The Charming Villain Just Wants To Be A Salted Fish

The Eighth Night Part 1

The next day, Joyce had a long formal talk with Long Aotian. It was a serious discussion with him about cleaning up the rose garden.

“The land is being used to grow roses. Other than just visual pleasures, there are no other real uses. Karnia is short on goods right now. If we can use this land for farming, then we can try to exchange our produce for gold coins and blood with the humans!”

Joyce was usually easygoing, but as she talked, a little light shone in her eyes. “If our people don’t want to farm, then we can also lease out some land to the farmers nearby. They would just have to give us a part of the harvest!”

Long Aotian did not quite agree with this approach because the rose garden had been a part of the castle for thousands of years. However, Joyce was very persistent.

The current situation for the vampires was not as good as it used to be. Princess Isabella of Saidan and the King of Karnia’s marriage was not only for their country’s prosperity, but also to create a union between both kingdoms’ powers.

Once the two empires were united, they would first target the vampires who symbolized the dark forces.

Long Aotian was very aware of this.

One reason they kidnapped Princess Isabella was to rescue the Primogeniture. The other reason was to destroy the marriage between the two kingdoms.

Joyce had no intention of being a part of these fights. She just wanted to eat, drink, play and be happy all day long. However, even though the territory occupied by vampires was not small, the blood shortage problem was pressing.

Joyce’s proposal to grow crops in exchange for blood was so idealistic that Long Aotian naturally did not agree with it.

“Your Highness Joyce,” Long Aotian patiently explained, “our most important task is to save the Primogeniture. Cathy, the Primogeniture, is an immortal god. She will lead us in restoring darkness to this land. When that time comes, Karnia will become our hunting ground!”

As Joyce listened to Long Aotian’s bold rhetoric, she thought of the thin and weak little girl who was forced to provide blood. She helplessly patted him on the shoulder, and in order to make him recognize the cruel reality of his idealistic words, sincerely said,  “Long Aotian, about destroying the kingdoms and whatnot… I think it’s better if we solve the problem of having enough food first.”

“…” Long Aotian, who was talked over, straightened his collar, and turned away as he coldly grumbled, “Your Highness, my full name is Nicholas Long Aotian.”

“…” Joyce had to stifle a chuckle that almost choked her. When she took a closer look at this occasional broken record and “Long Aotian”1 tsundere villain, she found it extremely amusing.

The way Long Aotian said it was also a response to Joyce about her proposal. She was planning on being an arm-flinging shopkeeper2 and dragged Sean out to play, but Long Aotian stopped her again.

“Recently, has Sean been…” Long Aotian cleared his throat. “Taking care of a cat?”

Joyce froze for a moment. Then, she raised her head and angrily glared at Sean. She turned back to Long Aotian and said, “It’s true, but I was so annoyed that I made him throw it away.”

“Throw it away?” Long Aotian was shocked to the point of regret and disappointment.

“Is there a problem?” Joyce asked, raising her chin.

“No, there isn’t,” Long Aotian replied resolutely. He thought about it and called for Joyce to stop again when she was about to leave. “I ordered some servants to clean up the rose garden and bring back some seeds. However, none of our people know how to farm. This…”

Joyce paused to think, then nodded and said, “That’s great. I’ll invite some experienced farmers to teach everyone.”

With that, she took Sean to a nearby farm to find someone.

There were no humans living close to the vampire’s territory around the castle. It took Joyce and Sean a long time to get to the nearest farm.

Joyce approached the farm that was completely barricaded. This time, she brought coins and seeds. She also appeared polite and kind. The farmers soon welcomed her in.

Joyce followed them to take a look around. She changed into clothes that were convenient to work in and actually learned to farm from several farmers.

Sean stood by and watched her quietly.

Joyce was usually lazy. He originally thought that she was just going to borrow two people and go back. He didn’t expect her to stay and seriously learn how to farm.

Joyce was very serious about learning from them. In fact, she also had a selfish reason for doing this. If she left the vampire territory and could find a place to hide in order to survive, it would be good to learn some survival skills.

She followed the instructions of the farmers and learned to sow seeds carefully.  Soon, she finished sowing seeds in an area with them.

When she saw Sean standing alone to the side, she happily pulled him over and made him join her.

Sean was not interested, but he stood beside her and casually asked, “You don’t need to personally farm yourself. Why are you learning this?”

Joyce looked at Sean with mixed feelings. He could not tell why she was doing this, so she replied honestly, “I don’t need to know how to do it now, but maybe I will need it in the future.”

“In the future?” Sean raised his eyebrows.

“If we really follow the plot perfectly, then there might be one day when our lair will be destroyed by that Great Demon Dragon because of some random reason or excuse.”

“…”

“Did you hear me?” Joyce slyly leaned closer to Sean. “The Great Demon Dagon doesn’t have a girlfriend when he is over a thousand years old. These kinds of people will suffer from a sickness from holding it in, and it’s a kind of sickness that likes to target poor, weak and helpless villains like us.”

“…” Sean’s normally steady expression looked like it had collapsed a bit at this moment. He paused and whispered, “If I remember correctly, you must be a thousand years old, right?”

“…” Joyce was stunned. With her character’s body… that seemed to be true.

“Have you had a boyfriend before?”

“…”

Sean’s eyes looked her up and down nonchalantly, “Did you hold it in until you’re sick?

 

Footnotes

Reminder that Long Aotian is a meme name, so it’s being used sarcastically here甩手掌柜 (shuǎi​shǒu​zhǎng​guì) – Someone who asks other other people to do work, but does nothing himself