I Became the Master of the Villain

A mob of angry customers had gathered in front of the Ashford Confectionery.

The clerks wore troubled expressions as they tried to deal with them.
“We’re still trying to identify the cause of the issue. So please, calm down…”
“You think we can stay calm after seeing this?”

“You’re selling things crawling with bugs and telling us to eat it? Have you no conscience?!”
“Where’s the person in charge? Bring them out immediately!”
The manager of Ashford Confectionery approached them quickly, his face stiff with discomfort.

“I’m the person in charge here.”
All the customers who had been shouting turned their eyes toward the manager. They surged toward him.
A furious-looking woman shoved something toward his face and growled.

“Just look at this!”
She thrust a piece of Ashford’s chocolate right in front of him.
The manager’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at the cut section of the chocolate.

A live larva was writhing and crawling inside.
The woman screamed.
“I served this chocolate as dessert and went through an unspeakable humiliation!”

This had never happened before since the store first opened. The manager was flustered.
He examined the product with a forced calm.
The marks left by the larva chewing through the chocolate were clearly visible.

However, there were no signs of damage to the wrapper.
If the larva hadn’t gnawed through the packaging, then where had it come from?
Could it have been introduced during manufacturing? Or perhaps...
The manager’s thoughts spiraled into chaos.

‘…Stay calm.’
Identifying the cause would come later.
The priority was to calm the furious customers.

“First, let me offer my deepest apologies to all of you who have suffered from this incident.”
The manager bowed repeatedly as he apologized.
But it wasn’t enough to soothe the customers’ outrage.

“You think a simple apology is enough? Show us you mean it!”
“Exactly! We don’t need empty words!”
“We demand compensation for the emotional and physical distress this has caused!”

The manager was taken aback.
Compensation? Did that mean he had to pay?
To all these people?

“Ashford Confectionery must compensate the victims!”
“Compensate us!”
Once money was involved, this went beyond his authority.

As he looked out at the crowd of shouting people, the manager cried out internally.
‘My lady! This is a disaster…!’
It was the biggest crisis since Ashford Confectionery had opened, and the manager felt faint.

***
The red sun sank beneath the horizon.
As the day ended and gave way to night, the sky at the boundary shimmered with delicate light.

I lay in bed, gazing at the setting sun.
‘That was… intense.’
Kian and I had devoted ourselves to each other for a long time.

I stared vacantly, recalling what had just happened.
‘It felt really good.’
Kian had been very considerate.

In truth, he was so skilled that I barely had time to feel any pain.
It felt so good my mind went blank, and I found myself wanting him again and again.
When I made a dreamy expression, Kian smiled.

He lay beside me and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.
He looked at me with eyes so sweet it felt like honey was dripping from them, and my body began to heat up all over again.
But the problem was—I had almost no stamina left.

‘I should’ve brought that potion…’
Still, considering what awaited tomorrow, it was best to hold back.
Our impromptu trip had come to an end, and it was time to return to the capital.

Tomorrow, I’d be busy catching up on everything I’d left undone over the weekend.
Just thinking about returning to routine made me groan.
“So sad. Can’t believe the weekend’s already over…”

Kian looked at me fondly as I whined about not wanting to work. He said,
“I wish I could do your work for you.”
He was good at magic and good in bed, but apparently doing my job was the one thing he couldn’t manage.

‘Ugh, well… can’t be helped. There is that saying: if you don’t work, you don’t eat.’
We started getting ready to return to the capital.
As I packed our things, I suddenly remembered we’d planned to see the corals of Elsica.

But I didn’t have the strength to go on an underwater excursion. I must’ve overexerted myself in bed.
As I reached for Kian’s hand to teleport, I said,
“We’ll look at the coral next time we come.”

Kian’s eyes crinkled slightly as he replied,
“Maybe we could come back for our honeymoon.”
My eyes widened at the unexpected suggestion.

Elsica was famous as a honeymoon destination, but to already be thinking that far ahead?
We hadn’t been together long, wasn’t that a bit much…?
—But that’s not how I felt. Instead, my heart swelled with anticipation.

As I took Kian’s hand, I indulged in a pleasant daydream.
‘At this rate, I might be married before the year’s out.’
***

The short but spectacular trip came to an end, and we returned to daily life.
Only once I lay down in my familiar bed at the ducal estate did it all feel real.
Back to a slightly dull but peaceful routine.

