I Became the Master of the Villain

“Damn it!”

Jackson, surrounded by knights, cursed and backed away.
Clutching a black bag to his chest, his eyes darted quickly.
Spotting a gap in the formation, he suddenly bolted backward.

“Where do you think you're going!”
The knights immediately gave chase.
Jackson tried to shake them off, but their physical prowess was, of course, superior.

In the end, he didn’t get far before he was caught.
They bound him tightly in rope and dragged him over to me.
The knights forced him to kneel before me, pressing down on his shoulders.

“Let go of me! What gives you the right to assault an innocent citizen?!”
Jackson shouted, tilting his head up in defiance.
I crossed my arms and looked down at him.

“Let’s get one thing straight. Innocent citizen? You’ve committed a crime, haven’t you?”
Jackson showed no sign of admitting guilt. He cried out as if wronged.
“A crime? What did I do wrong?! Release me at once!”

“If you’re really innocent, then why were you trying to flee in the dead of night?”
At my signal, Sir Hans brought over the bag they had confiscated from Jackson. When he opened it, bundles of cash spilled out.
Even a quick glance showed it was a significant amount.

“What’s all this money?”
“I-It’s money I earned fair and square!”
Jackson brazenly spouted nonsense.
I shifted my gaze to the bundles scattered across the floor.

An amount far beyond what an ordinary person could easily lay hands on.
‘If he got paid that much, someone must’ve hired him.’
It didn’t take much imagination to figure out what that “client” had instructed him to do.

Meanwhile, another bag of Jackson’s had spilled open, revealing clothes and assorted items.
I let out a dry laugh.
“Mr. Jackson, planning on going somewhere far?”

“T-That’s none of your business!”
“How is it not?”
You tried to flee after inflicting massive damage on our company.

And let’s not forget the chaos and unease you stirred among our hardworking factory staff.
You’re not going anywhere until you pay for your crimes.
But before that—

I stared coldly at Jackson, who knelt before me.
“Why were you at the chocolate factory on the night of June 10?”
I needed to hear the truth about that night.

I grabbed him by the collar.
“Tell me what you did that night.”
***

Violence, to me, is always the last resort.
But villains have a way of forcing your hand.
Jackson was no exception.

He kept repeating like a parrot, “I don’t know anything.”
Eventually, Sir Hans stepped forward.
“My Lady, please leave this to me!”

He dragged Jackson to a secluded area, saying cheerfully,
“Now then, let’s enjoy some quality time together.”
With a sharp thud came a shriek of agony.

Thwack, thump, aaaaagh.
They really did seem to be having a “lovely” time together.
Soon after, Sir Hans returned with a thoroughly battered Jackson.

His eyes were glistening—whether from pain or overwhelming joy was unclear.
Dragged back before me, Jackson muttered,
“...I’ll tell you everything.”

At last, Jackson confessed.
“That night, I snuck into the factory and made chocolate. I mixed live larvae into the batter and ran the production line all the way through to packaging.”
“So that’s why the manufacturing date printed on the wrapper was June 10?”

“Probably... I was in a rush to run the factory in # Nоvеlight # secret, so I didn’t even notice I made that mistake.”
I clicked my tongue.
‘If he had forged that too, it would’ve been perfect.’

If Jackson were a pro, he wouldn’t have left even the tiniest trace. Clearly, he wasn’t.
I pressed him again. He’d left out something crucial.
“So, who ordered you to do it?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t!”
At that, Sir Hans rolled up his sleeves.
“My Lady, shall I fine-tune him one more time?”

Jackson’s face turned ghostly pale. Sensing Hans’s mood, he cried out in panic.
“Please believe me! I swear I’m telling the truth this time!”
Sir Hans smiled like a harmless farm boy.

“Sure, sure. But let’s talk after a few more hits.”
His words were kind, but the tone was terrifying.
Jackson’s eyes trembled as if hit by an earthquake.

“I just took the money, I don’t know anything else...!”
He was so terrified that more information began spilling from his mouth.
“On my way home from work, these masked men grabbed me. They blindfolded me and took me somewhere. While I was trembling in fear, they told me that if I put bugs in the chocolate, they’d pay me generously.”

This time, his account was far more detailed than before.
Jackson grabbed the hem of my dress, on the verge of tears.
“Please believe me...”

After a moment of consideration, I replied,
“Fine. I believe you.”
“R-Really?”

“But in return, you’re going to name every single accomplice.”
It was impossible for just one or two people to operate the whole factory. There had to be more—besides Logan.
When I pushed him, Jackson hesitated.

