormally low self-esteem, making them easily swayed by others.”

The followers took turns desperately explaining the definition of a pushover, afraid of offending the Lady.

Excessively kind, unable to refuse, irrational sacrifice, low self-esteem…

“Hmm…”

Camilla crossed her arms and fell into thought for a moment.

The characteristics of a ‘pushover’ that the followers had described.

Camilla was already familiar with the concept.

No, she knew it all too well.

Because they were the type of humans that her family, the Medici Family, preferred and found easiest to exploit.

That’s why she couldn’t understand it even more.

…

One of the five great pillars that moved the Terra continent, the Five Great Duke Families.

Among them, the Medici Family was known for its unique status and peculiar structure.

Their power did not come from vast territories or overwhelming military strength.

The Medici Family’s true power base and identity was ‘information’.

It lay in the special ability that was rarely manifested over the ages, the ‘Librarian’.

The ‘Librarian’ ability not only allowed the holder to read the records of the Akashic Records but also granted them special eyes.

This manifested in different forms for each Awakened, but it commonly bestowed the power to discern a single hidden piece of information that was not revealed in the ordinary Status Window.

In her case, the awakened eye was the ‘Mind’s Eye’.

The mind’s eye that resides in the deepest part of that person’s heart as evaluated by the System.

In other words, the ability to glimpse that person’s ‘Tendency’ stat.

To Camilla, who possessed such an ability, the world was like an open book.

Of course, she couldn’t read every page in detail.

She was only a level 4 librarian, so she couldn’t see the entire Status Window of another person without any conditions…

But with just the ‘Tendency’ stat, that single piece of information, Camilla gained a lot.

In the treacherous and complex aristocratic society like the political arena, grasping the other person’s most essential desires or weaknesses meant absolute superiority.

For example, when she discerned that the tendency of a notoriously fastidious central government official was , Camilla mobilized the family’s power to secretly provide him with an opportunity to achieve a public achievement that would attract public attention.

In return, the Medici Family easily secured the exclusive rights to the trade route, which had been a long-cherished project, and the official became Camilla’s long-term pawn.

Also, when she read the tendency of from the promising successor of a high-ranking aristocrat who was an eyesore to the family, she amplified his anxiety through subtle praise and comparisons, leading him to walk the path of self-destruction.

However, this powerful ability had a clear limitation.

Camilla’s Mind’s Eye, which had not yet fully bloomed, could only be used extremely limitedly, once a month.

Since it was a precious opportunity that required waiting until the following month once used, the target had to be thoroughly calculated.

Camilla hesitated quite a bit when she decided to use this precious opportunity on Yeon Bennet, the person who had recently caused a stir at the Dorothy Academy.

Was it really worth using an ability that required waiting a month on her, who had been abandoned and ruined by the family?

But Camilla had decided to thoroughly subdue and exploit Yeon.

In order not to be backstabbed by someone she was going to exploit, an investigation into them was essential.

In addition, since the family had ordered her to secure Yeon’s safety, Camilla used the ability on Yeon after hesitating.

Terra’s worst villainess, the woman who had dabbled in Contamination and driven those around her to ruin.

The tendency that occupied the largest part of her inner self would surely be something like or .

That was only natural.

Camilla focused her Mind’s Eye.

Using the one opportunity she would have to wait a month to regain, she tried to see through her essence.

However, what Camilla saw was a ridiculously absurd word that shattered all her convictions and experiences… and even wasted her precious opportunity to use her ability.

‘Pushover’

“…What?”

Camilla doubted her eyes for a moment.

She thought she had misread it and focused again, but the result was the same.

Two letters that stood out clearly in crimson letters.

Pushover.

Was this even possible?

Yeon Bennet?

A woman notorious for all sorts of atrocities and evil deeds…

Just a ‘pushover’?

Had she wasted a precious ability that she could only use once a month on seeing such an absurd result?

Her mind was in turmoil.

Even after seeing her not yielding at all to her threats and harassment, and instead proposing all sorts of terrible tortures to her…

She couldn’t believe the result even more.

The gap between the Yeon Bennet she knew and the result shown by the Mind’s Eye was too great.

But…

Perhaps…

That result wasn’t entirely unbelievable.

Camilla recalled herself, even if only for a brief moment, being unknowingly intimidated by Yeon Bennet’s bizarre provocation.

The unpleasantness and embarrassment she felt at that moment.

It was a side of herself that she hated the most.

“Status Window.”

As Camilla quietly commanded, a semi-transparent information window appeared in front of her.

 

Name: Camilla Medici

Level: 4

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Affiliation: Medici Duchess Family, Dorothy Academy

Ability: Anaide Magic System (4)

Unique Ability: Librarian(4) – Mind’s Eye

Disposition: Frail

Camilla coldly stared at the last item that appeared on her Status Window, the word .

Her innate nature was weak and fragile. Easily anxious even at small threats…

Her past self, who was intimidated in front of strong opponents.

Camilla hated such herself to the point of disgust.

So she wore a mask.

A cold, calm, and calculating Lady.

Navigating the social circles, piercing through opponents with sharp insights, building her own faction, and showing no mercy to enemies.

That was the her that people knew, and the ‘Camilla Medici’ that she herself had desperately acted as.

Perhaps Yeon Bennet was the same.

Perhaps she was hiding her clumsy and vulnerable nature as a ‘pushover’ beneath that mask of a villainess, or a crazy woman.

Thinking that way, she felt a faint but strange sense of kinship with the existence of Yeon Bennet.

But that feeling soon turned into self-loathing.

To feel kinship with such a woman.

She even felt pathetic for being momentarily intimidated by her bluff.

Camilla organized her thoughts.

If Yeon’s true nature was a ‘pushover’, she had to trample on her even more mercilessly.

In order not to be shaken by her acting again.

No matter what mask she was wearing, she had to tear that mask apart and reveal her true nature.

Lowering the intensity of the harassment or trying to appease her would only be tantamount to admitting her own weakness.

Until she could no longer hide her ‘pushover’ nature and collapsed, screaming.

Yes, perhaps… those terrible things she wanted.

Peeling off her skin, throwing her into the water, cutting off her fingers.

If her true nature was really a ‘pushover’, what kind of reaction would she show in the face of such pain?

Just thinking about it was interesting.

‘Yes, let’s go all the way.’

The corners of Camilla’s lips twisted cruelly.

There was no more confusion or hesitation in her smile.

After all, the Magical Beasts weren’t restless these days.

The front lines were in a lull, and news had even come that the Calamity-Class Monster Envia had been annihilated.

Even if one of the Five Great Duke Families weakened a little, it wouldn’t immediately cause a big problem for the entire Terra.

Rather, it was right for the entire Terra for a more capable and prepared family to take that place.

And that place, of course, would be taken by our Medici Family.

Camilla gave a cold smile.

It was a waste to have used a precious ability that she could only use once a month, but perhaps she had reaped a bigger harvest than she had thought.

‘Yes, a pushover, huh? All the better.’

She recalled Yeon Bennet’s face once again.

Now that face no longer seemed like an unpredictable threat, but a useful pawn in her hand.