But the next day, something completely unexpected was waiting for me.
Monday morning.
The door to the office flew open, and Albert burst in.

“My lady, there’s trouble!”
“What happened?”
Panting as if he’d run over, the butler said,

“Worms were found in the chocolate sold by Ashford Confectionery.”
“…Is that true?”
“Yes. Not just at the main ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) store—customers have found worms at the branch locations as well.”

To find foreign substances in food that was supposed to be hygienic—this was a serious issue.
Albert continued his report.
“According to the telegrams sent by the store managers, customers began swarming in yesterday afternoon, demanding compensation.”

Then he bowed his head slightly.
“I apologize for the late report.”
“No… this is my fault.”

It had been my decision to take that spontaneous trip to Elsica.
Of course, I hadn’t expected anything like this to happen.
I pressed a hand to my throbbing temple.

If this could be resolved with money, that would be ideal, but the issue wasn’t so simple.
‘Still, to put out the immediate fire, we need to pay compensation.’
A temporary expense could be recovered quickly.

But a tarnished company image—now that was a devastating loss.
Ashford Confectionery’s reputation had already taken a hit from this incident.
What mattered now was how we handled the aftermath. The scale of the damage would depend on how well we responded.

I told the butler the compensation amount to be paid per person.
“I’ll leave the compensation payments to you.”
“Yes, my lady.”

The loyal butler bowed his head.
I continued giving instructions.
“Production of chocolates must be temporarily halted until this is resolved.”

“Yes, my lady.”
“Immediately recall all products currently on the market.”
“I’ll take care of it right away.”

With those emergency measures in place, the next priority was identifying the cause.
Why had this happened?
Albert offered a theory.

“Could it be due to improper storage on the customer’s side?”
Summer was prime season for bugs.
A similar incident had happened to a competitor once. In the end, they’d determined the contamination occurred during storage or distribution.

‘It might be the same this time…’
But if that were true, there should be signs of damage on the chocolate wrappers.
The telegrams sent by the managers didn’t mention any such signs.

How could worms get in without leaving any trace?
I tapped my desk with a finger and said,
“There’s a chance it happened during storage or distribution. But if…”

If the issue had occurred during manufacturing, then the Ashford company would bear full responsibility.
‘I really hope that’s not the case.’
I stood up abruptly and said,

“I need to go inspect the chocolate factory. Right now.”
***
Ashford’s chocolate factory was located on the outskirts of the capital.

From the entrance, a sweet scent wafted out and filled the air.
A scent far too pleasant for the current situation.
But there was no time for sentimentality. As soon as I stepped inside, a middle-aged man with a pale face rushed to greet me.

“Milady! You’re here!”
He was the head of the chocolate factory.
He looked extremely nervous, probably worried I’d hold him responsible for the incident.

If his negligence had caused it, then of course I would—but nothing had been proven yet.
From a long cylindrical machine, a brown liquid chocolate poured out into square molds.
Huge wings rotated to cool the chocolate inside the molds.

But as soon as my instructions reached the staff, the machines stopped working all at once.
“When and how did the contamination occur? If you’ve learned anything new, speak.”
The factory chief answered my question.

“If it had happened during manufacturing, one of the workers would’ve noticed the worm being mixed in during the molding process.”
That was the most likely time for contamination to occur—before the chocolate hardened.
Or possibly during the dough fermentation stage.

I walked through the entire production line with the factory chief, but no hygiene issues were discovered.
Several tray molds filled with slab chocolate sat on the halted conveyor.
I randomly picked out a few and broke them in half.

No worms.
Gazing dejectedly at the completely shut-down factory, the factory chief said,
“Up until today, we’ve kept our hygiene protocols strictly. We’ve found no possible point of entry for the worms either.”

His explanation was long, but the conclusion was simple.
He had no idea what caused the problem.
But something like this couldn’t have happened without a cause.

I picked up a box filled with chocolate.
These were the very chocolates that had gone out to the public.
I opened one and—sure enough. A dead larva.

‘There’s no sign of the wrapper being punctured.’
I inspected the wrapper carefully.
It was printed with the Ashford logo, the manufacturing date, and other details.

‘Nothing strange about it… wait?’
I checked the wrapper again.
Only then did I notice something off. How had I not seen this before?

I turned to the factory chief, who looked utterly disheartened.
“I think… I may have found a clue.”