“T-The thing is... I don’t remember everyone...”
“Try harder.”
“Huh...?”

Jackson blinked stupidly at my firm tone.
He didn’t seem to understand what I meant, so I kindly explained.
“You’re going to be slapped with a massive compensation bill. You planning to pay all of it yourself?”

“......”
“Splitting it evenly might be smarter.”
Otherwise, he’d be drowning in debt for the rest of his life.

When I added that with a cold smile, it was like his memory suddenly came back to him.
He began naming the rest of the accomplices.
“You already know about Logan, right? The others were Anthony, Hamilton, Michelle, and then...”

Jackson, squeezing every last drop of memory from his brain, looked utterly drained. His face was even more haggard than before as he asked,
“Um... I have one question.”
I’d already gotten everything I wanted, so I saw no reason not to answer.

“Go ahead.”
“What exactly was the ‘conclusive evidence’?”
“Oh... that?”

Honestly, he was better off not knowing, but if he was that curious...
“There isn’t any.”
“...What?”

There had never been any conclusive evidence in the first place.
The only lead was the manufacturing date printed strangely on the chocolate wrapper.
But that wasn’t enough to identify the culprit.

No real evidence, just a testimony.
And that wasn’t enough to bring anyone to court.
So I set a trap—one that would push the guilty party into revealing themselves.

I believe the technical term for this is “baiting.”
A hollow laugh escaped Jackson.
“Ha... hahaha...”

Realizing the whole picture, he murmured like a man who’d lost his soul.
“Logan was right...”
Apparently, Logan had suspected I was setting a trap.

He was sharper than Jackson, but what did it matter?
The knights were already on their way to deal with him too.
I clicked my tongue as I looked at Jackson, who now deeply regretted everything.

Leaving the cleanup to the knights, I turned away.
Anyone who dares touch Ashford will be thoroughly punished.
***

Following the insect-in-chocolate incident—
Ashford Chocolate’s sales, which had hit an unprecedented low, began to recover to normal levels.
That was because it had been revealed the incident had been orchestrated.

The revelation shocked the Empire.
People condemned the criminals who had caused so much damage to the company.
At the same time, they became curious—who was behind it all?

Every newspaper in the Empire scrambled to uncover the mastermind.
Everyone wanted the scoop.
A few overeager journalists even wrote speculative pieces claiming it was the work of a rival chocolate company.

Though the culprit behind the scenes was still unclear, the public now saw Ashford Chocolate as an innocent victim.
Perhaps because of that, people began buying Ashford Chocolate again.
Of course, it wasn’t just public opinion that changed.

The various promotional events also drew people back.
Buy-one-get-one-free deals, free gift campaigns, and more.
Most popular of all was the “Find the Lucky Gold Ticket!” event (where opening a chocolate with a gold ticket meant winning a prize of ten million gallons).

In the face of such a wide array of promotions, customers couldn’t help but open their wallets.
As James Ashford recalled these events, he clenched his teeth while pruning his bonsai tree.
Just thinking about it made his blood boil, enough to make him sit bolt upright in the middle of the night.

Watching Ashford Chocolate’s sales graph nosedive day by day, he had thought—
Soon, he could use it at the next board meeting to argue that Olivia lacked crisis management skills and chip away at her reputation.
But now, everything had gone awry at the last moment.

“Why the hell?!”
He was seething again. His grip tightened on the pruning shears.
Snap.

The branch of the bonsai he had imported from the Eastern Continent broke clean off.
That single branch alone cost enough to make anyone gasp.
Flustered, he tried to reattach it—but the damage was already done.

Eventually, James, overwhelmed with frustration, flung the branch aside.
“Why doesn’t anything ever go my way?!”
He let loose every curse word he knew.

“Damn it! Shit! Fuck!”
And yet, his anger still didn’t subside.
Just as he was fuming like a volcanic eruption—

Someone knocked at the door.
“Who is it?!”
He snapped irritably. The servant flinched and stammered nervously.

“M-Master, a letter from the Imperial Palace has arrived.”
At the mention of the palace, James’s expression instantly brightened. He barked an order.
“Bring it here at once!”

“Y-Yes, sir.”
The servant respectfully presented a silver tray with the letter.
A golden envelope bearing the lion crest of the royal family.

‘Finally... finally!’
With trembling hands, he picked up the letter opener.
Upon confirming the sender, his face flushed with excitement.

As expected, it was an invitation from the Crown Prince.
It instructed him to enter the palace with his daughter on a specific date.
At last, it was his turn.

“Go fetch Josephine right now!”
James’s voice, calling for his daughter, sounded more thrilled than ever.