I'm in Love with the Villainess!-Chapter 208: The Next Step!

"So... what do we do about the rebellion?" Marcellus twirled his pen between his fingers. "And where do we fit into this?"

"I suggest Julius and Lillian drop their ridiculous plan," Evelina said. "As for you three... just rule this place like normal. I’ll make sure the inner district doesn’t interfere with you."

Evelina replied casually. It was the most obvious answer, after all. She didn’t even really need to think about it.

"I’m fine with that," Marcellus replied, "but how does helping us help you? Forgive me for being cautious, but I know you’re not doing this out of kindness alone."

"Isn’t it obvious already?" I cut in for Evelina. I might not be the brightest one here when it comes to politics, but even I knew this one.

And it looked like Marcellus knew as well; he just needed confirmation. He was careful—annoyingly so. If he could let someone else say the answer at the cost of looking idiotic, he’d do it a hundred percent of the time. Looking dumb was temporary; exact information was far more important.

"The better your side of the district does, the better ours will get too," I said.

"So... leeches?" Marcellus smirked.

"You’re the leeches in this scenario," Evelina shot back, smiling.

"All right, we have a deal," he said. "What about you two?"

He looked over at Julius and Lillian. They didn’t look like they wanted to refuse. Evelina had basically handed them the option to rule peacefully without the risk of being surrounded on all sides. Not only that, but their original rebellion plan came with quite a risk as well.

"I agree," Lillian said first.

"Same," Julius added a moment later.

They weren’t that stuck-up after all. They were still the original main leads, after all—and that came with a few decent traits. Like knowing when to pick the side that actually made sense.

Naive, sure. But not infuriatingly naive.

Basically... they were main characters.

"I just expect you three to actually rule properly," Evelina said. "If not, well... let’s just say I can make sure you all fail this program."

"We know," Marcellus said with a sigh. "Now... can we finish this conversation?"

He gestured at the stack of paperwork on his desk. Lillian followed his gaze and let out a tired breath—she clearly had a lot waiting for her, too. And Julius wasn’t off the hook either; it was obvious he was her one-man police force.

As for our territory? Well... we were fine.

"Just don’t expect the rebellion mess to disappear overnight," Marcellus said, turning a glare on Julius. "I assume you’ll be the one putting out the fire you started for Lillian here?"

"Yeah, I know."

Julius leaned back in his chair.

"I’ll try to de-escalate them."

"You’ll try?" Marcellus frowned. "That’s not exactly reassuring."

"They trusted me," Julius said. "I can’t just abandon them."

"Then don’t," Evelina cut in. "Just redirect them."

She leaned forward slightly.

"Turn them into something useful. Reconstruction, patrols—anything that keeps them busy and under control."

"...Could work," Lillian murmured, watching her.

"It will work," Evelina said flatly.

Julius hesitated. "They still want to fight. It’s not that easy to get people like that to suddenly care about rebuilding patrol routes."

"Then make them think they’re still fighting," Evelina said. "People like that care more about the feeling than the method."

Marcellus let out a long breath. "...You really didn’t think of that, Julius?"

"I did," Julius snapped back. "But since we’re already here, I’d rather hear your suggestions than plan everything alone."

Lillian sighed. Did these brothers really have to argue every other minute?

Still, it wasn’t that bad. The main problem was more or less handled. All that was left was to officially end the meeting.

Julius leaned back again, thinking, then exhaled.

"...Fine. I’ll do it."

"That solves your problem," I added. "And ours."

"Unfortunately," Marcellus muttered.

Evelina turned toward the door. "Then we’re done here."

I followed, but paused at the doorway.

"Try not to start another rebellion," I told Julius.

Julius sighed.

Lillian didn’t.

And just like that, it was settled—for now, anyway.

***

We left the mansion with satisfied smiles. Not only had we convinced all three of them, but they’d agreed to our plan. No more wild, unpredictable variables—at least for the moment.

Even better, if they managed their side properly, we could start trading with them and build up our own territory even more.

Everything really was going smoothly.

"Ah, right. Can we swing by the inner district for a bit?" I asked.

"What for?" Evelina glanced over.

"I want to see if they’re selling any decent machinery. Maybe something like a robotic police force."

"Robots?" she repeated. "Why don’t we just hire locals? If the old census is right, we’ve got plenty of former officers here." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"That’s exactly the problem," I said. "Those ’locals’ are the same people Julius was rallying. Today, they follow us. Tomorrow, they might decide a revolution sounds better."

Evelina’s expression shifted slightly.

"Loyalty that flips that easily isn’t something we can lean on yet," I went on. "Even if they don’t rebel, they can be bribed, threatened... or just panic and make bad decisions. And our enemies will try to make that happen."

She crossed her arms, thinking it over.

"Robots don’t hesitate," I said. "They don’t pick sides. They just follow orders."

"...Neutral enforcement," Evelina murmured.

"Exactly. No favoritism, no quiet corruption. Just the rules we program in."

She tapped a finger against her arm, clearly intrigued now.

"And?" she asked.

Of course, she wanted more.

"We can use them to monitor the streets. Patrol routes, flag suspicious activity, track anything out of place. Basically, a security network we control from top to bottom."

Now she was smiling.

"I see... so instead of trusting people... we cut them out of the equation," she said.

"That’s the idea."

She let out a quiet breath, then nodded.

"Hmm. The down payment will hurt," she said. "And maintenance will chew into the budget."

A pause.

Then—

"But the control it gives us is worth it."

She turned to me with a small smile.

"And since you’re the one asking—and made a genuinely good strategic point... fine."

Her smile turned more playful.

"Let’s make it a date, then."